Multi-Fx are all the rage at the time of writing, as they represent a neat, portable and inexpensive way to implement a system, offering a huge variety of sound possibilities coupled with convenient programmability. However, one problem can rear its ugly head - although most of these units now use digitalmodelling and offer a range of built-in wah types, suppose you don’t like the sounds provided and want to substitute them for your knackered but beloved 70’s Crybaby? The answer is that most multi-fx have an external effects loop, whose position within the virtual signal chain can be moved to allow other effects to be placed pre or post-wah (or whatever other external effects you want to use). Simply patch in the ‘real’ wah-wah pedal, and use the multi-fx unit to switch it in and out of the circuit. Obviously the pedal must be left switched on all the time, as it is now the multi-fx which will determine whether the device is in or out of the chain. Other advantages are that the pedal’s presence within the signal path will be patch memory dependent, and the aforementioned switching clicks are also eliminated.
