Gigging and the move from Multi Effects to Pedalboard - extended musings!!

hubobulous · August 2014

Although this thread is probably more narcissistic than educational, I thought I'd write about the migration that's been happening for quite a while from me using a multi-fx unit and a couple of pedals at gigs, to a pedalboard/amp setup. Whilst the physical pedalboard aspect of this whole journey has only just begun, I felt that it could be interesting for me to outline why I made the choices that I have, what the transition is like, and what the eventual outcome manifests itself as. The journey has started, but is not yet finished, so this thread should hopefully give insight into the process as it happens rather than a reflective look once mistakes have been made and rectified.

I hope my musings give at least one person out there some help, an excuse to not work for a few minutes, something to read whilst relaxing at home or a target for drunken, vitriolic outpourings if there's nothing else on the net that annoys you at the time :-)

So Post 1 - me, the recent and current situation and my kit

I've been playing guitar since I was 17, musically growing up on anything from Classical, Scott Joplin, 70s rock, Marillion, New Romantics, Iron Maiden, Madonna, Dire Straits, 80s hair metal, Satriani/Vai, etc. I'd always been interested in melody first, so the whole Shrapnel shredder phase never interested me aside from perhaps Vinnie Moore. Playing fast was/is cool, but not so fast that the melody becomes blurred. I play more legato and tapping than picking, quite simply cos I initially found it easier, so got results more quickly. Melody and tapping are two elements of my playing that come into my consciousness first when working out my own version of a solo or song. I'm not a stellar player, but not shite either.

I began playing at 17, and had a Aria Integra II black guitar, with a floyd style trem, (the trem arm just sat in the pocket with no way of tightening or staying put), HSS and a mini switch for each pickup that controlled OFF-SPLIT-FULL - the two singles were in fact blade humbuckers. It had an ebony board, and in hindsight was a killer first guitar for £300 from Rockbottom in Croydon. This was added to with a Peavey Express 112 amp which I loved, and then I got into pedals. It was all BOSS back then, so I had a Chorus, the Distortion with feedback control thing, and Digital Delay. I bought a Zoom multi effects unit that had that weird voicebox thing that Brian May uses on 'Headlong', but that was its only redeeming feature. Not my best purchase.

I was a bedroom player throughout my late teens, twenties and early 30s until through friends, I met a couple of guys that just jammed each week in a garage that had been converted to a 'studio'. I went along, with nothing to loose, simply cos I'd split from a long term relationship and wanted to take my playing in a different direction. There were no real thoughts at the time about gigging, but to cut a long story short, we got a gig, needed a singer, so my wife, (was girlfriend at the time), auditioned and got the job.

We rehearse every week for 2 hours, but since 'forming' in 2008, we've only gigged 21 times due to family commitments. We love gigging.

Our style of music is rocked up covers. Anything from the Beatles/Stones, to Blondie, Eurythmics, GnR and Blink 182. Unless a song is so well known that deviating would ruin it, we always change things to put our own stamp on the version. The band is called 'Too Much Stuff' given that when we were starting, we took a look at all our collective kit, (soundproof studio, PA, mixing desks, 3 drum kits, 3 basses, FX, a gazillion guitars, lighting, mics, amps etc), and for the amount of experience we had, it was ridiculous. It sort of still is, but who's counting ;-)

I've bought many guitars over the years, as explained in my for sale thread, (!!!!). I've had a Blackstar Series One 45 amp, a JSX head, 5150 4x12 cab and a Peavey 50/50 Power Amp coupled with an ADA MP1 all of which have long since gone.

So, onto the current gadgets. My live gear consists of:

Rocktron Utopia G300
Morley Tripler
Electro Harmonix Switchblade
TC Electronics H1 Vocal Harmoniser
Danelectro Free Speech talk box
Morley Bad Horsie 2 Wah
Sonic Research Turbo Tuner
1-Spot power supply
Tech 21 Midi mouse
Axon AX100 MIDI processor
Boss 'hold' pedal for the Axon

In addition to these pedals, I've also got:

Wampler Pinnacle
Suhr Riot
Suhr Shiba Drive
TC Polytune Mini
TC Ditto Looper
Plutoneium Chi Wah-wah
Eventide PitchFactor
Line6 Echo Park delay
Mooer Ana Echo
Suhr Rufus Fuzz
Xotic EP Booster
Xotic SL Drive
BBE Sonic Maximiser
Digitech Studio Quad
Roland G20 MIDI processor
Suhr Badger 30 and 1x12 cab
Suhr Corso amp
Marshall SL5 amp
TC Nova System
Dunlop Crybaby

This second list has grown either through me wanting to try a pedal/amp out at home, or as a strong contender for the eventual live rig.

