Everything You Need
Though connectivity to an iOS device is the key to expanding the MultiStomp’s internal library of modeling effects, the mobile device itself is not part of the signal chain. Just like its predecessor (the Zoom MultiStomp MS-50G), all of the processing happens inside the MultiStomp. Essentially, the MultiStomp is a stompbox with the brain of a multi-effects rack.
You don’t need to make any additional purchases or connect to a mobile device to get yourself up and running with the MultiStomp. The unit comes loaded with 100 effects including distortions, reverbs, delays, amp models, and more. Almost all of these effects are analogous to classic pedals and amps. The native effects include far-out processing like sequenced filters and wacky modulators. The MultiStomp is also shipped stock with utilitarian fare, including compressors, tuner, noise gate, and stereo panning, to name a few.
Getting Connected
If you want to explore the extended library of effects you’ll need to download Zoom’s free StompShare app from the Apple App Store to your iPad, iPhone, or iPod Touch device (iOS 4.0 or later). Inside the app you simply follow the standard process of Bluetooth pairing, which connects your iOS device to the MultiStomp. Within the app you can also preview recordings of the various effects and amp models available for purchase. Each effect costs 99 cents, while virtual amps are priced at $1.99.
The coolest feature of the app is the try function, which transmits the effect or amp to the MultiStomp pedal for 15 minutes at a time. You can then demo the product within your rig and also alongside preloaded or previously purchased effects and amp models. It would be nice to see a bit more interaction between the mobile device and the pedal. For instance, you cannot use your device to control effects parameters of the pedal, and you can’t store user presets onto the mobile device for online backup and sharing.
Currently available StompShare amp approximations include “Plexi,” Orange, Matchless, Bogner, Krank, Sound City, and VX Combo-style amps. A few of the effects modelers in the store include effects inspired by the Tube Screamer, Big Muff Pi, Centaur, Small Clone, Small Stone, Echoplex, and more. Zoom plans to grow this library regularly.
Admirable Design Inside and Out
The overall design of the MultiStomp is well executed. It looks and feels rugged and critical controls are strategically placed so that it’s virtually impossible to inadvertently trigger them with your foot. Four circularly oriented buttons, much like those found on first-generation iPods, surround the single stomp switch. These buttons, along with three rotary knobs (that change function according to which buttons are pressed) are used to modify effects parameters and navigate the MultiStomp system.
Navigation of a multi-effects system on a small screen can be excruciating, but Zoom has made the process surprisingly intuitive. First, the backlit screen is as big as the screens on many full-fledged multi-effects racks. Secondly, the better resolution means Zoom can effectively use graphics as well as text. Effects and amp models are represented graphically, as are their control knobs. As you scroll through the components of an effects chain, the images scroll accordingly, giving you a clear picture of the way the menus and your presets are laid out.
Power Up
As soon as you power up the MultiStomp (via power adapter or battery), you’re taken to the first of many preset effects chains. The unit stores up to 50 effects chains in memory, all completely customizable. Each chain can have a maximum of six effects/amps loaded simultaneously. You just add a component anywhere in the chain, set the parameters, and store the preset. Moving components around within the chain is as simple as highlighting the effect, pressing the lift button, and dragging it to the desired position.
I started by plugging the MultiStomp directly into my recording interface and opening a blank preset. To start, I loaded some of the high-gain amps: Tw Rock (Two Rock Emerald 50), Alien (Engl Invader), DZ Drive (Diezel Herbert), and MS 1959 (Marshall 1959 Plexi). Each of the amp models has the same control parameters—gain, tube, level, treble, middle, bass, presence, cabinet, and “output to.”
Jamming on my Stratocaster, it was immediately apparent that these are not wimpy, toneless models. The dynamic response of the amp model was remarkable. Light picking produced quiet, overdriven tones with a bit of amp noise. More aggressive picking had the amps pumping out thick waves of distortion.
At first I was confused by the difference between the gain and tube controls. However, after playing around for a bit it became clear that gain is simply the amount of distortion while tube manages the tube-like characteristics of a valve amp. In high-gain situations, it helped emphasize pick attack, giving the overall tone a more expressive and dynamic quality. The tube control also adds a bit of overdrive as it is increased. With the additional distortion from the gain and tube controls comes amp noise, but there’s a noise gate model that you can drop in front of the amp. The default control settings of the noise gate are very effective, and they killed the noise from my Strat’s single-coils without obscuring lightly plucked notes.
