Looking for my first effects pedal

birry · 02-07-2011, 09:24 AM

Ok everyone. I'm pretty new to guitar and I'm starting to understand a few things that I'll need to begin playing at my church.

I currently have:

Epiphone Les Paul
Line 6 Spyder III amp
Line 6 (4)-channel foot switch with volume/wah

I'm looking at buying some type of effects pedal but I wanted to know what you guys thought about it. I've researched like crazy and I think that I'm going to buy a MFX pedal of some kind. I REALLY wanted to go with individual stompboxes, but I just don't know enough about everything to go that route yet, especially because I'd like to get some kind of rig going that I can use for church within the next 4-6 weeks.

So, I'd like to know some opinions on these pedals. I'm looking for something that gives me more than (4) tones and I'd REALLY like to be able to use it like individual effects that I can turn on/off and mix and match without having to create individual sounds that are pre-programmed (my church does a lot of "spontaneous worship" songs so I don't really know the exact set each Sunday)

Line 6 M9 or M13
Line 6 POD xt
Line 6 HD modelers
Boss ME 70
Boss GT 8 or 10

Honestly, it looks like the M13 or ME70 give me the closest thing to individual pedals, but I haven't played on them yet. Does anyone use either of those? Can the other Line 6 or Boss MFX pedals act like stompbox modelers/individual fx pedals?

Thanks a TON!

Edit: Just a quick fyi in case its helpful. My church is smaller and not very wealthy, so we don't have great equipment. This means that we do NOT use in-ear monitors so at this point, I'll have a mic on my little amp. Also, it means that its not necessary (yet) to go straight from my effects to the board (like the POD HD's can do, I guess).

**thesteve** · 02-07-2011, 09:49 AM

Do you know what effects you would want to use? Why do you want to go away from the built-in effects on the Spider?

birry · 02-07-2011, 09:55 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by thesteve

Do you know what effects you would want to use? Why do you want to go away from the built-in effects on the Spider?

I just need a way to switch between more than (4) different sounds without having to walk over to my amp to manually change banks (my pedal can't change banks).

Equally important to me is that I'd rather be able to edit a particular sound just like stompboxes can do without having to create a whole separate channel for that similar tone. I'm just not a big fan of pre-programming my sounds. I'd rather be able to create them on the fly.

The spider only has (4) channels before you have to bank up or down.

**thesteve** · 02-07-2011, 10:35 AM

So that answers the second question...what about the first?

**Rainer.** · 02-07-2011, 02:59 PM

I think the difference between the L6 M9/M13 and the HD series is dependent on your need of amp modeling. I'd be looking into the future with this one. If you eventually need amp modeling, then the POD HD is a worthy investment. But if it's purely for MFX, then you'll do better with the M series. It's a judgement call there. The effects on both are just as good.

birry · 02-07-2011, 04:17 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by thesteve

So that answers the second question...what about the first?

Just the mainstream stuff that modern worship songs use - various distortions, delays, reverb, and phaser-type sounds. I'm not experienced enough to know much else except what my Spider can do.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rainer.

I think the difference between the L6 M9/M13 and the HD series is dependent on your need of amp modeling. I'd be looking into the future with this one. If you eventually need amp modeling, then the POD HD is a worthy investment. But if it's purely for MFX, then you'll do better with the M series. It's a judgement call there. The effects on both are just as good.

Quick question (not trying to be difficult): Why would someone NEED amp modeling?

**thesteve** · 02-07-2011, 04:19 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by birry

Quick question (not trying to be difficult): Why would someone NEED amp modeling?

So they can have the sound of several different amps in a single unit.

**Rainer.** · 02-07-2011, 05:14 PM

Also, for playing direct to the board without an amp. Also comes in handy for recording (when I owned a POD, 75% of my usage of it was for recording).

It works really well plugged into the FX loop returns of a lot of amps.

**jamforchrist123** · 02-07-2011, 05:18 PM

Another reason could be if you are playing at a church that doesn't do any stage noise.

I played at a church last night that had no stage noise what so ever. I was not aware before we got there and long story short I ended up having to plug my pedal board straight into the system which just sounded no good. If I would have had something like the Pod HD then I could have used one of the amp models, not needing a real amp at all, and it would have sounded great.

Edit: shoot, Rainer beat me to it.

bobthecockroach · 02-07-2011, 05:43 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by birry

I just need a way to switch between more than (4) different sounds without having to walk over to my amp to manually change banks (my pedal can't change banks).

Equally important to me is that I'd rather be able to edit a particular sound just like stompboxes can do without having to create a whole separate channel for that similar tone. I'm just not a big fan of pre-programming my sounds. I'd rather be able to create them on the fly.

The spider only has (4) channels before you have to bank up or down.

Pedals only have 2 settings (on and off) without bending down to change them.

You ought to be able to get a feel for the various effects on your amp.

Also... why do you need more than 4 tones in one set?

I guess I'm just a minimalist.

birry · 02-07-2011, 08:32 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bobthecockroach

Pedals only have 2 settings (on and off) without bending down to change them.

You ought to be able to get a feel for the various effects on your amp.

Also... why do you need more than 4 tones in one set?

I guess I'm just a minimalist.

With most MFX pedals, you can bank up or down with your feet. Not so with my current foot switch. Sometimes I may not need more than 4 tones, but I like using a lot of different sounds and we play a pretty diverse set most Sunday mornings. I know for a fact that there will be some Sunday mornings where I could totally use more than 4. Maybe the main factor is that I'm the only electric guitar player at this point, so I'm trying to fill a lot of "electric" space at the moment.

Also, I understand the modeling pedals can go directly into the board, I just wasn't sure if that was the only (or main) difference. Apparently it is! Good to know.