Pedalboards

[garybaldy]

I like pedal boards a lot. Especially when somebody else is using them. Heck, I have trouble deciding what shirt to wear, let alone what button to push.

Would my rendition of Blue Bossa sound better if I turn on the chorus, or not? Would the audience like me better? Would women smile at me more if I have a pedal board, or instead, if I start wearing nicer shoes?

I play music to express my personality, my reality, my musical concept. If I needed pedals to do this, I'd use them.

Generally I don't use pedals for jazz. But I've tried an equalizer but it's hardly worth it and I've put on a bit of reverb and ended up turning it right down and then off.
Definitely no gain or modulations!

[sgosnell]

Electric mandolins tend to be 5-string more often than 4-string. The extra low C increases the range. I have several, including one Fender.

[Bob_Ross]

Would my rendition of Blue Bossa sound better if I turn on the chorus, or not?

Depends; are you comping, soloing, playing the melody verbatim, playing unaccompanied...?

btw, the #1 turnoff for me in jazz -- even conspicuously "electric" jazz -- is when a musician turns on the chorus pedal just for the solo ...but for every solo!
(Jeff Berlin, I'm looking at you!)

Would the audience like me better? Would women smile at me more if I have a pedal board, or instead, if I start wearing nicer shoes?

I did a trio gig of abstract improvisational jazz-adjacent soundscape music two weeks ago, material that was all pretty pedal-intense ...and afterwards an audience member came up to talk to me. One of his comments was "I had no idea a musical performance required so much footwork!"

[Cavalier]

Electric mandolins tend to be 5-string more often than 4-string. The extra low C increases the range. I have several, including one Fender.

Yes, I have used a 5 string tele shaped mandocaster for about the last 40 years. It shreds!

[frabarmus]

I like pedal boards a lot. Especially when somebody else is using them.

This made me smile... it reminds me of something I like to say about television: "I like watching TV a lot (especially when it's switched off!)

[eblydian]

I love pedalboards.
Peter Bernstein is one of the few contemporary top players who goes straight into the amp and still sounds amazing.
All the others that I know, like Kurt Rosenwinkel, Gilad Hekselman, Mike Moreno, Jonathan Kreisberg, Andrew Renfroe ..., rely heavily on pedalboards or modellers to get their magic tone.

My HX Stomp and a couple of pedals help me get a tone that I like, as I am no skilled guitarist and play 0.11s.
I am looking for something à la Mike Moreno with lots of low end, a bit of compression but still bright enough on the high end.
I learnt recently that by chaining 2 or more boost/OD pedals I can adjust brighter and darker pedals to interact with each other with good results.

I know, it's not old school and many may frown upon those embarking on an expensive and time-consuming tone quest.
But whatever I am playing, I like it when it sounds the way I want it to sound.

[garybaldy]

It's akin to botox and lip filler - the modern age.

[MarkL]

It's akin to botox and lip filler - the modern age.

Sure, the technology wasn't around when Wes, Grant and their contemporaries were on the scene.

John Scofield's playing stands out (imo) as providing great examples of how effect pedals can be used creatively and effectively. I believe he has been using them for a few decades.

Pedals seem to work particularly well for fusion and funk based jazz (also rock, for what that's worth on a jazz forum). As mentioned earlier in this thread, I use them for certain purposes.

Personal choice, as I see it. Go forth and have fun.

[frabarmus]

I saw Vic Juris live a few years ago and he had quite a big pedalboard at his feet. Of course, most of the time he had a nice, clean, jazzy tone (and a bit of distorsion in a couple of solos).

[frabarmus]

...I remember back in the 80's I had a Roland GP8 multi-effect rack which, in the end, I only used to dial in one nice sound I had created (don't remember exactly how) that made the guitar I had at the time (a GB10) sound even more jazzy/woody and warm through my amp at the time which was a blue Roland 60 combo, which otherwise sounded rather cold.

[jads57]

It’s not that I’m against pedal boards. It’s I’m sick of Ambient Washed Out Tonality.
It seems like it’s used not only as a long boring intro,but also to put your tone in a large cave.
John Scofield and Larry Carlton are two players who dont don’t do this,which come to mind.
I understood Andy Summers use of effects in the Police Context as well.

