Still on the fence! Pedals vs. Processor!

[Monsta-Tone]

Well, ****!

I've been trying to decide for months whether I want to get a few good pedals or a nice processor and midi pedal.

Help me decide! Sell me on pedals vs. processor or vice/versa!

Everytime I get ready to pull the trigger on a G-Major II or a GT-10, I think that it might be nicer to have a Time Factor and a few other good pedals.
But....Everytime I get ready to buy a Time Factor, I start thinking about pedal boards, power supplies, etc. and it just doesn't seem like one is more simple than the other!


I'm thinking:
G-Major II and a good midi pedal board
or
G-System and a good expression pedal
or
Time Factor, Mod Factor, pedal board, Tuner pedal (already have one), & Wah pedal (already have a Bad Horsie II, but would love a Clyde Deluxe instead), and who knows what else!


??????!!!!!!!??????!!!!!!!!

I love the fact that I can program the G-Major II to control my amp too.
I keep thinking myself into smaller and smaller circles and it's driving me nuts!

 

[dmcguitar]

what amp are you using?

i would say go with the pedals, and a GCX system http://www.voodoolab.com/gcx.htm
you would make a rack, put that in it, put all your pedals in that (its like a 8 effects loops that can go before or after the amp,so pedals can go in front of the amp or in its fx loop, plus it can control the switching on some amps, that depends on the amps switching system).

then you can add and removed effects as you see fit, and you can get a power brick to power all your pedals just run that and your amp and other power needs into a power conditioner.

cables are short... most of the stuff should be pre-wired and easy to hook up / break down at gigs too

 

[MrMarkIII]

Man, I feels ya. Bought and sold the GT-6, GT-8 (two), GT-10 (two), RP-1000.
I always come back to the much-easier-to-tweak-on-the-fly pedals.
All I really need is a delay, reverb, and some modulation. And I might sell the reverb.
I don't know how many gigs I've ended up unplugging all the effects because they were just muddy-ing up everything.
My two cents.

 

[Monsta-Tone]

The Ground Control & GCX might do the trick. I really like the idea of 1 thing on the floor.

I'll be using my DC-10 or modded Heartbreaker. Gotta figure out which one works better for the band. The DC cuts through like an electric Ginsu though!

I keep coming back to only needing delay, chorus, occasional flange, wah.
But....since we are doing a few covers and a lot of originals, I like the idea of being able to come up with immediately different tones, and the programmable EQ on the G-Major is really cool for that. Plus, I have tons of FX if I choose to use them.
We're playing a few Rush songs, so I'm gonna need something to fill in the gaps a little. They just have so much going on in each song and our bass player is really good but has his hands full.

 

[Monsta-Tone]

Doing the math kills me too!

G-Major I = $299 new
G Major II = $499 new
Decent pedal = $300
Total = $1,098


G-System = $1,499
Xpression pedal = $100
Total = $1,599


Time Factor = $399
Mod Factor = $399
Compressor = $150 (decent one)
EQ pedal = $100 or so
Pedal Train 2 = $120
Power Supply = $100
Total = $1,268 + cables and velcro + ???

It's cheaper to get 2 G-Majors (1 for the front of the amp and the II in the loop) than it is to get a few good pedals!
This circular thinking is making my hair fall out!

 

[Laskyman]

I keep coming back to only needing delay, chorus, occasional flange, wah.

For the BEST options, using your criteria above, and especially if you ONLY use a few effects- go Eventide Modfactor and Timefactor. The downside is you will need these on the floor- the good news is, this is all you will need, maybe forever.....save a wah if that is your thing...so, this will bring your total investment to approx $1100 with connectivity and power strip. You can get a multi outlet for the the board, and run the factors and amp, program the factors to have your basic effect needs in 1 bank (ex: always on delay 1-1, lead delay 1-2, chorus 1-1, flanger 1-2) and you are done. The Eventide units are superior to the TC units in any measurable category, save price- but once you play around and hear these units, you begin to see why they cost $400.
My $.02, and, I will also be moving into a simplified board with my Electra Dyne, because it derserves a simple plan to compliment the simple amp design- Wah, Boost, and Timefactor....keeping my GT because one will ALWAYS need a back-up rig for certain events and circumstances.....
of course, YMMV

 

[Monsta-Tone]

I hear what you're saying. I keep coming up with instances where pedals won't work and I need a different effect.
Everytime the drummer emails a song for me to learn, it seems like I need something else.
That's why I keep coming back to a processor instead of pedals.

