Sustain only pedal ?

[Crane]

I want a little more sustain.
I tried a boss compression / sustain pedal but returned it because I could not use sustain only. I have been searching for sustain only and have not found anything yet.

Any ideas ?

to be used with :
Strats, Super Champ tube amp, Dirty Little Secret
Playing 'uppity blues' very little od/distortion with lots of bending. I am familiar with hand technique (vibrato) but I am looking to recruit an ally in my sonic quest.

TIA

 

[ericmeyer4]

Re: Sustain only pedal ?

Something like that is found on a piano? You're looking for something that when you push it down and it just holds the note a bit longer?

 

[drpietrzak]

Re: Sustain only pedal ?

The piano pedal does not sustain the note. If fails to dampen the note. The sustain is in the instrument in that case.

Your est bet may be a change in the strat trem block. Look at something like ... http://www.callahamguitars.com/blocks.htm

There are other makers of such things as well. There has to be string movement to get the sustain from anything you try. I would start with the guitar to get it as far as you can first. I have the Callahan on a MIM HH strat and it increased the natural sustain amazingly well. I used a solid brass one on by SSS strat and it had the same effect, but sweeter (to me anyway).

 

[ericmeyer4]

Re: Sustain only pedal ?

The piano pedal does not sustain the note. If fails to dampen the note. The sustain is in the instrument in that case.

It was an analogy. Principle remains the same. Push the pedal down and the note rings out longer.

 

[drpietrzak]

Re: Sustain only pedal ?

The note does not ring out longer. It is amplified more at lower levels creating the impression of longer perceived sustain (compression). The length of sustain is not due to a pedal it is in the guitar. How long you hear the sustained note in this case is a matter of how much it is amplified.

 

[briggleman]

Re: Sustain only pedal ?

drpietrzak , What part of analogy did you not understand?

Now back to the OP's question..... I have tried a Pigtronix Philosophers Tone... it is a compression pedal, but it will sustain for days..... OH, wait a minute..(drpietrzak... I was making an exaggeration )

Then if you just want to have a note go on forever try the Electro Harmonix Freeze pedal. The EH HOG also has this function but more costly.

Brad

 

[cheameup]

Re: Sustain only pedal ?

gentle compression is a the key to long singign susatin . The top of the note is flattened then as it fades away the signal is boosted to give the impression of a longer susatin

I think thats what drpietrzak is saying

 

[drpietrzak]

Re: Sustain only pedal ?

BBM - The part of it were the analogy works. The sustain pedal on a piano works nothing like the sustain process of a guitar. The pedal keeps the hammer off the stings allowing them to continue to ring (fails to mute). There is no artificial amplification or processing, it is the natural decay of the string vibration of the piano strings. Pluck a open note on an acoustic and do not touch the string - that is the sustain process obtained by pressing the piano pedal. Pluck the note and touch the string - that is releasing the pedal (the hammer falls).

Here (guitar) we are trying to hear the natural sustain after it has become too quiet to hear with normal hearing (or at least not being perceived to decay as rapidly). So some sort of boost is required for this to happen. Compression does this in this case. It evens the volume out. How the compression is accomplished varies to some extent from pedal to pedal but all of them boost the signal in some way and they generally even the perceived volume out. Cheaneup is following what I am saying here. While the piano sustain pedal works by "fail to quiet" the guitar sustain is the opposite in that it tries to make louder that which is quiet.

 

[AlexR]

Re: Sustain only pedal ?

The Boss is a pretty unsubtle compressor. Think the squashed noted on Under the Bridge and thats its forte.....although the Monte Allums mod does help a lot. What you need is either a better quality compressor (like a Ross compressor) where the effect is more subtle and tunable, or where there is a switch to change from compression to sustain. The Mad professor does this....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fn5HXeXsLLg&feature=related

 

[ericmeyer4]

Re: Sustain only pedal ?

BBM - The part of it were the analogy works. The sustain pedal on a piano works nothing like the sustain process of a guitar. The pedal keeps the hammer off the stings allowing them to continue to ring (fails to mute). There is no artificial amplification or processing, it is the natural decay of the string vibration of the piano strings. Pluck a open note on an acoustic and do not touch the string - that is the sustain process obtained by pressing the piano pedal. Pluck the note and touch the string - that is releasing the pedal (the hammer falls).

Here (guitar) we are trying to hear the natural sustain after it has become too quiet to hear with normal hearing (or at least not being perceived to decay as rapidly). So some sort of boost is required for this to happen. Compression does this in this case. It evens the volume out. How the compression is accomplished varies to some extent from pedal to pedal but all of them boost the signal in some way and they generally even the perceived volume out. Cheaneup is following what I am saying here. While the piano sustain pedal works by "fail to quiet" the guitar sustain is the opposite in that it tries to make louder that which is quiet.

