Recommend me a mutli-fx!

[matthew a]

Calling anyone who uses multi-fx! I'm nearing the end of my ability to drag my board around on rush hour London tubes 2-3 time weekly for practices. My back needs help.

What I'm after:
- Effects only (I think... still in love with my AC15 & really afraid of getting decent level stage sound through a wedge)
- Simple to use out of the box (I've heard Helix takes lots of tweaking?)
- Work the same way as my board (to have effects sat ready to turn off/on without banking)
- Easy to create simple loops as I get used to the board

Budget is open - Anything up to £1000 feels like a straight swap.

My setup is pretty simple, I guess the only complication is that I use 4 delays. Other than that it's pretty standard fare and I don't tweak the settings on any songs except tremolo speed. Hence the simplicity idea. Here's my current board for reference (also use a wah):

[Harmoncj]

I'd check out a line 6 M9, you might be able to replace everything except the wah, RAT and tremolo.

[FightingPlankton]

id probably go with the TC electronic g system...if i had the money to do so.

edit: just browsed through reverb.com... didnt realise ISP made a multi fx unit. it seems really cool.

edit#2: what mods did you do to your rat? i have the same pedal and have wanted to add the 4th knob for the filter section.

[salty]

I have a Helix and if you are not using the amp sims, because of running it through to your ac15, there is not a lot of tweaking involved.

I use mine into my AC30 and love it! I still do have a few pedals I use in the effects loops of the Helix.

I have run it in front of the amp and in 4 Cable mode and both work great! In edition I had it setup to switch the ac30 reverb and trem on and off, but in the end decided I was fine with using the trem and reverb in the Helix.

I also have an M13 and it is pretty great... the dirt is meh, but some of it is usable.

The dirt in the Helix is great though! I side by side compared it to my Timmy and Green Rhino and was able to nail the sounds I was using the pedals for.

The muff and rat are not my favorites on it, but everything is usable.

And then to boot, you can record direct if you need to, the vox models in the Helix sound great.

[matthew a]

Thanks for the responses, will look some of these up.

edit#2: what mods did you do to your rat? i have the same pedal and have wanted to add the 4th knob for the filter section.

I've put a boost in (control in the battery box). Original pedal works as standard using the right button, boost on the left.

[matthew a]

I have a Helix and if you are not using the amp sims, because of running it through to your ac15, there is not a lot of tweaking involved.

I use mine into my AC30 and love it! I still do have a few pedals I use in the effects loops of the Helix.

I have run it in front of the amp and in 4 Cable mode and both work great! In edition I had it setup to switch the ac30 reverb and trem on and off, but in the end decided I was fine with using the trem and reverb in the Helix.

I also have an M13 and it is pretty great... the dirt is meh, but some of it is usable.

The dirt in the Helix is great though! I side by side compared it to my Timmy and Green Rhino and was able to nail the sounds I was using the pedals for.

The muff and rat are not my favorites on it, but everything is usable.

And then to boot, you can record direct if you need to, the vox models in the Helix sound great.

This is very interesting. I was put off by the fact I'd be paying for a lot of features I wouldn't use, but there is the smaller version that could suit me as well.

If it's good enough for Dustin from Thrice, then I guess I should be seriously considering one. I'll have to get myself to a shop to try it out.

[salty]

Yeah, go try one out! I have had several skeptical friends come over to test mine out and they were all sold on it being fantastic by time they left. And as far as it taking time to create presets when using amps, there are several people with ears much better than mine that create and sell presets at a good price. If you are good at analyzing what they have done, it makes it much easier to create your own moving forward.

Yeah the LT version is a bit cheaper. I do like having the full version though because I use 3 of the effects loops for external stompboxes.

I have a Red Witch Fuzz God 2 in one of the loops, a Digitech Freqout in another and in the third a Jamman solo xt. I have the external switch for the Jamman in the
EXT amp section, so I can do things like cycle through the loops from the Helix itself.

I really love mine a lot!

I got a Yamaha DXR10 I use as a FRFR with it and it sounds fantastic. Of course you have to remember it will and is not supposed to sound like an amp in the room. It does however sound just like an amp mic'd through a PA system, which is what the crowd hears most of the time anyway. But if you are using just the effects with the ac15, that is not something you will need to be concerned about.

[matthew a]

Cool, that's really helpful. Thanks! Good to know I could still use some of my other fx like the Black Fountain in the loop.

TBH, if I picked one up, it would be 2 gigs before I realised DI-ing is way easier than getting an amp to a show. I've just played so many places where the sound guy swears there's no more more he can put in the wedge, yet I'm hearing nothing.

[salty]

I have not played out with mine yet, but I will probably bring the Yamaha along and run to it and the front of the house with the Helix and not bring my ac30. I think the LT version only has 2 loops, but I could be wrong. The routing capability is insane!

[cpeck]

I really like the M9 for multi-fx - obviously not as wonderful as my analog modulation and delay but works perfectly live.

[waylon]

I found these two
https://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/HelixLT
https://musicsquare.co.uk/168923_Headru ... essor.html
But i don't know much about headrush.

[matthew a]

So after lots of reading, videos, deliberation, consideration & playing with a Helix for 20 mins in a guitar shop, I'm 90% decided on selling my pedalboard and AC15 to get a Helix.

Currently the pain of selling/posting 15 pedals, power supply & board are at least going to slow me down long enough to ensure I'm serious. I'll keep my oil can delay, rat & big muff. The rest should just about cover the cost of the Helix.

[salty]

I really do love mine! I do sometimes still like the amp in the room thing and kept my ac30 for that reason. Playing the Helix through my Yamaha DXR10 gets close, but not quite 100%. Of course the Helix , and most any modeler, is not supposed to sound like an amp in the room anyway. It is supposed to and sounds like an amp hat has been mic'd up.

There is a guy on the Line 6 Helix forum named Freeman that sells a preset pack for the Helix for like 50 dollars and his presets sound great.
http://line6.com/support/topic/22156-fr ... 5-presets/

Another guy that makes great sounding presets is:
https://www.glenndelaune.com/patch%20downloads.htm


Not necessary of course to use someone else's patches. Those two guys just have really good ears and experience with modelers that surpass my own. I find that I often take their patches and tweak them for me own use.

[dmin77]

I usually stay away from multi effects but these sound interesting:

https://youtu.be/lja-csp16NE" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[Embenny]

Fractal FX8.

It is literally exactly what you seek. It's at the top end of your budget, but the effects quality and tweak ability leave the helix in the dust. Especially to a man with 4 delays on his board...the fractal unit will nail the tone of your delays and let you route everything in exactly the signal path you want. Not to mention the quality of the drives is in another league from other multis.

I'm not a fractal shill...I'm actually a Kemper owner . But I have played the Fractal stuff and when it come to FX, I have literally never experienced anything like it. I prefer the pure amp tones of the Kemper which is why I bought it...but the drive pedals in particular kick my Kemper's butt in both quantity and quality, and for delay/mod/pitch shift/Reverb, the FX8 is also the supreme king of multiFX.

Go try it out, but really take your time listening to it. It's got so many options that it's easy to presume that they can't all be good. But truly, I don't think there's a bad tone in that unit. You could stick to models that recreate your pedalboard and be totally happy with it, if you want to keep it simple. But if you slowly dive deeper, you'll be amazed at what it can do.