The MultiStomp also has a handful of low-gain classic amp models. These include the FD Combo (1965 Fender Twin Reverb), Deluxe-R (1965 Fender Deluxe Reverb), US Blues (Fender tweed Bassman), and VX JMI (class A Vox AC30). Like the high-gain models, the clean tones from these amps give you lots of headroom to work with and the ability to overdrive your signal when you lay into the strings.
Ratings
Pros:
A complete multi-effects unit with a tiny footprint that can work in a larger pedalboard or as a standalone device. A potent backup solution. Navigation is not difficult. Growing online library of models.
Cons:
No ability to control parameters, navigate menus, and store effect chains from the touchscreen mobile device. No Android support.
Tones:
Ease of Use:
Build:
Value:
Street:
$149
Zoom
samsontech.com
Effects Librarian
The MultiStomp’s native effects library is impressively well stocked,
and effects controls are typically straightforward. The effects fall
into four main categories, dynamics/filters, overdrive/distortion,
modulation/special fx, delay/reverb. To give you an idea of the huge
number of effects available, there are six different chorus pedal
models, and none of them are at all chintzy. Time-based effects (delays,
sequencers, some modulations) all have a tap tempo function.
Since the unit is a single stompbox, its abilities as a controller in performance are a bit limited. In order to do anything more complicated than mute a single effect or engage the tuner, you’re going to have to take a knee and navigate a menu with the cursor buttons. But it’s a small price to pay in the event that Murphy’s law strikes your primary rig dead at a gig—toss the MultiStomp in your cable bag with an Electro-Harmonix 44 Magnum, and you’ve got one of the most compact and versatile backup rigs on the planet. And given the speed with which you can construct a pedal chain, the MultiStomp is also fantastic in a band practice setting where composition and performance are the first orders of business.
The Verdict
While gadget-averse players are likely to think twice about the MultiStomp, it is an incredibly versatile guitar multi-effects processor for its size. The MultiStomp has enough effects and processing power to handle just about any genre you throw at it—from country, jazz, and blues, to psychedelic, pop, rock, and metal.
Though some players are never going to want to navigate a multi-effects unit of any size, other players will find the conventional pedal size and shape to be more familiar territory. Personally, I found that Zoom has artfully rendered a very useful array of effects and amp models in this unit, and provided them in a simple system architecture that carefully balances ease of use with versatility. Certainly there are limitations derived from the size of the unit—a single footswitch makes it harder to scroll through multiple presets, for instance. But if you’re looking for a powerful multi-effects processor to cover just about any genre along with contemporary amp simulations in a single pedal, then the MultiStomp is made for you.
In general, micro-sized effects take some getting used to when incorporating into your effects chain. Whether it’s a Mooer, one of Red Witch’s Seven Sisters, or a Malekko Omicron series pedal, the small footprint and lack of mass make it easy to unwittingly kick one of these tiny tots out of place, so I strongly suggest Velcro-ing or zip-tying these little dudes down.
ShimVerb Reverb
The Mooer ShimVerb looks cool in gunmetal gray with a slight hint of sparkle. Three main controls (decay, level, and color) alter the reverb, depending on which of the three modes—room, spring, or shimmer—you select. Room mode is effective for subtle ’verb washes, but it can sound just a bit boxy and sterile, especially as the color knob is turned clockwise. The spring setting can also sound just a bit digital when color is pushed, though mellower color settings can deliver excellent Ennio Morricone-style spaghetti-western tones with a darker Fender amp and single-coils. The shimmer mode is the star of the show, and can dish out startlingly rich, glammy, post-rock colors with fluttering, warm overtones. Cranking up the level will completely devour notes—creating a cosmic acid-wash that can become marvelously synth like if you couple the ShimVerb with volume swells.
There does seem to be a significant drop in dry volume relative to wet volume if you push the level too high, which is a bit of a bummer because the most saturated reverb settings can sound amazing. Obviously, it’s less worrisome if you’re inclined to keep the verb on all the time. You might also hear a bit of a pop when you switch on the ShimVerb at higher Levels (which is quite common in reverb pedals), so it’s best to engage the unit when there’s a pause in a passage or just deal with the slight pop as the effect starts to process.
Green Mile Overdrive
It’s no surprise that Mooer included a TS-9-style pedal in the Micro Series. The Green Mile features a glossy aquamarine paint job, a red LED, a large overdrive knob, smaller level and tone pots, and a hot/warm mode toggle.
Ratings
Pros:
Great build quality. Smart, economical use of space. Nice bang-for-buck ratio.
Cons:
Lack stability when not secured to a pedalboard. Some controls difficult to see under typical gigging circumstances.
