In 2018, I decided to go back to a traditional amp set up, and thanks to Fractal’s Friedman models, I landed a BE-50 Deluxe right after Christmas. But, what to do with effects.
Until recently, my board layout was:
Guitar > Shure Wireless > ST-200 tuner > VFE Enterprise phaser > Suhr Koko Reloaded > Suhr Eclipse > Timmy > amp. In the effects loop of the amp, Cmatmods Analog Chorus > Strymon Orbit Flanger > Strymon Dig > Mad Professor Kosmos.
With the new amp, I pulled the Suhr pedals off the board. I also recently picked up a Strymon Timeline, but I’ve come to realize that I’ll need to upgrade the power supply. I’m also starting to look at the Mobius and finally going with one of the Boss ES switchers. And of course, patch cables.
Needless to say, it’s starting to add up and I wonder if it’s worth it compared to picking up an FX8. I’m confident that the FX8 will more than handle my bar band rock covers needs. But I’d been thinking this is “obsolete” gear. Now I’m starting to look at the Strymon gear, thinking while it’s great too, the Mobius and Timeline aren’t exactly the latest thing to come along either.
So here I am, leaning heavily back towards the Fractal camp. Pros are numerous: compact, lack of interconnects should mean quiet, more effects than I believe I’ll ever need, but ones I may use that I probably wouldn’t buy otherwise (harmonizer, wah, trem). Ability to create scenes/presets. Setting level equity between effects I believe is built in.
I’ll be running this in 4CM mode, but have one functional question, can the FX8 relays switch between the clean, BE and HBE channels?
For example, if I want to create a preset with:
a scene for clean channel/chorus/light delay
a scene with BE Ch/short delay
a scene for BE with 600ms delay
is that possible right out of the box? and how steep the learning curve to do this?
Finally, would you have any hesitation going the route I’m thinking, or would you go Helix or other? Pretty sure I know what answer to expect, but figured I’d ask.
I don’t know if any of this would be possible with 4CM with an AX8 or FM3, but I guess that would be good to know before I leap. While I’m not interested in the amp modeling side, it does offer immediate backup amp protection, so I’d have that going for me.
Thanks everyone
George
Until recently, my board layout was:
Guitar > Shure Wireless > ST-200 tuner > VFE Enterprise phaser > Suhr Koko Reloaded > Suhr Eclipse > Timmy > amp. In the effects loop of the amp, Cmatmods Analog Chorus > Strymon Orbit Flanger > Strymon Dig > Mad Professor Kosmos.
With the new amp, I pulled the Suhr pedals off the board. I also recently picked up a Strymon Timeline, but I’ve come to realize that I’ll need to upgrade the power supply. I’m also starting to look at the Mobius and finally going with one of the Boss ES switchers. And of course, patch cables.
Needless to say, it’s starting to add up and I wonder if it’s worth it compared to picking up an FX8. I’m confident that the FX8 will more than handle my bar band rock covers needs. But I’d been thinking this is “obsolete” gear. Now I’m starting to look at the Strymon gear, thinking while it’s great too, the Mobius and Timeline aren’t exactly the latest thing to come along either.
So here I am, leaning heavily back towards the Fractal camp. Pros are numerous: compact, lack of interconnects should mean quiet, more effects than I believe I’ll ever need, but ones I may use that I probably wouldn’t buy otherwise (harmonizer, wah, trem). Ability to create scenes/presets. Setting level equity between effects I believe is built in.
I’ll be running this in 4CM mode, but have one functional question, can the FX8 relays switch between the clean, BE and HBE channels?
For example, if I want to create a preset with:
a scene for clean channel/chorus/light delay
a scene with BE Ch/short delay
a scene for BE with 600ms delay
is that possible right out of the box? and how steep the learning curve to do this?
Finally, would you have any hesitation going the route I’m thinking, or would you go Helix or other? Pretty sure I know what answer to expect, but figured I’d ask.
I don’t know if any of this would be possible with 4CM with an AX8 or FM3, but I guess that would be good to know before I leap. While I’m not interested in the amp modeling side, it does offer immediate backup amp protection, so I’d have that going for me.
Thanks everyone
George