You're missing the point. It wasn't an analogy comparing the physical properties of a sustain pedal on a piano and the electrical properties of a guitar compressor/sustainer. It was analogy of the perceived affect of the note. Hold down the pedal on a piano the note sounds like it rings out longer. It seems that the OP is looking for something that will achieve the same thing for guitar. How it is achieved between the two instruments is/was not the point.

Back to the OP.

As for compressor/sustainers I like the Keeley compressor, but it does introduce some noise into the signal if you push the sustain too high (like most compressors will).

If you haven't found what you are looking in a pedal have you thought about something like a sustainer pickup or maybe an Ebow?

 

[El Dunco]

Re: Sustain only pedal ?

Why not do it naturally and get yourself a Fernandez sustainer?

Makes your string vibrate and it has different modes where you can have the note you want sustain pretty much forever or until you die of starvation, harmonic mode where it goes into a 5th harmonic from the note and one other. You might find it very useful.

http://www.fernandesguitars.com/sustainer/sustainer.html

 

[drew_half_empty]

Re: Sustain only pedal ?

ehx freeze

 

[ericmeyer4]

Re: Sustain only pedal ?

ehx freeze

I'll second that one. Cool little petal.

 

[AdamBrad]

Re: Sustain only pedal ?

I'm afraid I can't remember the make but my mate has a pedal called the "Holy Stain" that's very nice...

 

[andrizzle]

Re: Sustain only pedal ?

I'm afraid I can't remember the make but my mate has a pedal called the "Holy Stain" that's very nice...

IT's an EHX pedal... but if I remember correctly the Holy Stain is an overdrive/reverb/pitch shifting/trem? pedal that has NOTHING to do with sustain... It's the Holy Stain... not Holy SUSTAIN


Anyway back to the OP... This guy in the Trading Post has this compressor that looks interesting, it's even got a sustain switch:

https://forum.seymourduncan.com/showthread.php?t=212065


Also, to the guys suggesting the EHX Freeze... Maybe the OP can clarify but I don't think that's what he's after... That literally holds a note out for as long as you want, the dynamic of the note does not trail off. I think he just wants his notes to last longer, with a pseudo-natural decay

 

[St_Genesius]

Re: Sustain only pedal ?

It sounds to me like the "Sustain" mode on that Mad Professor pedal is just slowing the attack on the compressor down, so that transients still spike through, while bumping up the tail end of the note. Any compressor with a variable attack should be able to accomplish the same thing.

Barring weird hold-and-loop stuff like the EHX Freeze (at least, I THINK that's what it does...) you can't have sustain without compression. That's why the Boss pedal would't let you seperate the two functions: one is simply a byproduct of the other. I guess the trick, then, if to find a compressor that either has the flexibility of control, or just defaults to, a sound you like.

One option would be the Duncan Double Back, which has three modes of mixing back in your uncompressed signal, either full range (several other pedals do this too), mostly the mids, or mostly the highs. A ton of flexibility in that pedal, though flexibility comes at the price of fiddliness, which may or not appeal to you.

 

[Chickenwings]

Re: Sustain only pedal ?

maniac sustainiac is a wild way of doing it. lots of cats used them in the 80s
or an ebow is another left field way of getting infinite sustain...

 

[Crane]

Re: Sustain only pedal ?

Thnx for all the input. I have been checking back.

I just want the note, lets say when I'm bending - to last a little longer. Some areas of the fretboard don't last as long as others. Sometimes I bend with my first finger - and the note I'm holding never sustains as long as when I bend with my third finger. Or when I try to get two bends out of 1 note if you know what I mean - the lack of sustain limits me.

I am really leaning towards a Barber Tone Press right now.
But the White Horse up for trade and the Double Back are things I will look into before a decision.
And - I'm really hesitant to start 'modding' my guitars. I want to keep them all stock.
I'm not too afraid to do a trem block, but I would rather have a pedal I could use on all my guitars.

 

[Chickenwings]

Re: Sustain only pedal ?

the oldest method in the world is just picking more smoothly and a little softer, also a good vibrato in your note will increase sustain a too.

 

[GuitarStv]

Re: Sustain only pedal ?

I just want the note, lets say when I'm bending - to last a little longer. Some areas of the fretboard don't last as long as others. Sometimes I bend with my first finger - and the note I'm holding never sustains as long as when I bend with my third finger.

This is a technique problem. Most people get more (and more even) pressure down with the third finger than the first. The additional pressure from the string onto the fret keeps the note ringing longer. With your 1st finger it's harder to keep the same amount of even pressure down, so you're getting less sustain. I don't think that new gear will solve your problem with this.