are multi-effects pedals any good?

Now, do you mean those effects in the "bank" where you can just flip it onto this effect from that effect, or do you mean have a ton of effects on at the [u]same time[/u]? Im not too exstatic about the ability to play 15 effects at the same time, or whatever, i just want something where i can switch from this effect to that effect in just a few seconds, you know (but im loaded from working at Mcdonalds that i want the most possible effects i can get, etc).

I got a gt-5 and theres nothing i cant do with it. it cost me about $600-$700 but its got enough effects in it to cost well over a thousand in single pedals

You must have boughten it when it first came out, or something, they arent that expensive now...but anyways i'd get the GT-6...

What Synths can you do on yours, mike? i heard a GT-6 sound byte, and it had a few synths, like a flute and a few others, i thought it was really neat.

GT-5 is great, it was the first of the mighty GT series...
but it's pretty old now...

the only advantage of a GT-5 over GT-3 & GT-6 is that you can get up to 15 different effects simultaneously (at once) ... which i dont find so interesting since the GT-3 can do 13 ..

But the updates in the GT-3 and GT-6 includes 2 bank pedals one for going up and another for going down ....
the GT-5 got only one bank pedal , which is seriously bad...
imagine that you are in bank 4 and you want to go to bank 3,
you'll have to press the bank pedal down ........ and wait till it finishes all the banks , and count from the begining : 1,2,3 !!

also what if you pressed that pedal once by mistake... to get back you're going to do the same thing.. press the bank pedal, and wait !

If you didn't realize how big is this problem you've gotta know that the GT-5 has 250 patches and 5 patch pedals per bank..
which means we've got 50 banks to go, got my point..

Not to forget the memory size.. both GT-3 & GT-6 got 340 patches with 4 patch pedals, and that's 85 banks in total , simply managable by 2 bank pedals for up and down.

finally , i think the GT-6 wins ... bec it has got more effects, more than one wah-pedal modulation, and of course other stuff that I still don't know !
(although I don't like it's design, specialy the color..compared to the lovely looking GT-3 & GT-5)

GT-3 owner

I noticed the VG-8 got mentioned earlier in the thread.

The VG-8 is quite different from the GT series. It's a guitar modelling system, not a simple multiFX unit (I have the newer VG-88). First off, you'll need a hex-pickup on your guitar (a Roland GK-2AH comes with the VG-88, normally, or use RMC piezos or a SoundGarage hex humbucker).

Essentially, the VGs let you make your guitar sound like any guitar you want, from a Strat to an LP to a 12-string Rickenbacker, to acoustics, classicals, bass, some synthy sounds and more. It's not a guitar synth though; the sounds are created by processing the signal from your guitar, they're not just samples that are triggered.

The VG-88 has an FX section that's essentially a cut-down GT-3. It doesn't have things like the auto-riff and the other slightly gimmicky features, just compression, wah (which, if set up right, actually sounds very good indeed), EQ, modulation, delay, chorus, reverb and noise gate. It also has the same amp models as the GT-3, though there are rumours (from a reliable source) that it's about to be updated (firmware upgrade over MIDI) to add all the GT-6 amp models and FX, plus better bass modelling.

If I was in the market for a new processor, I'd either get a VG-88 again or a GT-6, some anodiser stripper and some spray paint. That gold colour is just tacky.

Originally posted by SLY
the GT-5 got only one bank pedal , which is seriously bad...
imagine that you are in bank 4 and you want to go to bank 3,
you'll have to press the bank pedal down ........ and wait till it finishes all the banks , and count from the begining : 1,2,3 !!

No. That's not how it works. Do you really think that Roland would design it that way?

You press the bank pedal, then you press the number pedals to indicate what bank you want.

Besides, your patches should be arranged so that you never have to change bank during a song.

well i actualy haven't tried it personally to tell, but i know that some zoom FX has this problem, so with 1 bank pedal i thought the GT-5 would have the same problem...

Anyhow, still complicated compared to the updated GT-3 and GT-6..

A question for 'dot-dot-dot' : is it true that the VG-88 can have all the effects to work together simultaneously ? also can you plz give me a list of ALL the effects it has?

Originally posted by SLY
A question for 'dot-dot-dot' : is it true that the VG-88 can have all the effects to work together simultaneously ? also can you plz give me a list of ALL the effects it has?

It's not a multiFX box. As I said above, it's a guitar and amp modelling system.

The effects are as I wrote in my post above. You can use them all at the same time; the "Modulation" block lets you choose one of:

phaser (4, 8, 12 stage, or stepped mode)
flanger
vibrato
pitch shifter (in addition to the hexaphonic pitch shifter in the guitar modelling section)
harmoniser (in addition to the hexaphonic harmoniser in the guitar modelling section)
parametric EQ
tremolo
panner
dual chorus

The wah section works as a pedal wah (tunable range and sharpness), an auto-wah or an envelope wah - or any combination of the three (so mostly pedal, but slightly modulated, or mostly an envelope wah, but affected by the pedal position).

