ZOOM MS-50G MultiStomp Multi-effects Pedal

[Oldjock]

This year Santa (aka: my financial advisor for 47 years) left an effects pedal under the tree. It is a Zoom MS-50G MultiStomp multi effects pedal. She ( ahem Santa) went to the local L & M store and asked what I would likely need to complement my setup. At present, I have a Boss CS-3 Compressor and a Boss RC-3 Looper. I have had had few hours to play with it, enough to realize that this pedal has a huge learning curve. The default sounds seem OK and You Tube is full of info on how to play with it. So I am asking if anyone here on the forum has one and hopefully send some knowledge and experience my way. Thank you.

Henk

 

[Old Guy]

Congrats on a real cool piece of gear!!

I've played with many of those types of modeling pedals, and at first they can be overwhelming.

The first thing to do is decide what you want to do with it. You can spend hours tweaking it, and ultimately find that you got nowhere which is very frustrating.

What will you be using the pedal for? Mostly for the effects? Are you interested in diving into the Amp and Cab sims? The most important thing is deciding what you want to tackle FIRST.

For example, I know I don't like digital delays, so I would find an analog delay preset, plug it in and then tweak it like I had real pedal in front of me. The mistake people make is going through each preset in the device and trying to make it sound good without really knowing what to dial in to do that. This method eliminates that altogether.

Once you have one pedal sounding the way you like it, then move on the the next pedal. Let's say a chorus pedal. Keep it simple. Then an OD or Distortion pedal.

Treat these multi effects units like you would an individual effects pedal and go from there.

As far as the Amp and Cab sims go, same thing. Treat them like a real amp. For example, you wouldn't pair a Marshall head with a Fender 4x10 cab. You'd do a 4x12 Marshall cab at first. Then dial the amp sim like you would a real amp. Start with all the knobs at 12 o'clock and tweak from there. Like a real amp!

If you go about it in a systematic way, it is very intuitive. Your pedal has a way to link pedals together. Up to 6 at a time. Just imagine it like a pedal board. One thing I don't like about pedals like this is that modulation pedal effects tend to do better through an FX Loop and I don't think you can do that with that one.

My biggest piece of advice is to take it slowly. Take one pedal and mess with it. Too many people try to tweak and create a whole preset the first time they sit down with these things and quickly want to chuck them out the window. They are extremely powerful, but do take time to get to know. The most important thing is, HAVE FUN!!!

[Oldjock]

Old guy, thank you for the reply. I am just beginning with the process of adding effects to the guitar sound. At first glance, this pedal gives me much more than I could ever use.  The learning process looks like a time killer. My playing/practice time is limited, so spending a lot time learning settings is not possible. Initially, I'll be happy with just a few effects such as reverb, delay, chorus and maybe a bit of distortion.

Thanks again for your help.

Henk

[Old Guy]

2 hours ago, Oldjock said:

Old guy, thank you for the reply. I am just beginning with the process of adding effects to the guitar sound. At first glance, this pedal gives me much more than I could ever use.  The learning process looks like a time killer. My playing/practice time is limited, so spending a lot time learning settings is not possible. Initially, I'll be happy with just a few effects such as reverb, delay, chorus and maybe a bit of distortion.

Thanks again for your help.

Henk

I totally hear you! Believe it or not, I had an Axe Fx II for almost a decade, and sold all of my digital gear recently exactly because of that. So much tweaking to do, so little time. I was spending a ton of time trying to get *that* sound, that I wasn't playing.

You do have a couple of options. And I can maybe help you narrow things down a bit.

Do you like a huge sounding reverb, or more subtle? Do you want to sound like you're playing in a huge hall, or more of a small room with just a little echo?

For delay sounds, if you don't use a lot of gain, analog delay will give you a slightly darker tone, and digital will give you more of a brighter sound. I LOVE Eric Johnson's distorted tone, and he uses an analog delay pedal, which is what I eventually got and am happy with.

For chorus sounds, do you like it kind of more subtle, or a really in your face chorus sound? Andy Summers of Police uses A LOT of in your face chorus. Believe it or not, Joe Bonamassa also uses a lot of chorus, but much more subtly to thicken his sound up. Which do you prefer?

As far as Distortion, what sound do you like? Classic Rock tone? More of a Texas Blues sound? Heavy rock? Progressive Metal?

Let me know and I can maybe narrow down the options of what pedals are in the magic box for you and how to set them up!

 

[Steve Krenz]

Old Jock,

Congratulations on a great Christmas gift!  It looks like a cool pedal with some probably great sounds once you find them.

Yes, there's always a learning curve and a lot of experimentation when dealing with multi-effects processors.  There's just lots of menus, sub-menus and tweaking involved. 

The pros are you get a lot of effects bang for your buck.  If you've got the time and patience to tweak it, you can find some great sounds.

The cons are it's often hard to get to that great sound quickly when you need it - particularly in a live performing environment.

Zoom makes great stuff and the MS-50G looks like a premiere unit.

Let us know what you think of it when you get to know it better. Maybe do a "gear review" here on the board for it.

- Steve