pedal board help

[gvazquez]

Hi I wanted to get some help in the order these pedals should go.

 

thanks,

GV

 

[Dub-T-123]

Wow you have some great pedals!

 

I can't really help you because I only have a few pedals. I personally like to have my distortion/ OD first followed by wah wah followed by other effects with any delay or reverb at the very end.

 

We have some people who are great about this here so I'm sure you'll get some good advice.

[NeoConMan]

Here's a pic of my rig - if it helps any....

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Seriously, what do the pedal manufacturers say?

There's tons of guidance from them for placement in your signal chain.

 

I'd start with MXR, see what their advice is.

 

Anything you get from the forum guys should be measured against that, eh?

[gvazquez]

that used to be my rig marshall jubilee > cable > les paul! but I went and bought some pedals I have been wanting to do this for a while.

 

GV

[NeoConMan]

Yeah, I have a Boss TU-2 tuner and a couple A/B/Y splitters.

Bought my first pedal last year, a Fulltone OCD - I like it.

 

Been a "straight in" guy for thirty years, not counting the Crybaby wah I had for a couple months.

Gave it to the kid.

 

But I've heard all manner of ideas about the "proper" way to chain your pedals.

Sat and listened to heated disagreements between players.

Read advertisements that were shady at best.

Heard claims of this, that, and everything else.

Been to a million gigs, looked at everybody's pedalboards.

 

Like I said, use what the builder tells ya and go from there.

 

And of course, listen to the guys who actually have the experience with them.

My problem with that?

Some of those guys sound like complete and utter sh!t.

Nice guitar, killer tube amp, and a bunch of sh!t in between that removes any tone at all from their signal.

 

And they LOVE it!!

 

[MojoRedFoot]

And of course' date=' listen to the guys who actually have the experience with them.

My problem with that?

Some of those guys sound like complete and utter sh!t.

Nice guitar, killer tube amp, and a bunch of sh!t in between that removes any tone at all from their signal.

 

And they LOVE it!!

 

[/quote']

 

Is that why some heads have a separate channel for FX? Mine does but I have only used it once.

[Dub-T-123]

The effects loop is great for some types of effects like delay but it's not for all pedals IMO. A distortion or OD should always go straight into the amp IMO. I don't have extensive experience with a lot of pedals but I know how to use what I have.

 

The OP's pedals are over my head.

 

Gvazquez- what type of cables are you using? With that many pedals you're going to want to use really high quality cables or it will suck your tone big time.

[NeoConMan]

Yep.

That's a constant in any circuit.

 

Loss + loss + loss + loss + loss + loss + loss + loss + loss + loss + loss + loss + loss + loss = Big Signal Loss

[deepblue]

Nice rig, but it looks like it has potential to be a tone sucker....IMO

[SHO]

I can't tell what half of those pedals do from the picture, so... Here's how I would do it.

 

Guitar --> Wah and autowah pedals --> Tremolo (A) ---> boosters, fuzzes and distortion pedals --> amp in ---> effect loop send --> Volume pedal --> Tremolo ( ---> flangers, choruses and whatever other modulation effects you have --> time based effects, delays first, reverbs last ---> effect return loop.

 

Tremolo positions vary for me, hence the A and B alternative. If you are using a square wave on it I guess it won't matter that much, but if it is sawtooth or anything like that then placing it before the distortion units and the preamp will cause the sound to clean up a bit when the tremolo goes low, while if placed after it the level of distortion will be the same with just a change in volume. While the trem effect is usually too fast to hear it actually clean up when the level drops, it does come across as a different sound. You'll have to try it out and see what you prefer.

 

I always place the wah first. That's how it would be hooked up if you just had an amp and a wah pedal, meaning before all distortion and gain stages. It just sounds better that way to me.

 

I never place a volume pedal in front of the amp. If I want to control the guitar signal like that I'll just use the volume knob on the guitar. Placing it after the gain stages means it just (well not really, but a close as you'll get) controls volume and not gain, meaning I can do volume swells and stuff sound more natural.

 

I put flangers and choruses in the loop simply because i like it better than in front. Same thing here, it's all about how you want them to interact with the gain stages.

 

Delays and reverbs last. This is a no brainer to me. What they do is simulate actual naturally occurring audio phenomenons. if you weren't using effects and played in a room with natural reverb, the reverb happens after the speaker and on the way to your ears, so placing these as far to the end of the chain as possible makes sense to me. I also prefer to put reverb last. Basically I want the delays repeats to have reverb added to them, not hearing delays with the same reverb trail repeated over and over because that just sounds un-natural.

 

What you do with the A/B box is up to you.

