The Friendly 12bar Blues Guitar Forum

Just back from the Blues Night in my hometown (Blues all night long, several bands in several bars ) and decided I'll step away from line6 and try a multi effect pedal like some bands used. The ole Tonelab LE was discussed here already, but it's discontinued and there are so many alternatives.
So far I've spent hours reading reviews about those in my price range (<200€)

- Vox Tonelab family (LE, ST, EX,...), Stomplab
- Digitech RP360/RP500
- Zoom G3X/G5
- Boss ME25/GT001
- not a line6 one!

Reviews are almost enthusiastic for all of them, I simply don't trust them.
Anyone here using this kind of gear for Blues (that's what I want)?
Should be usable for PC recording as well as together with my little Fender Champ. Tone should have preference, USB would be nice.

It's so difficult to know whether a multi-fx unit will suit you or not. There's not really the time to try out all the features in a shop properly, and without knowing quite how the unit works it's baffling.

Regarding the Vox Tonelab - I had an ST which was good, except it didn't have quite the editing available for that final tweak to sound, and I still have an LE which has survived while all other contenders have come and gone. It does seem with the Tonelab series that the older models had more editing and individual buttons and knobs to do the editing with. I'm old fashioned and I get very confused with multi-function aspects of todays smaller footprint units.

I had a Zoom GX3 for quite some time - I recall I felt it was a much better bet than the Zoom G3 by the way. I tend to use these things a lot with headphones and the G3X had one problem in that as far as I was concerned - massive differences in volumes on different patches. I suppose if I hadn't also had the Vox LE I might have edited all patches and re-saved them to equalise those volumes a bit. Anyway I ended up not using the G3X enough to merit keeping and I sold it. I would say though that it had some very good sounds on it, and plenty of editing capability that allowed some good blues tones. I recall it was reasonable for user friendliness too. I've found some recordings I made with it back in 2013.
Here's one I have on Soundclick - http://soundclick.com/share.cfm?id=12471565
Here's a more high gain recording on box.com https://app.box.com/s/806ex2h43asfpmr3grd5
Here's a delay / echo type thing using the built in looper on Box.com https://app.box.com/s/enp9ia04wp1xl35tp4p6
and another crunchy thing on Box.com https://app.box.com/s/u2nxwkackbwpx6jd1gip
Be aware that I did not use it as a computer interface. I plugged its line out into my existing Alesis interface.

I had the Boss GT001 for a very short time. Could well just be me but I thought it was horrible for sound. All geared up for big distortion and fancy exotic but very artificial sort of sounds. Not user friendly at all - so horrible to use too.
(Maybe I just don;t think the way Boss engineers do - I had a GT8 Boss job some years back and while I could get good sounds they needed too much programming and tweaking and I needed to get a Michael Casswell Lick Library DVD guide to understand how to get good sounds out of it).

Don't know about the others. Sorry but can't be of much help.

Good luck with your search / choice.

Wow - thanks a lot!!!
I wish I had a shop, but no option nearby. There's a new shop in my hometown, but they have a only a few and no option to test.
I'll go through your recordings!

The Zoom G5 is my current favorite. It's only 200 bucks, and this YT vid is really impressive:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I7l04eNfh54
From what I've read in various forums, the sounds is really great for it's price.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qyjUxvyfCjI at 4:40

I can't be of much help with these types of multifx.
I use my amps, The Black screamer (if needed) and the Gmajor.
Most of the fxs I use are build in to my fav. amp the Cybertwin SE but that may be a bit to expensive compared to a Multifx.

Couldn't resist and ordered it...

It will be interesting to find out how you get on with it.

Looks rather like a big brother of the G3X. Up to 9 fx on one patch and all the editing parameters of each should make it very tweakable.

The demo videos do suggest it's pretty logical to use and user friendly.

VikingBlues wrote:It will be interesting to find out how you get on with it.

I'll post a demo when I get it recorded... will arrive in 5 days.

VikingBlues wrote:Looks rather like a big brother of the G3X. Up to 9 fx on one patch and all the editing parameters of each should make it very tweakable.

From what I've read it's not just the big brother with more features, the design is different and the result better. But I can't compare...

VikingBlues wrote:The demo videos do suggest it's pretty logical to use and user friendly.

That's what I need!

Zoom G5: first impression.

OK, it arrived today and the GAS pressure went into vacuum.
Unboxing was great - rock solid metal case, rock solid metal knobs, rock solid metal pedal, tons of connectors on the rear.

Usually I don't care of manuals, couldn't be too hard to get at least some presets working. Wrong.

