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Dirty-South Blues Harp forum: wail on! >
Harp Effects/Zoom MS-50G - Mini Review
Harp Effects/Zoom MS-50G - Mini Review
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Libertad
258 posts
Jun 19, 2014
10:57 AM
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After the controversy of the Jason Ricci and the effects thread, I have been thinking about what effects I use. About 18 months ago I sold a Zoom G3 multi effects unit because I had too much stuff. It's a decision I regret because it did have some good sounds. I personally like experimenting with new sounds and on my pedal board I have a compressor, Carbon Copy Delay and Micro Pog. After listening to Jason I thought about adding an envelope filter.... but couldn't really justify the expense. Then it struck me, for pedals that I don't use a lot, why not get a multi effects unit... I was drawn back to the G3 but it isn't small (about the size of 3 small pedals}. After a bit of research I discovered that Zoom now make a similar single unit version. The MS-50G, out of the box has 8 amp models and 42 effects, but by updating the firmware, this can be increased to 92 effects and 8 amp models! You can mix effects as well in groups of six. There are 50 memory slots for storing these mixes. All this for UKP 72 ($99), cheaper than a lot of single pedals!
Well the proof of the pudding is in the eating, as my Gran used to say. It is obviously sold as a guitar effect, so many of the presets just don't work for Harmonica. However the good news is, that many do. As I already have a Carbon Copy delay, my first challenge was to try and emulate that, and I have to say, I think I have done a pretty good job. There is an analogue delay, but it wasn't quite as warm as my CC, so I put a bit of EQ in front of it.
It is still early days, but it is definitely a keeper. in fact if I was travelling light I would probably just take the single pedal with me. I haven't spent a lot of time with the Amp simulations, because I am playing into a tube amp anyway. But I suspect that with a bit of work I could get something that could be fed into a PA or clean amp. There are some nice Octave effects, but they don't come close to the Pog (but I don't think anything else does).
I know some people will probably turn their noses up at a mix of envelope/octave/delay but as I play duets along with Youtube videos of Jason, I think we are both sounding pretty good :-)
There are other models in the series. One even allows you to download effects onto an iphone and beam them to the unit! However with the amount of sounds this one has, it will probably keep me busy for a while. BTW it can also be battery powered so you could busk with it. Is anyone else using anything similar? I know Brendan was using a Korg Pandora, but I like the pedal form factor.
Last Edited by Libertad on Jun 19, 2014 11:07 AM
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isaacullah
2822 posts
Jun 19, 2014
11:17 AM
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Cool! Yeah, I have a G3 and I love it. I use it as a stand alone "infinte" pedal board (well, not really infinte, but definitely a lot of sounds available!). This one looks pretty darn good too, especially if you like/need the small form factor. For me, having more buttons was a plus (since I don't really use any individual FX pedals anymore), so I preferred the G3. Takes some experimenting, but these little Zoom units are capable of some great FX. The amped tones I've found aren't as good as what I could get on the Digitech i used to own, but the battery op and multi-button stomp control of the G3 more than makes up for that.
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Libertad
260 posts
Jun 19, 2014
11:46 AM
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Imagine the MS-50G as being a G3 in a single unit instead of three. I understand more buttons is easier, but this is pretty easy to get your head around. The one thing I loved about the G3, that the MS-50G doesn't have is the looper. It was just so intuitive...
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