Misc Pedal settings questions...
- Thread starter BloodRose
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DKSEARS
New member
Re: Misc Pedal settings questions...
Definitely, spending time with your daughter comes first.
It looks like LD and the others covered most of it. If I am reading your signal chain correctly, the only suggestion I would offer would be to move the tuner out of the loop. I just prefer to run a clean tone directly from my guitar into my tuner rather than running through the preamp into the tuner.
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Definitely, spending time with your daughter comes first.
It looks like LD and the others covered most of it. If I am reading your signal chain correctly, the only suggestion I would offer would be to move the tuner out of the loop. I just prefer to run a clean tone directly from my guitar into my tuner rather than running through the preamp into the tuner.
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
devastone
Well-known member
Re: Misc Pedal settings questions...
Put the tuner after the wah/before the NS-2.
Try to think about what effects do, like reverb, it's basic function is there to mimic ambient sound bouncing around, "organically", that happens after the sound comes out of the speaker, not before the preamp. I've never heard it sound good before distortion, it might be a cool special effect for special occasions, but for 99% of the time, it just doesn't sound good. Delay is similar, except instead of a room, it's the grand canyon. Again, it has been done with decent results (definitely run the level/mix low if you have it in front) but most of the time it doesn't sound as good as after the tone shaping is done.
I personally like phase and flange before the dirt 'cause I think it sounds good there, and that's how King Edward did it, but it works sounds "cleaner" after the dirt.
As suggested, do some searching for the signal chains of your favorite pros/stars and see how they are running things. Sure, you may have a DD-3 instead of a TC 2290 delay, but where it goes in the signal chain will be similar.
Put the tuner after the wah/before the NS-2.
Try to think about what effects do, like reverb, it's basic function is there to mimic ambient sound bouncing around, "organically", that happens after the sound comes out of the speaker, not before the preamp. I've never heard it sound good before distortion, it might be a cool special effect for special occasions, but for 99% of the time, it just doesn't sound good. Delay is similar, except instead of a room, it's the grand canyon. Again, it has been done with decent results (definitely run the level/mix low if you have it in front) but most of the time it doesn't sound as good as after the tone shaping is done.
I personally like phase and flange before the dirt 'cause I think it sounds good there, and that's how King Edward did it, but it works sounds "cleaner" after the dirt.
As suggested, do some searching for the signal chains of your favorite pros/stars and see how they are running things. Sure, you may have a DD-3 instead of a TC 2290 delay, but where it goes in the signal chain will be similar.
Re: Misc Pedal settings questions...
So,IM working on the set up now..
Devastone, one more question.. This may be obvious, but Im not seeing it right now. Ive had a horrific day as they have demanded that I pick up my daughter and bring her home . So will be leaving in the morn to get her. This means I will lose my job because I will have to get her out of town and stay home and monitor her 24 -7 until I can find another place to put her, assuming I can get the @%##% insurance company to see the nature of her issue. Then, will have to go thru another court order to force her to go.. So... trying to get something done for myself tonight to ease my mind... Anyhow..The question..
If I do run the chorus, delays and verb to the loop, where is the cable from the loop return going to go? To the amp in?? (I wouldnt think this would be good..)?
LucyD, Yeah, took alil trial and error, but I have the distortion pedals dialed in ok.. They were alittle more straight forward to set up. Again, the programming of the other pedals was more hit an miss because of how I was running everything. If I ran the dirt pedals first, it was boosting the effects too much. It made a big difference
Oh, and just for the record, Id MUCH rather have a good spring reverb built into my amp than to use a reverb pedal... But since this amp doesnt have one, Im using a pedal..
Thanx again for your help! Hopefully, you guys will be "on board" to help with board two when this is done!!
So,IM working on the set up now..
Devastone, one more question.. This may be obvious, but Im not seeing it right now. Ive had a horrific day as they have demanded that I pick up my daughter and bring her home . So will be leaving in the morn to get her. This means I will lose my job because I will have to get her out of town and stay home and monitor her 24 -7 until I can find another place to put her, assuming I can get the @%##% insurance company to see the nature of her issue. Then, will have to go thru another court order to force her to go.. So... trying to get something done for myself tonight to ease my mind... Anyhow..The question..
