Are Single Pedal Effects better than A Board?

[AliensExist4]

Just wanted to to know if single pedal effects were better than a pedal board with tons of effects built in?

- Also I'm interested in tryig out some cool effects and right now I'm only using Boos. I have a Boss Tuner, DD6 and, Flanger. I wanted to know what other good brands are out there that might be better or something. Thanks

- Patrick

 

[AliensExist4]

Anyone?

 

[cvansickle]

Each design has its ups and downs. In my experience, a multi-effects unit typically has one or two really good sounds in it, and the rest is garbage. A single effect pedal can be as good as you want it to be, but it's still only one sound.

What I did was find the best single pedals (best is subjective of course) for me and load them on a big board. I have a multi-effects unit in my rack, but I only use a couple of patches for chorus and reverb.

 

[SabuJSE]

I had a Line 6 Pod XT Live and went to just a few high quality pedals that I would always have a use far.

A bigger point here is that you can very easily get carried away with too many effects with one of those all in one units. Less is more, more often than not.

 

[scottkahn]

Effect pedals give you the best sound for YOU because you can mix and match your personal favorite, delay, flanger, chorus, etc... as opposed to loving one or two effects in a multi-fx unit and then just settling for others.

You also gain flexibility in signal routing.

For example, I saw your other post... for "optimal" sound quality, I'd suggest that your wireless receiver goes into your tuner, into your flanger, and then into the input jack. Then, put your delay pedal in the effects loop.

For a slightly different sound, change it to wiress into tuner into input jack. Then put your flanger and delay (in that order) in your effects loop. Typically flanger gets put before the input jack, but a chorus pedal can sound really nice as the first item in the FX loop before delay and digital reverb units.

With most all-in-one multi-fx boards, you can't split things up to put signals in their best locations... everything is either before the input jack or in the FX loop.

 

[Red Barchetta]

I believe individual effects are the way to go for tone...but pedalboards for convenience. I choose TONE baby!


RB

 

[Platypus]

I'm a pedal junkie and I really have never played a single 'all in one' board that I actually liked. I use very few effects, gain/fuzz/od and delay, that's about it so I keep a simple board. 5 OD/Fuzzes and 2 delays

 

[Rayder]

only pedal i use is the 535Q wah. all the rest are in my g-force. my guess would be to find effects that work best for you. be it pedals or a unit. a unit will be much more programmable and will be more convenient for you when changing presets. as for the tone quality, it depends on the quality of the unit

 

[X-1]

I had a Digitech GNX2 unit. I had nice effects, but I didn't like what it did to my tone when it was not being used. It is not true bypass. Therefore it never made it in to my live rig. I kept if for recording ease and as an emergency backup unit to my live rig.

I prefer individual pedals. Call me old school, but I like that you can tweak their settings without having to call up parameter windows. Just reach down and turn a knob.

 

[Brewski]

For example, I saw your other post... for "optimal" sound quality, I'd suggest that your wireless receiver goes into your tuner, into your flanger, and then into the input jack. Then, put your delay pedal in the effects loop.

For a slightly different sound, change it to wiress into tuner into input jack. Then put your flanger and delay (in that order) in your effects loop. Typically flanger gets put before the input jack, but a chorus pedal can sound really nice as the first item in the FX loop before delay and digital reverb units.

I agree with you. On the other thread, I made the same statement originally, although, I was tired at the time and may not have worded it as well. I was also telling AliensExist4 to experiment, to see what he personally liked best. Then, I also gave the easiest way to setup, which will at least get him started.

I have a GT-6 that is collecting dust, as I found that individual pedals on a pedalboard were both the most convenient and best sounding to me. It's much quicker to do "on the fly" adjustments when all of the knobs are right in front of you, rather than trying to reprogram a multi-effect. Also, as written above, if you find another effect you like, you can either just add it or replace something else.

I currently have the pedal board that is split into two chains, so that one chain (Tuner, Compressor, and Overdrive) are going straight in to the amp's input, and my modulation effects (Chorus, Tremelo, and Delay) are fed into the effects loop. This setup sounds the best to me.

I started out by feeding everything straight to input in the past for convenience and two less cables. It doesn't sound quite as good, but works. And have since been using this split method.

 

[ylo]

I agree that multiple pedals is the way to go, except that this approach easily leads to tone suck (treble loss), even with true bypass pedals.

Many of the pros use bypass loops and buffer / line drivers carefully positioned in the chain to eliminate tone suck. In my experience, Boss and DoD pedals are the worst for tone suck, but even the boutique pedals can cause it if you have too many pedals.

Amplifier effects loops with rack effects seem to be generally less susceptible to tone suck, but most of us seem to like the simplicity of stomp boxes before the amp.

 

[bifferman2966]

LIke a lot has said they both have their ups and downs...I use a Tube Screamer and a G force which has limitless possibilities... althought it's always easier to turn a few dials to get what you want

 

[Brewski]

I just thought that I'd add that if you are using individual pedals, use good cables inbetween them to get your best connection along your effects chain. I use George L's, although, there are other great cables out there, as well. This can help minimize some of the tone suck spoken about above and clean up some of the muddiness that may occur when you are running multiple pedals in a chain. It's not a cure all, but if you've invested a good sum of money in your amp, pedals, and other gear, it doesn't hurt to connect them all with good cables.