Normal pedals vs Fractal VP4

Chase42147

Chase42147

Member
I'm trying to decide whether I should continue to buy regular pedals, or just switch to the VP4. The pedals I need to finish my board is a compressor, Eventide Tricerachorus, and a Strymon Big Sky. Also considering a Micropitch Delay and a SDE-3000D in the future for playing in stereo.

The VP4 would be cheaper than buying all the individual effects, but seems like it could end up outdated much faster. I've also heard people say it has more latency... What are your opinions?
 
My main pedals are an SDE-3000EVH (delay), Eventide Micropitch (detune/chorus) & Golden (Reverb). The VP4 sounds pretty spot on to each of these when A/B'ing each effect individually. However, this (at least for me) breaks down a little when running delay/detune/reverb all at once in the VP4. That is, I think each effect being handled by a dedicated unit sounds/feels better. So instead of replacing all my pedals, it replaced my Golden. Which for me works perfectly, because not only do I have access to a whole lot more types of reverb than the golden, the VP4 can also serve as Dual Delay in the case where I would prefer to use the SDE-3000EVH for a 20ms chorus/widening effect. Or if I want a Dimension style chorus instead of detune, I can do that instead of using the Eventide.... so way, way more versatile. I just wouldn't personally replace an entire pedalboard with it.

I should note I'm running all 3 effect units in parallel through a Musicomb Parallelizer to preserve analog dry through. I don't know if my findings hold up if everything is ran in series with no ADT.
 
I have an Axefx3 and still use pedals. I like to have pedals so I can easily reach for a quick edit, but I don’t think they sound better or give anything different than the Fractal does. You wouldn’t be missing anything with the Fractal.

If I were starting over and didn’t have years of accumulated gear, I’d definitely start with something like the Fractal VP4 or some other multi-effects pedal. Add pedals down the road if you get the urge, but know that you’re covered with just about any sound you need in the Fractal.
 
Chase42147 said:
I'm trying to decide whether I should continue to buy regular pedals, or just switch to the VP4. The pedals I need to finish my board is a compressor, Eventide Tricerachorus, and a Strymon Big Sky. Also considering a Micropitch Delay and a SDE-3000D in the future for playing in stereo.

The VP4 would be cheaper than buying all the individual effects, but seems like it could end up outdated much faster. I've also heard people say it has more latency... What are your opinions?
Click to expand...

I have a Helix Floor, and Fractal FM9; I use the effects in each...however, I have a HX-Effects and recently purchased the Boss GX-100 which I use in 4CM or in front of my tube amps for effects only. I like the integrated expression pedal in the GX-100, and it has a great collection of Boss effects that would cost much more, and be noisier / more troublesome, if I purchased even a few Boss pedals.

Before Christmas, in the US, when I got mine, the GX-100 was $100 off.


Here's a list (and parameters) https://static.roland.com/manuals/gx-100_parameter_v200/en-US/index.html
 
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SonVolt said:
My main pedals are an SDE-3000EVH (delay), Eventide Micropitch (detune/chorus) & Golden (Reverb). The VP4 sounds pretty spot on to each of these when A/B'ing each effect individually. However, this (at least for me) breaks down a little when running delay/detune/reverb all at once in the VP4. That is, I think each effect being handled by a dedicated unit sounds/feels better. So instead of replacing all my pedals, it replaced my Golden. Which for me works perfectly, because not only do I have access to a whole lot more types of reverb than the golden, the VP4 can also serve as Dual Delay in the case where I would prefer to use the SDE-3000EVH for a 20ms chorus/widening effect. Or if I want a Dimension style chorus instead of detune, I can do that instead of using the Eventide.... so way, way more versatile. I just wouldn't personally replace an entire pedalboard with it.

I should note I'm running all 3 effect units in parallel through a Musicomb Parallelizer to preserve analog dry through. I don't know if my findings hold up if everything is ran in series with no ADT.
Click to expand...

