Multi Effects Pedals

The sophistication and realism of modern multi effects pedals is astonishing. These user-friendly units boast dozens - if not hundreds - of different effects. This them both an enthralling creative centre for practice and writing and an all-in-one solution for recording and live performance.

If you’ve never used pedals before, the world of signal chains, buffers, voltage and current can be a bit overwhelming. Multi effects boards can be a fantastic way of experimenting with new sounds without having to put a pedal board together. The ability to quickly mimic your favourite guitar tones is one of the most thrilling aspects of playing guitar. Multi effects pedals make this incredibly easy! They are also brilliant for songwriters chasing inspiration in a huge palette of sounds.

For live use, players can save custom presets or ‘patches', enabling instant recall of guitar tones, whether on a song by song basis, or even during a song. This allows multiple effects to change in the chorus, for example, something which would be impossible with traditional analog pedal boards.

Players tend to run multi effects pedals into a clean amplifier. However, depending on whether the unit also models amp and cab sounds, it is also common to plug straight into a PA. Multi effects pedals range from professional quality to entry level. The most popular professional quality units are the Line 6 Helix, Kemper Stage and Neural DSP Quad Cortex. The most popular entry level units are the Boss GT1 and Zoom G5N.

What makes multi effects pedals different?