Youtube Pedal Reviews - What do you look for?

benmurray85

Just an interesting talking point? I like to put a few demos up and I get a few hits, nothing special but I enjoy it so I'm not fussed.

I'm thinking about trying to up the quality of what I do and would welcome so feedback. Im a funny buggar in that I enjoy the sprawling 10 minute chat ones about in depth features etc but I also really like the ones that just get straight to the point.

I always look for demos that are well recorded, hopefully with a proper mic at the speaker but I've seen people do demos with mobile phone footage that were also very good. I guess (like everything) its down to the player.

One pet peeve of mine (from mobile footage) is that I often find you can hear the clanging of the guitar strings (acoustically) louder than the amp. Ive done these types of videos and had the amp cranked and can still hear the strings on the video. It must be a frequency thing?

So throw some thoughts at me please

I like videos that come up with a bit of an angle so Im thinking of maybe limiting each "review/demo" to about 5 mins but then I worry it doesnt cover enough?

not_the_dj

I don't mind long in depth vids (I watch them on my phone while washing up)....but I much prefer a "Play - Talk - Play Some More" format instead of lots of Talk upfront.

Totally agree about the recording and not being able to hear the guitar acoustically. 

meltedbuzzbox

It bugs me when you can hear the strings as you mentioned. 

I dislike it when someones clean tone consists of reverb/delay/light od or all 3.

I think Andy on PGS has the best approach. He covers some details, plays through some nice settings and keeps it interesting.

meltedbuzzbox

and a fairly simple one, make sure the guitar is in tune before you start

benmurray85

@meltedbuzzbox yeah I think the PGS demos seem to be unquestionably the most pro out there. Andy jseems to be one of those guys that just plays each pedal as a seperate instrument with its own pros and cons.

@not_the_dj i pretty much most of my youtube viewing is done whilst doing housework!

I must admit, and i do not wish to start a flame war. I also quite enjoy the andertons demos. I think Lee really seems to grasp what pedals are capable of. The playing sometimes is not my thing and sometimes the spec and detials can be sketchy but by the end of the reviews Lee seems to get to the bottom of what each unit does.

Johnnyseven

Definitely don't film yourself unboxing the pedal and spending ages talking about what controls are and what they do, anyone who's interested in the pedal will know that already. I personally prefer just hearing the pedal being played rather than talking, but it would be good to see what the knob settings are for each sound - even if it is just written on the screen.

Paul_C

PGS Andy.

Some of the EHX ones have been useful too

meltedbuzzbox

@GavHaus will probably have a bunch to tell you about 

fretmeister

PGS Andy

Bergs

and I still like gearmandude as well - especially to hear the same pedal in a different way. PGA Andy's demos are so good that a simple mic in the room gearmandude approach then gives useful comparison of what I might achieve with the same thing!

hubobulous

benmurray85 said:

I think Lee really seems to grasp what pedals are capable of. The playing sometimes is not my thing and sometimes the spec and detials can be sketchy but by the end of the reviews Lee seems to get to the bottom of what each unit does.

Not an anti-Andertons post here, but Lee's demo of the Suhr Koko Reloaded is a great example of poor research. He loved the pedal and it sounded great, but hadn't realised that the switch has two modes - clean boost and mid boost. He effectively only did a demo of 50% of the pedal's capability, and the whole point of the Reloaded version is to combine both of these features into a smaller enclosure.

So my advice would be to know what the pedal is designed to do before a demo is committed to video...!!

simonk

Pete Thorn, Mike Hermans and PGS Andy are the cream of the crop.

guitarfishbay

benmurray85 said:

One pet peeve of mine (from mobile footage) is that I often find you can hear the clanging of the guitar strings (acoustically) louder than the amp. Ive done these types of videos and had the amp cranked and can still hear the strings on the video. It must be a frequency thing?

No it is a proximity/direction/volume thing.

Microphones are basically 'stupid' in that they can't differentiate and pick and choose what to pick up.  They pick up what they're pointed at (within their pickup pattern), stuff that is closer to the mic gets picked up louder than stuff that is further away.

