If going floorboard direct - what Multifx?

I have this one, and the acoustic one...both are magnificent.

But Ace, what's your budget here?

Lets call it low/me/high end

300/600/900 Over 900 and might as well spend 2k...and just get a Kemper.

Remember - practical/optimal guy.

I don't need 150 Quad core digitally modeled obscure Spawn models etc.

Marshalls (JTM45/800/900's) Mesa's (MKIV/DUal rectos) Fenders, Voxes, etc....

Cabs 2x12, 4x12, 4x10, 1x12...Again, can be all celestials for all I care

Comps, EQ's Wah's

Chorus Phase Flange

Delays

Reverb

And some cool crap.

200 presets. Ability to on/off like stomps.
 
Simple path

flyrig5_v2.png

Let me rephrase: I need to take a patch to a place where I can on/off effects and then go to next patch.
 
Simple path

flyrig5_v2.png

I agree with this. I have one. Great little unit. Do what Kotzen does with his signature FlyRig and use two of them.

Programmable can be a pain in the ass. You can have it all nice and dialed in at home and once you get to the venue, what you dialed in doesn't work. It takes a lot of tweaking to get it right for everywhere. Major tweaking and editing. Then there's organizing the banks, making it simple to get from preset to preset. Screw that....WYSIWYG is how I like to go. Whenever the day comes where all there is to use is programmable, then I'll tweak to my heart's content. At home, fine, at a gig, nope. Been there, done that. Even my worship band DI rig is WYSIWYG.



(WYSIWYG = what you see is what you get, for those that aren't familiar with that acronym)
 
Lets call it low/me/high end

300/600/900 Over 900 and might as well spend 2k...and just get a Kemper.

Remember - practical/optimal guy.

I don't need 150 Quad core digitally modeled obscure Spawn models etc.

Marshalls (JTM45/800/900's) Mesa's (MKIV/DUal rectos) Fenders, Voxes, etc....

Cabs 2x12, 4x12, 4x10, 1x12...Again, can be all celestials for all I care

Comps, EQ's Wah's

Chorus Phase Flange

Delays

Reverb

And some cool crap.

200 presets. Ability to on/off like stomps.

I say, look for a used Fractal AX8. Best amp models and effects around, and still extremely viable even though it is discontinued.
 
I have a Line6 Helix Floor and a Headrush MX5 as backup. Either may not be top of the line, but I get great tones out of both units.

The MX5 wins for tne comoact size, and you can use Scenes to match your FX on/off needs.
 
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I say, look for a used Fractal AX8. Best amp models and effects around, and still extremely viable even though it is discontinued.

I just looked them up even used, they are kinda pricey. I guess that is a good sign if they hold their value.
 
Lets call it low/me/high end

300/600/900 Over 900 and might as well spend 2k...and just get a Kemper.
I'm seeing used Kemper Stage units for $1200-$1300. Having used the powered toaster for a few years, I would be going with the stage if you can't find something inexpensive that scratches your itch. It won't leave you wanting for features, does acoustic and bass as well. It honestly pretty much cured my gear gas.
 
Man, I know Ace gets this already becuase he does play paying gigs and still doesnt want to go nuts with expense and complexity, but I recommend anyone not gigging or recording a ton to avoid the complexity and intense expense of some of these professional Multi-Fx rack mount and integrated stage units -especially without revenue coming from it.

Instead, keep it simple, get the good sounds you like and maybe need, practice playing getting lots of tones, voicings and styles for your guitar before you go nuts spending heavy 4 figures on owning ALL of the sounds. Get a good simple powerful multi-fx pedal (maybe 2?) for the stuff you need.

The audience on a recording or live doesnt care about 100000s of sounds you can/could make, they care about a maybe a half dozen great sounds ... if at all. If you just want it all and want nerd out -fine -but make sure its not at the expense of other things needed in life.

You want to invert Murphys law -by being ill prepared for the type of stadium show where you might need significant gear investment -that way Murphys law makes that gig happen and then you win!

It's ok to disagree with this without being a d*ck BTW.
 
Man, I know Ace gets this already becuase he does play paying gigs and still doesnt want to go nuts with expense and complexity, but I recommend anyone not gigging or recording a ton to avoid the complexity and intense expense of some of these professional Multi-Fx rack mount and integrated stage units -especially without revenue coming from it.

