need some advice on pedal board setup

[byron]

I'm having a problem with my pedal board setup. I'm just not happy with the sound I'm getting. My Deltalab DGFX1 multi effects pedal sounds better than my whole pedal board and its driving me nuts to have all these pedals just sitting here doing nothing while I play through a 99 dollar pedal.

 

I'm hoping someone out there see what the problem is in my setup and can advise me. The way I have it listed below sounds pretty good through my little Fender amp, but awful through the Roland Cube, which has a much more mechanical tone anyway. The reason for the guitar into the wah first, is I have discovered it just sounds better this way and doesn't cause feedback if placed here.

 

Here it is:Guitar into Ibanez Weeping Demon Wah to Input Line of:

-Boss NS-2 Suppressor

- Going to Send + Return Line

-Boss CS-3 Compressor

-EH Metal Muff

-Boss MT-2 Metal Zone

-Danelectro Fab Metal Distortion

-BBE Boosta Grande back to Return input.

 

From Output Line of NS-2

-MXR 10 band EQ

-Deltalab Chorus Pedal

-EH Holy Stain(used for reverb, that’s why its here)

-Digitech DigiDelay

-BBE Sonic Maximizer Pedal direct to Amp

 

Don't get me wrong, this does sound really good, and technically I have separately, all the effects I'm using at one time with the Deltalab pedal but still, I just can't make them sound anywhere near as good, at least to my liking. Does anyone see any particular thing I might be doing wrong and can suggest anything to try?? I also have a Deltalab Metal Distortion, and have used it in line with everything else, but still, it doesn't come close to the DGFX1.

 

Thanks for the help

Byron

[AlanH]

I'm no expert but won't having so many pedals suck a lot of your tone? Also, do you need so many distortions all in one board? What are the quality of your cables like and do you have separare power leads or a chain? Does your amp have a separate effects loop?

[Fantana]

Just a quick look at your set-up and it seems too confusing, you seem to have forgotten the basic rules of pedal board setup!

 

Try them in this order:

 

1. Tuners

2. Wah's

3. Compressors

4. Overdrives/Distortions

5. Equalizers

6. Noise Supressors

7. Pitch Effects

8. Modulation Effects

9. Echos/Reverbs

 

Don't worry about loops at the moment, you need to go back to basics to get anywhere near the sound that you want.

 

You should also be using a proper power bank to power so many pedals, I wouldn't recommend using a daisy chain for that lot! Also make sure your patch leads are tip-top.

 

Set all of your pedals to manufacturers recommend settings (see instruction books etc) then make minor adjustments to each one as you go down the line to get the sounds that you are after. Once you've found the right settings, write them down!!!!!

 

I hope this helps, it took me ages to find the right order and settings for my pedals, and I only have 6!

[antwhi2001]

Just use the Deltalab.

 

Sell the rest. If you have one unit that does everything, why would you want to use a chain of 12 instead?

 

I was hugely delighted when I found the Boss ME-70 does everything I need. That's all I use now; one integrated unit that takes up less space, fewer leads, less to go wrong...I sold most of my individual pedals and they paid for the Boss unit. I just kept a few for backup, but I don't use them.

 

Having that many distortion effects looks like complete overkill to me, but I don't know what sounds you're chasing.

[twiggy]

Hey there. First of all all of your pedals are sucking your tone. I'm not sure bout the particular ibanez wah you are using, but my dunlop cry baby is a total killer. To sort the tone well you should begin with a true bypass looper. This way you'll only root the effects you are currently playing. And of course follow the general rules of pedal chain.

[KX36]

I see no need for all of those distortion pedals to do basically the same thing, but maybe that's just me, I'm more of a believer in getting a good tube amp overdrive than a lot of transistor pedals into a clean amp/PA. Fantana's advice is sound.

 

One thing I would add is this:

Try to simplify the loop.

Start off with a single pedal, say a distortion, then try it with 1 more pedal, when you're happy, add another etc. Don't try to work all those things out at once.

 

Another thign, A good set up for pedals is to have a buffer at the start (often in a wah) and true bypass for the rest. Having ALL true bypass isn't a great idea because it essentially adds up all the cable length from the guitar, the copper inside the pedals, the wires between the pedals and the cable to the amp, and having 40 feet of cable is going to feed your tone to the suck gremlins.

[brad1]

I have an Ibanez Weeping Demon as well (love it).

When I found I wasn't getting the sound I wanted, I put my gain pedal (Bad Monkey) in front of the WD wah. It sounded much better. Try this.

[Legs]

Fantana's right. (has cool guitars too!)

 

Legs

[byron]

I'm using a Godlyke Powerall with space for 11 pedals, a separate Ibanez power supply for the Wah pedal and a Dunlop one for the MXR EQ. All the cables are the chrome end connector cables I see on a lot of professional players boards(from Guitar Center in NY) and my other cables are made in Canada by Yorkville Sound and are good quality. Strangely enough, I'm not really losing a lot of tone through the cables, when everything is turned off, there seems to be no difference in the sound whether I'm going straight into the amp or thru the board, the level is about the same. The Sonic Maximizer does a lot for making up for lost tone and for getting all the sound out of the amp at the same time to make things crystal clear and powerful I know some people put the Noise Gate at the end and some in the beginning, but I think the manual said to put in first, and the BBE Sonic Maximizer says place it dead last. I have taken the distortions down to one before and it didn't help. Getting rid of my Danelectro Chorus pedal helped a lot. Danelectro pedals seems to really suck the tone out of everything, but my Fab Metal pedal doesn't do that and its got so much gain I have it turned way down when its on. (Its a great little distortion for 80's hard rock/hair metal). Thanks for the input. I will try your suggestions and see what happens. Much Appreciated!

[byron]

Oh, and I guess I should note, as you guys may have guessed, I'm addicted to distortion pedals, I have 4, not counting the Holy Stain which has 2 overdrive/distortions in it, now that I have sold the other 3......and I'm still looking to try the Boss OD-20 multi-distortion box. Oh yeah!

[Amino Moore]

I agree with order of pedals that Fantana suggested but I would add that the pitch, modulation and delay/echo pedals should go into the effects loop of the amp if there is one.