Multi-effects pedals are something I became familiar with only very recently in my time playing guitar, and I think one reason for that is the fact that they are pretty new in general. I always felt like I should have a pedal board but I had never gotten around to building one. To me, a pedal board meant some kind of board with a power source on which several stomp boxes were placed. When I finally got around to building the pedal board, I discovered that you can now get everything in one pedal called a multi-effects pedal. These effects are applied digitally to your sound after you select them in the pedal as opposed to having many analogue stomp boxes on a pedal board.
Some people advised me against using a multi-effects pedal. Some because they like the control they get with analogue stomp boxes and some because they thought the multi-effects pedal was not very manageable compared to a traditional pedal board. You cannot remove a pedal from the digital selection on a multi-effects pedal and resell it if you do not want it to be part of your sound anymore.
Therefore, I began building my pedal board full of stomp boxes. I realized that the money I was spending on individual stomp boxes would add up quickly, and I did not have a good method for determining which sounds I would really want. Eventually, I bought a multi-effects pedal. There are many different types of them, but most of the ones I have seen have the same general design. They are a rectangular board, usually smaller than most analogue pedal boards you will see. On one end, usually the right, they have a big pedal that control volume. If you push the pedal all the way down and click it, it turns into a wah pedal. Next to that pedal are several buttons that control your effects. The system for controlling effects is so different between pedals, it would be hard to describe anything common to all of them, but those buttons can usually be accessed with your feet to toggle between effects once all your effects have been set up.
Whether you like stomp boxes or multi-effects pedals is completely up to you as a musician. There is no right or wrong. However, having some experience with both of them, this is my take on the pros and cons of the multi-effects pedal.
Pros
Transportable – Multi-effects pedals are just one pedal. And while they are bigger than any one individual stomp box, they are one solid piece and usually smaller than most pedal boards
Robust – for the electronics to work in the multi-effects pedal, you only need one piece of equipment to work. Now, this is a double-edged sword and I will probably mention it again in the cons, but it is a pro because stomp boxes connect to each other in what can be a long configuration of individual boxes. If one shorts out, it could take out many other effects if not the whole board and then you would have to track down the issue which can be difficult in itself. With multi-effects pedals, you don’t have that problem.
Affordable – this will also probably come up again in cons. Multi-effects pedals can be pricey, but it’s possible they save you money in the long run. It all depends on which one you get and how many stomp boxes you would have bought in its place. As far as number of effects, you would probably pay more in stomp boxes to get as many effects that come in a multi-effects pedal.
Easy to Obtain Effects – To me, this might be the main advantage of a good multi-effects pedal. While it’s true that you cannot take an effect out of the pedal and sell it, many multi-effects pedals have so many effects built in it hardly matters. Depending on the multi-effects pedal you have, changing effects can be very easy. If you are using some kind of crunch distortion and decide you wanna add a fuzz on top of it, you don’t have to go buy a fuzz pedal. It may already be built into your effects pedal. Even if your multi-effects pedal does not have those specific effects, the concept is that you do not have to go to the store and buy a new pedal every time you want another effect. I would say that the multi-effects pedal has to have enough effects built in for it to be worth while, but that is all a matter of preference. Just for context, I’ve never counted the number of effects in the one I use, but I am pretty sure it has over 100 built in effects.
Presets – That brings me to my next point which is the fact that some of these multi-effects pedals have the ability to create presets. I assume there is probably a way to do something similar on a traditional pedal board. In fact I think I have seen people who have that capability. I am not exactly sure how you do that with stomp boxes, maybe theres a pedal you can add to your stomp box board that toggles between some preset combinations of stomp boxes engaged on a specific set of settings? Does that even make sense the way I put it? I don’t know, feel free to correct me in the comments (we love comments). Anyway, once you’ve set up presets on a multi-effects pedal, it is easy to make drastic changes to your sound by tapping just one button with your foot. At least on my pedal, you can even turn effects on and off within the preset, so each preset is like giving yourself a whole new pedal board.