If I do run the chorus, delays and verb to the loop, where is the cable from the loop return going to go? To the amp in?? (I wouldnt think this would be good..)?
LucyD, Yeah, took alil trial and error, but I have the distortion pedals dialed in ok.. They were alittle more straight forward to set up. Again, the programming of the other pedals was more hit an miss because of how I was running everything. If I ran the dirt pedals first, it was boosting the effects too much. It made a big difference
Oh, and just for the record, Id MUCH rather have a good spring reverb built into my amp than to use a reverb pedal... But since this amp doesnt have one, Im using a pedal..
Thanx again for your help! Hopefully, you guys will be "on board" to help with board two when this is done!!
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devastone
Well-known member
Re: Misc Pedal settings questions...
Sorry, just seeing this... fx loop send>chorus>delay>reverb>fx loop return Be aware that the loop may be line level and may be too hot for the carbon copy, holy grail, and Boss chorus, not sure what the level of the Splawn loop is, the DL-8 is made to handle those levels so it will be fine. The way to tell is to hook them up, play through it clean and see if you get distortion through the effects when on. It won't hurt the effects, well, don't try it wide open, but if it is too hot you will hear some clipping in the signal when the effect is on. There are ways around that too, like the Ebtech LLS, of course it isn't exactly cheap. I had to use one with my Randall RM50 head, it had a really hot loop.
It sounds like you have your hands full with your daughter right now, prayers for you to find a solution and not lose your job. I can't imagine what you are going through with that.
Sorry, just seeing this... fx loop send>chorus>delay>reverb>fx loop return Be aware that the loop may be line level and may be too hot for the carbon copy, holy grail, and Boss chorus, not sure what the level of the Splawn loop is, the DL-8 is made to handle those levels so it will be fine. The way to tell is to hook them up, play through it clean and see if you get distortion through the effects when on. It won't hurt the effects, well, don't try it wide open, but if it is too hot you will hear some clipping in the signal when the effect is on. There are ways around that too, like the Ebtech LLS, of course it isn't exactly cheap. I had to use one with my Randall RM50 head, it had a really hot loop.
It sounds like you have your hands full with your daughter right now, prayers for you to find a solution and not lose your job. I can't imagine what you are going through with that.
Re: Misc Pedal settings questions...
Thanks!! Still on probation with new job, so cant miss, but going to have to so I can stay with her.. Its been VERY difficult situation..
Not to badger you or beat a horse, but Im still unclear on something.. I know how to run the effects thru the loop, but in your previous response you mentioned running the ns2 out to the chorus, delay,verb and then into the amp. I assume you meant into the front of the amp.? If I run that to the loop, it looks like my only option then would be to run the loop out directly to the in on the front of the amp, and Im guessing that isnt a good idea..? Again, sorry if Im missing the obvious, but in my mind Im seeing it as one or the other. Use the ns2 out to the chorus,delay, verb and into the amp or use the loop.. Thanks for clarifying!!
Thanks!! Still on probation with new job, so cant miss, but going to have to so I can stay with her.. Its been VERY difficult situation..
Not to badger you or beat a horse, but Im still unclear on something.. I know how to run the effects thru the loop, but in your previous response you mentioned running the ns2 out to the chorus, delay,verb and then into the amp. I assume you meant into the front of the amp.? If I run that to the loop, it looks like my only option then would be to run the loop out directly to the in on the front of the amp, and Im guessing that isnt a good idea..? Again, sorry if Im missing the obvious, but in my mind Im seeing it as one or the other. Use the ns2 out to the chorus,delay, verb and into the amp or use the loop.. Thanks for clarifying!!
PFDarkside
of the Forum
Re: Misc Pedal settings questions...
