Effects / tone shapers for gigs

[livemusic]

What do you use for effects or devices to shape your tone, if any, on your acoustics? Even something you use that you feel betters your sound is worth discussing.

 

Does anyone use a chorus effect for something different? A pedal, or what?

[EuroAussie]

I use very mild room reverb through the amp for vocals and guitar, plus I use a Boss EQ pedal mainly when I need a volume boost when I play some lead, and also on about 3 tracks I use a Boss Chorus to provide a 12 string type tone, like in this clip.

 

I also very mildly apply the compressor on the Aura Spedtrum DI that I always use, thats about it.

 

[Versatile]

There are many possibilities for enhancement of acoustic guitar tones

 

Reverb

 

Delay

 

Chorus

 

Flange etc etc

 

All viable...often nuanced in the background...

 

V

 

[Jinder]

If you're using a passive pickup, such as a K&K or a JJB as I use in my AJ, you can really help out your tone just by running into a Boss pedal of any kind, with the effect disengaged. These pedals have a 1mOhm buffered bypass, which balances the output from the pickup and converts the signal from low capacitance to high capacitance, acting in effect like a good preamp.

 

My signal chain is: Brain(sometimes)>Fingers(more often than not)>AJ>JJB 330 Artist Series Prestige pickup>Analogman modded Boss Tremelo>MXR Carbon Copy delay>Analogman modded Boss GE7 equaliser>Boss RC20 loopstation>Peterson Strobostomp Classic tuner/DI>Soundcraft notepad mixer>Peavey powered speakers

 

I use George L's patch leads and Planet Waves Custom cables from guitar-board and DI-desk.

 

When using previous pickups, I found the sound bland and flat, so tended to use a lot of effects. Since I started using the JJB pickup however, my guitar sounds so lush that I rarely use anything but my EQ for a solo/fingerstyle boost and the occasional spot of loopstation frolics.

 

I've learned the hard way that the best way to keep your guitar sound detailed, warm and beautiful is to keep your signal path as clean and well-connected as possible. I saw a guy a few weeks ago playing a beautiful J185MC through a Boss TU3 tuner and an MXR Micro-Amp boost pedal into a Radial DI. So far, so good, right? Apart from the fact that the two pedals and DI were connected with two of those multi-coloured £2-for-five patch leads that don't even deserve a place on a beginner's pedalboard.

 

My gig gear (minus guitars) stays in my car most of the time, and I happened to have a stash of patch leads in my bag which I'd had made up for me a couple of years ago from top-notch Mogami cable with Neutrik jacks, which I'd recently replaced with George L's patches on my board. I got chatting to the guy who had only recently bought the guitar and was madly in love with it (he'd upgraded from a Yamaha APX), but didn't understand why it sounded a bit thin when plugged in. I fetched two of my spare Mogami patches from the car, and said "try these, I can guarantee you'll want to incinerate your old patch leads when you hear the difference".

 

He changed his leads for mine for his second set, and the difference was massive-his J185 went from sounding like an expensive cheesegrater to a choir of angels...whether one of his leads was on the way out or not I don't know, but he was thrilled and I was glad to see those leads go to a good home.

 

I've never understood the rationale behind owning a £2500 guitar and plugging it in using £5 cables...investing a little more in good cabling that will sound great and last ten times as long is a far better idea.