Sonicake Matribox II. Part 2. Gigging with the Matribox.

Hello again.
This is my second in a series of three videos about the Matribox from Sonicake. In the first video we took a look at the overall feature set and made a preset to demonstrate the sound. In this video we go deeper and I show how the Matribox's amazing functionality can really deliver in a live situation going direct.
I go through 6 presets and demonstrate how the switching capacity and customisable roles of the foot switches can really give all the control you need to gig very comfortably with this great little affordable powerhouse.
If you enjoy the video and find it useful please leave a comment, like and subscribe
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[@robertdouble559]

So refreshing to hear someone with a similar taste in music (and flannel shirts) to mine demo one of these things! 😁 It's usually full on metalheads, nerdy shredders or straight up blues players. It's great to hear sounds I'd actually use for once! Cheers man!

[@TheGuitarEffect]

Hey Robert. I don’t know if it’s a people called Robert thing 😬but I’m exactly the same. I’m not into virtuosity or blues… like. At all. I like alternative music and very much am fan of songs. I find it really frustrating taht I can’t find channels that play the kinds of sounds I want to hear too. You might like my band actually. Check us out: youtube.com/@kampalaband?si=AiejBAbnHOIz_sI_

[@TheGuitarEffect]

Like, can’t go wrong with a flannel shirt 🤷‍♂️

[@robertdouble559]

@@TheGuitarEffect just listened to your tune heathen, very cool. So many hooks, I'm the guitar and vocals. I'll dig deeper after work. Great singing man! Well done

[@robertdouble559]

@@TheGuitarEffect I reckon I've logged more days wearing black jeans and a red/black flannel than even Dace Grohl himself! He seems to have moved into some kind of chuck noriss denim on denim vibe now!

[@kennethemerson5548]

I bought the Sonicake with a foot switch based on this single video. Thanks for the awesome demo!

[@TheGuitarEffect]

Hey Ken. Thx for the comment. Really glad you found it helpful

[@JRCfishon]

This is a great sounding unit! Thanks for showing how practical it is to setup for live situations! The amp model is pretty impressive too!

[@TheGuitarEffect]

Hey. Thx for the comment. I’ve been super impressed with it. Just does everything that I need it to do. Really happy with it. I’ve just build a small pedalboard with it where I put pedals in the loop and run it into an amp. Sounds great like that too.

[@user-vs8ds4vo6i]

I really appreciate this video. Too many times an effects unit is presented by just running through features and presets. You really show the usefulness for live setting.

[@TheGuitarEffect]

Hey. Thx for commenting mate. The one thing I never understand about gear demos is why anyone would ever use a factory preset???? Is the whole idea of multi effects not being able to generate your own sound from a wide variety of options? Always puzzled me. Capacity for live performance is actually a little bit MORE important to me than fidelity after a point. Doesn’t matter if it sounds amazing if you can’t use it live. IMHO

[@jonnybreckless]

Great demo, you made it sound better than anybody else on KZbin! I've ordered one to play with.

[@TheGuitarEffect]

Hey. Thx for the comment. Yeah it’s pretty easy to get a good sound out of it. Enjoy!

[@simposio99]

Thanks for the songs you played ❤ Great sound a d great video

[@TheGuitarEffect]

Hey. Thx for the comment. Glad you enjoyed the video.

[@robertdouble559]

GREAT sounds and setup

[@kampalaband]

Thx. I’ve been really impressed with the Matribox II. It’s a very useful Little box!

[@TheGuitarEffect]

Apologies I answered this from my band’s profile.

[@BudgetPedalChap]

Aye, sounds decent. There is a lot of versatility with that additional footswitch too

[@TheGuitarEffect]

Yeah I’m really liking it. To be fair a lot of these modelers do facilitate the footswitch but it’s be switching capacity of the on bord switches too. Really good.

[@gregoriomatia6183]

Great great video.. Thank you!! Awesome how nowadays you can sound pretty decent for 200 some euros...

[@TheGuitarEffect]

Hey. Thx for the comment. Yeah I’ve gotta say this is a really amazing piece of kit for the price. I’ve another video due live on Thursday where I’ve put it into a small pedalboard. It’s even more impressive in that scenario

[@Profguitar]

Excellent video! Are you just using the sound from the pedalboard cabinets or are you using external IR's? Thank you.

[@TheGuitarEffect]

Hey. Thx for the comment. No just the on board cabs. Thx

[@thomastucker5686]

You have been the first person to create usable sounds with this device I have heard. I was wondering if it was actually useful until now.

