Compressor / dirt

thomasross20

Was messing around with Line 6 Gearbox today. 

You know I've never used a compressor in my life. This one seemed to make the quiets more quite. I thought it would have made the louds quieter for a more even sound. Sounded good, anyway. Really need to learn about this - you wouldn't think I've played for 15 years (I never was big into gear). 

Also I just realised when I play live I use a Riot Reloaded for distortion. Best I usually play with a thick lead tone and boost that for solos when what I should really be doing is have maybe a TubeScreamer to have a crunchy verse/chorus and then use the higher gain for solos. Would mean replacing a pedal on the board. Just something I've been thinking. But then how many gigging guitarists do this. I bet most use the same distortion level throughout.

ChrisMusic

Take a look at Andy Timmons board, from his recent recording session for Protocol III with Simon Phillips. I hope he doesn't mind me borrowing his picture.

edit: oops forgot the link !   A few extra dirt pedals here, for variety.

https://fbcdn-sphotos-e-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-xfp1/v/t1.0-9/10473750_836267093082587_6109484703628849813_n.jpg?oh=6c3ee7610213b3cb4ded10bebedf4ce2&oe=5549C5E4&__gda__=1434567277_9a9fee92beb0db3e6ea360e1dcbff0cd

When he was over in the UK last Autumn, his fly rig had an ® logo (early) Tube Screamer, a Keeley BD2 and a JHS Angry Charlie, useful when you are not sure what amp you are going to be presented with, and not dissimilar to his usual approach.

If you want to see how he deals with a varied palette of O/D and distortion tones check the sixth post down where he runs through his rig in three short videos.

http://thefretboard.co.uk/discussion/15465/how-does-andy-timmons-get-his-sound/p1

Warning: do not let the GAS take hold  

thomasross20

Popping out in a bit but appreciate the reply and will check this out!

p90fool

thomasross20 said:

Also I just realised when I play live I use a Riot Reloaded for distortion. Best I usually play with a thick lead tone and boost that for solos when what I should really be doing is have maybe a TubeScreamer to have a crunchy verse/chorus and then use the higher gain for solos. Would mean replacing a pedal on the board. Just something I've been thinking. But then how many gigging guitarists do this. I bet most use the same distortion level throughout.

Couldn't you just turn your guitar volume down instead of buying a pedal with less gain?

I've never heard ANY decent gigging guitarist use the same level of distortion throughout, let alone "most".

thomasross20

Oh really? I'll need to fix that then. If I use the blackstar channels I can easily switch from crunch to gain but it means two pedal-boards on the ground..

John_P

p90fool said:

Couldn't you just turn your guitar volume down instead of buying a pedal with less gain? 

I've never heard ANY decent gigging guitarist use the same level of distortion throughout, let alone "most".

+1    I kind of assume 2 or 3 drive pedals (or patches)  is the norm.   Then that can be fine tuned using the volume control (or vol pedal).   I could get through a gig with one drive sound and alter with the guitar vol but I'd hate to have the hassle.  A low/mid gain pedal,  a higher gain pedal and then stack them or add a booster pedal seems pretty. Looking through the pedalboard thread that seems a very common setup for people here.

John_P

ChrisMusic said:

Take a look at Andy Timmons board, from his recent recording session for Protocol III with Simon Phillips. I hope he doesn't mind me borrowing his picture.

edit: oops forgot the link !   A few extra dirt pedals here, for variety.

https://fbcdn-sphotos-e-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-xfp1/v/t1.0-9/10473750_836267093082587_6109484703628849813_n.jpg?oh=6c3ee7610213b3cb4ded10bebedf4ce2&oe=5549C5E4&__gda__=1434567277_9a9fee92beb0db3e6ea360e1dcbff0cd

When he was over in the UK last Autumn, his fly rig had an ® logo (early) Tube Screamer, a Keeley BD2 and a JHS Angry Charlie, useful when you are not sure what amp you are going to be presented with, and not dissimilar to his usual approach.

If you want to see how he deals with a varied palette of O/D and distortion tones check the sixth post down where he runs through his rig in three short videos.

http://thefretboard.co.uk/discussion/15465/how-does-andy-timmons-get-his-sound/p1

Warning: do not let the GAS take hold  

Some nice pedals but I hate that mess.    A little ironic that he is using a gig rig g2 to tidy up the switching process and then throws the pedals on the floor like confetti.

thomasross20

What I do is adjust the gain on my dist pedal for each song... but I don't vary the amount of gain at all during a song. I'd like to and could with the Blackstar channels... but instead I use my pedalboard and only have the one dist pedal. However you are correct, I COULD turn the volume down a tad and the sound would clean up a little...!

John_P

I usually have 3 basic patches - mid gain that's often used in verses,  higher gain that gets kicked in for choruses and high gain with a boost for solo's.    Obviously that depends on the songs and could be swapped around and tweaked with a couple of extra pedals I can kick in or vary my volume.      

If you have a patch based amp it does sound a bit of a waste of the features not to take advantage of a few different patches - it is easy to get carried away though and have too many slightly varying patches that becomes a distraction from playing.

thomasross20

Yeah.. maybe I just need to use both the channels and my pedalboard - there'll be a lot going on, though!

ChrisMusic

John_P said:

ChrisMusic said:

Take a look at Andy Timmons board, from his recent recording session for Protocol III with Simon Phillips. I hope he doesn't mind me borrowing his picture.

Some nice pedals but I hate that mess.    A little ironic that he is using a gig rig g2 to tidy up the switching process and then throws the pedals on the floor like confetti.

Irony not lost  

Nice confetti to have though.

Do bear in mind that this is a recording session, so an experimental sonic work in progress through-out.  As you can see from all the "extras" just waiting in the wings.  His board is usually much tidier.  And yes the G2 is magnificent.

It's not all about gain though, a considered selection of pedals gives different "flavours".  EQ before and/or after can enhance the variety of tone too.

Just an extra point, using the Blues Driver and Tube Screamer is good for fly dates, and even any normal gig, if anything happens, it's easy to grab another, and you know exactly how to dial it in.

+1 on using pickup selection and volume control to nuance drive sounds too.

thomasross20

I guess too many people are quick to spend money on pedals rather than using the controls already on the guitar!

meltedbuzzbox

thomasross20 said:

I guess too many people are quick to spend money on pedals rather than using the controls already on the guitar!

or too quick to buy 2 of the same guitar?

thomasross20

Lol! Tell you what, though - I've got two bloody marvellous guitars lol!!

meltedbuzzbox

they could be anything through a blackstar :-P

thomasross20

Noooo!