What's new

Multi Effects Pedals/Rack Units

gsilbers

Part of Pulsesetter-Sounds.com
Im looking into hardware effect units (stereo ) and wondering whats out there i havent seen or thought about.

I really thought the Eventide H9 Max was the bomb until i found out that it only can have one algorithm at a time and not stacckable (unless buying more units).

There is plenty of guitar pedals for effects but normally its mono in. wondering if there is any esoteric pedals or external effects that would be interesting to use for sound design.
 
Some of the old Rocktron guitar multi-effect racks (some originally from the 1990's) have stereo inputs, e.g the Intellifex, Replifex, Xpression etc. Mainly modulation, delay, reverb type of effects from memory (Intellifex), but some of the other units had overdrive/distortions as well.

I remember the old Boss GT5 floor unit had some interesting FX in it besides the usual suspects, things like a Digitech style whammy pedal effect (real time pitch shifter), ring modulator, slow gear (auto volume swell type of sound) etc. The effects are stackable and highly tweakable. It only has a mono input unfortunately. But it does have a send and return as well. Perhaps the return could be used as a second input? I'm not sure. There have been many newer models that have come out since then obviously, but I haven't kept up to date.

The Boss SE-70 might be worth a look also.

The crazy thing is, is that they are really cheap on the second hand market now and are perhaps cheaper than an average priced UAD plugin.
 
Last edited:
Have you looked at Line6? I have a Helix (floor version) with which I am pretty darned happy. I am using it for playing out, but have dragged it into the studio a couple times and it has worked nicely as both an input device and as an insert.

Beyond that there aren't a lot left in production I'm afraid.
Eventide - The H9000 and Eclipse are current, and there are lots of H3000s on Reverb.com and eBay.
Lexicon - the PCM96 is current, and I LOVE my PCM90. Still looking for a PCM91<G>!
TC Electric - they have their 2000, which sounds great and there are older models available used.
Ensoniq - The DP2 and DP4 are really cool (I have a DP2 in the rack). Way out of production, but available used.
Strymon - I am not a big fan of multi-effect stomp boxes, but check them out.
Pigtronix - this is as far as I go with multi-effects, but check out the Echolution. (bias alert, I think I own just about all their products<G>!)
Zoom - they made a half-rack box (9030) that worked pretty well. Mine is sitting on a shelf at the moment, I should probably find it a home. It sounds good, but it was a DOG to program. The saving grace was the floor controller.
Boss/Roland - these were the kings back in the late 1980s. Digitech was another. They all sounded great, they all had to make some compromises for the tech available, but they could be just what you are looking for.

There are others, I'm sure.
 
I've had an Ensoniq DP4 since the '90s and love it for ambient sound design. It has very flexible routing and a multitude of modulation parameters -- a real gem.
 
I know this is an old thread and you are prob sorted now, but just in case anyone finds it useful...
I have had my Boss GT-5 for over 20yrs now and will never get rid of it, highly recommended, however it is mono but with stereo out. If you reorder the sig chain so return comes inat the front you end up with a blended mono i.e. you can only split through a stereo effect.
Mine is only occasionally used for guitar now as it spends most of its life as an extension to my 1979 Kawai 100p synth which it is great for. Also of note, the GT-5 drives etc are analog not digital if that is of interest. Hope that helps someone!
 
Have you looked at Line6? I have a Helix (floor version) with which I am pretty darned happy. I am using it for playing out, but have dragged it into the studio a couple times and it has worked nicely as both an input device and as an insert.

Beyond that there aren't a lot left in production I'm afraid.
Eventide - The H9000 and Eclipse are current, and there are lots of H3000s on Reverb.com and eBay.
Lexicon - the PCM96 is current, and I LOVE my PCM90. Still looking for a PCM91<G>!
TC Electric - they have their 2000, which sounds great and there are older models available used.
Ensoniq - The DP2 and DP4 are really cool (I have a DP2 in the rack). Way out of production, but available used.
Strymon - I am not a big fan of multi-effect stomp boxes, but check them out.
Pigtronix - this is as far as I go with multi-effects, but check out the Echolution. (bias alert, I think I own just about all their products<G>!)
Zoom - they made a half-rack box (9030) that worked pretty well. Mine is sitting on a shelf at the moment, I should probably find it a home. It sounds good, but it was a DOG to program. The saving grace was the floor controller.
Boss/Roland - these were the kings back in the late 1980s. Digitech was another. They all sounded great, they all had to make some compromises for the tech available, but they could be just what you are looking for.

There are others, I'm sure.


i ended up getting the helix stomp. very good sounding.

the only thing i found later that i didnt like was it doesnt have LFOs. the axe fx has lfos and step seq to modulate anything. hopefully line6 will update to add lfo. seems like a no brainer to add wha wha for normal guitar players.
other than that, the reverb is amazing, as well as the other fx.
the other cool thing is thati could buy the native version so i can have same presets and ease of use.
connecting outboard gear to the computer and then back is a pita and viceversa as well so this is pretty cool solution.

i also got the zoom cdr and the reverb is right there with the strymon. you can check comparison videos but it also is great.
 
this thread is old.

But a mate of mine just bought two of each pedal, ok they were tc electronic cheap pedals but to be honest it made the sound design sessions super fun.
 
Top Bottom