What don't I have that's in my mind?

Expression Pedal
Potential replacement for the Pitchfactor since that might stay at home due to its size
Tremolo
Chorus
Phase/flange
Whammy
Compressor

Some of the above could well be catered for in a multi-fx box like the H9, but that's for later in the thread.

What I'd like to cover in the next few posts are:

Why I use my current kit and how it connects together?
What's the next steps for live kit, why am I changing and what are my concerns?
What do I use at home and why?
What's left to purchase?

That's lots of lists, but I'm a programme manager, and quite frankly, life doesn't work unless you have lists. It just doesn't, OK? And if any of you are coders/developers, don't even think about kicking off right now!! Lists are what makes it all work. :-)

So its quite a long post isn't it? I'm quite verbose I guess, so expect more of the same. Next up.......how does my current kit work and why did I choose it?

hubobulous · August 2014

Having given it some thought, for me the easiest way to combine all of this into something that makes vague sense is to discuss the kit in terms of my signal path. I'll get some photos from our next gig this Friday to illustrate how things are laid out.

From guitar to splitting the signal

So, guitars.....although not strictly part of this section of the Forum, I'm adding these in since I use one of two types - traditional electric and MIDI.

Let's deal with the MIDI first. Jonathan @FelineGuitars worked with me a few years ago to make this awesome piece of sonic love. I wanted MIDI capabilities since we are only a 3 piece + vocals, so sometimes our 'sound' can be not as full as we'd like. Now, that's ok on some songs and letting things breathe is a good idea. But on others, filling in our rhythm where perhaps another guitar or synth would be, adds to the effect that we're wanting to achieve. I'd been considering a custom guitar from Feline for a while, so when it came to designing one, I wanted something that was truly different and MIDI became part of that equation. I originally had an acoustic module built in as well as the MIDI, but we took that out and rejigged some controls recently since I wasn't using it. We changed things so I can plug the guitar into pedals/amps like a normal electric, or use a MIDI cable. We used the Ghost system in the bridge so it was built in and neat, rather than affixing the Roland pickup externally under the strings.

So, for MIDI, the signal comes out of the 13pin socket and into my Axon AX100. I began with the Roland GR20 and still really like that unit, but it was probably the first piece of kit that prompted me to consider floor space at gigs. We play pubs and some functions, and stage space can be at a premium. So finding a way to minimise space taken up by effects etc, whilst still providing flexibility is probably at the heart of this entire thread for me. Well, that coupled with the ongoing intrigue that new gadgets bring to our lives!! The only downside of the GR20 for me was the editability of the patches. You can change some settings and the patches for synths/pads sound epic, but there are times when I wanted to combine a couple of different sounds and you can't do that with the GR20. Oddly, one of the patches built into the unit, (can't remember which), has a combination of sounds and if memory serves me correctly, also has different sounds on different strings - so the unit is capable of such tweaking, but there is no editor that allows a user to do it for themselves. A real shame.

The Axon AX100 is rack mounted, and so I can stick that at the back, out of the way. We don't use MIDI at all of our gigs, but when we do, I want the awesomeness that the Axon brings without having to feel more squashed into the drum kit than I do anyway! The Axon sounds are amazing and can be stacked within a patch, but the reason I bought it was due to the splitting capabilities on the fretboard. You can activate different sounds through splitting your strings into two sets, or by denoting the fret at which things change, or by combining these two capabilities. You can also make different sounds by picking at different places over your pickups. Truly brilliant, easy to use/program and very good tracking.

The synth signal goes out to the mixing desk, and there's then also the guitar signal output, and that goes into the Switchblade.

Its a passive device that allows you to either take two signals in and choose which comes out, or take one signal in and choose one of two destinations that it can go to. I use the former config - one for my MIDI guitar, and one for my electric. If we're playing a non-MIDI gig, I just plug two electrics into the Switchblade. I take two guitars to every gig for backup purposes. The Switchblade doesn't have an LED showing which input is active, but that takes about 5 seconds to work out and given that I only interact with it at the beginning of a gig, (tuning, soundcheck), or when I swap guitars, its hard to make a blunder. Its happened, but that's cos I was in numpty mode. I didn't need more from a A/B/Y box and given the cost of this, it was a no brainer. Its solid and just does what it should without any hassle or reliability issues.