Instead, keep it simple, get the good sounds you like and maybe need, practice playing getting lots of tones, voicings and styles for your guitar before you go nuts spending heavy 4 figures on owning ALL of the sounds. Get a good simple powerful multi-fx pedal (maybe 2?) for the stuff you need.

The audience on a recording or live doesnt care about 100000s of sounds you can/could make, they care about a maybe a half dozen great sounds ... if at all. If you just want it all and want nerd out -fine -but make sure its not at the expense of other things needed in life.

You want to invert Murphys law -by being ill prepared for the type of stadium show where you might need significant gear investment -that way Murphys law makes that gig happen and then you win!

It's ok to disagree with this without being a d*ck BTW.

Honestly, the beauty of the Kemper is that you can set it up quite simply and not go down the rabbit hole of all the things it "could" do. Yet you also have the ability to do way more if you choose to go that route. I set mine up one of two ways. One performance of 5 rigs using increasing gain on the same type of amp with a boost, dirt, EQ and delay stomp. The other is one performance of five rigs that cover all the ground I need for a gig. A sparkling clean, gritty clean, good driven tone, hard driven tone and usually my Road King with similar stomps set up. It takes a couple minutes to set either option up and works great. Another guitar player I used to play with created one performance for every song we did with specific effects tweaked specifically for every song. Same gear, two very different approaches.

I also use mine for electric, acoustic and bass rigs. I've sold a ton of gear I don't need anymore and only bought one pedal in the last couple years (I'm not a fan of the internal fuzz offerings). If you're doing a variety of things with it, the economics definitely work in your favor.


Having something that is built to handle the rigors of touring (or just regular gigs) is definitely worth a few bucks to me. I made enough from my infrequent gigs to cover the cost of mine in a few months, so it wasn't an unreasonable expense to me. One friend has gigged his Kemper four days per week for five years and never had an issue. I carry an emergency backup, because that's my nature, but I don't expect to ever need it. Frankly, there is a much better chance of issues with multiple pedals, power supplies and cables.

In the end it's a preference thing. Neither approach is wrong, just a matter of what works for you.
 
Honestly, the beauty of the Kemper is that you can set it up quite simply and not go down the rabbit hole of all the things it "could" do. Yet you also have the ability to do way more if you choose to go that route. I set mine up one of two ways. One performance of 5 rigs using increasing gain on the same type of amp with a boost, dirt, EQ and delay stomp. The other is one performance of five rigs that cover all the ground I need for a gig. A sparkling clean, gritty clean, good driven tone, hard driven tone and usually my Road King with similar stomps set up. It takes a couple minutes to set either option up and works great. Another guitar player I used to play with created one performance for every song we did with specific effects tweaked specifically for every song. Same gear, two very different approaches.

I also use mine for electric, acoustic and bass rigs. I've sold a ton of gear I don't need anymore and only bought one pedal in the last couple years (I'm not a fan of the internal fuzz offerings). If you're doing a variety of things with it, the economics definitely work in your favor.


Having something that is built to handle the rigors of touring (or just regular gigs) is definitely worth a few bucks to me. I made enough from my infrequent gigs to cover the cost of mine in a few months, so it wasn't an unreasonable expense to me. One friend has gigged his Kemper four days per week for five years and never had an issue. I carry an emergency backup, because that's my nature, but I don't expect to ever need it. Frankly, there is a much better chance of issues with multiple pedals, power supplies and cables.

In the end it's a preference thing. Neither approach is wrong, just a matter of what works for you.

Yeah, makes sense -I think thats why a qualified my statement with anyone "Not gigging or recording a ton" -I see where it makes sense at some point

-I just keep seeing these hobbyist local bands that play only sporadically showing up at little venues with $10-12k guitar rigs -especially those reformed mega church players who maybe survived through the pedal board gear wars of the 2010s lol.

I think in the era social media peer pressure, people don't feel a decent guitar and good amp and maybe a couple of pedals is enough to make great music. -which is silly of course.
 
