Heart of a Worshipper International Expounded Upon

Gear Review

Yamaha Magicstomp Guitar Processor Pedal

Yamaha Magicstomp Features:

  The Yamaha Magicstomp is an interesting proposal. It's a pedal that is marketed to both electric and acoustic guitar players at the same time. Since I've always liked Yamaha's products, and I'm always on the lookout for a box that could eliminate extra pedals on stage; I purchased one from the Local Sam Ash Music store, and put it to the test for a few weeks.

I'm a praise and worship leader who plays acoustic electric and electric guitars regularly during sets. I'm also very picky when it comes to tone...especially acoustic guitar tone. That quacky piezo pickup sound so many acoustic players tolerate from their guitars playing live just makes my skin crawl. I much more prefer a mic'd acoustic sound with a little piezo mixed in, and believe me, that is a sound that is sometimes very elusive to get while playing plugged in through a PA system.

Something that I've always wished for is a pedal that could replace a bunch of pedals on stage. I've always thought that if I could get a great electric guitar pedal and a great acoustic pedal combined into one, then I would be in guitar heaven. After trying many pedals, I had pretty much given up on the idea. The Magicstomp tries to address this issue, so other guitarists must be dealing with the same kind of issues, or I doubt that Yamaha would have put in the effort to create such a product. Convenience is something that I like when it comes to pedals. The less I have to carry to a gig the better. But the gear I do have has to meet my qualifications for what sounds good to me, and I'm not willing to sacrifice my acoustic and electric tone, just so I don't have to carry another pedal around. Consequently if a pedal is gonna be THE pedal in my guitar rig, then it better be something very, very special!

What's Inside the Package

The Yamaha Magicstomp comes in a nice tightly packaged box. You get the pedal, a patch list, owners manual, power supply, Patch Editor software, and a USB cable.

Construction

This pedal is built very well. Yamaha didn't scrimp on things. It is made it with a nice chassis, with a beautiful stainless steel footplate where the buttons are, and it has a nicely backlit display. It's an attractive dark purple color. The Magicstomp looks like it is made to withstand the rough life many pedals have on the road.

A look at the rear panel shows that Yamaha didn't go cheap here either. They used nice sturdy metal 1/4" jacks, instead of the flimsy ones that many manufacturers are using lately such as the ones on the Zoom 504II acoustic pedal.

Connections

You connect the Magicstomp by plugging in one end of the included USB cable to a computer, and the other end into the Magicstomp. It works with both Apple Macintosh, and Windows based systems. By hooking up this way, and using the included editing software, a whole new world is opened up that isn't available with many other pedals. I was shocked with all the editing options available when I got into it. You can tweak just about any setting and get into some deep editing by using the software. I had no problems connecting to my laptop. The Magicstomp and the laptop communicated effortlessly.

If you are a tweaker, you're gonna love this aspect of the pedal. If you're not, then you may wanna look elsewhere for your perfect pedal. You've got a lot to choose from to tweak, and because of the fact that there are only three knobs on the pedal for adjustments, you have to choose wisely what you want to program those knobs to do. When using this pedal for both an acoustic and electric guitar at the same time with an a/b footswitch, those three knobs become very important, and programming it from the computer is essential. There is a lot of adjustment here from the editing program via USB. Filters, reverbs, delays, choruses, mic simulators, distortions, and the list goes on and on. See Yamaha's website at www.yamaha.com for a complete spec listing on the Magicstomp. I set up some acoustic sounds from the AG acoustic pedal that I liked at first, but then I read about something really cool. Yamaha has a website just for the Magicstomp pedal at www.magicstomp.com! There all the AG acoustic pedal presets are available for download, so I loaded them from the website onto my computer, and then into the Magicstomp. There are also artist presets there on the websites for some great electric guitar sounds. Check it out. It's a nice bonus that comes as a freebie for users of this pedal.

I think that some players aren't gonna want to mess with all the Magicstomp has available by editing with a computer. But I consider it a bonus, and so many pedals are going that way, that I just figure I might as well get good at it and use the features. Odds are, more pedals are gonna have a computer editable setup as time goes on. But I always felt like I needed more knobs to program, that I could adjust at a gig. Every place I play has different sound characteristics, and most of the time adjustments need to be made at each new place to get the right tone. At some gigs, the only time you have to adjust is at the sound check. On a pedal where most of the adjustability is easy to get to via knobs or quick menus, that isn't really an issue. The Magicstomp limits the owner here, and some players won't like it just because of that. Next generation models will undoubtedly have more front panel adjustability; if Yamaha is paying any attention to what the player's are saying that have purchased this pedal and gig with it. Another feature that is missing in the button area, is a dedicated button for tap tempo. Some players use this feature on their pedals regularly. the lack of one on the Magicstomp could be a deal breaker for those players. There are also no Midi jacks on this pedal, so this again could drive potential users away. In the future I have heard buzz that there may be Midi support via USB, but as for now, it's just rumors.

Electric Guitar Sound

This thing is cram packed with a total of 198 sound programs. There are 99 preset and 99 user programs. You've got amp models, distortions, delays, choruses, weird effect types of sounds, speaker and microphone models, acoustic models, etc. How do they cram all that into this little stomp box?

The effects are studio quality, and I could tell the quality from the first chords I played on my Strat. I compared the Magicstomp to a few other electric and acoustic pedals from Digitech, Boss, Zoom, Korg, and Behringer. Let me tell you...the Yamaha had the cleanest and most high quality sound out of all of them. Tone is such a personal thing. What I think is great tone, the 17 year old playing the Jackson Soloist who loves hard distorted guitar music thinks is lame. But there is a clarity and crispness when you hear a high quality effect, and the Magicstomp has that in spades. Anybody, with some computer tweaking, should be able to get some sounds they like out of this box. Heck, you can just go to the website and download artist presets for more ideas. The sounds that come loaded in the pedal stock, I found are quite good; and many players will probably find something they like right away.