The signal then comes out of the Switchblade and into my Sonic Research Turbo Tuner.

My brother actually bought this for me out of the blue, having done his own research, and he was spot on. I also love the TC Polytune, (the mini that I have may come into play later depending upon space), but I really like the Turbo Tuner. Very quick and accurate, not to mention easy to use.

From the tuner, the signal goes into the Morley Tripler.

Its orange, its Morley and George Lynch endorses it. What's not to like? So, why do I need this bad boy? Well, some of this is to do with minimising patch lead mess and some is just to do with ease of use. My signal needs to go to 3 places, all of which could probably be in one daisy chain, but that's messy:

Output 1 - vocal effects for Helen
Output 2 - vocal effects for me
Output 3 - guitar effects

Got to be careful with this to ensure that the gain is set to unity, (fully anti clockwise). Failing to do so can mean vocals and guitars sound like they are emanating from the depths of nicotene Bob's tar encrusted larynx of doom on a particularly bad day when something's been caught in his throat and refuses to budge, causing a gag reflex akin to that ably demonstrated by Debbie when she was availing herself of the manlihood of Dallas. You get the point.

So, my signal is now going three ways. Let's take each of these in turn...........

Cirrus · August 2014

I think this is going to be the next novel I read. :P

monquixote · August 2014

Epic!

mike_l · August 2014

Cirrus said:

I think this is going to be the next novel I read. :P

It's like the guitar version of "War and Peace".

hubobulous · August 2014

....vocal effects

Morley Tripler Output 1

Helen's background is choral singing, but unlike her performances in beautiful cathedrals, she cannot create harmonies on her own. We've tried to encourage her, considered some pioneering surgery to her voicebox, whilst she's not looking, to split the output into roots/3rds/5ths, but we felt that it was ok for gigs, but could be weird for her in meetings at work. So we scrapped that. Luckily for Helen, just as we were considering the installation of the computer, Digitech released the Vocalist Live 4.

Its a killer piece of kit, and was an early offering in what is now quite an interesting market. Allowing 4 part harmonies, guided by the chords coming from my guitar signal, really adds to our live sound, and when used in the right places, just sounds awesome. I still love some of our songs where Helen holds a note, the chords beneath change and her harmonies follow. It sounds just so bloody professional. Its taken a while to create patches for different songs, cos obviously you want different vibes throughout, but we're really happy with what this has given the whole band. We've recently used a splitter to capture her dry signal into her monitor since trying to sing when harmonies are in your ear is difficult and causes her voice to go a little awry. But that's fixed now.

Morley Tripler Output 2

My vocal unit is the TC Electronic H1 Harmoniser.

I only provide backing vocals, but adding just a simple 3rd up really beefs the vocal offering. Our bassist also provides backing vocals, and it could be that he someday also adds some effects, but we've got to be careful that we don't mush up the mix. I really like the H1 for me. I'm not the greatest singer in the world. I can hold pitch, but my singing voice sounds a little like I'm a bit stupid. The H1 doesn't have a setting to rid me of this, so I'm working on that without the use of technology!!

I take the signal out of the H1 into the Free Speech, aka the Death Ray.

This cheap voice box is great since we only use it on a couple of songs. There are other more expensive pedals out there, but for our level of usage, they don't offer anything beneficial. Livin' on a Prayer was the catalyst for the purchase, and we still get a very positive response from audiences when using it for that song. Its just a little more authentic and unusual for a pub band to bother with. I'm going to use it on a couple of other solos at some point given that its sitting there and underused. The pedal comes with a naff microphone that should be discarded. By using my normal vocal mic, it sounds great. I just need to remember to turn off the H1 when using it...!!

The Free Speech is known as the Death Ray due to me using it at a gig without having the time to soundcheck it. The volume was up so high on the pedal that when I kicked it in, everyone's face melted. Well, the audience took a step back, and then disintegrated, leaving the atmosphere somewhat lethargic amongst the punters. So if one of your loved ones happened to arrange a great night out to a local gig a couple of years ago and never returned......I'm truly sorry.

hubobulous · August 2014

Morley Tripler Output 3 - Guitar Effects - Waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah

Yeah, so if you've got this far, aren't confused as to why Pierre and Natalya haven't pitched in with their love of Sovtek tubes and AMT pedals, then well done. This is probably the more interesting part.

