I guess it's my turn!
Executive summary: Good for everything except drives. Sacrifice sound quality for convenience...but it's a whole lot of convenience!
I bought BG's M13 off him a while ago and only really got around to using it for gigs in the last couple of months. It has done a pretty good job as a convenient full pedal board replacement. Being in a regularly gigging band, it's really nice to be able to get that many sounds with such little set up time, light weight and (relatively) small size.
So yeah, lots of sounds...but are they any good?
Well some are and some not so much. Because I'm quite lazy, I've only really explored the stock standard sounds that are required for a covers band. There are a bajillion other sounds in this unit, but most of them are only good for novelty purposes (IMHO and all that).
If you don't already know how the M13 works, here's a crude run down - 4 columns, 3 effects per column, can engage one effect from each column at a time so a max of 4 effects at once.
I have it set up like this:
Code: Select all
Digital Delay Digital Delay Line 6 Distortion Script Phaser
(tap tempo .8th) (tap tempo 1/4 notes) (wild) (tap tempo)
Studio EQ Pitch Glide Classic Distortion Tube Comp
(solo boost) (2 octave whammy) (most used) (RHCP-ish)
Studio EQ Analog Chorus Tube Drive Weeper Wah
(small boost) (tap tempo) (mild) (75% mix)
It runs from right to left, but you can change that. I've set the delays, chorus and phaser to run from tap tempo which really makes it a lot more flexible.
For each effect I use, I have trudged through all of the variations and selected the ones that sounded best to me. Here's a review of the effects I'm familiar with:
Weeper wah (Arbiter Cry Baby)
This was the best sounding wah to my ears. You can get good sounds out of pretty much all the wahs (assuming you have an expression pedal) because you can set the start and finish points and how much of the signal is wah'd. I have a 75% mix so that the guitar sound is still clear, but you also get some wah in there for good measure. No Hammett. Very believable.
Tube Comp (Teletronix LA-2A)
This was the best compressor I could find. I've never used one before, so I'm no expert. This just gave me the Frusciante squish without sucking the life out of everything like the Dyna Comp / CS-1 models did. Is great for solos and making things like the intros to Under The Bridge and Californication sound big when they're really not.
Script Phaser (Phase 90)
I hardly use this. It sounds good but I'm not a phaser kind of person. Just use it to get that weird phasey / wah-y type sound in Who Loves Who The Most. No EVH.
Analog Chorus (Boss CE-1)
I quite like this. I use it sparingly, but with the tap tempo, I can get anything from nice subtle chorus to vibrato. Does a good outro to Under The Bridge sound (we do more than just Chilis stuff, I promise).
Pitch Glide (Whammy)
This is good enough and the convenience of not having to use my space-hogging Whammy IV is nice. The sound, however, isn't as good and unfortunately with the 25K pot in my Boss FV-500L (you're meant to use the shitty plastic Line 6 EXP-1 with a 10K pot), the tracking can be inaccurate. That means that I have to re-calibrate it before each use. Does a good enough Killing In The Name solo and the weird part after the first chorus in What I Got. Over all I prefer my Whammy, but can't be bothered carting it along with its separate power supply and everything so it will stay in the cupboard for the time being.
Digital Delay
Faultless. Love the delays in this unit and having tap tempo means that I can always have the right delay for whatever song I'm playing. This one is used mostly for solos.
Studio EQ (API 550B)
Just a volume boost. Haven't really delved into the EQs because I don't need them.
Digital Delay
As above - but with the dotted eighth setting. Awesome. Mix it with the Tube Comp and maybe the Tube Drive (depending on how I've got my preamp set) and you can nail the Streets Have No Name intro.
Now, this is just one "scene" that I have. I use it 90% of the time. I have another scene that is identical except the chorus is replaced with another EQ for bass boost and the dotted eighth delay is replaced with another, bigger volume boost. I use that one for talk box songs. Can have up to 12 scenes. You can also use latch mode, but I need more flexibility than that.
At this point, you're probably thinking "Cool story, bro, but what about the distortions / drives?!?!?!??"
Well, to be honest, I've not been able to get a sound that I'm satisfied with out of the drives at all. I did all I could to emulate the sound of my Crunchbox, but there was just nothing even remotely close. The Line 6 Distortion model is nice and heavy but has no cut-through no matter what I do. It's just white noise in a band situation. The other two drives that I use are good enough, but are nowhere near as nice as real pedals. In short, this really doesn't do any drive sounds very well for me. They're not
bad, but they're just not...great.
With the exception of the drives, and to an extent the Whammy, this does everything very well. Extremely well. Fantastically well. The flexibility and convenience (yes, I've used that word a lot, but it's the only one that really describes this) is unparalleled. But it comes at a price.
I can complement it with some pedals, but then that would just ruin the convenience of the whole thing. I'm meant to be setting up the M13
instead of my pedal board, not
as well as my pedal board! But man, the sounds I could get if I had some decent ODs in there would be phenomenal.
Final thoughts: The M13 is awesome, but needs to be used with some external drive pedals.
haha I didnt even think of doing that, that's AWESOME
I've got a feeling I'm going to be turning to our practise room a few hours earlier than everyone else to tweak at gig/stage volume, haha. Seriously that rules.
I spent a happy hour or so in the manor just tweaking the overdrives.... and don't forget to try 3 whammys all linked to each other for that ear shattering 6 octave high note 