What do you notice when running all 3 effects on the VP4? A lot of latency, or what's the main drawback?
 
rsm said:
I have a Helix Floor, and Fractal FM9; I use the effects in each...however, I have a HX-Effects and recently purchased the Boss GX-100 which I use in 4CM or in front of my tube amps for effects only. I like the integrated expression pedal in the GX-100, and it has a great collection of Boss effects that would cost much more, and be noisier / more troublesome, if I purchased even a few Boss pedals.

Before Christmas, in the US, when I got mine, the GX-100 was $100 off.


Here's a list (and parameters) https://static.roland.com/manuals/gx-100_parameter_v200/en-US/index.html
Click to expand...

The GX-100 looks pretty good, can you run a tri-stereo chorus on it? I couldn't tell from my look at the manual
 
Chase42147 said:
The GX-100 looks pretty good, can you run a tri-stereo chorus on it? I couldn't tell from my look at the manual
Click to expand...
The chorus mono, stereo, dual chorus where you can set the waveform to sine or triangle; a more advanced chorus, the prime chorus, with additional parameters, also has a triangle or sine waveform and can be set to mono or stereo.
 
To each their own, I think fractal is world class. I’ve used their products for 10 years.

When I buy a VPfour, I will use it post, and I will commit my four blocks to rotary, delays, reverb, and harmonic Tremelo, in that order.

I basically do that now when I run my IRX into my axeiii.
 
I have VP4 ordered, mainly because form factor for gigging. I have FM9T and I realise it is really expensive delay pedal for me :) I doesn't expect the flexibility or footswitch option of FM9 but those delay/reverb are just fantastic. And noise gates ... best in the business.

I also had GX-100 recently and it is great value for money. But what annoys me the most was the sound change in 4CM. It wasn't tone suck, more like it added some of the higher frequencies and I cannot unheard it afterward. Even in parallel loop of Bogner Goldfinger so it has to be what GX send to input of the amp. The older GT1000 series didn't do that.
 
bubucci said:
I have VP4 ordered, mainly because form factor for gigging. I have FM9T and I realise it is really expensive delay pedal for me :) I doesn't expect the flexibility or footswitch option of FM9 but those delay/reverb are just fantastic. And noise gates ... best in the business.

I also had GX-100 recently and it is great value for money. But what annoys me the most was the sound change in 4CM. It wasn't tone suck, more like it added some of the higher frequencies and I cannot unheard it afterward. Even in parallel loop of Bogner Goldfinger so it has to be what GX send to input of the amp. The older GT1000 series didn't do that.
Click to expand...

I don't hear that with my GX-100, but my ears aren't the best these days. I haven't used it direct to FRFR like I do with my other modelers (Helix, FM9) since I only wanted it for effects, and it does more than the ME-90.

I do use GX-100 global eq to cut low (80 Hz) and high (8 kHz) frequencies - something I do with all my digital modelers.
 
As both a pedal and vp4 owner, ill give you my opinion. I have two board (i could build probably two more with the other pedals i have laying around).

My main board is an h90 with a gate, two overdrives, tuner and expression pedal (i run 4 cable method since i only use amps these days). I do like the ability to turn the od off if i dont want it and i can easily adjust things on the fly (however i do very little adjusting). The board sounds great and i can easily swap overdrives when ever im in a different mood.

I also built a simple board with the VP4, expression pedal and a Suhr mico midi pedal so i can channel switch with trs or midi with all of my amps. The pros to the vp4 board is i can have one button change everything including effects and amps channel. (I really hate tap dancing). Its a simple and clean board with very little wires/cabling that sounds great and is super versatile. I think the user interface is stupid easy to use and crazy simple to edit things on the fly (better interface than the H90). I don’t notice any sound degradation to my tone (I'm pretty sensitive to that) and no latency issues either.

