jdurso said:
I'm looking for a good fx unit that will play well with the Roadster.... I have a rcoktron xpression but i'm finding the xpression sucking the life out of my clean channel.... the reverbs are ok but not exactly what i'm looking for.... the delays again are ok but not great.... and the chorus to my ears blow (it cold be because i played a JC-120 for 5 years and nothing beats a naturally produced chorus)..... anyway I'm considering the G-Major right now but i wanted to see whats working for everyone else.... i'm into very ambient sounds..... i tend to use a lot of reverbs and delays when i use effects....
Also i'm finding the Hush system built into the Xpression can't handle the Roadster at all..... i have a DBX compressor/gate sitting around from when i had my rack setup but i can't find a way to get it to work well without compressing the signal which sucks the life out of the tone..... so is there any good noise supressor unit out there other than the Hush or Boss pedal?
Jdurso - If you want effects there's 2 options - analog stompboxes or a digital modeller. Each have there pro's & cons. Having used both over many years with both Mesa & Marshall tube amps I've now got got a box full of stomps in a closet cause I everntually got tired of the all the setup issues, techo prob's. cost & lack of versatility
I used to be a tube amp tone snob but admit now that digital modellers have improved hugely in the past 5 yrs and there's now not a big difference in tone between something like a Boss GT8 or a Tonelab and and analog stomp. Both options will suck a bit of tone from your Mesa but there's a solution. Having tried a few dig modellers I've eventually went with the Boss GT8 coupled with a Radstone Harmonic Converger for a few reasons.
If your amp has a series FX Loop you can rig up the GT8 so that it either uses the Amps pre-amp, the GT8's pre-amp or both. If you want to keep the tube tone of your Mesa's pre-amp you can turn off the GT8's pre-amps and just use it as an multi-effects unit. I do that on occasions and it works well. The GT8 is the only model I'm aware of that gives you that versatility.
If you want to use the dig modellers pre-amp you can use it with a Radstone Harmonic Converger. This wonder box restores the tube amp tone that the dig modeller sucks out. That way you've still got your Mesa tone plus a huge variety of tones & effects - with your Mesa's pre-amp or not. This is what I've done. The GT8/HC option costs about $US700 and to get a comparable tonal range & effects with stompboxes you'd need about 20 of em and over $US2000, plus an hour to set-up. I wouldn't use a dig modeller's pre-amp without a Harmonic Converger. Too much tone suck otherwise. Guys in my band say they can't hear the diff between my GT8>HC>Mesa combo compared to direct from guitar to the amp. Get more info at www.BossGTCentral.com forum.
BUT if you're willing to spend around $2000 and want to go straight to the top of the pro effects tree look at the new Axe-FX. From all reports the raw facotry -pre-set Axe-FX patches direct to amp or FRFR sounds equally as good as any amp tone and the effects & tonal range range is limitless. Some muso's are saying it sounds even better then the amps it's simulating. This is the new next big thing. Check out the Axe-FX forum and the website for more info. If I had the money that's what I'd buy.
Another disadvantage of the high end dig modellers is that they are not plug & play units (except for the Axe-FX I hear). The factory pre-sets are **** and you have to do a lot of tweaking to get usable tones. But once you've learned how they work they are very versatile, reliable, quick easy set-up, give good tones & have any effect or tone you'd ever need.
If you read the reviews of the G-major on Harmony-Central you'll see there's been a tonne of prob's with these.