[@TheGuitarEffect]

Hey. Thx for the comment. I find that unusual. I thought this was really easy to program and use and get great sounds out of . I wonder was it a case maybe of the other videos we’re focusing on stock presets? I never use stock presets on anything. I can’t think of any other reason people couldn’t make it sound good. 🤷‍♂️

[@thomastucker5686]

@@TheGuitarEffect you hit the nail on the head. Most of the reviewers are just using stock, frankly awful, stock presets. It is bad for the company to make such useless presets. Many with way too much wet effect. It could never sound good in a mix and sounds terrible by itself. At some point the guitar loses all character with so much effect. I realize it comes down to personal preference, and some folks might enjoy the stock presets, but I hear things in context of musical composition. I am trying to replace my Line 6 Spider III. Which is a fantastic amp for gigging, not for sound quality, but for size and weight. I wish to replace it for the benefit of sound quality. I didn't purchase it to gig with. I got it for a cheap headphone guitar amp for $50. I wasn't going to be gigging, but things change. I have a wonderful tube half stack in the studio but I am too old to carry that sucker to gigs. It is too big for most of the rooms I will find myself. I need a light rig that sounds convincing to other musicians. I don't want guitar players, if they close their eyes to know I am not playing through a Fender Princeton or a Marshall dimed. I am a fraud on guitar. I am a pro drummer who has watched guitar players for 50 years and just copy what all of them have done. I just pretend I am a guitar player and nobody knows the difference. Of course now I have been asked to join a band, so I have to take it more seriously and set up a rig. I have been practicing hours a day to become an actual guitar player. When I was a teenager, I would just learn a couple major riffs from a song but never really bother with the whole thing. I was bored with guitar and wanted drums. With my first job I purchased drums and my guitar journey abruptly ended. Funny, those skills I developed as a child stuck with me, so I can now fake it. Oh right, light guitar rig, I got off topic, sorry mate.

[@TheGuitarEffect]

Hey Thomas. So I was just reading your text. To be honest I would NEVER worry about what any other guitar player thinks of your tone. All that matters is that the band sounds good to the audience. I think any guitar player that comments on another’s tone is a questionable person if I’m honest. Most of us are doing the absolute best we can with what we’ve got. I’m f you did buy this you could just plug it into the effects return of your spider and use it like that live.

[@thomastucker5686]

@@TheGuitarEffect my point was the tone was so good, even guitarists couldn't tell what I was playing through, just that it had good tone. I go out and listen to other players, and frankly many have fantastic tone, so I assume other players like myself really appreciate that. I hope that helps with your understanding. I trust my fellow guitarist friends have a keen ear. When they say, you aren't cutting through the mix, I appreciate the feedback. They give advice to be kind and helpful. I look at it through that lens. When I give advice, it is solely to be helpful. I would comment on your guitar tone and frankly complement it. What is your best idea of a lightweight gigging setup with a DI to FOH? I know very little these days about guitar gear. I just started looking and wow is there way more stuff than I could have ever imagined.

[@davidtguitar]

Thanks for the video! i wonder how it would work/sound with a tonex pedal as the amp. because i suppose it should work right? Just disable the amp in the pedal and use the effects?

[@TheGuitarEffect]

Hey. Thx for the comment. Yes it absolutely would work. You even put the ToneX in the loop. So your effects chain would be correct.

[@eliasalonso8315]

Great video! Do you think the Matribox 2 can be compared with the Boss GT-1? Would you prefer the Matribox over the GT-1?

[@TheGuitarEffect]

Hey. I actually said in the video that I would choose this over the GT1. Mainly because of the MIDI and the effects loop. It’s a better featured unit.

[@notavailable8955]

Do you know if this would power a passive pa/speaker on its own, or would I still need to run it through a mixer or powered PA? Also, thanks for the video! It was very informative.

[@TheGuitarEffect]

Hey. Thx for the comment. No it absolutely will not. It has no onboard power amp. But if you bought one of the pedal power amps you could put it in between this and your speaker.

[@notavailable8955]

@@TheGuitarEffect thanks!

[@emeshk.c.7795]

Which ones sounds better ?matribox ii or the valeton gp 200 ? I like the sound of matri box ii but i wanna get the gp 200 cause it has more foot switches and i chose it as soon as i saw it but then the mateibox ii came out ..which one should i pick ?

[@TheGuitarEffect]

Hey. Thx for the comment. I’ve never tried the GP200 so I can’t comment there. It seems to be about €150 more than the matribox so that’s a consideration. The extra footswitches and XLR outputs basically justify that price increase. I know this sounds great so it depends how many foot switches you need.