Tuner – Most multi-effects pedals have a tuning function. So that’s another pedal you don’t have to buy separately. I much prefer the tuning pedals to external tuning devices.
Incorporating Stomp Boxes – Again, not every model of multi-effects pedal can necessarily do it, but a lot of the ones I have found can be patched to stomp boxes. Now I don’t do this. I don’t know where in the chain you would wanna run the stomp boxes and I don’t know what type of complications it might cause. You’ll have to do the experiment yourself and not sue me. And tell me how it went in the comments.
Cons
Learning Curve – While the multi-effects pedals have lots of great capabilities, the way you use them is not always completely intuitive. You may have to look up tutorials and spend a lot of time experimenting. I even played shows where the sound was not the way I wanted it and I just had to go back later, do some more messing around and hope it was better the next show. And it does get better. Improvement not perfection. And if it gets worse one time, don’t get discouraged (as per my last article).
Levels – At least with my pedal, it does not automatically normalize volume levels. I am actually glad it does not, I don’t think the multi-effects pedals should. I am still putting it under cons because it’s more work you have to do. Every effect has it’s own levels and my pedal has amp simulations which also have their own levels of volume, gain, drive, and maybe some other parameters that affect the volume. This makes it a complicated endeavor to try set yourself up to be able to switch in between presets and sounds without causing a drastic and unpleasant change in volume. Stomp boxes users may have a similar issue, but I have not used them very much.
Very Digital – Some people prefer analogue systems to digital. Now many stomp boxes have digital sounds as well, but using a stomp box feels much more analogue. It’s literally a big lump with knobs (no wait, that’s corn). It’s literally a box with knobs and you twist the knobs to change the sound that comes out of the stomp box. Some artists musicians feel like this gives them a more accurate idea of what their effects will sound like. The hands-on act of physically moving, arranging, hooking up, and setting effects on each individual box makes some people more comfortable as opposed to setting everything in the computer. At the end of the day, it’s your sound, do what makes you feel good about it.
Used Gear – If you are in the stomp box game, I bet you’ve bought some used pedals before. That can save you a lot of money, but the pedals may not work. If it is one pedal out of many on your board, it may not be that big of a deal if you have to figure out what to do with one pedal after getting a dud from a used gear deal. Now, if you buy a used multi-effects pedal that does not work, the pedal is useless. I did that once and the pedal did not work. That’s anecdotal, but you wouldn’t want to be in a situation where you couldn’t get a refund, or where it worked at first and then died, leaving you with no effects.
One Power Source – Speaking of multi-effects pedals dying, this is one of the cons that I said I would come back to. While having a singular robust system is great, if anything happens to that one system, everything will go wrong. If something happens to one of your stomp boxes, you can sometimes just remove the faulty stomp box and keep using your board. If anything happens to the multi-effects pedal, it potentially ruins your entire sound.
Pricing – this is the other con I said I would come back to. While going the multi-effects route may save you money in the long run, your situation may make it easier for you to spend $2,000.00 on stomp boxes over 2 years rather than drop $500.00 on a multi-effects pedal right now. Those are example numbers of course. But it may be easier for you to start out by buying minimal stomp boxes and go from there. I’ve played shows where I used a singular stomp box. Just sayin. Of course that may or may not be possible based on the venue, the setting, the sound system; there are just so many factors, but you get my point.
Disclaimers
A few things just for full disclosure: I have very limited experience with stomp boxes and pedal boards. I went the multi-effects route and have been happy with that. I am not sponsored by any pedal, but for the sake of clarity I will say I use a Line 6 POD GO. That’s why I keep mentioning that some multi-effects pedals may not have all the features I am describing. You can get much cheaper ones. Finally, I will note that I am bias. Yes, I feel very strongly that there is no right or wrong answer. It is completely legitimate for anyone to prefer stomp boxes. But I prefer multi-effects pedals. There’s a reason I titled this section “disclaimer” and not “conclusion.” I didn’t weigh all my options and decide multi-effects must be better. I am just acknowledging that I have a preference, so all the rambling I just did is not completely objective. Hopefully, you found it helpful, or at least interesting.
Leave a Reply