ShimVerb
Tones:
Ease of Use:
Build:
Value:
Green Mile
Tones:
Ease of Use:
Build:
Value:
Black Secret
Tones:
Ease of Use:
Build:
Value:
Pitch Box
Tones:
Ease of Use:
Build:
Value:
Street:
$88
Company
mooeraudio.com
The Green Mile is a smart, simple overdrive that will be a delight for the set-it-and-forget-it crowd. Using the warm mode through a clean amplifier and dialing the level up to around 2 o’clock gets you to unity gain, and if you flip the mode to hot, there’s a hefty boost in volume output. Increasing the tone spikes the brightness and adds a little white noise that was much more prevalent with single-coils than it was with my Les Paul’s humbuckers.
Although the Green Mile is not the sort of overdrive that can deliver a natural, amp-like gain, it does offer some interesting flexibility in terms of the mid spike that’s prevalent in basic TS-9 reissues. The mode switch lends a cool bit of extra versatility too—warm delivers muscular vintage twang, and hot fans the flames if your leads need some real teeth.
Black Secret Distortion
The Black Secret picks up where the Green Mile leaves off, with a large distortion knob, smaller level and filter pots, and a vintage/turbo toggle. Vintage mode has a distinct late-’70s appeal that recalls the days when hard-rock heroes ratcheted up the intensity of the gain wars.
Keeping the filter knob in its higher reaches produces a bassy but still brash response and can yield some ProCo RAT-like gnashing if you keep the distortion turned up. Dial the distortion back to around noon, and you’ll get grinding, Noel Gallagher-circa-’94 Marshall tones. Flipping to the hotter turbo setting increases output considerably if you’re using a clean amp, so pull down the level if you plan on regularly switching between the two modes. For an affordable pedal, the Black Secret also manages to stay relatively noise free in high-gain situations, and yet it can still coax out very musical feedback—making it a very complete distortion machine for the price.
The Pitch Box
The sparkly blue Pitch Box is home to a treasure trove of tricks. Unlike many of its more conventionally tweakable brethren, the Pitch Box only has a 3-position toggle for harmony, pitch shift, and detune modes, and a knob for selecting the pitch-shift range. But those pitch settings—16 in all—offer a world of options, and you can add intervals of +24 semitones.
In harmony mode, you can almost replicate the octave effects of a Digitech Whammy sans the footpedal control. The tracking for strummed chords is excellent, however, and White Stripes enthusiasts will rejoice at having an affordable option for reproducing Jack White’s octave leads. Through a dirty amplifier, pitch shift mode is capable of exhaling Southern sludge with the pitch at -7 or -8. Or you can kick it up into the high + semitone range for helium-huffing robo chatter.
The most extreme -24 position for both harmony and pitch shift modes are least impressive at low volumes. They can also be a bit abrasive with the single-coils of a Strat or Tele, and, in general, humbuckers are far better suited for these lower reaches. Perhaps unsurprisingly, with pitch-down settings the detune mode is more like a chorus effect that lends a darker voice than playing a guitar in Eb or C standard tuning, and with pitch-up settings it delivers sparkly ’80s and ’90s chorus tones. Regardless of your preference in tonality, it does have an excellent all-around tone—warm and free of digital artifacts.
The Verdict
The Mooer Micro Series proves once again that a quality build and tones that range from solid to great can be packed into very, very small packages. If you like the relative reassurance that comes with having a more massive and stable chunk of steel under your feet, the Micro Series may not be for you. But it doesn’t take much in terms of time and effort to secure these units to a small pedalboard, and if you fly to gigs and feel better stowing gear in the overhead compartment, these miniature monsters will make life much easier. Some of the smaller controls can be hard to use, because it’s sometimes physically difficult to see their position, so you’ll often have to play it by ear if you’re making changes on the fly during a gig. But once you get them dialed in, chances are you won’t have to change their tonal control unless you’re swapping out guitars every song or two. In terms of both practicality and price, these Mooer’s are all worth a look, and they’re bound to suit a wide range of players, from beginners to gigging pros.
Spanning the Years
Starting back in the ’70s, it took a cult of
intrepid, small-shop luthiers to resurrect the
OM. The guitar never existed in numbers
enough to gain a wide audience the way,
say, a D-18 ultimately would. But those
subtle differences between the OM and the
000—the ideal-for-fingerstyle 1 3/4" nut
width and longer scale—made a world of
difference to fingerstylists lucky enough
to play an original. Moved deeply by the
unique playability, tone, and near-perfect
balance of the OM, lutherie vanguards like
Eric Schoenberg and Santa Cruz Guitars’
Richard Hoover began to sing the praises
of the model and built their own versions.
