Electronic Musician - Samson

LUST
review
Zoom
MS-100BT
MultiStomp
Innovative guitar pedal
combines Bluetooth, iOS,
and cool sounds
BY CRAIG ANDERTON
SUMMARY
STRENGTHS: Creative effects, and
plenty of them. Bluetooth connection
for loading and trying new effects from
StompShare. Very easy to tweak. Tap
tempo. Extremely compact.
LIMITATIONS: The app store amps
sound better to me than the built-in ones.
Impractical to access lots of different
patches live.
$249.99 MSRP,
$149.99 street
samsontech.com
THE MS-100BT multieffects has
several features that stand out.
First, it can load new effects
and amps from an iOS app called
StompShare; prices range from $0.99
for effects to $1.99 for amps—very
reasonable. Zoom circumvents the 30-pin/
Lightning issue by nuking the cable entirely,
and using Bluetooth to transfer patches from
your iOS device to the MultiStomp (it’s fast,
too). Second, it offers true multieffects—buying
an amp or effect adds it to the roster of 100
processors (92 effects and eight amps), which
you can store as effects chains in 50 presets.
One of StompShare’s best features is that
in addition to audio demos, you can load an
effect into the MS-100BT and play through it
for 15 minutes (and you’re not limited to one
trial period). What’s more, all parameters are
editable via the MS-100BT’s hardware controls,
so you can really explore the possibilities. You
can also insert the effect into a patch with other
effects to check it out in context.
Onboard Effects The MS-100BT has quite
a selection, including “out there” effects like
a bit crusher, ring modulator, and several
synthesizer-type options. Although I often
find these kinds of sounds to be clever but not
useful, some of them are definite keepers. It
also has the expected collection of dynamics,
EQ, time-based, and modulation effects. You
can load up to six effects, within limits of the
available DSP; I found it very difficult to run
out of DSP power.
The amps are good, but others who are
as picky as I am will appreciate the multiple
pages of tweakable parameters—you can even
The MS-
100BT
MultiStomp,
with the
StompShare
app in the
background.
mix and match amps
and cabinets. One
cool studio trick is to
turn off the cab and use an
amp sim’s cab to create a variety of
flavors. My favorite amps were the optionalat-extra-cost
ones; I particularly liked the
Tone City, Match 30, and MS Crunch amps,
with the Centagold overdrive providing a
great complement to any of them. Basically,
for $6.96 I got the amp sounds I wanted and
more . . . that’s a helluva deal.
Painless Interface For tabletop
programming, the combination of three
push-pots and multiple pages make it
virtually painless to navigate around, despite
the flexibility. However, for live use there’s
no random access, or MIDI footswitch
compatibility; you program a “playlist” of
effects, and step through them to get from
preset to preset. For a half-dozen presets, this
is doable but too many more, and you’ll be tap
dancing. (Hey Zoom—how about an iPad app
for preset random access?)
Beyond Guitar Even without Bluetooth and
the StompShare app, the MS-100BT is packed
with useful effects, yet its size would let it slide
right into a pedalboard. It’s mercifully easy to
tweak and adapt presets for feeding an amp or
going direct into a mixer. We’ll see what optional
effects appear in the future, but the 22 existing
effects are off to a fine start—and the overall
sound quality is a step up from previous Zoom
products. This level of functionality at this price,
with these kinds of sounds, is very hard to beat—
and good for a more than just guitar. n
50 emusician.com 04.2013