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5 Guitar Multi-Effects Pedals Compared ($300 – $330)
In a nutshell guitar effects are cool. A modest, metal box that, at the behest of either a gentle tap or a full-body slamming stomp, you can give your guitar a shimmering chorus/tremolo effect, or hell. Make it sound like a flute or a pipe organ. What’s even better than one effect is one pedal that stores countless effects.
The only problem to this is considering there are as many different multi-effect pedals out there as there are one may wonder something to the tune of “which one is right for me?” For your benefit I’ve compiled a comparison of five different multi-effect pedals out on the prowl. For the age old means of budget I used the price tag to set the base for the comparison.
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Boss ME-70
The word on the street about the ME-70 is that the sonic serving presented here is well priced at $300. To elaborate on the points already made the slow gear allows you to toggle fade-in attack and sensitivity allowing you to have a gentle fade-in or maybe a quicker one set at just enough to remove the picking sound. The original slow gear pedals this effect models are now quite rare, actually. On the plus side it has a wide variety of effects and is certainly able to present something for any case. The only con that seems to come with this is that with quantity comes the sacrifice of much more in depth tweaking that comes from stand alone pedals.
DigiTech RP500
The nitty-gritty about the RP500 is that it offers an abundance of the things it has to offer. DigiTech didn’t hold back with how much they could present in one package, though it still seems a tad behind in really replicating the sounds emitted by certain types of gear. Couple that with a bit more setup time.
Line 6 POD HD300
While a tad pricier than the other pedals on this list, the HD300 (as well as the as of yet unmentioned HD400 and HD500) demonstrates and relies on a much more fleshed out and refined sound quality to let it stand on its own two feet. Also featured is Line 6’s L6 LINK that panders to the Line 6 fan base allowing them special treatment for owning their pedals, amps, or anything else that supports the L6 LINK. In the case of quality vs. quantity Line 6 stands on the opposite side of the fence in this case. While there is plenty of tweaking to be had here, the pedal strives more so to master what it has, and by extension, doesn’t have the big numbers backing its effect count.
Vox ToneLab EX
The ToneLab, unlike the others insofar, is an actual tube effect pedal. It comes packed with any kind of effect you could want for with a design not terribly unlike the Boss ME-70’s, all reinforced by the tube to give it the warm, analog sound we all so love. Though I haven’t experienced it personally, I’ve read tales of a bit steeper of a learning curve behind it.
Zoom G9.2tt
The G9.2tt, apart from having the clumsiest model name to have to type over and over on this list, comes with two 12AX7 tubes in it giving the pedal that warm, analog feel to counteract those typically disconcerting digital sound issues. The negatives mostly include build issues. The footswitches are plastic and thus less durable.
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