I have worked in some studios in my life, and the high quality of the reverbs, delays, and choruses in the Magicstomp, remind of some of the effects I've used in studios. It's just a clean and quiet sound even when distorted. The pedal has tone the way I like it for electric guitars, and I had no problem using it with my Stratocaster. I found some great clean and bluesy sounds that fit that guitar perfectly, and only did minor editing to get the sound just right for me.

Unfortunately, there is a noticeable delay when switching patches. Hopefully Yamaha will address this in any future upgrades. Using the Magicstomp as a channel switching pedal like you would a multi channel guitar amp, doesn't work all that well, because of the delay going to the next patch. It was enough of a problem for me to make me not want to use the pedal in lead electric guitar situations. For me, I just want there to be a seamless switch between sounds with no or very little delay going between patches/channels. This is a pretty big drawback for performing live with the Magicstomp.

 Acoustic Guitar Sounds

The acoustic patches on the Magicstomp are an area where the pedal fell a little short for me. Any acoustic "modeling" type of pedal I've used lately tries to do one basic thing. They all try to get an acoustic electric guitar to sound like an expensive, all solid wood acoustic guitar that is mic'd with some type of microphone. With the Magicstomp you have more choices, because you get choruses, delays, reverbs, and other effects along with the mic'd acoustic emulating types of effects. The normal effects sound great, and just with a piezo equipped acoustic electric, you can get really clean and nice sounds. The modeling is where it goes a little wrong for me. Not unusable, just not quite like the real thing. Kind of like drinking a watered down Coke where the ice has melted into it, instead of drinking one freshly poured from a cold bottle into a glass full of ice. Thirsty yet?

I have tried most of the new crop of pedals from the Korg AX10A, to the Fishman Aura, to the Boss series, and even the Zoom 504II Acoustic (which is surprisingly good for $69.95) and eventually we'll have reviews for those pedals up on the H.O.W.I. website. The Magicstomp does as decent a job as any (except maybe for the AX10A) in emulating what a well mic'd acoustic sounds like, and for many this will be acceptable. Some will really like the sound.

As I stated before...I'm very picky when it comes to my acoustic tone and even though I tweaked for hours and days, I just couldn't get close enough to a real mic'd guitar sound. The reason I know this, is because I a/b recorded the Magicstomp against the same guitar mic'd with a Rode NT1-A condenser microphone and a pair of Octava condensers in our studio, over and over and over and over again. I did the same thing with some of the other pedals we've tested at H.O.W.I., but you'll have to wait for those reviews to read about the results. 

The thing is...for recording there really is nothing like a mic'd guitar. Even some of the new 2 and 3 way systems that are coming with condensers built into the guitar make it possible to get a great recorded mic'd acoustic sound. But playing live through a PA presents a whole different set of problems. Feedback becomes a big issue even with the new 2 and 3 way systems. For many acoustic players, especially ones that play leading praise, sitting still in front of a mic is not really feasible. I gotta move when I'm playing! At a minimum I am usually moving around quite a bit when I lead a praise and worship set, interacting with the band and the crowd. There is no way I could sit for an hour in front of a mic when leading people, just to get a mic'd acoustic sound. So there is a trade off in my mind, and an acoustic pedal is a decent option. Not perfect, but decent. The old saying "You can't always get what you want" comes to mind.

With the 2 and 3 way systems built into the guitar, there is sometimes a feedback issue. When you stand in front of a monitor and microphone on stage, if you turn the guitar mic up past a certain level, then feedback starts. Some systems and pedals address this by giving you a notch filter on the guitar to quickly get rid of that frequency. This works great, but the offending frequency may be one that adds a little to the tone, so getting rid of it all together is also a trade off. I believe this is one reason why microphone emulating and acoustic emulating pedals are becoming so popular. Technology has made it possible now to get a similar sound to a mic'd acoustic guitar with a pedal. To me, it is just similar, but that will have to do in places where a mic'd guitar is not possible because of movement needs, or feedback issues.

Although the whole mic'd guitar sound thing is an issue, that doesn't take away from the fact that this is a great sounding pedal. I think where it really does shine, is using it for recording electric guitars. Here the issues that are a problem playing live such as the switching delay, no tap tempo, and lack of enough knobs and menus for tweaking are easily dealt with. The pedal excels at recording electric guitars. It sounds better and quieter going direct into a board than just about anything else I've tried anywhere near it's price range.

Conclusion

So there you have it. The Yamaha Magicstomp is a great sounding electric guitar pedal, and definitely worthy of consideration if you're in the market. It has all the makings of a classic with high quality effects and great distortions and amp modeling. Fabulous choruses, reverbs, and delays. We are talking about all this for a street price of under $200.00. The chinks in the armor for this reviewer are the lack of a tap tempo button, the delay between switching patches, and the lack of dedicated knobs and menus for tweaking the pedal on the fly without a computer. The acoustic sounds I guess are just a matter of taste, and the next person that reviews this pedal may be enthralled with them. Many people love the AG pedal sounds, and that is basically what the Magicstomp has available for acoustics via stock presets and downloads at www.magicstomp.com.

                                                                                                                                                                                               by William Charles

View Our Founder's MySpace Page and Blog

Copyright © 2008 Heart of a Worshipper International
Last modified: 02/06/08