Hey man! Best of luck, life is really dealing you a tough hand, and taking care of your daughter supersedes all this gear stuff. Really sending out the good vibes that everything works out and settles down for you.
That being said, from the gear standpoint....
You've basically got 2 "loops". The loop in the NS2, and the effects loop in the amp.
NS2 Loop: Generally speaking you put your drives here. It allows the NS-2 to sense if you are playing, then clamp down when you stop.
Effects loop: As suggested above, put your chorus, delay and reverb here.
So guitar -> wah -> tuner ->NS-2 -> (Green Rhino, OCD in NS-2 loop) -> remainder of pedals in front of amp -> amp input -> effects loop send ->Chorus ->delay ->reverb ->effects loop return
Hope that makes sense.
All that being said, once life calms down and you have some time for yourself to sit down and have some fun... I'd suggest breaking the whole rig down and building it back up one pedal at a time. Start with just the amp, add in a drive at a time until you get a good feel for where the gain, volume and tone work best with your amp and guitar. (As I saw in a video lately, avoid "noon-itis" where all controls have to be at noon, experiment with the whole sweep) After you get the amp and drives dialed in, add one color pedal at a time really exploring different positions and how the controls interact with the pedal settings you've previously dialed in. I suggest this because that's how I dialed in my latest pedalboard and I feel like I have a complete understanding of all the tones it can produce and how to get them. And of course the most important thing is to have fun in the process!
Hey man! Best of luck, life is really dealing you a tough hand, and taking care of your daughter supersedes all this gear stuff. Really sending out the good vibes that everything works out and settles down for you.
That being said, from the gear standpoint....
You've basically got 2 "loops". The loop in the NS2, and the effects loop in the amp.
NS2 Loop: Generally speaking you put your drives here. It allows the NS-2 to sense if you are playing, then clamp down when you stop.
Effects loop: As suggested above, put your chorus, delay and reverb here.
So guitar -> wah -> tuner ->NS-2 -> (Green Rhino, OCD in NS-2 loop) -> remainder of pedals in front of amp -> amp input -> effects loop send ->Chorus ->delay ->reverb ->effects loop return
Hope that makes sense.
All that being said, once life calms down and you have some time for yourself to sit down and have some fun... I'd suggest breaking the whole rig down and building it back up one pedal at a time. Start with just the amp, add in a drive at a time until you get a good feel for where the gain, volume and tone work best with your amp and guitar. (As I saw in a video lately, avoid "noon-itis" where all controls have to be at noon, experiment with the whole sweep) After you get the amp and drives dialed in, add one color pedal at a time really exploring different positions and how the controls interact with the pedal settings you've previously dialed in. I suggest this because that's how I dialed in my latest pedalboard and I feel like I have a complete understanding of all the tones it can produce and how to get them. And of course the most important thing is to have fun in the process!
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Taz Rules
New member
Re: Misc Pedal settings questions...
Sorry to hear about your daughter. I knew there were issues, but didn't realize just how serious.
Full credit to you for what you are doing for her. It may seem like the obvious choice to you, and to others looking in from the outside, but rest assured, there are MANY parents out there that would shunt their child off in that situation. She's lucky she has one of the good ones that will stick with her. Hopefully karma comes back to you and you find an even better job. Who knows, maybe this boss will even see the situation and give you a break. Here's hoping. (Looking for a silver lining...think of the songwriting potential that could come out of this!)
Thoughts go out to you and your daughter in her recovery. This sounds like a tough one.
Sorry I can't help with the gear, but there are far more knowledgeable people than I who are contributing on that front.
Sorry to hear about your daughter. I knew there were issues, but didn't realize just how serious.
Full credit to you for what you are doing for her. It may seem like the obvious choice to you, and to others looking in from the outside, but rest assured, there are MANY parents out there that would shunt their child off in that situation. She's lucky she has one of the good ones that will stick with her. Hopefully karma comes back to you and you find an even better job. Who knows, maybe this boss will even see the situation and give you a break. Here's hoping. (Looking for a silver lining...think of the songwriting potential that could come out of this!)