I tried both PC and my amp to get at least one good sound out of it, but failed. The presets are horrible.
OK, the website said it's possible to share presets ("patches") online with a special program. It's even possible to edit the patches.

Wrong again. Installed it, tried to go online and all I found were again the preset patches. Editing is a real pain compared to the line6 PODfarm.
Slow, not intuitive, nearly no features.
I tried some clean standard amp types, but it sounds simply thin and artificial. And not much difference between them.

Downloaded a patch from a Zoom G5 personal website. Couldn't open the file, wrong type.

Tomorrow I'll give it a second chance reading the f* manual. Looks like it goes back...

That's a shame.

Sounds like my experience with the Boss GT001 - a very frustrating experience.

If it can't even manage good sounds with the amp then it's not up to the job at all. I have a feeling that a lot of modern multi-fx units are designed for the tastes and needs of metal-heads!

Hope you get a breakthrough or get better luck with an alternative choice.

12bar wrote:Zoom G5: first impression.

OK, it arrived today and the GAS pressure went into vacuum.
Unboxing was great - rock solid metal case, rock solid metal knobs, rock solid metal pedal, tons of connectors on the rear.

Usually I don't care of manuals, couldn't be too hard to get at least some presets working. Wrong.

I tried both PC and my amp to get at least one good sound out of it, but failed. The presets are horrible.
OK, the website said it's possible to share presets ("patches") online with a special program. It's even possible to edit the patches.

Wrong again. Installed it, tried to go online and all I found were again the preset patches. Editing is a real pain compared to the line6 PODfarm.
Slow, not intuitive, nearly no features.
I tried some clean standard amp types, but it sounds simply thin and artificial. And not much difference between them.

Downloaded a patch from a Zoom G5 personal website. Couldn't open the file, wrong type.

Tomorrow I'll give it a second chance reading the f* manual. Looks like it goes back...

Gerd,


Guitar input set to Active maybe... switch it to passive

Check this : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NUZuhf2q7kY

No, it was passive. I've read through all those tutorials.
Thanks anyway.

O yes.
With my Line 6 X3 Pro is a quite thick manual. I have had my Line6 like that in four years and only now do I begin to read what it can be. So sad with the instruction manual.

Take care

OK, today I read the manual and recorded via USB.
I strum open strings with one hand and click through the settings and presets with the other. You hear a noise all the way. Adjusted output, master volume etc., all other settings are default. Set to passive. No luck.
If you need some 10 minute pain for your ears, please.

I've also made a 100% screenshot of the software. Yes, it looks that way. You need a magnifier to adjust settings. No other menu, no preference settings, nothing. Just the presets that are adjusted with mouse over those little knobs in the graphic.
Tomorrow it goes back.
Lesson learned. I feel better know. But I've bet on a tonelab on ebay...

Oh dear, oh dear! Painful to listen to, and as you've shown painful to look at too.
That display is pretty bad even if it's magnified to over screen size.

I'm not surprised on that basis that it's to go back. The fact that it doesn't even do a decent job plugged into an amp makes it a no-no.

Is it my imagination or is it that the more these multi-fx units are geared to work as computer interfaces with special editing software, the worse the sounds get? It seems to even apply to modelling amps - the "upgrade" I got some years back when my SuperChamp XD had problems to a Super Champ X2 was a disaster that way. There was all this fancy added computer link up and editing software but the basic sounds were horrible compared to the XD.

Yeah, it looks like...
Maybe I'm unfair to this thing, maybe after a week, month or year it's possible to get a good one out of it, but my opinion is that the presets should cover some very basic sounds without tweaking too much. 297 patches come with it, and >90% are horrible.

The search continues...

I finally got a Tonelab LE on Ebay. Shipping next week. Merry Christmas!
I'll post some sounds as soon as possible.

BTW - looks like most members have some Christmas stress... very quiet here.

Yes - if anything there seems less time for anything of a forum nature this month than the rest of an already over-hectic stressful year.

Good luck with the Tonelab - I hope you can get some good sounds from it.

You may find a lot of the presets are ... ermmm ... a bit over the top, but they're very easy to adjust. Having all the controls as solid real knobs and buttons with clearly defined uses makes those adjustments so much easier.

It's there - the tonelab LE. Looks almost new, very solid construction. Don't have much time, but the first impression is great. Much better and easier than the Zoom. Holidays are coming...
I'll upload as soon as I get some good sounds on my PC.


BTW, for those who have one - right under the pedal there's a square hole with a switch in it, but no contact to the pedal is possible. Is there a part missing or should it look that way?

Hope that helps. Do you have that square block under the pedal that is positioned above the square hole?

Please excuse the filthy condition of my LE.