Or...I come up with some crazy riff that needs a different sound and........

Sooner or later, I gotta quit confusing myself! :lol:

 

[ibanez4life SZ!]

I've ditched every processor I've ever used. I end up not using about 90% of the effects and tweaking options.

Pedals are so much more tweak friendly to me.

If you get the GCX and Ground Control, you'll be able to run your favorite pedals as if there were in a processor. Effortless switching with your amp. If you want, you can even run both amps with the GCX

Eric

 

[Monsta-Tone]

I've ditched every processor I've ever used. I end up not using about 90% of the effects and tweaking options.

:lol: Me too, but I've also done the same thing with pedals.
Given that G-Majors are now going for around $100 used, I think I'll pick one up again and see if I can make it work for me.
I only need about 10 presets.
2 sets of 5 that would be laid out on the pedal like this:
Clean _ Clean w/EQ _ Dirty _ Dirty w/EQ _ Balls out programed EQ & Dirty

Then, I want the top row or rows to control individual FX:
Chorus _ Pitch _ Delay _ Tap Temp _ Solo


FWIW: I really liked the way that the G-System was set up. Any button can become anything you want and there are 3 rows of them!
But, in the end, I realized that if anything ever happened to the footswitch, I was out FX and Controller, which just didn't sit right with me for some reason!

 

[dmcguitar]

lasky man, arent the eventide pedals midi controllable? he can put them in a rack and get a midi controller to select the patches from that (which should be easier than tapping through banks. then you just need something to switch the amp channels.

 

[Laskyman]

Yeah- the Factors are midi controlable.....then just changing the amp channels would round it out, but also increase the investment....

 

[gonzo]

i've never tried a processor, that outperformed a pedal, for a specific task.

i think you don't go with processors, because they have better compressors, or distortions, or fuzz, or wah, or vibe, or phase, or chorus..

you do it to have the ability to do many things very quickly.

there's a purity of tone and effect with a pedal.
the tradeoff, is that the pedal only does the one thing, does it exceedingly well, but only does the one thing.

and you gotta have a bunch of them, to cover the basics.

it's a tone quest thing.

 

[Monsta-Tone]

Yeah, I completely agree, but I hate to tap dance when I'm trying to change tones.

I ended up getting a G-Major II. Still need a pedal though.
I'm leaning toward the GCX and Ground Control Pro so that I can do a hard bypass of the G-Major for most of my tones, but add the FX Loop in when I want it while being able to change channels and EQ settings.

 

[droptrd]

Id say pedals because you can easily change out one OD for a different sounding one. Same thing for your delay, reverb, modulation etc.

 

[KH Guitar Freak]

Go with the Eventides...

 

[Laskyman]

Just added the Eventide Timefactor to my board- unbelievable pedal. This thing is an instrument by itself.....

 

[konstantine RK]

Eventides..... you will not regret them.

Im all out of gas now!

 

[MJ Slaughter]

If nothing else, I've learned about myself over the years that I flip flop every few years so at my ripe old age I decided to keep two boards that each fit into the same flight case. One with my GT-10 that has space for my talk box and a couple of OD/Dist pedals if I want, the other holds all my analog pedals including wah, volume, tuner etc. So I can appease the Jekyll or Hyde in me. Sometimes I just want to put it all in the closet and bring only my guitar and amp though. Sometimes I wish I were a blues player.

 

[ryjan]

Sometimes I wish I were a blues player.

:lol: You dont really mean that.

 

[MJ Slaughter]

Sometimes I wish I were a blues player.

:lol: You dont really mean that.

No, not really. Thats just crazy talk. :lol: