Effects Pedals

kayla · Post by **kayla** » Monday Apr 02, 2012

What kinda pedals are you guys using?

Currently i dont use anything, cause i didn't really need to get insanely loud with the acoustic project i was in. i would just roll my volume to 8 and then roll it up to 10 for lead stuff.

But right now i'm goin into a different direction musically and will need some pedals to help my volume/tone. So i'm using a tube screamer and a marshall echohead and im thinkin about buyin some sort of reverb pedal. And of course using the second channel on my amp will help too.

Anyone know any good reverb pedals? i've tried dialin in the reverb on my amp settings and can't quite get it right.

- kayla.

Banned · Post by **Banned** » Monday Apr 02, 2012

kayla, are you using Fender amps? They are supposed to have some of the best reverb out there.

kayla · Post by **kayla** » Monday Apr 02, 2012

undercoverjoe wrote:kayla, are you using Fender amps? They are supposed to have some of the best reverb out there.

ya, but i hardly ever use my second channel, so i dont really know how to dial it in. im clueless. and not afraid to admit it hah. i need a crash course!

- kayla.

bassist_25 · Post by **bassist_25** » Monday Apr 02, 2012

My father has a DOD box that has great reverb. I've even used it in PA system applications. Personally, I dig EHX stuff, and the Cathedral is a great reverb stompbox. However, if you don't need something that complicated or with that large of foot print, the Holy Grail is also a good reverb unit.

As far as what pedals, I'm using...I'm gonna preface this by saying I'm actually not a big bass FX guy, but my pedal board sort of came about out of necessity. Here's a top shot of it:

The signal first goes from my bass into the board and into a SFX Thumpinator mounted underneath the board. The Thumpinator is a low-pass filter, but it also serves as a line buffer at the beginning of my chain. From there, the signal goes into a Korg Pitchblack tuner.

From the tuner, the signal goes into an American Loopers true bypass loop. Channel A goes to a Wilson bass wah, which then goes into an EBS Unichorus, which then goes back into the return of Channel A.

Channel B's a little more complicated. From that channel, the signal goes into a Wounded Paw parallel loop, where I can mix a wet and dry signal. From the wet side of the Wounded Paw, the signal goes to the Fishman Fission, which is a polyphonic bass harmonizer. Anyone who's used the Fishman can attest that its built-in distortion is Grade A, Wisconsin cheese. Therefore, I have an EHX Muff Pi and Boss OBD-3 as two choices for distortion. I'm usually not a fan of using additional pedals to act as the crutch for another pedal, but the Fission is so unique that I had no other choice. Even the Akai Unibass, which is a more rare pedal that pretty much does what the Fission does, has cheesy-ass stock distortion.

From the direct out on the bypass looper, the signal goes to a Tech21 VT Deluxe, which also serves as a line buffer towards the end of the signal. From the VT, the signal goes to an ISP Noise Decimator. My signal's actually very clean, but I like having the ISP at the end of the chain in case I have to use extreme gain or I'm having electrical interference with my pickups (a problem I've encountered in some venues). Everything's powered with a Voodoo Labs PPT+2 mounted underneath, with some strategic daisy-chaining.

I'm waiting for an SFX Micro-fuzz, which I'll probably mount on top of the VT and run through Channel A of the loop. I really like the saturation of the Muff, but its inherently scooped sound is starting to wear on me. I may eventually replace it with something like a Grey Stache. I guess we'll see.

Oh, and in the words of Lonewolf, "Tech, tech tech." But I'm not complaining that we're actually getting back to some musically-relevant discussions here.

floodcitybrass · Post by **floodcitybrass** » Monday Apr 02, 2012

for my swing gigs or gigs with banjo or mando:

Guitar -> Tuner -> Volume Pedal -> amp

For my more rockish gigs
same stuff as above add:
-Mad Professor Honey Bee clone
-MXR phase 90 with script mod
-MXR carbon copy
-BYOC chorus

other pedals I have but rarely use
-Bardel Fuzz (Used for 1 gig: Jesus Christ Superstar)
-BYOC Shredder (Used for 1 gig: Wedding Singer)

amps in order of favorite to least favorite
1) Ampeg Reverberocket. no mods (50w 1 12")
2) 1966 Fender Super Reverb blackface - restored but not modded (make offer!)
3) Blue Jr, modded

Jasaoke · Post by **Jasaoke** » Monday Apr 02, 2012

Line 6 POD X3 Live.

No amp

I recommend against a reverb pedal. There is a big difference in sound between pre and post-amp reverb. With a pedal, your amp will add it's color to the verb. Reverb is supposed to simulate putting your amp into a particular space (hall, room, church, etc.) If you can run an effects loop after your amp's processing, you'll end up with a much more convincing and controllable verb.

