Best Double-Tracking Pedal

Silence Kid

New member
I am not impressed with any YouTube demos I've heard for the usual suspects - Could be I'm listening to bad demos, but is this idea even feasible? Any recommendations on a pedal that can do it?
 
Re: Best Double-Tracking Pedal

I am not sure...I use my Fractal set up with another amp or cab panned to a different side of the stereo spectrum. I delay the signal by a few milliseconds. A Dimension pedal sort of does a doubling thing but not quite. You need a tonal change as well as a separation of the 2 signals, which makes it one of the harder things to do with a single pedal.
 
Re: Best Double-Tracking Pedal

What don't you like? Keeley, TC, etc....all good products.

Or...do it the hard way; Split with a delay, dry or wet sound to a modulated chorus or detune or something.
 
Re: Best Double-Tracking Pedal

I think Mincer has it- the 'double track' I desire has a separation of the harmonic content of the notes in each 'track.' I don't just want a delay-like 'thick' effect. I want it to sound like two distinct guitars- think the second solo in King Diamond's 'Welcome Home' (or through a lot of 'Them,') the lead line in Alice In Chains 'The Whale and the Wasp' or Scorpions 'Rock You Like a Hurricane' lead lines.

Any box do that, or is it software & separate cab time?
 
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Re: Best Double-Tracking Pedal

Maybe you're wanting an octave-up effect along with doubling,,,,like a harmonizer. (?)

The TC Mimiq (standard size) gets great reviews from those who have used it's stereo outputs to send the slightly varied signals to their own amp/cabs.
I think it does simulate multiple players, up to three or four if I recall correctly. It varies pitch and timing in some crazy digital random manner.
 
Re: Best Double-Tracking Pedal

I love the double track rhythm sound, especially with different amps & guitars. I don't pile on tons of identical rhythms though, as it takes away (to me) what else could be played. I don't really like the doubled solo thing either. Those Randy Rhodes triple tracked solos sound sloppy to me (and he wasn't a sloppy player) and reminds me of the 80s production style I don't like.
 
Re: Best Double-Tracking Pedal

Part of the beauty of a doubled line is the variability in timing. No box does that. The delay between the lines varies by the player (or the repeat performance) one attack comes sooner/later, or spot on, the harmony is modulated because of tuning differences, etc.

I'll say this here and now - Duncan can cut me in later:

I want my double track box to have this:

1. A delay setting - with a range of variability, like 45ms +/-5 ms (or 10, or whatever)
2. I want it to also have detune, like -3%, with variability also! like =/- .003%
3. I want it to have an EQ mod option - so I need an active bass/mid/treble control to change the tone of the signal. +1 bass/-3mid/+3treble

THAT would make a bad@$$ doubler. Bonus points if it can have a little verb like the one pedal and a built in loop to give it a different distortion pedal tone also....like put clean in and then send signal one to main amp, and signal two through a Suhr Riot or something....

SUper bonus points if it can send an unaffected clean signal with a level control...
 
Re: Best Double-Tracking Pedal

Part of the beauty of a doubled line is the variability in timing. No box does that.

until now..



It does actually mimic the sound of multi-tracked guitars quite well..




Unless the OP is talking about a harmonizer like Andy LaRocque uses..

Just bought myself a cheapie and it gets the job done quite nicely :bigthumb:

 
Re: Best Double-Tracking Pedal

Mincer has it again - 'Cheesy & '80s' are probably what I am looking for. The Mimiq demo above seems more effective for chords but subtle for single lines. The harmonizer doesn't sound totally inaccurate. Looks cheap too?
 
Re: Best Double-Tracking Pedal

^Funny, for the doubler is a 'not quite a cover' of King Crimson's Frame by Frame. Some nice sounds in that pedal- I wish for the looper, they would have a true feedback control, instead of just the volume of the overdub or the loop.
 
Re: Best Double-Tracking Pedal

until now..



It does actually mimic the sound of multi-tracked guitars quite well..

That thing is perfect for multi-tracks in one shot,,,, or at a great live jam tool.
Were you the one saying it loses just a small bit of punch when shifting from effect off to on?