The real strength of the VG-88 is in the guitar modelling though; no other unit does it (except the VG-8). The new Line6 Variax models a few standard guitar types, but the VG-88 lets you choose pickup type, pickup angle, position along the body (or even anywhere up to the 12th fret), body size, resonance and density, alternate tunings (no lag), banjo, acoustic, classical and synthy sounds.

Plus there's no tracking or lag on any sounds. The VG-88 isn't a synth and doesn't use MIDI to trigger sounds; it processes the signal from your guitar strings to model different pickups and so on. Every nuance of your playing comes through; harmonics, bends, slides, fret and string noise, hammer-ons and pull-offs, anything you want.

The only downside is that you have to have a 13-pin pickup, either something like Roland's GK-2AH or an internal system (the GK2 internal or an RMC or SoundGarage installation), and the 13-pin connectors and cable do need to be treated with some care. I'll be swapping mine for some heavier-duty locking connectors in the near future.

First of all, where do you shop for gear, Dr_Simon? Because the shop I go to (Long & McQuade in Canada) lets me try out my gear for 30 days, and I can return it, no questions asked, as long as it's in decent condition. And I've bought several effects from them and ended up returning them (e.g. Boss DD-5, Dunlop JH-1, Boss GT-3, Boss GT-6) when I discovered that either I didn't like them or that they were too much money for what use I got out of them.

Secondly, re: the GT-6 - the wah modelling is alright, but obviously not dead-on accurate. The GT-3 wah really sucked, and the GT-6 improves on the GT-3. I found, though, that the GT-6 was waaay too complicated for me to use, and I have pretty good experience with computers/programming equipment. The parameters weren't well explained, and I didn't have a year to fool around with it and master it.

I've since decided to totally simplify my rig, and soon my rig will consist simply of guitar->Dunlop 535Q wah->delay->distortion->compressor->EQ->amp. (effects are in no particular order).

I found that it was such a pain to change settings around in the GT-6, even with it's increased number of knobs and buttons (as opposed to having to change settings via menus and scroll wheels). That is what really pushed me towards simplifying my rig with stompboxes of effects that I really use.

Yerrr, (Sorry for the earlier rant I still get quite incensed when talking about those two Boss pedals) I spent a month twiddling with both of them consequently because I was less than decisive I ran out of sending them back time !!! My fault there I was still thinking the problem was me doing something wrong !!! Well you live and you learn ! On the bright side Im very happy with the GNX2 which complements the POD beautifully !!! Go Digitech Yuuuummmmm !!!!

Originally posted by Dr_simon
...Im very happy with the GNX2 which complements the POD beautifully !!! Go Digitech Yuuuummmmm !!!!

Does the wah pedal in the GNX-2 sound good? I'm actualy thinking of selling my GT-3 to get the GNX-3 , it seems very cool , specialy the recording thing, but it's a bit more expensive than the GT-6, so is it worth the extra cash?

The wha on the GNX2 is very nice. Over all Im very happy with it.

I didnt get the GNX3 as I think the amount of time you can use for recording stuff sucks. Just thought Id point that out as when I first looked at it I thought Hmmmm 8 track recorder...cooool !!!! Well it is cool as long as you only want to record 30 seconds of 8 track !!!!

Originally posted by Dr_simon
...Well it is cool as long as you only want to record 30 seconds of 8 track !!!!

30 seconds ?!! according to musiciansfriend.com they say: "Record up to 6 minutes internal, 48 minutes with a SmartMedia Card (not included, bigger cards will be available soon). "

This is what I get from the blurb @ musicians friend.

GNX3:
You get 6 min x 1 track with the internal memory (that is 45 seconds of 8 track) expandable up to 48 min of 1 track (6 min x 8 track) with the smart card costing another 80 bucks.

I guess this is fine if you are using another recording device however I dont think it is meant to be a stand-alone recorder.

The reason I didn’t go for was that if I wanted a recorder Id get a recorder and as I wanted an effects pedal I went for the GNX2.

Hope this info helps
S

first off do not i repeat DO NOT EVEN THINK OF TOUCHIN ZOOM...fisher price might as well as made it...same with digitech, i used to be sponsored by digitech and ive played it all.. suuuuux...the best ive found is line 6 pod...the pod PRO is the best i think...its grrreat for live..and amazing for tv performances...unfortunitly IMO its horrible for recording.. thats why you get the the individual effects, like boss is good.. i cant think of much others..there is no such thing as a good distortion pedal, unless you can find one of the original ibanez tube screamers.. they are the best...crem de la crem:)

if you want the board thing tho just go with pod or pod pro..you cant go wrong..(even tho its still sampled effects)