So I should start by saying that the signal paths from the Tripler Outputs 1&2 are unlikely to change in the near future. I like all of those pedals, don't think there's anything out there that I'd prefer as a replacement and I'm familiar with how they work. I might change out the Turbo Tuner for the Polytune Mini, but that's only if space is at a premium. Whichever one doesn't make it to the gigging setup will be used at home on a board that will most likely be created for practising.

Now, I can't predict how strongly it may come across in my future ramblings and choices, but allow me to let you into a little secret.......I know what I like when it comes to the noise that I conjour, but haven't the slightest clue on a lot of 'respected' historical tones, or even whether I prefer such things as Analogue vs Digital delay. I'm not sure I could tell you if I was listening to an EL34 or EL84. I might be able to discern a difference, but my tonal reference database isn't extensive. Ah, so that's a Vox AC30. Right then. An analogue tape delay you say? Wicked...!! Its something I'd probably like to learn more about, but then again, I don't know if I care. I could be wrong and things may change, but when I'm playing live, I don't know if I'd notice whether my delay was digital or not. I'd certainly notice whether it had ducking options, or how long the max delay time was, or if there were two or more settings that could easily be summoned, but that's all functionality to me. Not tone. Now, if I compose my own stuff, which is something I'd like to do in the future, then maybe these differences will start to matter to me. So its something I'm aware of, but haven't yet got to the point where the effort required to increase my tonal knowledge is a priority over playing time.

So, the reason I bring this up is because from the Tripler, the guitar signal hits the Morley Bad Horsie II.

I love this wah. I don't know if its the best, if the tone is considered to be great, but it has two really good things that I like. Firstly, it goes waaaaaaaah, and wacka wacka. I'm easily pleased. But secondly, its optical. Oh yes, here we are back at functionality. When I take my foot away, it knows to disengage the wah noise. No pushing down on a latch, just walk away. This is a godsend to me, and I will struggle to ever go back to anything that doesn't do this. Its a personal thing, obviously. Is clicking the wah on/off difficult? Nope. But live, I want to think about as few things as possible, especially at the start and end of a solo, or when just throwing some improvised stuff into a rhythm, and its these situations when I mostly use wah. I have a tried and tested mindset when it comes to the difference between my rhythm and lead tones, (which I'll come onto later when discussing the Utopia), and this might be one of the reasons why transitioning in/out of a solo means complication to me. Perhaps if I change that approach, the optical wah advantage may become less important, but I doubt it.

The move from multi-fx to pedals already has me dreading the tap dance phenomenon. No-one that comes to see 'Too Much Stuff' expects an impromptu rendition of Riverdance when a solo starts/ends, so even at this point in my journey, I'm looking for ease of use. An optical wah ticks the boxes.

....oh, and I don't want to get into the pedal loop approach like the GigRig at the moment. They're a brilliant idea, and I may yet change my mind, but I'm not sure I'm going to have enough permutations to necessitate one. At least, some of this process that I'm writing about is proactively concentrated on 4 basic tones, none of which are designed to be 100% accurate to the original songs:

Clean(ish) - think Sweet Home Alabama rhythm. Happy to have a little grit in there
Slightly dirty rhythm/solo - something for a solo in Sweet Home Alabama, or perhaps even a rhythm tone for SRV or Rolling Stones
Rock rhythm
Rock Lead

That's largely it. There might be a couple inbetween tones, but essentially that's what I use nowadays and I'm happy with it.

So that's the wah....!! They say everyone has a book in them. This is beginning to look like mine :-)

hubobulous · August 2014

Next up - Rocktron Utopia G300

When we first knew that we had a gig in 'Too Much Stuff', I needed to work out how I was going to be set up for playing live. Up to that point, all of our rehearsals had been using VSTs through Reaper and out of speakers in the studio. Not an option for gigs.

I began to research multi effects units partly due to the amount of time I had and partly because I didn't want to tap dance. I didn't have long before the gig, so I needed something that allowed me to create patches for different songs. I'd heard about the upcoming Utopia series from Rocktron and it peaked my interest. I like Rocktron gear, and from memory, the other main contenders at the time were Line6 and Boss. For some reason, my gut instinct didn't want either of these. No tangible reason. Rocktron's marketing was, and still is, very poor when the Utopia series is concerned, but I took a gamble and was very pleased. In hindsight, did I need the 300 as opposed to the smaller Utopia models? Probably not, but its been great.