If the VP4 was available earlier last year i would have done that instead of the H90, i do love eventide effects and always seem to come back to them but fractal is also stellar for effects as well.

From a cost standpoint the VP4 you get more for the money. I have no need or interest in amp modeling at this point (been there done that). And the whole 4 effects at one time aren’t enough complaint is really silly, some effects you can actually get two types of effects at a time but i don’t really see the need for wanting more, just t make a new preset
 

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Chase42147 said:
What do you notice when running all 3 effects on the VP4? A lot of latency, or what's the main drawback?
Click to expand...

Zero perceptible latency b/c I'm maintaining a healthy amount of analog dry signal. Running all 3 effects on the VP4 still sounds great, but they seem to sound and feel more distinct and pop out better when I let each unit serve a single purpose. This could have more to do with my routing chain than the VP4 itself. That is, running each effect into a single channel of the mixer vs all 3 effects crammed into 1 channel of the mixer.

I would buy the VP4 again tomorrow. It's a fantastic unit. Especially in stereo!
 
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bubucci said:
I also had GX-100 recently and it is great value for money. But what annoys me the most was the sound change in 4CM. It wasn't tone suck, more like it added some of the higher frequencies and I cannot unheard it afterward.
Click to expand...


I had something weird like that happen with my Peterson StroboStomp tuner. I chalked it up to a healthy buffer that was restoring some lost signal.
 
Getting ready to pull the trigger on an FM3. I couldn't quite figure out what the VP4 was and how it worked in comparison to the FM3.
 
reilly said:
As both a pedal and vp4 owner, ill give you my opinion. I have two board (i could build probably two more with the other pedals i have laying around).

My main board is an h90 with a gate, two overdrives, tuner and expression pedal (i run 4 cable method since i only use amps these days). I do like the ability to turn the od off if i dont want it and i can easily adjust things on the fly (however i do very little adjusting). The board sounds great and i can easily swap overdrives when ever im in a different mood.

I also built a simple board with the VP4, expression pedal and a Suhr mico midi pedal so i can channel switch with trs or midi with all of my amps. The pros to the vp4 board is i can have one button change everything including effects and amps channel. (I really hate tap dancing). Its a simple and clean board with very little wires/cabling that sounds great and is super versatile. I think the user interface is stupid easy to use and crazy simple to edit things on the fly (better interface than the H90). I don’t notice any sound degradation to my tone (I'm pretty sensitive to that) and no latency issues either.

If the VP4 was available earlier last year i would have done that instead of the H90, i do love eventide effects and always seem to come back to them but fractal is also stellar for effects as well.

From a cost standpoint the VP4 you get more for the money. I have no need or interest in amp modeling at this point (been there done that). And the whole 4 effects at one time aren’t enough complaint is really silly, some effects you can actually get two types of effects at a time but i don’t really see the need for wanting more, just t make a new preset
Click to expand...
This post wins

Great list of guitars is a bonus 🤙🏽
 
I was using a boss es8 switcher to compare some pedals this past week and the eventide h9 is a tone sucking machine.
It’s got volume drop that needs corrected in your presets. The fx’s can be glorious though.
Boss pedals like the md500 and sde3000evh where fine once you set to analog and not dsp.
The vp4 I set up in 4cm,two loops for pre and post. Post needed a volume adjustment per preset but there was no tone suck.
Wish this thing had stereo outs in 4cm.
 
Telecruiser said:
Getting ready to pull the trigger on an FM3. I couldn't quite figure out what the VP4 was and how it worked in comparison to the FM3.
Click to expand...
The VP4 is geared towards people who use real amps, the FM3 is if you would want amp modeling and/or plan on going direct.
 
rsm said:
The chorus mono, stereo, dual chorus where you can set the waveform to sine or triangle; a more advanced chorus, the prime chorus, with additional parameters, also has a triangle or sine waveform and can be set to mono or stereo.
Click to expand...
Hmm, that could be worth trying then
 
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