SWITCHER- JOYO PLX 4 ...4 loop swicher ..maybe all you need ?

JOYO PLX 4 SWITCHER

A switcher can be a beautiful thing  ..or a nightmare. Joyo do one with 4 loops another for 8 loops and another with 8 loops but also has MIDI functions. MIDI is useful for pedals with elaborate functions, or switching on amps and their various built in effects or triggering recording devices and their software. Keep in mind only devices that have MIDI functions and a MIDI input can be triggered. If all you want to do is have a few pedals turned on and off in groups or just one pedal at just one click of a button then you may find you do not need to pay for all the bells whistles.

The Joyo PLX in any case allows just 4 switches for on off but you can address either 4 loops or 8 loops depending on the model.

A loop being an output and input to attach either a single pedal or a group of pedals.

K.I.S.S.

In it's simplest form you would have 4 pedals and 4 switches. If you turn on a pedal the one you just had on goes off. Moving along you can make it so when you hit one switch any or all 4 of your pedals can be programmed to any of the switches.  For example you could have a Distortion, Flanger, Fuzz and Delay. You could have just Distortion on switch (1) and Fuzz and Flanger on switch (2) Delay on switch (3) and Fuzz and Delay on switch (4).

Next you have banks. A bank is a place to store the above. You get 16 banks. Your first tune may be great for the first arrangement but in your next tune you may want to have them different. You can then have your 4 pedals with different arrangements 16 times.

PLX 4 $180.00 USD to $220.00 USD for the PLX 8 Live

SOLUTIONS

The more pedals you have the more loops you need to run things in the traditional way. This of course gets both pricey and for many confusing. BUT! All this is a lot of work and if your unit takes an F. off pill you not only have to reprogram the switcher you have remember all the sh@t you did. Trust me ...you will not remember. lol

I use only 3 channels and run over 80 pedals and use only one bank :-) How???

Simple... 

I put several pedals in one loop. I have my clean loop, my Crunch OD loop,

my high gain and Fuzz loop. Between tunes I click on what I want and off what I do not. Over time each loop has become a separate board. Each board has it's own compressor, gate, delay and reverb. Modulation pedals are put where I find I prefer using them. Two loops have there own Chorus but only one has a Flanger, Phaser and Octave pedal as well. I only have to program what switch turns on and off which loop.

BRAVE NEW WORLD

These days you can do my 'One Board for Loop' thing cheaper than you think. I started with super cheap pedals. I kept most and added good ones. It then slowly replaced the budget ones. Over the span of a perhaps a year I would write new tunes and added pedals for them or if I simply found something exciting. 

After several years now I have found that I have created a writing style where it can extend in 4 different directions. You could even say I use 4 different styles. Even all 4 in a single tune. 

For example I may need a Marshall sound for the verse, a Doom Metal sound for the chorus but I will flat pick the the middle 8. So in one tune I use a medium gain OD then a high gain OD or a Fuzz followed by a very low gain drive to flat pick. Then add to that I may wish a Dirt pedal to do a solo that has better sustain or is fatter on single notes etc. 

I also use both humbuckers and single coils and some dirt pedals are great for one but not the other. Even with single coils I have Strat, Tele, P90 and Ric. I also use Gold Foil and Gretsch. They need to let their special character get thru the mix so I am matching different guitars to different pedals as well.

My music is a spin on Prog Metal. I have 15 pedals that are different makes and kinds of a Marshall-in-a-Box. Some work better with single coils others with hummys etc. Yes I take it to extremes so your rig can easily be simpler. But

I figure by knowing what I do some of it will fit your thing other things not. But

knowing the whole deal you will not be caught by surprise.

There are budget modulation pedals that are really good and mind blowing digital verbs and Delays for $40.00 USD. These days 2 excellent digital pedals can be as cheap as one. A lot of guys either do not know this or they do not believe it or simply still hear with their eyes. A $40 Flamma delay pedal has better spec than some Strymon favorites. FACT! My point is having a good delay and verb per channel is not crazy anymore. 

OTHER STUFF

At present I am down sizing by selling very excellent pedals ..even brand names that do something excellent but sometimes just a single tune. I have recently discovered pedals I feel could work on perhaps several tunes. 

I will be down to 72 once orders I made come in and I can sell pedals I still need for now. Only a few months ago I was up to one hundred ...some I used, others were great but did not fit my tunes.