The DI was very important. Straight to the mixing desk meant easy setup on the stage. The options for speaker size and mic placement, along with other options for cab 'emulation' made it quite powerful. 5 styles of amp at my disposal and all the normal effects meant that it was easy to get good tones. However, the thing that worked most for me, and still affects my thinking in terms of playing live, was the programmability of the expression pedal. In the early days I didn't use the Bad Horsie II, so sometimes had patches where the expression pedal was used for this purpose. But I soon settled on a formula which I've stayed true to ever since. To morph from my rhythm to lead tones, I increased mids, gain and delay time. This meant that all I ever needed to do to get from one state to the other was to move the pedal. Easy. My earlier reference in Post 1 mentions an expression pedal and perhaps the H9 in my future. Its for this very reason. I want to be able to introduce effects for a lead tone easily without hitting a number of pedals. We'll get to the Koko Boost in later posts, but that + an expression pedal + effects unit, or perhaps the Suhr Blower Switch + expression pedal + effects unit should sort me out.

The Utopia isn't a huge unit and I might end up with a pedalboard that's got a bigger footprint. But I've only recently started needing cleaner tones from it and that's one of the things that's prompted me to consider a switch to pedals/amp. The Utopia's cleans are great, but its that 'edge of breakup' thing that's hard to achieve. In addition, I went to demo the Badger 30 with my Koko Boost and a Suhr guitar with a Blower Switch, and then I understood how the volume from the guitar can affect tone so much. I'd read everywhere about it, seen YouTube videos showing it, but never experienced it myself. As soon as I managed that, lightbulbs went off to such a staggering level that I'm surprised the National Grid didn't experience an outage. I've read on TGP about how players 'ride' their volume knob. The Blower Switch might reduce my need to do this a lot, but the control I could get over the tone was so marked, that amp + pedals became a clear direction for me.

I still love the Utopia, but my destination lies elsewhere now. Its made me learn a lot about my playing, how I behave on stage, what makes sense to me, what makes me panic and what sounds good live. Its got some gigs left in it, but time's ticking.

hubobulous · August 2014

MIDI manipulation

So that's the end of my signal chain, but there are two other pedals that I use, both linked to the Axon.

The Tech21 Midi Mouse was added given that at one point I was considering using my Blackstar Series One 45 amp with the Studio Quad as well as the Axon. The Blackstar was a great amp, had a DI in a similar vein to the Utopia and was MIDI controllable. All excellent aside from it being heavy, and was purchased at a time when we flitted from using a backline back to multi-fx units. I was just never using the amp, so sold it. But in the intervening period, I needed something to control MIDI on all these devices.

I didn't want anything big or fancy. Just a box to change patches and after some searching, came across this. Its pretty simple, just changes up and down, but that's all I want. We might chain Helen's Vocalist 4 into this at some point to make life easier in terms of patch changes, but that's a consideration for a time when we can sit down and align patch bank/preset numbers.

The second item is my Boss hold pedal

The Roland GR20 taught me about using a hold pedal with patches. Its great when you're playing a song and want the guitar line to be a little different to what the synth is producing. Obviously I can't hold a guitar chord and then do a different synth line over the top, so working with a synth drone is the only option. There are a lot of times when I use the synth to just enlarge the guitar chords, (I adjust the synth volume on the guitar), or want to noodle around a little over a held chord, and for both situations, this pedal delivers the goods when connected to the Axon.

hubobulous · August 2014

Options that I've had to consider before choosing my next steps:

How do I get the sound from my guitar to the audience - just backline, DI to the PA, backline + mic to the PA?
What dirt pedals shall I use/need...?!! :-)
Is what I already own the right stuff in terms of sound and space - both FX and amps?
What's missing?
How do I avoid tap dancing?
How should I lay things out on a stage?
What do I want to use at home - just the things that don't make it to the gig board, or something else?

Before moving my mind to having a pedalboard, I considered staying with multi-fx units, but reducing the footprint. So I saved up for a second hand TC Nova System. DI, good tone, ability to add an expression pedal and eventually free patches from Bumblefoot and Pete Thorn. Its a great unit, but destined for use at home. I quite like the idea of ambient composition, both for dreamscape instrumentals in their own right and also as a subtle backdrop to something with more layers. A recent post here discussed a respected ambient dude moving away from boutique pedals to the Nova System and that's reinforced my view that it will help me at home for creative moments.

