Live multi-effects pedal/board

[Kevin Joslin]

Hello. Reading through the threads, there are clearly some deeply clever people here, so I want to ask a dumb question. I have a wide variety of pedals and am frankly sick to death of tapdancing between songs to get the right effects for the next song, particularly as I do front-man and vocal duties. This may be asking too much, but I just want a simple to use board, with some nice easy preset numbers I can see on stage and which are assigned to each of the songs we do. I know that there will probably be some sacrifices in terms of quality over using separate pedals, but I just have too much to do with little space between songs to get down on my knees (which is an effort in itself as I am ludicrously tall) to fiddle with pedal settings. I just want something with big numbers that gives me the right sound for the song. Is that too much to ask? If it isn't, does anyone have any recommendations? Thank you for your patience.

 

[RoketRdr]

Headrush Pedalboard

 

[jbybj]

Line 6 HX EFFECTS. I highly recommend it.

 

[juggahnaught]

Not too much to ask; that's what they're designed for. Lots of options.

Line 6 Helix Floor or Headrush or Fractal will give you what you want. (I am a Helix Floor user and I love switching patches with a tap.) Many of the modelers have smaller versions - Headrush has something called the Gigboard, Line 6 has the HX Stomp (and soon, the Pod GO) - I think Fractal has something too. Boss as well. (I'm not sure, but I think Boss might have the largest number display.) You may be able to get a unit that costs less if you only need effects modeling and not amp modeling. All units have a learning curve but are all very usable.

One thing that you might consider if you want to use individual pedals is the Boss ES-5 or ES-8 - it's designed to give you flexible routing possibilities for pedals, so instead of chaining your pedals, you run them into the ES unit and then let it route your signal path any way you want through your pedals. It can do presets, and the ES-8 supports MIDI (think the ES-5 does too). This could work for you, but you'll only be able to change pedal parameters if your pedals are MIDI-capable.

My take - if you have MIDI-capable pedals, a smaller unit like the HX Stomp or the Gigboard may fit with what you already have and allow you to drive stuff through presets. If not, sell your pedals and get a unit that replaces your board instead of augmenting it. All of them will provide usable sounds for gigging. I think that the Boss GE-1000 has the largest number display of the units I've seen - the numbers aren't large, they're HUGE. That might be a factor.

Good luck.

 

[GMC]

The sound quality of many of the big panel pedals from Eventide, Strymon and Boss are excellent. Many eclipse analogue for sound but have a vast array of features and options and are therefore far more versatile. The front panel controls tend to be limited compared to their features and are menu driven and then those settings assigned to a preset. For me, I love the Eventide H9 maxes and I run a pair of them. One H9 handles my early chain and the other handles my verbs and delays. I use a Strymon Mobius for modulation and it's a great one stop shop for all your mod needs. I have a EHX Hog 2 for it's unique pitch sounds and options. I'm a big fan of Source Audio and I'm currently using an Aftershock for my dirt needs (is this really a digital pedal?) and their sublime C4 pedal as my analogue octave, filter and synth pedal (is this really a digital pedal II?). The mass of presets, pedal order and expression are all handled by my Boss ES-5...which is a looper and midi controller.

 

[Kevin Joslin]

I'm very grateful to all of you for your sage advice.

 

[Rooster009]

I’m still using my Boss GT-10b for precisely the same thing. Still sounds great and gets the job done perfectly