So in the average low/moderate volume home recorded video on a phone the guitarist is probably sat fairly close to the phone with the amp behind them.  Unless the amp is really loud (which will probably clip most mobile phone mics) you're going to pick up some acoustic string noise because of the proximity and volume of the guitar.

The best way to do it would be to have a directional mic and point it directly at the cab, and sit far enough away/play loud enough that you won't pick up any strings.  You could then use a different mic for talking which would be muted for the guitar sounds, or overdub later on.

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Anyway something I like is annotations within the video (not youtube annotations which don't show up as you scroll).  This would allow me to skip to different sections if I was looking to hear an example of a specific sound.

I also think a lot of demos stay on the same sound or style for too long.  For example, after about 16 bars of one sound/soloing style I'd call it pretty much covered, unless your goal is to also promote the music you're playing in the demo (which is legitimate too).

hubobulous

....or use a DI box or amp with one built in. That way, you miss the string noise completely and something like the H&K Redbox is comparable in price to a mic.

samzadgan

i would love to hear a description of the pedal and a play through.

but not using all types of software...just a room mic so i can hear what it sounds like when i get it home and play through my amp, no some computer software for recording.

Im sure some people what to hear how it sounds mic'd up, but there is a whole world of people who dont mic up and just want to hear the tone in a room.

Teetonetal

This is what I like:

Full short song using pedal in situ (Pete Thorn is the master at this)

Quick spoken run down of pedal features

Base tone - preferably without the use of additional affects - dry amp please (unless demoing a boost in which case you need to demo a crunch tone too)

Demo of pedal tones over the base tone, with settings annotated

Comparison vids, should always have the same lick/riff played from 1 pedal to the next, with all the same equipment. Random noodling drives me up the wall here.

don't talk to much. Don't go erm, er, um, oooooohhhh, sorry, shite that wasn't supposed to happen etc... don't fiddle with the basic sound. after demoing it.

Plan the demo out, before you film it.

Check out PGS, Pete Thorn, Tom Quayle, Brett kingsman for good examples.

equalsql

I always want demos where both single coil and humbucker guitars are used, especially when reviewing overdrive or distortion pedals.
I hate it when players show you the reference clean sound, only to find that it is overdriven to some level. If it's supposed to be a clean tone then that's exactly what it should be.  

My favourite reviewer on YT is Shane from the 'intheblues' channel. This is probably because his playing style is similar to mine. He also strikes the right balance between talking and playing and does a fair amount of product comparison.

Gearmandude is also pretty good, but he does go for a very dry tone that, to me, doesn't reflect how the combination of pedal, guitar and amp sound is a typical ambient room. 

Brett Kingman (Burgs) is another good source of demos as he get straight to the meat.

As for the 'Tone King' or Tony McKenzie :-S 

GavRichList

Dennis Kayzer is good. I like to hear the meat and gravy of what the pedal does as clearly as possible, but I tend to also gravitate towards those that have footage of them being applied in a way that isn't just a n other tiresome blues riff; so Brady & Seths Coffee and Riffs and the Hear hear stuff is also great. Andy Othling does a select few that are always great. Gearmandude gets on my tits a bit.

Sassafras

I like Burgs demos where he sometimes does a short one and then a longer more detailed one for anyone who's interested in whichever pedal it is.

If demos last longer than 5 minutes, I usually zone out.

Also, try playing through a clean amp so you can actually hear the pedal and not a load of high gain mush coming from the amp (The Tone King)

Very little talk as well, we all know what a volume control does.

benmurray85

HUGE +1 for Coffee & Riffs and Andy Othling

GavRichList

Good. Also not to sound like a broken record, but the fairfield Circuitry demos of their own pedals are very good. Particularly the Meet Maude. Watched that a gazillion times before my love affair started.

RaymondLin

Tell us your gear you are using, and signal chain.

Play clean sound

Play the pedal in the most common settings, I mean there is no way for example you can go through everything in a Strymon Mobius in a 10 min video.

Try play the same riff between settings if the effects are similar.

 

In terms of flow, personally I like.

 

Intro playing

Talk a bit - about the gear used, the pedal name, who is it by, perhaps history or origin of it and/or builder.

Play clean

Play effects

Talk about what you are changing the settings to "dial this or that up or down"

Play more