So pedalboards it was. But that's not the whole story is it? No sir-ee bob(ulous).

hubobulous · August 2014

DI to PA options

Some of you who've read my posts here will know that I'm partial to Suhr products. I won't wax lyrical again about that, but suffice to say I love the quality, company vibe, customer service and overall range of products. They bought out the Corso amp and it caught my eye.

I use Peavey Revalver MIII.V as my main recording tool for amps and effects, with a few other plugins through Reaper, but I really like physical units that I can interact with, at least where amps are concerned. The thought of having a small amp that I could record easily from, using some existing pedals for colour as well as having an amp that I could play in a practical sense at home really appealed. But then my mind got whirring and thought about live playing too. I'd traded my Blackstar Series One 45 in for a Suhr Badger 1x12 since I knew that I eventually wanted a small valve amp for something, and the Corso could work well with that - its their recommended cab, FWIW. But it has a DI and that means that I could use it live too. The only issue was that it has no effects loop, so that got me thinking about which time based effects work well in front of an amp. Were I to go in this direction, I'd need to see if there were any delays and reverbs, (let alone chorus etc), that were good/bad when used in front of an amp rather than in the loop. Pete Thorn is always my go-to guy when needing to learn about things like this, and I remember him mentioning a few pedals that fit the bill. So I knew at least there were options, even if I didn't have the time to investigate at that moment.

I bought the Corso from Peach, since even if it didn't end up in my live rig, it would be great for home usage. My Dad was ill when I made the purchase, and the last year has been a difficult one, so I didn't end up picking it up from them until a few weeks ago. A worthwhile visit since I managed a trade for a Badger, Rufus Fuzz and cables as well as picking up a Suhr Classic that I'd bought at the same time as the Corso as well as a Modern Burl with Blower Switch. I also met up with @TTony too which was cool. This visit was a watershed for my chosen direction, but I'll come to that.

So, the other option for DI was some sort of dedicated DI box. Still not easy, since I needed to understand if I'd be using the Corso, another amp or just a DI box. The factor here was whether I'd need it also to be a load box or not. The main protagonists in the frame were the H&K Red Box, a Palmer unit or the Two Notes offerings.

Palmer and Two Notes Live were too expensive, even second hand, but researching them gave me insight into what's required. The Red Box is good, but the Two Notes Torpedo seemed awesome. Again, thanks Pete Thorn for making me aware. Whilst the Two Notes isn't a load box, it would work brilliantly at the end of my signal chain before hitting the mixing desk.The option of choosing a 6L6 for cleans, EL34 for gain and EL84 for, well, something else, seemed interesting. As noted before, my personal tonal library is limited, though I do know the theory of Fender Cleans, Marshall crunch and Vox for something else - still don't know really where the Vox stuff fits in although its clearly well respected - and before @FelineGuitars gets all gooey eyed and starts telling me for the upteenth time about Brian May and The Edge with EL84s, I still can't identify commonalities in their tones to make me point a confident finger at the 'Vox Tone' ;-) One day I'll try one out and undoubtedly go..."Oh, now I see".

So I was all set on the Two Notes Torpedo. Into my eBay watch list a couple went and it was then a case of saving up. But, as only bassists can do, a curve ball entered into the fray. "I saw a band the other night that used a backline and they sounded awesome. We should do that cos set up times would be radically reduced for us." Bugger. We'd dabbled before and I'd used my Blackstar, but that was just one gig. And now, here we are, teetering on the edge of actually considering valve distortion for gigs. Yes, that's how my mind was working..........

FelineGuitars · August 2014

Oi - I'm more of an EL34 kinda guy - in spite of Brian May!

I normally find EL84s more compressed sounding than I favour - although I think they work beter with single coils to my ears and I tend to be a HB kind of player.

Having said that the Marshall 20/20 power amp I got seems pretty good

hubobulous · August 2014

Valve amps and pedals

So, the Two Notes wasn't out of the equation since it could be combined with a valve amp setup to give me backline + DI, but that seemed like potential overkill. More players than I'll ever realise use a SM57 to mic up their cab at a gig and send that to the mixing desk. There comes a time when I think its wise to acknowledge an industry standard for what it is, and not try to reinvent the wheel. So a backline? That would mean that I need an amp.