Thoughts go out to you and your daughter in her recovery. This sounds like a tough one.
Sorry I can't help with the gear, but there are far more knowledgeable people than I who are contributing on that front.
devastone
Well-known member
Re: Misc Pedal settings questions...
Sorry to be confusing, when I wrote that about the NS-2 I was thinking you were running the whole board into the front of the amp. If you are running the chorus, delays, and reverb in the loop, yes, run the output of the NS-2 to the front of the amp (had to go look up my other post).
Basically, what PFD said, and I also agree with him about building it up one pedal at a time, get to know what each one does on it's own, and if something isn't doing what you want it to, or isn't useful to you, leave it out.
Check this out, Satch doing Surfing with a cheap strat copy into a Peavey Backstage 30, take from it what you will.
Sorry to be confusing, when I wrote that about the NS-2 I was thinking you were running the whole board into the front of the amp. If you are running the chorus, delays, and reverb in the loop, yes, run the output of the NS-2 to the front of the amp (had to go look up my other post).
Basically, what PFD said, and I also agree with him about building it up one pedal at a time, get to know what each one does on it's own, and if something isn't doing what you want it to, or isn't useful to you, leave it out.
Check this out, Satch doing Surfing with a cheap strat copy into a Peavey Backstage 30, take from it what you will.
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Re: Misc Pedal settings questions...
Thanks again to all for the well wishes, prayers and good vibes.. Been quite an issue. Not just what she is doing, but the issue the facility is making of it and even worse is that I CANT find her help..
Devastone,
To clarify, I run both ways. If Im lazy or in a rush, I just plug it all to the front. When I have time to do things properly and if I were to play out (one day perhaps!!) Ill use the loop to get the best tone I can.. So, Im setting up as if Im using the loop. Thanks for your help!!
Thanks again to all for the well wishes, prayers and good vibes.. Been quite an issue. Not just what she is doing, but the issue the facility is making of it and even worse is that I CANT find her help..
Devastone,
To clarify, I run both ways. If Im lazy or in a rush, I just plug it all to the front. When I have time to do things properly and if I were to play out (one day perhaps!!) Ill use the loop to get the best tone I can.. So, Im setting up as if Im using the loop. Thanks for your help!!
Lucy Diamond
New member
Re: Misc Pedal settings questions...
Food For Thought
Always think of each pedal in terms of signal.
Always think of your guitar as the signal.
When you go GUITAR > WAH....You are "wah-ing" a clean signal.
When you go GUITAR > WAH > Overdrive, you are overdriving and wah'd clean signal.
When you place a pedal in line, it always effects the pedal that is before it.
This starts to make more sense when people start arguing over modulation and time based effects: The classic combination being Reverb and Delay. Which goes last??? Well....do you want your reverb delayed or do you want your delays reverberated.
The last pedal will have the "last word" on your overall signal path.
Another great example to help illustrate this is an e.q. pedal.
If you place the e.q. first in the chain, you are eq-ing your guitar.
If you place it after a distortion pedal, you are eq-ing that pedal.
So if you ever get into (let's say) a great analog flanger pedal that gives you a volume drop when engaged, place an eq or a clean boost after that pedal and you will fix it.
See ya.
All my best to you and your daughter.
~LD
Food For Thought
Always think of each pedal in terms of signal.
Always think of your guitar as the signal.
When you go GUITAR > WAH....You are "wah-ing" a clean signal.
When you go GUITAR > WAH > Overdrive, you are overdriving and wah'd clean signal.
When you place a pedal in line, it always effects the pedal that is before it.
This starts to make more sense when people start arguing over modulation and time based effects: The classic combination being Reverb and Delay. Which goes last??? Well....do you want your reverb delayed or do you want your delays reverberated.
The last pedal will have the "last word" on your overall signal path.
Another great example to help illustrate this is an e.q. pedal.
If you place the e.q. first in the chain, you are eq-ing your guitar.
If you place it after a distortion pedal, you are eq-ing that pedal.