MeYatch · Post by **MeYatch** » Monday Apr 02, 2012

Right to left
Korg Pitchblack Tuner > Fishman Bass Fission (split signal)

Fission effected sound > guitar Sansamp > Blend Pedal

Dry sound from Fission > Behringer Slow Motion (Slow Gear clone) > Wilson Wah > Ibanez SB7 Synth Wah > Boss BF2 flanger > Blend Pedal

getting ready to do a little reconfiguring. My pedalboard has a lip on the side which is currently preventing me from fitting as much stuff on there as I'd like. I'm going to raise the pedals up a bit so I can try to fit another OD on there. The Fissian pedal is a necessary evil to get some songs to sound right with a one guitar band, but the sound doesn't really do anything for me personally.

If you were looking for advice, I'd suggest you either find what sound you are looking for, and find the pedals that give you that sound, or just buy a multieffects unit if you just want to experiment.you can drive yourself nuts buying individual pedals and messing with all the different settings if you don't really have a goal in mind.

The goal of this pedalboard was mostly to do a halfway decent job of covering synth parts.

bassist_25 · Post by **bassist_25** » Monday Apr 02, 2012

Mitch, I never thought about using a guitar SansAmp with the Fission. I agree that it's a bit of necessary evil to cover some rythmn parts.

MeYatch · Post by **MeYatch** » Monday Apr 02, 2012

it does give a good bit more flexibility than most standard distortions, but there's really no amount of tweaking that gives that synthesized octave a natural sound.

CMOR · Post by **CMOR** » Monday Apr 02, 2012

I find it interesting that bass players are among the first people to jump on this thread. I wonder if it has to do with the fact that it is being regarded as "necessary evil" for us to use effects to fill the void in 1 guitarist bands. Oh well, here's my list:

Good luck following this...
1. Bass
2. custom Loooper w/ blend and feedback(essentially loops the signal again) controls
3. EH Big Muff π
4. EH Bad Stone(thanks Barry for being it back to life)
5. "Fuzzy Elephant" Bardel clone of Zvex Woolly Mammoth
6. Zoom 506(cool settings I can't duplicate anymore)
7. Zoom B2.1u(covers most other sounds, wah, synth...)
8. Boss Bass EQ(set just for pseudo-dub tone)
9. Bardel Bass Stage 3/Bass Drive in 1 box
back to loop pedal
rinse and repeat

Nevermind the gaudy footswitch, have nowhere else for it.
Almost forgot, amp has compression built-in and I throw in a little Alesis comp at times.

It's nowhere near as elegant as other peoples' boards, but it does most of what I want it to.

Steve

metalchurch · Post by **metalchurch** » Tuesday Apr 03, 2012

Just a Boss MT-2 and sometimes an ancient DOD Chorus pedal that one of these days I will return to Onegunguitar. (I swear I will Scott!)... Everything else that I use are rack mount components.

Wouldn't mind building a pedal board, perhap when I build my other rig.

onegunguitar · Post by **onegunguitar** » Tuesday Apr 03, 2012

metalchurch wrote:Just a Boss MT-2 and sometimes an ancient DOD Chorus pedal that one of these days I will return to Onegunguitar. (I swear I will Scott!)... Everything else that I use are rack mount components.

Wouldn't mind building a pedal board, perhap when I build my other rig.

Hahaha....keep it Joe,I forgot all about it anyways!!

metalchurch · Post by **metalchurch** » Tuesday Apr 03, 2012

Hahaha, well I didn't forget bro, and I have been taking very good care of it and feeding it 9v's for dinner about twice a month. It has an insatiable appetite and it doesnt help when I forget to puul the cord, cause it'll tear a new one down just over night.
Its not very versatile, but it does the trick man. Been meaning to pm you cause I miss you.

Gallowglass · Post by **Gallowglass** » Tuesday Apr 03, 2012

I try not to use too many pedals if I can help it, but sometimes they're a necessity. The only pedals I'm using these days are a Morley Power Wah Fuzz (Tel Rey) and a TS9. The signal then goes to a Radial Engineering JX2 Switchbone that has a ground lift and two buffered outputs so that I can run into 2 preamps with less hassles. The 'Bone also sports a really nice mid/dB boost that I use for leads. Other than that the only pedals that I ever use are the occasional Smallstone or Mutron phasers (choose your flavor) when I'm feeling psychedelic. Sometimes I'll dial up a little delay or something on my T.C. Elec. G Major, but that's in my rack and is usually running into one of my effects loops.

bassist_25 · Post by **bassist_25** » Tuesday Apr 03, 2012

CMOR wrote:

3. EH Big Muff π

Steve, is that one of the highly sought after Sovtek green Muffs?!