The Corso was clearly an option, but I was concerned that on its own as a backline it might not be anywhere loud enough. For a while I've been monitoring the Badger models, and Suhr amps as a whole. The PT series seemed amazing, and there's still talk of one being released in a Badger sized enclosure. And then there's the enigmatic Hedgehog for the D-style tones. But they've both been talked about for a while and not released. The Badger, however, ticked a lot of my boxes. Pete Thorn did his Pete Thorn thing in demos, and so instead of waiting for a possible mini-PT or Hedgehog, I bought the Badger 30. It must be said at this point that I did compare it to the EL84 Badger 35, but couldn't hear differences to make those Connect4 pieces in my head fall into place. I loved the tone of the Badger 30 and it worked amazingly with the Koko Boost that I'd bought a while back.

Boom - setting the Badger amp up to be slightly overdriven, I turned the volume down on the guitar and chose position 2, 3 or 4 on the pickup selector. I had my cleanish tone. Hitting the Blower Switch or raising the volume knob, I had my slightly dirty rhythm/solo. Adding the Koko Boost clean and mid boosts gave me the final two:

Clean(ish) - think Sweet Home Alabama rhythm. Happy to have a little grit in there
Slightly dirty rhythm/solo - something for a solo in Sweet Home Alabama, or perhaps even a rhythm tone for SRV or Rolling Stones
Rock rhythm
Rock Lead

Well, blow me down. Its all true. Valve amps react to the volume knob and the Koko Boost really is the best pedal ever.

Whilst at @Peachguitarsdotcom, I thought I'd try the Suhr Rufus Fuzz and Wampler Velvet Fuzz. I only got around to using the Rufus with the Badger/Koko and was more than happy. Its not surprising that a bunch of gear from the same manufacturer should work very well together, but the results really made me smile. I love Wampler gear too, but felt no need to try the Velvet Fuzz, ( @Monquixote is currently employing mind games to get me to buy the Velvet Fuzz and I fear his powers may be strong!!).

That was that. I had made the decision to go down the valve amp route, knew that if I needed to send a signal to the mixing desk I could use a mic, (or the Two Notes if I could see a benefit), and knew I had some pedals that worked brilliantly with the amp.

So next, I had to work out what else was needed in terms of dirt and other effects.....

hubobulous · August 2014

.....or so I thought.

Working out what's needed is different to just fancying hearing something. I read good things about the EP Booster and SL Drive and had it in my mind that if I swapped from a HH guitar to a SSS config, I might find that settings on the pedals didn't work for the latter.

Using an SL Drive and EP Booster as a dedicated SSS signal path made sense to me and I got a great deal on these, along with the Polytune Mini and Ditto Looper. I ordered them a little while back from a US dealer, but have not yet had them delivered. Its just a case of me wanting to sell some other non-guitar related gear to pay for them - well, to pay back my savings!! I'm a bit like that I guess.

So I don't know how they might work with the Badger. They might not. In which case they will be evaluated with the Corso and either kept or moved on. But I sense that they might be a good match. Dunno why but we'll see. I have a Suhr Shiba Drive as well, so somewhere in there is a combination that should work out.

I also have a Suhr Riot and Wampler Pinnacle. I love both of these pedals, but fear that the Koko/Rufus + Badger may have made them both redundant. I'm not yet sure if I'm going to set everything else up and then see if the Riot/Pinnacle fit in, or if I'm going to incorporate the Riot/Pinnacle from the outset.

hubobulous · August 2014

More waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah of the radioactive variety

Now the Bad Horsie II is all that I need in a wah. Well, almost. Its footprint is big for someone looking to reduce space, so that left me with a quandary. Whilst I realise that not every pedal can be replaced by a smaller peer, I'd read about the AMT Japanese Girl and the Plutoneium Chi Wah-Wah. Both of these ticked three important boxes, (you'll note in the previous post discussing the Bad Horsie II, there were two important boxes to be ticked). How things change!!

To produce a waaaaaaaah and wacka wacka effect
Be latchless and optical
Small footprint

So how to choose? Well, to be honest I can't remember now - it was a while back. I must have read a review about the AMT somewhere that made a difference cos I ended up buying a couple of Chi Wah-Wahs.

Why two I hear you ask? Well, firstly the company was seemingly going out of business. Secondly, the Wah pedal movement works in an opposite direction to a traditional wah in that the 'hinge' is at the toe end. This means that to get the more trebly tone, you push down with your heel. Not immediately instinctive from reading some reviews, so I thought getting one for home would allow me practice time too, as well as having one in reserve. My long term aim is to not take my pedalboard out of the bag between gigs, so having a dedicated home setup means sometimes doubling up on some pedals - if it proves to be too expensive I'll ditch the plan, but as I say, its long term.