So if you ever get into (let's say) a great analog flanger pedal that gives you a volume drop when engaged, place an eq or a clean boost after that pedal and you will fix it.
See ya.
All my best to you and your daughter.
~LD
Re: Misc Pedal settings questions...
thanks again for the great info! makes alot of sense. Im sure thats why Im not getting tones im looking for as I dont have the chain right.. like what Lyser and Mincer were saying above too. Im getting some things OVER emphasized and castrating others with current order. Ive started tearing down the board. Had to build up one area to get cable clearance and with kinda have to drop my tuner in the center in kind of a goofy location to make this work, but Im looking for the best function.. Have more work to do,but will have to wait till my daughter is squared away. Plus, one of my other daughters just gave birth to my first grand baby yest.. So, I have a new grand daughter!!
Anyhow. will get it done... eventually..
If you would all be so kind to keep an eye out here.. Ill probably have some fine tuning issues when it comes down to it.. like the eq. It gets alil confusing if I want to eq the total signal or the after signal or what.. haha mind boggling..
Someone also mentioned signal drop from modulation effects.. Im hoping I wont have too many issues on this board given all the info Ive gotten so far.. But when I get to my next board which is all just color pedals, thats gonna be interesting too. ADA Flanger, MXR flanger... haha
Thank you again for both the help and good wishes!! Means alot!
thanks again for the great info! makes alot of sense. Im sure thats why Im not getting tones im looking for as I dont have the chain right.. like what Lyser and Mincer were saying above too. Im getting some things OVER emphasized and castrating others with current order. Ive started tearing down the board. Had to build up one area to get cable clearance and with kinda have to drop my tuner in the center in kind of a goofy location to make this work, but Im looking for the best function.. Have more work to do,but will have to wait till my daughter is squared away. Plus, one of my other daughters just gave birth to my first grand baby yest.. So, I have a new grand daughter!!
Anyhow. will get it done... eventually..
If you would all be so kind to keep an eye out here.. Ill probably have some fine tuning issues when it comes down to it.. like the eq. It gets alil confusing if I want to eq the total signal or the after signal or what.. haha mind boggling..
Someone also mentioned signal drop from modulation effects.. Im hoping I wont have too many issues on this board given all the info Ive gotten so far.. But when I get to my next board which is all just color pedals, thats gonna be interesting too. ADA Flanger, MXR flanger... haha
Thank you again for both the help and good wishes!! Means alot!
Lucy Diamond
New member
Re: Misc Pedal settings questions...
Congratulations on the birth of your granddaughter.
Don't worry about the eq until you need it.
You will know...when the time is right.
~LD
Congratulations on the birth of your granddaughter.
Don't worry about the eq until you need it.
You will know...when the time is right.
~LD
baritone
New member
Re: Misc Pedal settings questions...
Since Lucy & others already offered a lot regarding pedal order, I won't add any of the limitless other possibilities. The things I recommend:
1. Plug in everything & turn off all effects. Tweak the amp EQ, gain, & volume to compensate for possible tone loss from a long signal chain.
2. Turn on 1 effect at a time while searching for your optimal setting. Although you have many effects connected, you won't always run all of them at the same time. I used to own 57 pedals; I never plugged in more than 5 at a time; I usually only turned on 2 at a time.
3. When layering so many effects, set each one a little milder than you would expect. That way, the dynamics of your fingers don't get lost in cascaded distortions & delays.
Since Lucy & others already offered a lot regarding pedal order, I won't add any of the limitless other possibilities. The things I recommend:
1. Plug in everything & turn off all effects. Tweak the amp EQ, gain, & volume to compensate for possible tone loss from a long signal chain.
2. Turn on 1 effect at a time while searching for your optimal setting. Although you have many effects connected, you won't always run all of them at the same time. I used to own 57 pedals; I never plugged in more than 5 at a time; I usually only turned on 2 at a time.
3. When layering so many effects, set each one a little milder than you would expect. That way, the dynamics of your fingers don't get lost in cascaded distortions & delays.