 

Personally I'd never go for a pedal set up this big. It's just asking for troubles. But it is possible to get it up and running without being a tone-sucker, but it will probably be frustrating. I would get frustrated, anyway. Other than using decent cables I suggest using a really good power supply to power the pedals. Isolated outputs would be a must, I think. Else you'll have ground loops to be added to your troubles. Then you just have to figure out a way to hook the pedals up in a way that your amp likes. Does any of them use buffers? Might be that your amp input, another pedal, the amps loop, won't like that buffer, so then you have to rethink the whole thing. Or maybe too many of them are true bypass? Then you might need a buffer at some point to not totally kill your tone. All in all, it takes a bit more effort than just daisy chaining them together if you want a great result, unless you're luckier than I've ever been that is.

 

Also, I'd never use that many pedals without a programmable switching system. Too much tap dancing to go from one sound to another for me. As a bonus, such systems often help with some of the other previously mentioned issues as well. Then again, they can also add their own to the list.

 

Good luck!

[MojoRedFoot]

GVAZQUEZ

Post pix of your Hetfield stuff!

[MojoRedFoot]

The effects loop is great for some types of effects like delay but it's not for all pedals IMO. A distortion or OD should always go straight into the amp IMO. I don't have extensive experience with a lot of pedals but I know how to use what I have.

 

 

You if have tubes, there should be no need for distortion or OD. That's just me. I have not found a pedal as good as good ol' fashion tube power.

[daveinspain]

Nice guitar collection.... but you know what they say.... If you don't post pics it's a unicorn....

[Silenced Fred]

I agree. Post pics, because I looked at your sig, and you better be able to back that stuff up with pictures!

 

Sweet pedals though, its some sick stuff you have there

[Dub-T-123]

You if have tubes' date=' there should be no need for distortion or OD. That's just me. I have not found a pedal as good as good ol' fashion tube power.

[/quote']

 

Edit: I think you may have misunderstood what I was saying. I was trying to say that I think an OD or distortion should go straight into the amp as opposed to plugging it into the effects loop. I was not saying that everybody always needs an OD or distortion going into their amp.

 

Good old fashioned tube power is what I do best

[yoda]

Here's a pic of my rig - if it helps any....

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

OH SNAP!!!!!!!

+1

 

 

 

[SHO]

You if have tubes' date=' there should be no need for distortion or OD. That's just me. I have not found a pedal as good as good ol' fashion tube power.

[/quote']

 

They are mostly used for the added versatility and utility, not to replace the preamp of the amplifier. For example, playing rhythm with just the amps sound, then kicking in the OD for lead sounds.

[tazzboy]

Get a pedalboard looper http://www.loop-master.com/product_info.php?products_id=90

[gvazquez]

Here are the guitars and the unicorn!

 

 

GIBSON JOE PERRY SIGNATURE LES PAUL BLACK

 

GIBSON JOE PERRY SIGNATURE LES PAUL BONEYARD

 

GIBSON SLASH SIGNATURE LES PAUL APPETITE FOR DESTRUCTION

 

GIBSON SLASH SIGNATURE LES PAUL TOBACCO BURST

 

GIBSON SLASH SIGNATURE LES PAUL GOLDTOP

 

GIBSON SLASH SIGNATURE LES PAUL VOS

 

GIBSON LES PAUL PREMIUM PLUS FLAME TOP (Those Are SD Slash AII Pick Ups)

 

GIBSON LES PAUL STANDARD EBONY

 

GIBSON LES PAUL CLASSIC TOBACCO

 

GIBSON LES PAUL CLASSIC TRANS RED

 

GIBSON LES PAUL GT RED

 

GIBSON LES PAUL CUSTOM JAMES HETFIELD IRON CROSS GUITAR (IDENTICAL)

 

ESP GREY TRUCKSTER

 

ESP BLACK TRUCKSTER

[gvazquez]

Mistake on the slash tobacco burst! Sorry

 

[Dub-T-123]

Nice guitars. My favorite is the Slash AFD. That thing is beautiful.

 

I really don't like Slash but I could get over it for that LP.

[NeoConMan]

Guitar --> Wah and autowah pedals --> Tremolo (A) ---> boosters' date=' fuzzes and distortion pedals --> amp in ---> effect loop send --> Volume pedal --> Tremolo ( ---> flangers, choruses and whatever other modulation effects you have --> time based effects, delays first, reverbs last ---> effect return loop.[/quote']

THAT'S what I'm talkin' about!

 

Thanks SHO.

[daveinspain]

Guitar --> Wah and autowah pedals --> Tremolo (A) ---> boosters' date=' fuzzes and distortion pedals --> amp in ---> effect loop send --> Volume pedal --> Tremolo (B) ---> flangers, choruses and whatever other modulation effects you have --> time based effects, delays first, reverbs last ---> effect return loop.

 

[/quote']

 

 

This should be a sticky

 

BTW gvazquez... Nice guitars

[MojoRedFoot]

GIBSON LES PAUL CUSTOM JAMES HETFIELD IRON CROSS GUITAR (IDENTICAL)

 

ESP GREY TRUCKSTER

 

ESP BLACK TRUCKSTER

 

That's what I'm talkin' about

[gvazquez]

I just booted the holy grail and the gt-od and the distortion I can get that from my amp I am getting there!....