G-major or stompboxes?

W

Whatamada

Member
I'm about to update my entire rig.
I started with a Diezel Hagen and I'm looking at some effects now.

So how are you guys running things with your Diezels?
A g-major 2 would be convinient with the midi and all, but I get the feeling that a couple of good stompboxes would grant me a little more quality. Or am I wrong?
 
The GMaj2 sounds great. I just found that I prefer to have dedicated knobs at my feet to twist rather than having to get into each individual patch and find the effect then move to the parameter I want to adjust and adjust and save. Then change patch and have it not carry.

I prefer to twist a single knob to make delays longer...or flange more wobbly...not fiddle thru presets and menus for each patch.

But for me it was definitely NOT a quality issue.
 
Alright , so I guess it might come down to preference then.
You didn't experience any difference in quality then :)
No difference in your sound on your Diezel depending on signal change via stompboxes or g-major via loop?
 
The GMaj2 is better from a noise perspective. Can't tell if the loop is active or not from noise level.

Also, I use a Loopmaster bank on the front end of the amp.
 
Stomp boxes every day of the week for me.

I had a GM2 for a couple of weeks & really didn't gel with it. That's a matter of subjective preference of course. I know several people who stuck with the GM2 & dig it.
I figure that I only needed a few features of the unit. You can go out, demo and buy a really cool single-purpose stomp effect every time you feel you want to expand your board.
With a multi FX unit, you're really limited to the sounds in the box & you kinda miss out on a cool tone journey there.

I did personally notice tone suck with the GM2 & putting a relatively cheap digital A/D/A FX unit between the pre & power section of my expensive all-valve amplifier really grated on me.

I've spent a lot of money over the years trying different setups out and settled on a generic formula that I should have identified from the beginning. Decent guitar, valve amp, quality overdrives & FX pedals. Done.
 
JimmyBlind":6f98p0c5 said:
Stomp boxes every day of the week for me.

I did personally notice tone suck with the GM2 & putting a relatively cheap digital A/D/A FX unit between the pre & power section of my expensive all-valve amplifier really grated .
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That's something that I spent a lot of time contemplating.
Did you notice any tone loss with the parallel loop also?
It did dawn on me that some premium stomp boxes with true bypass might be the way, despite a long signal chain.
 
The gm2 is meant to be run in serial I think, to make use of the tremolo fx etc.

Go with the stomp fx. It's the better choice I think. :thumbsup:
 
GM2 is killer, but works best in a true bypass serial loop (which your hagen has incorporated as the switchable loop). The effects are good and the unit is affordable. It is true its a pain to program, but if you're doing small sets with a need for consistency or use tons of different settings for different songs its hard to beat for the price.

I personally prefer stomps, but i only use 3 effects total and only for a splash of color.
 
GM2 in the switchable loop of my Hagen does the job for me.

I need maybe clean with delay, and thereafter high gain with no effects and thereafter maybe crunch with delay and chorus and so on. With the FCB1010 floorboard and the gm2 in the rack I have all options, simultaneous channel and effect changes, at only one tap.

Effect quality and little to none sound coloration are also fine for what I sense.

I am not an effect purist though, many would say that they need exactly this kind of delay or whatever effect that only a special stompbox can deliver...up to you.
 
You've all brought valid points!
I guess I have to take a stand and figure out what's best for me I guess.
All in one or stomp box paradise ^^
 
RJF":b1ri0c18 said:
Without a doubt, a midi capable rack processor and a ground control pro.
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The fact that the Hagen is midi controlled is a huge factor.
I'm quite leaning towards a GM2 right now.
Though I'm starting out with the Columbus I think :)
 
Columbus is a good decision.

Programming all those patches...is a bitch.
Good pedals, while more expensive, will be easier to deal with long-term.
 
I use pedals with a Joyo pxl live with my DMoll. This marries 1 touch midi switching with pedals, COOL
It is a bit of a money pit adding pedals, custom length cables, bigger boards but sounds awesome, even with my modestly priced pedals

Never tried the G
 
How do you guys use the loop/s with your stompboxes?
Serial or parallel? Or do you enhance the signal chain from the guitar to the amp?
 
I used to use the parallel loop for FX so I could use the midi function. Since got schooled by Peter and advised to use the serial loop for stomp FX. I don't have a looper pedal to control the tap dancing but the sound is great with no volume changes. Next step is to buy some sort of dual midi switcher/pedal looper like the ES8 which would control configurations of everything.

Mine's a simple setup. Chorus, delay, reverb in the serial loop. Compressor, tuner, over drives, noise suppressor and ditto looper out front. I don't really pine for flanger and tremolo FX and whatnot so a multi fx unit is overkill for me.

If you want to obliviate your lust for FX, build a rig and get on with playing, the GM2 really isn't a bad option. I figure if you've raised the cash for a wicked Diezel though, you might look at digging deeper for the Strymon timeline and möbius, both of which will blow most digi fx out of the water.

I dunno. For me there's a philosophical problem that's difficult to put into words. Software based technology doesn't have any real organic integrity to it. They pretend to make a sound, whereas a single purpose stomp effect was designed to do something specific and characteristic of itself. That honesty is more cohesive with my musical & creative philosophy I think.
 
JimmyBlind":1rpmvqpf said:
.

If you want to obliviate your lust for FX, build a rig and get on with playing, the GM2 really isn't a bad option. I figure if you've raised the cash for a wicked Diezel though, you might look at digging deeper for the Strymon timeline and möbius, both of which will blow most digi fx out of the water.

I dunno. For me there's a philosophical problem that's difficult to put into words. Software based technology doesn't have any real organic integrity to it. They pretend to make a sound, whereas a single purpose stomp effect was designed to do something specific and characteristic of itself. That honesty is more cohesive with my musical & creative philosophy I think.
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Never heard about the Strymon, so I guess I'll look into that.
I totally hear you about the philosophical problem, digital is often versatile as hell but a true analog effect always sounds right, if that makes any sense :yes:

On a different note, how are the VH4 coping with the KT77's?
 
JimmyBlind":53rsvrz5 said:
I used to use the parallel loop for FX so I could use the midi function. Since got schooled by Peter and advised to use the serial loop for stomp FX. I don't have a looper pedal to control the tap dancing but the sound is great with no volume changes. Next step is to buy some sort of dual midi switcher/pedal looper like the ES8 which would control configurations of everything.
Click to expand...

What exactly did he say?
 
marshallmadness":34ztqg5l said:
I've been down the MIDI and processor route. Now I use stomp boxes and a single channel amp. My tone has never been better
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What amp are you using? The one channel thing got me intrigued :yes:
 
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