Zoia is here

Tony M. said:
OK.
We're not being very fair here.
None of us has any hands on with this thing.
The "live guys" like me seem to be out and out down on it.

But...

I think it's the wrong tool for what the "live guys" are trying to do.
I get the impression that live in a bar/church/etc. is not what it's intended for.
To play "live", lets face it, a simple setup works best unless you have your
guitar tech in the wings turning stuff on and off while you concentrate on
playing the damn song.

Live you don't need the 7 million things this gadget is capable of.
It's complete overkill and overcomplication of a simple thing.
Live you only need 5 or 6 sounds to get the job done.
Clean, crunch, dirty, clean modulated, dirty delayed,
and maybe a wah for 1 solo. (Wah gets tired fast.)

"Close enough for Rock and Roll"
Click to expand...
Wait a minute. You can save preset chains and it has a preset recall. It is not any different from the Zoom M50 you used live, except much more versatile and higher quality. Just call up a preset per song
By Empress:
Customizable Patch Recall System - The on-board stompswitches can be used in either scrolling- or bank-style preset modes, for quick on-the-fly patch recall that suits your workflow.
 
The problem with calling up presets for the songs is
that when the set list goes out the window after the
third song because the crowd is different than it was
last weekend you have to start hunting because the
presets are no longer in order.

The words "workflow" and "live gig" do not mesh well.

You are 100% correct about the Zooms Ray.
Yes they do, and they do way more than 5 stomp boxes could.
In fact, I still have those Zoom processors and still gig with them.

The Zoom units have a more user friendly interface.
The Empress gizmo has 44 buttons, 3 stomp switches,
a tiny readout and what looks like a jog dial possibly.
The Zoom has what you see below. It is intuitive.
The readout is alphanumeric. A1 - A4, B1 -B4, Etc.
The Zoom looks like it is easier to go hunting on
but I don't know. I haven't tried the Empress.

0503181328.jpg
 
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In all honesty, I do like the Zooms but since for the most part
we have no set list and just pull random songs out of the sky.
The stomp boxes work way better in my musical situation.
 
Tony M. said:
The problem with calling up presets for the songs is
that when the set list goes out the window after the
third song because the crowd is different than it was
last weekend you have to start hunting because the
presets are no longer in order.

The words "workflow" and "live gig" do not mesh well.

You are 100% correct about the Zooms Ray.
Yes they do, and they do way more than 5 stomp boxes could.
In fact, I still have those Zoom processors and still gig with them.

The Zoom units have a more user friendly interface.
The Empress gizmo has 44 buttons, 3 stomp switches,
a tiny readout and what looks like a jog dial possibly.
The Zoom has what you see below. It is intuitive.
The readout is alphanumeric. A1 - A4, B1 -B4, Etc.
The Zoom looks like it is easier to go hunting on
but I don't know. I haven't tried the Empress.

View attachment 25083
Click to expand...
Wow, that is big. I thought you had the tiny MS50
253deb0ba61c3b3e2cb14e44b34c46ee-1200-80.jpg
 
For me, I’ve been on both sides. When I first started playing live, I didn’t even have an amp. I had an amp previously. It was a Peavey Studio Pro 40, that my son blew up when he was little. My guitar was plugged into it and he cranked the volume. The runaway feedback blew out the power transistors. My fault for leaving a guitar plugged in with a curious child around!

Anyway, when I started playing live, I used a processor - a cheap Digitech RP-3. It served me well for a few years.

Then, I decided to try an amp. This was a weird change, but I felt good about it. I continued using the RP-3 in the effects loop. The amp was a Peavey Transtube 212 Special. I still have it.

Later, I got a Line6 X3 Live and used this by itself for some time - kind of revisiting my earlier years.

Finally, I started getting into tube amps and pedals.

The point is, I’ve literally played both sides of this fence and it’s worked for me.

So, what have I learned?

Tony pretty much hit the nail on the head.

The processors are great for getting good sounds tailored to a song, but they are much less useable for ad hoc changes. I approached it from two directions. I built patches for those songs that really required a specific sound. For others, I made more generic patches.

The trick is to build these and organize them so that you don’t have to cycle up and down through a lot of presets to find them. So, before an event, I often would reorganize patches to minimize how much tapping with my foot I’d have to do to load a patch.

The one drawback I discovered is that I’d spend quite a bit of time building patches.

Now, I play live with an amp and pedals almost exclusively. I use the processor mostly for practice at home and for recording.

Now that I’ve gotten used to the amp and pedals paradigm, I do enjoy it more. There may still be occasions where I use the processor, but I can generally respond more rapidly to on-the-fly changes better without it. Also, sometimes I found I’d build a patch for a song, but then I realize while playing that I wanted to do something a little different. The amp and pedals approach gives me greater flexibility to do that.

At any rate, I’m not a hater toward either one. I really do like how much ability you have to tailor your sound with a processor, but the amp and pedals approach definitely has its place, too.

It all comes down to picking the right tool for the job.
 
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I actually had these at first.
Same chip inside and 5 X 5 inches.
I wished they were made of metal with
actual stomp switches for $20.00 more.
Next thing I know, the red one was on the market.
The red one has a better interface as you can see.

th
 
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I just went downstairs and measured it.
The red thing is 10.5" X 4.6".
Tiny for what it does.
The best part is it also comes in purple!
I have one of each to this day.
 
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