Was that soundcloud recorded running the pedal mono to a single amp/cab?
If so then I can only imagine how it does in stereo.
Scrolling through I think it sounds it's best when on only two tracks.
 
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Re: Best Double-Tracking Pedal

Obviously, best is subjective, but how I imitate a double tracked guitar is by using 2 different amps, EQ'd to be distinctly different, and an old Ibanez Delay III set to doubling mode.

In its simplest setup, this pedal splits the signal to the amps with each amp's channels controlling gain. Usually I'll set these so I can clean up with the volume knob.

If I want to go more complex, I use an ABY (I prefer this because my ABY can correct phasing issues between the two amps), a pedal switcher with 2 separate groupings of loops (1 for each amp). Split the signal before the switcher, amps set for a crunch that cleans up well. Each group of the switcher gets its own OD for a lead boost first in the signal path, one group has the wet output of the Ibanez Delay III last. Somewhere in the path after the OD's if I have a stereo effect I want to use like Chorus, I connect it to one loop in each group, I typically put a mono Reverb in the group going to the amp that's not receiving the delayed signal (I find it gets muddy if I put it on delayed amp). With one loop left in the "dry" amp, I'll usually toss on another modulation in mono for those times I only want modulation on one track - a univibe, phaser or Chorus/vibrato with a detune feature for example.
 
Re: Best Double-Tracking Pedal

There is a TC Mimiq clip in here that was the first I heard of it...

I'd look no further.
 
Re: Best Double-Tracking Pedal

That thing is perfect for multi-tracks in one shot,,,, or at a great live jam tool.
Were you the one saying it loses just a small bit of punch when shifting from effect off to on?

Was that soundcloud recorded running the pedal mono to a single amp/cab?
If so then I can only imagine how it does in stereo.
Scrolling through I think it sounds it's best when on only two tracks.

Yeah it definitely replicates the sound of double/triple/quad tracked guitars & does so very convincingly.

That was with it in stereo into two amps..so probably the most it can do, though I'm not exactly a recording guru, so there's that :lmao:

It's was recorded with an analog speaker sim pedal on one track (chinese "Little Bear" I bought for $15-20) & a Mooer Radar IR on the other track...no cabs..those would sound better.

I was'nt the one who said that, but yeah..it does sound marginally "flatter" & there's also a slight volume drop/variation between the original & cloned tracks..but it's nothing drastic & I've found that a boost pedal before the Mimic or on the output (cloned signal) makes that difference pretty much negligible..

I'm the only guitar player in my band and it's made a huge difference at our gigs. Sounds absolutely massive through 2 amps/cabs onstage :bigthumb:

Yeah, it is at it's best on the 2 track setting. Although 4 tracks is instant BOLT THROWER :D
 
Best Double-Tracking Pedal

For recording I just track the guitar twice, often with a different amp plugin. It sounds better than using a doubler. I’ve even learned guitar solos I played and double tracked them. Sounds huge!

For a pedal the TC Mimiq sounds great.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
Re: Best Double-Tracking Pedal

Also, these days for recording, there are tons of plug-ins that have way more parameters than a pedal and sound loads better. I don't use them for guitar (I do that manually by playing it twice), they sound great for backing vocals.
 
Re: Best Double-Tracking Pedal

For recording I just track the guitar twice, often with a different amp plugin. It sounds better than using a doubler. I’ve even learned guitar solos I played and double tracked them. Sounds huge!

I used to do that a lot : copy paste one guitar take to one or two track in the DAW, pan them and have different amp simulation on each.

Later I decided to replace Guitar-Rig by real amps (Marshalls) keeping the guitar takes I already recorded. I used a Palmer Re-Amp box that gives your computer output the high impedance of a guitar and fed it into the Marshall JCM900.

So you can turn one single take into several using that Re-amp box.

You can keep the identity of the guitar sound and make it sound huge, by dialing a similar tone on two pedals with a different circuitry (for me it is a TS808 at half past noon and a MXR GT-OD at halp past eleven). And then you may record two takes directly from the amp (preferably I would say)... but you can also do this with the tightness of a single take by pluging the guitar in the DAW and re-amping the dry signal twice, each time with a different OD. I hope my english is not confusing.
 
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