Picking up the guitar in the late 90s placed me in the strange transition between digital and analog guitar effects. Musicians still rocked their Tube Screamers and Big Muffs. Alternately, brands such as DigitTech, Zoom, and Line6 certainly leveled the playing field. Their multi-effect units were small, customizable, and packed just about every common effect in one place. Plus, paying $75 for a singular effect pedal against $200 for a unit with hundreds of sounds seems like a no-brainer for younger guitarists. However, there was more to this argument than the price point alone.
An argument I was forced to reevaluate when I was presented with the FX100 from FLAMMA Innovation.
Analog pedals focused on a singular effect and doing it well. Unfortunately, some were heavy, costly, and touted an unforgiving learning curve. If you didn’t know the difference between overdrive and distortion, odds are you weren’t getting the full mileage from a pedal. Much less one you spent a week’s worth of wages on. Digital units may have been complicated but getting the hang of the features meant having virtually endless tone possibilities. Overdrives, distortions, modulation even amp and cabinet emulation!
As technology progressed and trends moved on, digital effects eventually became the butt-end of jokes in the music world. Showing up to an audition with a Zoom 505 would likely get you thrown out the way you entered. Oddly enough, it wasn’t the digitized sound turning guitarists away, it was the idea of being on stage with someone using a piece of bedroom gear.
No thanks to their affordability, digital effect units were the calling card of young and/or inexperienced players.
Today, digital units have to compete with plug-ins and home recording interfaces, allowing musicians to add effects without the need for a pedal. And those who prefer pedals can pick from a resurging analog pedal market that includes classic and boutique units. The market is vastly different compared to the digital boom of the early 2000s. However, this just might be the perfect time for multi-effects units to make their triumphant return with musicians who want the options and utility of digital effects but the feel of a pedal.
Straight out of the box, Flamma’s FX100 is far more appealing than any multi-effects units I saw as a teenager. Its small yet sturdy design features chrome footswitches, bright LED indicators, an easy-to-read screen, as well as a strong metal expression pedal. Long gone are the days of cheap plastic and dull, red calculator-esque displays. The FX100 actually looks like it belongs in a studio or as part of the rig of a professional guitarist. The back houses a 9v power outlet, headphone jack, aux-in, stereo inputs, a C-type cellphone jack, and USB (but more on that later).
As for what’s under the hood, the FX100 features
- 55 amp/cabinet/mic models emulating everything from VOX, Marshall, Mesa Boogie, and more.
- 9 effect types from modulation, delays, reverbs, pitch shifting, etc adding up to 151 total.
- 200 fully editable preset patches of factory settings ranging from jazz and metal to ambient to soundscapes.
- 80-second digital looper with one-button recording.
- 40 different adjustable rhythm patterns from pop, rock, metal drum machines, and metronomes.
- A programmable built-in expression pedal to control wah and pitch altering effects, volume, and other effects.
- Of course a chromatic tuner.
But how does this vast assortment of sounds actually sound? Pretty good! Back in the day, the biggest drawback of digital effects was the indescribable digitize sound of a chip doing its best to emulate analog. But with the FX100, each effect does exactly what you want it to and it’s surprisingly efficient. I ran the unit through a solid-state Fender amp and based on my experiences with my Zoom 505 in 1999, I was expecting that square, fizzy, digital nothingness. But I was pleasantly surprised by the warmth and well-rounded sound of each of the factory presets.
However, editing those presets is where the FX100 really comes alive.
Tweaking each effect is possible by using the knobs on the unit itself. By using a USB cable and free software, you can edit each of the 200 presets on your computer in real-time. Every aspect of each effect is fully customizable. From simple EQs all the way to mic placement in the cabinet simulator. Having all the options available on a computer screen instead of on the unit makes a world of difference. This leads me to believe the Flamma isn’t trying to replace your analog pedals or act as a multi-effects unit for the current-gen. It’s actually more in line with the plug-ins found in Pro-Tools.
When I purged all digital effects from my rig in the early 2000s, I was convinced digital effects weren’t for me. No matter how faithful the emulation, there’s a certain nuance to sound only found in analog. Not to mention the physical dynamics of playing. It wasn’t until nearly a decade later when I began recording at home that I found the proper place for processing. The plug-ins found in most recording software are capable of acting as hybrids of both analog and digital.
Playing the FX100 as an effects pedal reminded me of some of the issues I had with digital effects so long ago.
Dynamic latency being the biggest complaint as well as the overwhelming amount of options. Anything that keeps me from actually playing my guitar is a strong no for me. Much less at the cost of pressing buttons and turning knobs. But the laptop interface is very telling of Flamma’s intentions. It’s not meant to be used as a pedal at all. But as a bridge between jamming in your bedroom and recording an album.
Instead of lending itself to a particular side of the analog vs digital debate, Flamma is catering to the blank canvas of artistry. Would I play a gig with the FX100? Probably not. I’m somewhat of a minimalist when it comes to a live rig. But if I was at home recording demos or honing my craft in production, I wouldn’t hesitate to reach for this unit.
At the risk of sounding overly romantic, playing the FX100 reminds me that guitar isn’t about cabinets and tube screamers.
It’s about expression and realizing the sound rolling around in your head. Just as multi-effect units in the 90s earned their place in the music gear history, it’s only right for modern let plug-ins to earn theirs. Flamma’s FX100, with its reasonable price point, stands confidently at the fork in the road between technology and artistry. Maybe that fork has been leading to the same destination all along.
For more information and to purchase the FX100, please visit FLAMMA Innovation.