How Subtle are You?

[Dave Locher]

Re: How Subtle are You?

Of course there's something to be said for tone that inspires- even if nobody else would notice, it can still inspire you to play better. But for me personally that's more about guitar/amp interaction and basic core tone, not so much a matter of subtle effects.

I have a Guv'nor clone that I set so that it is nearly impossible to tell it is on with my amp gain, but it changes how the guitar & amp interact and feel. I can tell it is on but not with my ears. That is extremely valuable to me.
Lately I have even considered a teensy bit o' flanger just for kicks. Might ponder that for a few more months...

[eclecticsynergy]

Re: How Subtle are You?

Core tone is the thing. To my mind that includes drives & amp gain to give the basic character of my sound. When I said I like to be able to tell they're on without needing to look, I was referring to modulations/delays etc- what I'd consider special effects rather than my primary tone.

When I use a pedalboard and not my rack rig, the ChaseTone Secret Pre is always on, last in the chain. Not really something that you notice until you turn it off. And I often have an old DOD BiFET first in line, to tweak slightly for different guitars so the drives see consistent levels and behave the way I want them to.

Someone recently suggested to me that a compressor can make a good OD too (not as a boost, but for its own internal clipping). The guy who suggested is using an old 1176, a world-class studio compressor. But it's something I'd like to experiment with a bit using the Tone Press on my pedalboard.

[devastone]

Re: How Subtle are You?

I usually have reverb on but subtle just so it adds some space. ODs into a crunchy amp, it's usually more of a feel thing, but you can usually tell when it is on. Mod effects, yeah, if I can't tell they are on, I don't bother.

[Jacew]

Re: How Subtle are You?

I have a Guv'nor clone that I set so that it is nearly impossible to tell it is on with my amp gain, but it changes how the guitar & amp interact and feel. I can tell it is on but not with my ears. That is extremely valuable to me.
Lately I have even considered a teensy bit o' flanger just for kicks. Might ponder that for a few more months...

I've been trying to determine whether to ditch Hush from my fx loop. It actually does make my rig sound better, (cleaner, fuller and more articulate), but also adds annoying spongy feel. I'm not sure if I can get over that...

[Gtrjunior]

Re: How Subtle are You?

I've been trying to determine whether to ditch Hush from my fx loop. It actually does make my rig sound better, (cleaner, fuller and more articulate), but also adds annoying spongy feel. I'm not sure if I can get over that...

I can’t speak to the Hush pedal but I have and use both the Boss NS-2 and the ISP G-String and neither have a spongy feel. At least I don’t notice one.

[eclecticsynergy]

Re: How Subtle are You?

I've been trying to determine whether to ditch Hush from my fx loop. It actually does make my rig sound better, (cleaner, fuller and more articulate), but also adds annoying spongy feel. I'm not sure if I can get over that...

I think Hush is an expander-type system that splits the signal and processes highs & lows separately. If you're feeling some residual compression you might be better off with a traditional gate.

Still, Hush usually is pretty clean- are you using the stomp version or one of the rack ones?

[dystrust]

Re: How Subtle are You?

Someone recently suggested to me that a compressor can make a good OD too (not as a boost, but for its own internal clipping). The guy who suggested is using an old 1176, a world-class studio compressor. But it's something I'd like to experiment with a bit using the Tone Press on my pedalboard.

If he's using an 1176, he may be doing the 'all buttons' thing. An 1176 has four buttons for the compression ratio, and it'll do a really cool distortion thing if you push in all of them at once. I've recorded in a studio that had one, and I wish I could afford one for home; it made my guitar sound like awesome. I doubt your Tone Press will do the same thing, but there are several 1176-inspired compressor pedals now. If you're lucky, maybe one of them will do the 'all buttons' or 'british' mode.

[LLL]

Re: How Subtle are You?

Tip: To add reverb to your guitar track without drowning it out, try this:

Pipe your guitar track out (buss) to a delay set anywhere from say 25-100ms (100ms is fantastic).
After the delay, add your reverb (100% wet)

Pan the 100% dry tone left and the delayed, 100% wet reverb right.

