Transparent multi effect rack unit?

[Tonelover]

I never use pedals but might be interested in trying out a rack mountable multi effect unit like the TC Electronics G Force or something to add some effects in parts of songs. Little chorus, built in wah, stuff like that, nothing crazy. Overdrive is not a feature I care about because my amp has all I need, nor is amp modeling. I really like the raw plug straight-in sound I get from my amp and would like to keep the overall coloring, especially when the effects are not in use, at a complete minimum if possible. Just wondering if anyone has any suggestions, again something as transparent as possible that won't leave me sounding overly processed and digital for the most part. Thanks!

 

[JimmyBlind]

From my experience, single purpose stomp FX deliver the best tones & you aren't limited to the sounds in the unit. You can browse around & demo the best FX for your needs. This is part of the fun in tone searching, for me.

Multi FX units tend to require a serial FX loop. Pan & tremolo FX don't work properly in parallel. If you're anything like me & you have a quality all-tube amplifier, you might find something disagreeable about breaking an optimised analog signal path with a piece of digital equipment. The units do come with decent A/D/A converters, but I noticed a definite loss in tone. I lost faith in my TC rack very quickly. Different strokes of course. I know people who swear by them.

 

[JMMP]

I enjoy the tones my Gmajor 2 gives me in the loop. I also have a gcx in the rack to take it out of the signal path when it's not needed, avoiding most of the tone suck. Does your amp have a switchable loop? If so, you can just switch it on and off to bring the effects unit in and out and not worry about tone suck.

Also, most multifx units I know of cannot be placed in 4 cable method to get the wah before the amp. There are a few (Gsystem, hd500, m series, axe fx) but the typical unit doesn't allow that. I am planning on adding an m5 before my amp to cover wah and the odd effect before my amp, and my gmaj2 will cover all the effects in the loop.

 

[Schaf]

I use an RP1000. It sounds great in the loop, has 4CM and is very transparent. But then again your loop has to be transparent also.

 

[H3000]

I never use pedals but might be interested in trying out a rack mountable multi effect unit like the TC Electronics G Force or something to add some effects in parts of songs. Little chorus, built in wah, stuff like that, nothing crazy. Overdrive is not a feature I care about because my amp has all I need, nor is amp modeling. I really like the raw plug straight-in sound I get from my amp and would like to keep the overall coloring, especially when the effects are not in use, at a complete minimum if possible. Just wondering if anyone has any suggestions, again something as transparent as possible that won't leave me sounding overly processed and digital for the most part. Thanks!

maybe try a wet dry rig or a wet dry wet
I use two 1x12 cabs for W/D/W to keep the size down and it works just fine