By the time the ’90s rolled around, Martin
could no longer ignore the clamor and the
company has since responded with some fascinating
evolutions and some new classics.
Holding the new OM-28E, it’s not hard to see what luthiers like Hoover and Schoenberg saw and felt in those rare originals. It’s a guitar of almost perfect proportions—both in terms of playing comfort and visual appeal—with a compact but not petite body that has an enormous effect on the sonic balance of the guitar too.
While far from ostentatious, as a 28 model, this OM comes from the fancier side of the tracks. And the herringbone binding and diamonds-and-squares inlay are both subdued and exquisite touches. But nothing illustrates just how luxurious or special a guitar this is quite like a jeweler’s-eye, up close and personal tour of the instrument. For all practical purposes, it’s flawlessly built, and tends to prompt head-slapping “oh, now I get it” responses from anyone dubious about what sets a great Martin apart. The Sitka spruce top and Indian rosewood back and sides are all exceptional pieces of wood, and touches like the open-gear butterbean tuners and the back’s zigzag purfling add to the high-craft essence of the instrument.
The only design elements that upset the perfect symmetry of the OM-28E are, unfortunately, essential to the function of the Aura system—two small push knobs and a small porthole readout on the upper bout, and a battery compartment door at the end pin. For the most part, they are an inconspicuous presence, but on an otherwise gorgeous specimen of old-world-style craftsmanship, they can be visually jarring.
images of Greatness
Even if you never plugged the OM-28E into
an amplifier, PA, or DAW, it would still be
an immensely pleasurable playing experience.
The design balance that’s so visible at a glance
translates to a playing comfort that makes the
guitar feel like an extension of your body and
fingers at times. And that comfort facilitates
a lot of very expressive playing. Leaning into
the neck just a touch to lend subtle vibrato
effects feels second nature. The fretboard
feels fast and easy to get around in a manner
that invites languid, sustaining finger-vibrato
moves, pull-offs, and legato work. And the
uncommon range of tones from tight low-end
to ringing, defined trebles—all of which twitch
with a very perceptible complexity—reward
even the most subtle and nuanced playing.
This much we’re used to from a higher-end Martin OM. The addition of the Fishman F1 Aura+, however, extends the performance potential of this guitar significantly. In the simplest terms, the Aura is not a modeling system that can magically turn the OM-28 into, say, a 12-string jumbo. Instead, it’s what Fishman calls imaging—an algorithm that imparts the performance characteristics of a classic OM-28 mic’d in a studio. Because this is the Retro Series, Martin and Fishman based many images for the OM-28E on the most classic permutations of that equation imaginable— recording a classic OM in a Nashville studio with microphones like an RCA 74B and a Neumann U 47, among others.
Ratings
Pros:
Amazingly versatile stage-to-studio instrument.
Heirloom quality and gorgeous good looks. Superb harmonic
balance and playability.
Cons:
Expensive. Aura imaging hardware upsets visual
perfection.
Tones:
Playability:
Build:
Value:
Street:
$3,399
C.F. Martin & Co.
martinguitar.com
Through a PA or an acoustic amplifier, the images lend a very real depth of field and round off the quackier aspects of the undersaddle pickup, which is blended with the image. Through a DAW and a set of headphones, the effect is especially pronounced—the gorgeous, basic voice of the OM-28E takes on a very accurate studio ambience and the performance essence of the microphone at the core of the image. It’s capable of adding a lot of vibe and atmosphere in a performance situation, but it has very real studio potential too and can be a shortcut to a very sweet tone without involving memory hogging plug-ins or tinkering with microphone placement and outboard gear.
The capabilities of the Aura system go pretty deep. When you’re getting acquainted, there’s an “easy” mode with a few easy-on-the-ears and versatile images that you can navigate with a push button. But there’s also a very capable edit function that lets you fine-tune your images for a given performance or recording situation, and access other images in the library. It’s not something we’d recommend attempting for the first time on stage—there is a learning curve when you want to get deeper into the system. But the practice and exploration that leads you to the additional images, and controls to tailor them, is a blast.
The Verdict
Acoustic purists will have little time or need
for the Fishman Aura system onboard the
OM-28E. But for players that are serious
about recording and performance versatility—and getting as much of it as possible
from a single, really great guitar—this
OM-28E is a powerful tool. There are drawbacks
to the inclusion of the Aura system—the controls look out of place and inelegant
on such a perfectly gorgeous and classic-looking
guitar. And the very keen eared
might argue that the presence of the Aura’s
circuit board upsets the reverberative balance
of the guitar. But Martin and Fishman
should both be applauded for applying the
potential of digital processing in a way that,
in the end, sounds unmistakably organic.