Yeah, makes sense -I think thats why a qualified my statement with anyone "Not gigging or recording a ton" -I see where it makes sense at some point

-I just keep seeing these hobbyist local bands that play only sporadically showing up at little venues with $10-12k guitar rigs -especially those reformed mega church players who maybe survived through the pedal board gear wars of the 2010s lol.

I think in the era social media peer pressure, people don't feel a decent guitar and good amp and maybe a couple of pedals is enough to make great music. -which is silly of course.

Hey, I'm as guilty as anyone for showing up at a $100 gig with an R7 and Kemper. However, they're still just tools to me. I want to say I was "only" around $4k or so for that rig.
 
Hey, I'm as guilty as anyone for showing up at a $100 gig with an R7 and Kemper. However, they're still just tools to me. I want to say I was "only" around $4k or so for that rig.

Man, I played a show at a bar in LA where the opening rock band had 2 guitarists that totaled 20k in gear -one dude had a 36" x 24" pedal board when he used maybe 4 or 5 of the 30 something pedals

we got a chuckle calculating the value of the rigs.
 
Man, I know Ace gets this already becuase he does play paying gigs and still doesnt want to go nuts with expense and complexity, but I recommend anyone not gigging or recording a ton to avoid the complexity and intense expense of some of these professional Multi-Fx rack mount and integrated stage units -especially without revenue coming from it.

Instead, keep it simple, get the good sounds you like and maybe need, practice playing getting lots of tones, voicings and styles for your guitar before you go nuts spending heavy 4 figures on owning ALL of the sounds. Get a good simple powerful multi-fx pedal (maybe 2?) for the stuff you need.

The audience on a recording or live doesnt care about 100000s of sounds you can/could make, they care about a maybe a half dozen great sounds ... if at all. If you just want it all and want nerd out -fine -but make sure its not at the expense of other things needed in life.

You want to invert Murphys law -by being ill prepared for the type of stadium show where you might need significant gear investment -that way Murphys law makes that gig happen and then you win!

It's ok to disagree with this without being a d*ck BTW.

werd - I don't need a ton of sounds for anything. My Roland Cube has everything that I need to do whatever:

Amps: JC120, Blackface, AC30, Bassman, JCM800, 5150, and Dual Recto. I can get whatever sound I need from those easily, 80+ of what I play being handled by 800/5150

I do, however, love to change EQ, modulation, and especially delay/reverb settings like a woman changes shoes and purses....

I COULD easily program my G3N to do whole shows of whatever genre. Just looking for something a little more flexible.
- Like a recording station interface as well as floor board.
- Like something with a little better semi-breakup tones
- etc etc...just a little "more"

But I need 8 good amps, not 50 amazeballs amps.

I can honestly play a Hollywood gig with my amp and a delay pedal. I'd maybe use this for that too, just for easy load in.
 
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Yeah, makes sense -I think thats why a qualified my statement with anyone "Not gigging or recording a ton" -I see where it makes sense at some point

-I just keep seeing these hobbyist local bands that play only sporadically showing up at little venues with $10-12k guitar rigs -especially those reformed mega church players who maybe survived through the pedal board gear wars of the 2010s lol.

I think in the era social media peer pressure, people don't feel a decent guitar and good amp and maybe a couple of pedals is enough to make great music. -which is silly of course.

I have also said this before - I have NEVER seen a band using a Kemper that made me go "OMG!!!! Sounds just like Angus/May/SRV/Jimi/Eddie/etc"
- But I have seen a bunch using them. Honestly, a used Boss GT100 is probably more than enough to make me happy.

I have done gigs with my 5 little Mooer pedals through a clean channel too.
 
I have also said this before - I have NEVER seen a band using a Kemper that made me go "OMG!!!! Sounds just like Angus/May/SRV/Jimi/Eddie/etc"
- But I have seen a bunch using them. Honestly, a used Boss GT100 is probably more than enough to make me happy.

I have done gigs with my 5 little Mooer pedals through a clean channel too.

There are a lot of guys out there that can't dial in tones, with an amp or profiler/modeler. My original point was only that it was less expensive to go that route than your comment implied.
 
I watched a couple of POD Go vids on Youtube...way more than I can imagine needing...But it would work for
- Recording interface (Hate the garage band approach)
- Multiple really cool amp models (All Helix stuff)
- Live board without amp
 
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