The Bad Horsie II will stay with me since I still think its awesome, so I just need to determine where it will reside. I have a Marshall SL5 at home and it could find its way to being plugged into that once I've bought a top hat, shades, a non-Gibson Les Paul surrounded by folklore concerning its origins that means no-one will ever really know what it was, a lot of snakes, a lumberjack shirt and the tightest of tight jeans - just the guitar and snakes to buy then :-)

FelineGuitars · August 2014

I can even help you with the Non-Gibson Les Paul (certainly surrounded by folklore in these parts) and load it up with maybe a set of the new ASL Tubesnakes (designed to capture that Rev Billy G/Slash tonal territory)

digitalscream · August 2014

hubobulous said:

Secondly, the Wah pedal movement works in an opposite direction to a traditional wah in that the 'hinge' is at the toe end. This means that to get the more trebly tone, you push down with your heel.

For what it's worth, I believe the intended usage is to have your heel on the floor in front of the pedal, and then push down on the pedal with the toe end of your foot (thus reversing the action back to how it "should" be). Have you tried it that way, and if so...how does it work out in practice?

hubobulous · August 2014

@digitalscream - Ah, interesting indeed. I'll give it a try.

@FelineGuitars - indeed :-)

vasselmeyer · August 2014

hubobulous said:

Secondly, the Wah pedal movement works in an opposite direction to a traditional wah in that the 'hinge' is at the toe end. This means that to get the more trebly tone, you push down with your heel. Not immediately instinctive from reading some reviews, so I thought getting one for home would allow me practice time too, as well as having one in reserve.

@hubobulous I'm afraid you're using it wrong. I have a Plutoneium Chi WahWah which I absolutely love. They were designed to take the same real estate as a standard stompbox rather than double or treble that space which is what a normal wah does. You put the Chi WahWah at the front of your pedalboard and play it with your heel on the floor and use the toe/ball of your foot to rock the pedal to get the wah sound. It seems a little strange a first not to have to rock your whole foot backwards and forwards on the treadle but in a couple of mins you're sorted and it feels perfectly natural.

I would never get rid of mine and the only problem I can possibly think is that because it's spring-loaded you can't do the half-cocked Schenker/Money For Nothing sound out of it. That's a small price to pay for what is a quality and original wah.

hubobulous · August 2014

Hey @vasselmeyer. It do believe I have a few things to learn about this little bad boy :-) It's true that I bought it based on Internet reviews and it's size, but obviously there's a learning curve for me. Thanks for the advice.....I'm on it

hubobulous · August 2014

Starting small

....now I've licked my wounds since having two guitars stolen, its on with the novel, (some might say I'm a Tomehound)!! ..........

In order to ease this transition, I felt that a good step would be to take those pedals that are staying around and mount them on pedalboards. These neatly fit into two camps:

Switchblade (A/B/Y box)
Tuner
Morley Tripler

Death Ray
H1 Vocal Harmoniser
Tech 21 MIDI Mouse

The first set are always going to be at the start of my chain, and irrespective of which tuner I choose, this will always be the standard config. They can be behind me on stage, (which also works well for where my guitar lead will naturally sit), and seeing as the Tripler always has the 3 outputs on, I only ever need to interact with them for a guitar tune/swap. So a PedalTrain Mini was purchased for these and they are now mounted/cabled.

The second set are pedals that I never change within a song, just between songs, (I don't intend changing MIDI patches within a song, just manipulating them as required through an expression pedal). Added to that, the Death Ray and H1 are just on/off and the MIDI Mouse would just be used to bank up/down, so as long as I get my eventual patches sorted, any interaction with these should be quick and minimal. I bought a PedalTrain Nano for these, and they're mounted/cabled now too. In order to power them all, I am using my OneSpot for everything but the H1 which has its own power supply - I'm only using it since it was supplied so might just try the OneSpot with it too if its a 9v pedal and I'm sorted.

I used these two pedalboards at the last gig we played alongside the Utopia and they worked like a dream. No MIDI was needed at that gig, but it was so nice to just pull them from their soft cases, add the power and be done with it.

Tick in the box for this so far.......oh and I should give a kind mention to @JDE for the very kind provision of some free pancake ended Kabl patch leads which I used on the Mini and Nano. They work great and have sold me on the notion of buying more once I know what I need.

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Gigging and the move from Multi Effects to Pedalboard - extended musings!!

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