Well, I have finally decided that I am now āalmostā at a level that I can add pedals to the mix. After looking around, I have gone for an all in one pedals option, the Boss Me-90 multi-effects pedal. This has the added bonus of including pedals that I donāt know if I will ever use ;-).
It is due to arrive tomorrow and, if I get time to sort it out, I might use it on Saturday night as a simple pedal/ amp board at a country music gig. I know the sound I want, it will just be if I have enough time to find it
Congrats on your new purchase! Iām interested in how that pedal works out for youā¦ Iām trying to āchart my courseā on which direction to go when it comes to getting different effectsā¦
What amp (if any) do you use? I have a SS amp now but also a tube amp on order that wonāt have effects built in.
Let us know how that Boss pedal does!!!
Good luck with your gig!
Hi Tod, I use a Katana 100 mk2 which is a great amp, but to get the effects right you need to set them up via a computer, which I find a right PIA. The reason I chose the ME-90 is that the adjustments are all done via knobs on the unit, so can be adjusted as required without connecting the PC.
I will report back once I have played with it For me I need it to do 3 different genres, Rock and Roll, Country and the occasional pop covers.
Cool, my SS amp is a Katana 50 mkII. My PC died some time ago so Iāve never even attempted to access the Tone Studio. I only own 2 pedals, a Boss RC-1 looper & a Boss SY-1 synthesizer. So, with the Katana, I have a few āgo toā settings saved & pretty much donāt change anything.
The amp Iām waiting for is a Harmony H605 Tube Combo thatās been on back order for quite some time. Always on the lookout for the right bit of kit to flesh out the tones Iām wanting, though!
So thanks in advance for your take on the new multi-effects pedal!!!
Man, your gonna have too much fun Tony.
Between the effects of the modeler amp and your new multi pedal, your gonna have effects galore.
I just watched a 20 min video on your new pedal. It sure has a lot of effects within it. Your gonna have fun with that.
As a play by myself player. Iāve not gone down the rabbit hole. I only got 4 pedals that are connected. A couple in a drawer that I donāt use so much. I just havenāt figured out how to use pedals I think. When I play a song by myself, I find I just like listening to āmeā through my amp. I do engage a very minor amount of delay sometimes. Or more often, I do use a tremolo pedal (when Iām playing a amp w/o onboard tremolo). But other than that. I just aināt figured it out what to do with pedals when Iām playing a song by myself.
Hope you have much better success compared to me.
Worse yet. about the last three weeks or more, I been playing acoustic more often than not. I may use the tremolo pedal with my acoustic if Iām plugged in, but generally I aināt plugged in unless Iām recording.
Myself, I hope to hear more as to how your using it and which effects your finding useful.
If you want to have fun with your pedals, you should try songs from the band Nirvana.
For instance, in Smells Like Teen Spirit, itās a pedal show. You have to toggle on/off pedals for every part of the song.
Intro : Clean for 8 bars then big overdrive for the rest
Verses: Clean + Chorus pedal
Pre-chorus: Clean + Chorus pedal + Small overdrive
Chorus and Link: Big overdrive
FX can be a lot of fun, and a unit like the ME-90 isnāt a bad place to start, especially if you donāt like āmenu divingā, which most other multiFX pedals require.
But it also depends a bit on your musical tastes and what you like to play.
I was, briefly, part of a jam group that had a short set-list of songs many of which really needed some effects. For instance:
Nirvanaās āCome As You Areā uses a lot of Chorus, as do many other tracks from the 80s and 90s including those from Guns āNā Roses, Prince, etc.
Green Dayās āBoulevard of Broken Dreamsā has a heavy tremolo or slicer effect in the verses, and a wah towards the end.
Green Dayās 21 Guns has a sort of fade-in effect which needs either a āslow gearā or a volume pedal to produce on guitar.
Lots of other tracks benefit from various levels and styles of distortion.
Thereās also stuff like Pink Floyd āBreatheā, which uses a univibe.
Agreed. Most of the Iām I am playing country (twangy) Traditional Rock and Roll (not so twangy) and occasionally more modern stuff (no real idea on what I need there). Therefore having lots of different options to try out will be great and I wont waste money on pedals that I donāt like/need Thatās the plan, anyway
We get a lot of āwhat pedal should I buy first?ā type questions here. And whilst answers like ātunerā or ālooperā are very good, typically the people who ask this really mean āwhat FX pedal should I buy first?ā
In that respect, I always like to steer people towards a multifx unit because, whilst there are common answers which make some sense (e.g. overdrive) it really depends a lot on the person, their musical tastes, what current gear they have, etc. For instance, if they already have an amp that does overdriven/distorted tones (like the Katana) then an overdrive pedal might not be that useful as a first pedal.
A multifx unit lets you both learn what the effects are and how to use them, as well as whether they are effects you have any real use for, and without the hassle of powering individual pedals and dealing with cabling and trying to keep everything tidy.
And, with most multifx units, you also get a tuner and a simple looper, so those boxes are ticked too.
A quick update after a couple of days playing with the ME-90. I love it. I really like that the adjustment is āanalogueā, i.e. I can turn knobs to adjust the effect. This is really how I like to work.
I have almost found the base tone that I like so that I can build on that.
One thing I have learnt, is once I have all the settings as I want, I turn off all the pedals before saving it. That way, I only turn on the pedals I like when I select a preset. I find this easier than turning off pedals when I set the preset.
Thatās the plan, anyway