MeYatch · Post by **MeYatch** » Tuesday Apr 03, 2012

here's pedalboard version something.whatever.

I made some little platforms to raise up the tuner and blend so I could plug cables in and clear the lip, and I was able to fit two more pedals on it.

The OD is an MXR Classic Overdrive that Guitar Center had on sale at Christmas. I added the BYOC Envelope filter because there wasn't room to move my wah over, and I had it here. I'll probably end up using it. Its always good to have options for doing synthy stuff.

Pedalboad building tip:

Go buy cheap radioshack patch cables, or whatever you have laying around. Figure out the order you want the pedals in, and then make custom cables. Its basically essential if you want to cram every last pedal you can on there, and it helps it look better even if you don't.

I make my own with some ultra-flat ends so I can fit pedals closer together, and a cable I bought at guitar center like 8 years ago.

They have nice solderless make your own cable kits as well though that I hear are nice.

Tip 2:
I made some little cable straps from attaching hook and loop velcro back to back.

Mysterytrain · Post by **Mysterytrain** » Wednesday Apr 04, 2012

By the way Kayla, are you still selling your pedal board?

If so, pm on how to get a hold of you.

Blue Reality · Post by **Blue Reality** » Wednesday Apr 04, 2012

For me its just a seymore duncan clean boost and a Dunlop Cry Baby Classic Wah. My best effect is the Metro Amp 67/68 100 Watt Plexi Clone. Yummmmm......

kayla · Post by **kayla** » Wednesday Apr 04, 2012

Mysterytrain wrote:By the way Kayla, are you still selling your pedal board?

no, im gonna be needing to use more pedals now. so im gonna keep it.

i messed with settings on the amp, and i am not buyin a reverb pedal. i finally figured out how to set up the channels and am gettin a nice lil tone out of it.

i have a nice lil tube screamer. but i've always wanted a TS9. is it worth it to buy an older one? i know the price is goin to be high. or should i just buy a new TS9 and mod it? hmm

- kayla.

old Skool · Post by **old Skool** » Wednesday Apr 04, 2012

Cool you got the reverb figured out on your amp. Most amps with built in reverb are usually pretty decent & that's one less pedal to deal with. A couple years ago I was going to put together a board with some pedals to use with a little Blackstar combo amp. After pricing pedals & all I decided to go with a TC Electronics Nova System. The Nova System has a ton of quality effects & several of the effects can be controlled by an expression pedal plus it's programmable. I ended up using this board with a Sansamp programmable preamp so the Nova System will change patches on the Sansamp via midi. I still prefer my rack mounted gear with a midi controller but this is a nice alternative & works well in small rooms with a couple 1x12 cabs.

The Shadow · Post by **The Shadow** » Wednesday Apr 04, 2012

I'll play. Bottom row is going into the effects loop. Dunlop 535Q and the top row of pedals is going into the front of the amp.

lonewolf · Post by **lonewolf** » Wednesday Apr 04, 2012

This has everything all the above stuff has and then some. Put it in your effects loop and add a 2 button footswitch and you'll have way more than you need. It also has an FX chain set up just for acoustic guitar! When I get back to town, if you wanna try one out, I have two of them for sale for $120 each. I dumped a TC Electronic G-Force (sounds great, but too persnickity) to buy a few of these.

Here's the product page:

http://www.bossus.com/gear/productdetai ... ductId=413

bassist_25 · Post by **bassist_25** » Wednesday Apr 04, 2012

The Shadow wrote:I'll play. Bottom row is going into the effects loop. Dunlop 535Q and the top row of pedals is going into the front of the amp.

That's a tastey pedalboard, Mel.

metalchurch · Post by **metalchurch** » Thursday Apr 05, 2012

I agree Paul, that is very clean.
Jeff, that Boss unit is pretty sweet as well.

Question to all: How do yins quell the extra noise?

CMOR · Post by **CMOR** » Thursday Apr 05, 2012

Steve, is that one of the highly sought after Sovtek green Muffs?!

Yeah, it's a 3rd Edition 7C. I've been stomping on that thing since the mid 90's. Managed to bend the chassis, somehow.

That's a tastey pedalboard, Mel.

I agree, neat and simple. I'm jealous.

Question to all: How do yins quell the extra noise?

I know Paul and I are using true bypass loop pedals, American Looper and Loooper, respectively. Not sure about Mitch, though. I can't tell if his blend pedal does the same as ours.

Side note: I just realized the Muff and the Fuzzy Elephant cancel each other out. Who would have thought 2 nasty pedals at the same time make a near clean tone? Good example of conflicted wave patterns. No real benefit though.

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