The short delay before the reverb wash gives the dry tone room to breathe...

Sound familiar? It should: it's the VH1 reverb trick (Ted Templeman / Donn Landee).

[Jacew]

Re: How Subtle are You?

I think Hush is an expander-type system that splits the signal and processes highs & lows separately. If you're feeling some residual compression you might be better off with a traditional gate.

Still, Hush usually is pretty clean- are you using the stomp version or one of the rack ones?

It's the X2 stomp version. That has two separate gates in one housing.

I actually have ISP Decimator coming in. Hope that turns out better.

[Jacew]

Re: How Subtle are You?

Tip: To add reverb to your guitar track without drowning it out, try this:

Pipe your guitar track out (buss) to a delay set anywhere from say 25-100ms (100ms is fantastic).
After the delay, add your reverb (100% wet)

Pan the 100% dry tone left and the delayed, 100% wet reverb right.

The short delay before the reverb wash gives the dry tone room to breathe...

Sound familiar? It should: it's the VH1 reverb trick (Ted Templeman / Donn Landee).

Sounds very useful if you want lot of reverb.

I prefer subtler reverb that blends in to core tone. So it sounds like natural voice of my rig rather than room echo or effect added to it.

[eclecticsynergy]

Re: How Subtle are You?

If he's using an 1176, he may be doing the 'all buttons' thing. An 1176 has four buttons for the compression ratio, and it'll do a really cool distortion thing if you push in all of them at once. I've recorded in a studio that had one, and I wish I could afford one for home; it made my guitar sound like awesome. I doubt your Tone Press will do the same thing, but there are several 1176-inspired compressor pedals now. If you're lucky, maybe one of them will do the 'all buttons' or 'british' mode.

The player who suggested it has a SlideRig too, something that's been on my radar for some time. I don't think the Cali76 has anything like that but I could be wrong. He said something about 40dB of makeup gain in his post that made me think that the distortion he's talking about could be amp-input distortion due to extreme boost, perhaps with a different feel (or color) due to the compression. But he maintains that it's from the compressor itself. Perhaps it is the all-buttons thing after all. Not sure, but it it sounded as if he was suggesting that most comp pedals could produce this effect; another reason why I though he might be talking about boost flavored by compression rather than compression itself.

Online, you can never really be sure how much somebody really knows regarding what they're talking about. Still, I was inclined to believe anybody using an 1176 was coming from a studio background.

[eclecticsynergy]

Re: How Subtle are You?

Tip: To add reverb to your guitar track without drowning it out, try this:

Pipe your guitar track out (buss) to a delay set anywhere from say 25-100ms (100ms is fantastic).
After the delay, add your reverb (100% wet)

Pan the 100% dry tone left and the delayed, 100% wet reverb right.

The short delay before the reverb wash gives the dry tone room to breathe...

Sound familiar? It should: it's the VH1 reverb trick (Ted Templeman / Donn Landee).

Not sure about pedals, but I think most modern digital reverbs have a predelay function built in.

[LLL]

Re: How Subtle are You?

Not sure about pedals, but I think most modern digital reverbs have a predelay function built in.

They do, and can be used.

I didn't mention that the panning L/R part is (also) key to allowing the dry tone to stay solid.

Another extra (which I myself haven't tried yet but will) is using an Eventide for the delay and detuning a few cents...
which gives you a detuned, delayed reverb. And as usual, you can EQ it as well for more tweaking.

If one were doing this live, they'd need a dry-wet type of rig.

[eclecticsynergy]

Re: How Subtle are You?

I haven't even begun to explore the possibilities of the H9 I got for my jam board. I don't use 'verb a lot these days in my gig rack, still over the years I've found predelay to be a great tool for having more wash available without swamping the tone. I used it back in the 80s on a Yamaha Rev7, then with an SPX900 in the early 90s.