Guitar pedals have been around for a long time and I’ve seen them being used by almost all of my favorite guitarists. But recently, Multi Effects Pedals and Processors are becoming popular and I’ve seen a lot of pedal boards getting replaced by a single Multi-effects processor. There’s a hot debate among guitarists who claim that multieffects pedals are just as good as individual pedals whereas there are die heart fans of analog pedals who swear that the digital multi effects pedals are nowhere as good as their analog counterparts. So are multi effects pedals worth it?
With so much advancement in digital technology, multi effects pedals are definitely worth it as they can truly simulate analog pedals and you can get access to several effects to play with in a single pedal rather than buying individual pedals for each effect. Moreover, for beginner guitarists and those on a budget, multi effects pedals are a better choice than buying analog pedals.
My first multi effects pedal was the NUX MG-200 Guitar Processor that I bought for $150 from Amazon. I was just amazed with the effects this little pedal had. There’s a whole bunch of amps with various effects such as Distortion, Reverb, Delay, Chorus, Flanger, Wah effects along with a Looper and built-in Tuner. For a hobby guitarist like myself, this little device is more than enough for me to dial in any tone that I want. But in this article, I’ll help you decide whether a Multi effects pedal is really worth the money. So, let’s dive in.
Why Do I need Guitar Pedals?
The first obvious question is whether you really need to have guitar pedals or if a simple amp is more than enough? Although even digital amps have become more advanced and come with lots of built-in effects nowadays, such as the Fender Mustang amps, but previously, most analog or solid-state amps only had Gain (Distortion) and Spring Reverb effects built-in. So what’s the need to get guitar pedals?
Guitar pedals enable you to shape your guitar tone in a number of ways, adding lots of flavors to your sound. They are particularly useful for electric guitar as you’re able to add various effects to your tone that enhances the quality of the sound.
My mixing and matching your pedals or by placing them in various positions, you can get various sounds out of your guitar and make the entire experience of playing an electric or acoustic guitar more enjoyable for you and the listener.
Multi Effects Pedal vs Individual Pedals
So what’s the difference between a multi effects pedals and individual pedals? Individual pedals are usually analog in nature (although we have lots of digital pedals as well nowadays) and most of the time, they usually have a single effect. For instance, a distortion pedal mainly has a single distortion effect or a reverb pedal will just allow you to add a reverb effect to your guitar tone.
On the other hand, a multi effects pedal is digital in nature and a single circuit has various effects programmed in it that you can select by using the knobs on the pedal or by connecting it to your computer and managing it from a software application. While individual pedals have to be manually placed between your guitar and your amp, the multi effects processor just needs to be connected once and then you can manage all the pedals using the controls on the processor and from your computer.
If you’ve ever seen your favorite guitarists performing live, they have a huge pedal board in front of them on which the individual pedals are placed and they are usually switching them on or off with the foot controls. Whereas, if your favorite guitarist prefers using a multi effects pedal, they’ll usually just have a small single device with presets already saved for different songs.
Do pedals sound better than multi effects?
While lots of guitarists will claim that the tone quality you get from individual analog pedals can never be matched by a digital multi effects pedals, others will claim that they find no difference between the two.
I personally think technology has really advanced to the extent that you’ll really not feel any difference between individual pedals and multi effects pedals. Modern multi effects pedals can simulate analog effects very accurately.
I am sure we’ll always have a group of guitarists sticking to their pedal boards but I am sure there’s already a rise in the number of guitarists preferring multi effects pedals due to their sound quality, easy handling and even price.
What are the advantages of multi effects Pedals?
Now, because I am a fan of multi effects pedals myself and have been using them since I started playing electric guitar, I’ll list down all the advantages of mult effects pedals so that you can decide for yourself if multi effects pedals are worth it:
Tone Choices
The first obvious advantage of a multi effects pedal is that it offers you a ton of sounds and tone choices in a single compact unit. In just one single multi effects pedals, you will get a lot of choices for the type of amp you want to use, followed by various effects such as distortion, echoes, phaser, flanger, wah, tremolo, reverb etc. This will allow you to enhance your guitar tone in any way you like.
Moreover, a lot of multi effects pedals also allow you to create your own presets and save them, that come in handy as you can save your preferences for future use.
Ease of Use
Multi effects pedals are usually designed keeping users in mind. They have simple controls to edit the tone and most pedals come with built in presets or user made presets. This is especially useful for beginner guitarists who do not have to spend time dialing in their own tones as they can easily select one of the presets. Moreover, a lot of multi effects pedals have dedicated websites and forums where other users share their presets as well that allows beginner guitarists to simply download the preset of their favorite guitarist or song.
Value For Money
Individual analog pedals can be expensive at times so much so that if you have a small budget, you will probably not be able to purchase more than 2-3 pedals at a time. But within the same budget, you can easily get a decent beginner multi effects pedal that will have tons of built-in pedals, loopers, tuners and much more. So, if you’re on a budget, buying multi effects pedals is a better choice than individual pedals.
Easy to Carry
If you play with a band or perform live, you know how difficult it is to carry your entire pedal board along with your amp and guitar and then setting it up. A multi effects pedal is much easier to carry and setup and I use it all the time if I have to perform for a small gig or to practice at my friend’s house. Moreover, a lot of multi effects pedals are battery powered so you wont even have to struggle finding a spare electric source to run your pedal.
Great for Home Practice
Modern Multi effects pedals have several features and addons that make them an ideal choice for home practice. Almost all multi effects pedals have built in amps, cabinets and effects and have headphone output as well. Other built-in features such as mp3 players, loopers, drum beats and metronomes, aux port etc make multi effects pedal a great choice to practice and play your guitar at home.
A lot of professional guitarists also prefer multi effects pedals for home practice even if they like to use individual pedals for recording or live performances. This is because they can experiment with various tones and effects even when they’re not in the studio or are travelling.
So guys, to conclude my article, if you are just starting to play an electric guitar, I will really recommend you to get a decent multi effects pedal that’s within your budget so that you can practise along with different effects and then, as you gain more experience, you can then decide if you’d like to go for an individual pedal.
Music technology has come a long way and we are finally getting to a stage where even professional guitarists, or guitarists who are die heart fans of analog components and effects have started to use and recommend digital processors and multi effects pedals like the Boss GX-100 Guitar Multi-effects Pedal or the Zoom GX1 Four pedals. Therefore, having one in your arsenal will never be a bad investment. I am sure you will enjoy it as much as I do.