A few pedals or a multi-effects?

[IM4Tone]

Re: A few pedals or a multi-effects?

I've tried both ways. The MFX now collects dust. IMO there is NO comparison in tone quality. Everything seems to be a compromise in MFX...not bad, but also not great.
Wanna ago inexpensive? JOYO Sweet Baby for mild OD; JOYO Deluxe Crunch for heavier crunch.
More to spend? Fulltone Fat Boost FB-3 for the mild OD, and either the Boss Fender Bassman FBM-1 or the Mad Professor Simble for the Heavy Crunch.
And, swap out that V1 12AX7 for a 5751 in the HRDlx and you may/probably will only need the mild OD pedal.

[Mukobi]

Re: A few pedals or a multi-effects?

Thanks for all the help guys! I think right now I'm going to go for a Fulltone Fulldrive 2 Mosfet and an MI Audio Crunch box.

I've heard lots of people saying that they liked their HRDx more after switching V1 with a 12at7 to smooth out the preamp gain and make it overall a bit quiter. Do you think it would be worth it for my scenario, or should I stick with a 12ax7? Also, what effect does a 5751 in V1 have on the HRDx, and would you advise me to put one of those in?

[IM4Tone]

Re: A few pedals or a multi-effects?

Thanks for all the help guys! I think right now I'm going to go for a Fulltone Fulldrive 2 Mosfet and an MI Audio Crunch box.

I've heard lots of people saying that they liked their HRDx more after switching V1 with a 12at7 to smooth out the preamp gain and make it overall a bit quiter. Do you think it would be worth it for my scenario, or should I stick with a 12ax7? Also, what effect does a 5751 in V1 have on the HRDx, and would you advise me to put one of those in?

I think, considering the price, that a swap would do wonders for the HRDlx, which sounds harsh to me stock. The 5751 is mid way between the 12AX7 and the 12AT7. It's just plug and play (no re-bias) so worst case is you blew $30...but you'll like it I'm 95% sure.

[PFDarkside]

Re: A few pedals or a multi-effects?

Thanks for all the help guys! I think right now I'm going to go for a Fulltone Fulldrive 2 Mosfet and an MI Audio Crunch box.

Outstanding choices. The MI is one that a lot of other Marshall in a Box are based on, and the FD2 pairs exceedingly well with Fender amps, and will boost the Crunch Box well too. Enjoy!

[Chickenwings]

Re: A few pedals or a multi-effects?

Thanks for all the help guys! I think right now I'm going to go for a Fulltone Fulldrive 2 Mosfet and an MI Audio Crunch box.

I've heard lots of people saying that they liked their HRDx more after switching V1 with a 12at7 to smooth out the preamp gain and make it overall a bit quiter. Do you think it would be worth it for my scenario, or should I stick with a 12ax7? Also, what effect does a 5751 in V1 have on the HRDx, and would you advise me to put one of those in?

nah not a 12aT7 for V1. They do reduce the gain a little (similar to simple turning down the input volume by one knotch) but they also sound colder and thinner than 12ax7s.
I don't know how old your hot rod is, but there is a simple mod to tame the seemingly scary volume of the HRD which is changing the volume pot from Linear to Audio. This gives you the same max volume, but allows much easier fine tuning at the lower end of the dial. Stock hot rods seem to go from zero to 100 in the first 30% of the knobs range , with not much happening in the last 70%. An audio taper pot will alleviate this.
IN fender's defence, i know they have fixed this for amps made in the last year or two, so it depends how old your amp is.

You could go for a 5751, which is more or less a lower gain 12ax7, but despite claims of mystical mojo, it wont do anything for you that turning the volume down a little wont.

The other much more effective way of taming the beast is using a lower efficiency speaker. A difference of 3db on a speaker's max sound pressure levels will feel more or less like cutting the volume in half. So, a 100db speaker will seem to blow the doors off your house compared to a 97db speaker. The other thing that makes an amp seem uncomfortably loud is a speaker that tends towards bringing out treble frequencies and not much low end. My fave speaker (as i mentioned earlier) for taming loud clean big tube fender amps is the eminence texas heat, but if you want something more in line with the midrange honk of british style speakers, the G12M creamback will also attenuate the volume a little and smooth off the low end. Stay away from the G12H creamback cos that will make you amp louder.
Having a less efficient and less bright speaker will let you run your amp a bit hotter than usual, giving you a fuller fatter sound without making your (or your audience's) ears bleed.
What you need is a speaker with a high wattage rating (preferably double or more what the amp can produce) but a fairly low SPL (measured in db's). Different manufactireres all measure their speakers differently, but comparing the spl pf various speakers from one manufacturer will give you a good idea of whether the speaker is efficient or not.
ANywyas to keep it simple, either a texas heat or a G12M creamback would both sound excellent in your amp, making it fatter and warmer, sweeter and less "in your face" and loose.

[IM4Tone]

Re: A few pedals or a multi-effects?

.................You could go for a 5751, which is more or less a lower gain 12ax7, but despite claims of mystical mojo, it wont do anything for you that turning the volume down a little wont..................

Couldn't disagree more. The 5751 will smooth out the harsh sounds typical of the HRDlx "drive" channel. Very different from turning the volume down IMO. Unless you are really short on funds, you should try this for $30 +/-.

[Mukobi]

Re: A few pedals or a multi-effects?

That volume mod is for the master volume only because the clean volume and gain are already audio taper, right? And to do it, do I just need to take the amp apart, desolder and unscrew the old pot and screw in and resolder the new one?

[Demanic]

Re: A few pedals or a multi-effects?

I would go with a decent Zoom multi pedal if I were just starting out. Just based upon my experience with their other products.

[IMENATOR]

Re: A few pedals or a multi-effects?

If I were you I would use the amps clean/drive/more then buy a Boss line selector and an AMT S1 or P1 preamp. You can switch from your amp's preamp for clean/blues/rock to the pedal preamp for really high gain. That makes for 230 USD all new but you may find them used anyway.

Edit: For rythm/lead blues I just set my gain and control with volume knob.

[Mincer]

Re: A few pedals or a multi-effects?

Of course, I'd recommend the 805 Overdrive and the Dirty Deed Distortion. But they are really, really good. The 805 has more range and better EQ than any TS-variant, and the Dirty Deed sounds like a Marshall is supposed to sound.

[uOpt]

Re: A few pedals or a multi-effects?

As people said:

1) there is always one effect in a multieffect that isn't any good (for you or in general)

2) one thing breaks you lose everything. Do you want to drag around a spare unit?


Also:

3) I have never seen flexible enough routing in multieffects, especially if you consider the position of external inserts.

The latter is the main reason I gave up. Having said that, I think think the Vox/Korg tonelab is awesome and the most broken effect is the treble booster, which is comparably easy to replace and doesn't present a routing problem.

[J E C]

Re: A few pedals or a multi-effects?

I too have given some thought to this subject, but more in the lines of time based FX like Flange, Chorus, and Vibe. Do you get something like the Strymon Mobius that can do so much and sounds incredible, or get several different pedals that sound incredible, to get the different sounds. One for the MXR stile Flange and another for the Electric Mistress stile, then a Chorus, and a Vibe, and a...... If you can get the sounds that you like from something like the Mobius, is there an advantage with using the individual pedals, like how they can be combined, and in different orders? Does anyone ever run more than one Flanger at a time?