[@jimmydunn8517]

Excellent demo. Most people want to see if an effects unit would be useful in a giging situation. Thanks

[@TheGuitarEffect]

Thx for the comment. I kinda think it’s almost pointless to not cover this subject matter in a review. Like you HAVE to be able to gig it right?

[@YanTheMusicMan]

Awesome Review video!! I seem to see the switch happen instantly, but it seems to happen as you release the footswitch from your stomp, as opposed to happen as you first stomp on the footswitch, like for example, as a regular Boss stompbox would behave. Am I correct? I’m referring to the Sonicake footswitches.

[@TheGuitarEffect]

Hey. Thx for the comment. If I’m honest I haven’t noticed that but some units do that alright. Not sure if you can change it.

[@OCDStee]

Hi there. I have an absolute noob question. So I've just got one of these and am trying to run it through the input on my amp using a standard guitar cable and using the L(mono) balanced out, but I'm not getting any sound. I am getting sound through headphones plugged into the Matribox though. So do I need to use a balanced cable? Adjust a setting? Or do I have another issue (apart from being an incompetent idiot)??? Many thanks.

[@TheGuitarEffect]

Hey. Thx for the comment. Ok so a few things going on here. 1. I can’t see any reason you wouldn’t have any sound through the input of your amp if you’re getting sound in your headphones. A balanced cable won’t help this. 2. Inch f you are using amp models from the matribox you should be ruining into he effects return of your amp and make sure you turn speaker sim off in global settings. 3. We are all noobs at one point. You’ll get there!!!

[@OCDStee]

@@TheGuitarEffect Thanks for this. Very much appreciated 😁👍

[@michaelcummins582]

Great video Rob, I'm just wondering what parameter is on the WHammy to get the Black Keys tone?

[@TheGuitarEffect]

Hey. It’s the pitch shifter. I can’t remember exactly what it’s called but you select that Eddie t and then assign the expression pedal to go from no pitch shift to 1 octave down.

[@TheGuitarEffect]

It’s not very straightforward. Took me a few mins to figure it out.

[@michaelcummins582]

@@TheGuitarEffect Thanks for the reply, I have it sounding similar now 👍

[@TheGuitarEffect]

Fair play!

[@pierluigipanaccio2170]

Hi... Where can i find the dual footswitch!? Thank

[@TheGuitarEffect]

Hey. Mine has a a Mosky dual footswitch. Available from Amazon or Ali express. But any momentary dual footswitch will do.

[@ymelfilm]

Hi there, is it possible to set up a single button looper that does all? Single long stomp to stop and delete a loop? tks

[@TheGuitarEffect]

Hey. Thx for the comment. To be honest I do t really use loopers very much so I can’t answer that question. But I know you can hit two switches to enter looper mode but I think it becomes a 3 button looper then.

[@TheGuitarEffect]

I know you can do one button looper on the HX effects

[@ymelfilm]

@@TheGuitarEffect yes, I have it but it sucks: you need 2 fast stomp to stop the loop whis is a nonsense in live situation especially when I sit

[@TheGuitarEffect]

Ah right. Like I said I’m not a looper user. Sorry I can’t be more help.

[@blacksquareknight]

Just picked one up, it sounds nice, loaded some irs and having fun with it, the dual pitch works really well , set the volume really low, around 8 to 14 on both pitches, try it last in chain,add silly amounts of reverb, made some huge sounding patches overall. That yellow writing is terrible, i can barely read it, only complaint

[@TheGuitarEffect]

Hey. Thx for the comment. Do you mean the writing actually printed on the unit? If so I agree it’s not massively helpful. I think they are trying to keep it the unit looking very clean and minimalist. I like the dual pitch too. It tracks well.

[@robertdouble559]

Was that Franz Ferdinand followed right up by Cake? Sound like your bad covers some kickass tunes!

[@kampalaband]

That’s just the verse I f Fran’s Ferdinand!! I would love to cover the distance by cake though. Absolute Tune.

[@TheGuitarEffect]

Apologies I answered this from my band’s profile.

[@marvinrichmondtv]

OTG Function direct phone recording for Android/ios Device? Please 🙏 USB Adaptor🤝Thank you

[@TheGuitarEffect]

Ok cool I’ll cover that in a video

[@rqgalaxytab2]

mirip NUX MG30.

[@TheGuitarEffect]

Certainly similar in layout and hardware features anyway. Yes. But I’ve never played the MG30 so I can’t comment on UX or tones.