During the 1968 Star Trek television show,they used a gauze filter over the pretty women. To cover their imperfections and make them seem more alluring.

[garybaldy]

Sure, the technology wasn't around when Wes, Grant and their contemporaries were on the scene.

John Scofield's playing stands out (imo) as providing great examples of how effect pedals can be used creatively and effectively. I believe he has been using them for a few decades.

Pedals seem to work particularly well for fusion and funk based jazz (also rock, for what that's worth on a jazz forum). As mentioned earlier in this thread, I use them for certain purposes.

Personal choice, as I see it. Go forth and have fun.

Yes, I always use, albeit, fairly primitive effects when when I play in a rock/pop context (and in the days when I played country). I play covers so like to get a similar sound to the the records!
I never was particularly fond of the early use of chorus in jazz. As I've mentioned before, I've added eq and reverb to my jazz guitar playing but found myself having to turn them off for the sound I prefer.
A lot of modern gypsy jazz studio production has lost the rawness of the style.

[rpjazzguitar]

Straight into the amp sounds thin, or cold, or something to my ears, bearing in mind I'm not an archtop player.

So, I feel compelled to thicken the sound. I've tried different things over the years.

Boss ME50 had stereo chorus. Requires two amps. Dropped from the later models. Possibly because the chorus was in the air of the room and would detune the guitar depending on where you were standing.

Tried chorus, but got tired of it.

Tried octave-down added in. I still use it but sparingly. You have to remember not to play chords with it on.

Current version: harmonizer set to zero. Mike Stern's trick or so I'm told. I don't know exactly what it's doing. It sounds like a sort of chorus -- maybe it's the same thing electronically. Anybody know? I have three settings, off, medium and wet. I solo in jazz contexts with the wet version quite often and nobody complains.

Oh, btw, I don't play archtops because of feedback, lesser sustain than other guitar-types, and ergonomics. I know that many players tame the feedback, but I didn't want to deal with it.

As far as pedalboards go, I've used the ME series for years. Currently, the ME70. It will save a patch and there are no menus. So, it's simple enough to use on a gig. I read the GX1 manual yesterday. It would be nice to have something smaller. But everything is a scroll or you're using a phone app. Seems to me it might be difficult to adjust it in the dark on the fly and get what you want. They say that features sell the devices but that simplicity gets them used.

Last point. The ME50 actually had a stereo feature. The L and R channels on Stereo Chorus were different. One wet, one dry. That was dropped when the ME70 came out. Afaik, the ME70 has no stereo features. Boss verified in an email that the ME80 does not. It has left and right outputs, but they're the same, afaik. I don't know about the ME90.

[StormyMonday]

My bass player let me try out his Fishman Tonedeq pedal, I used it with my mando, nylon and floating PU archtop and Loudbox mini. Very simple functionality; delay/rvb, boost and chorus/tremolo/flanger and compression. 3 buttons, the max my brain can process. So I bought one last night to use on a solo gig next week at a gallery. I have to fly there and use my son's Ibanez nylon and whatever amp he has (probably very inexpensive) this will fit right in my carry on.

[DawgBone]

Straight into the amp sounds thin, or cold, or something to my ears, bearing in mind I'm not an archtop player.

So, I feel compelled to thicken the sound. I've tried different things over the years.

Current version: harmonizer set to zero. Mike Stern's trick or so I'm told. I don't know exactly what it's doing. It sound like a sort of chorus -- maybe it's the same thing electronically. Anybody know? I have three settings, off, medium and wet. I solo in jazz contacts with the wet version quite often and nobody complains.

Interesting. Pretty sure it's giving a light doubling effect which is what I've been chasing with a Spaceman Meridian. I find myself barely turning the knobs up, lol. It'd be nice to have one that didn't have a ton of effect with the knobs cranked so I could better control the effect.

[jads57]

If you want a fatter tone,try a Boost pedal or an EQ pedal. I’ve had great luck with the following pedals
T.C.Jauernig Luxury Drive set to minimum gain
Xotic Sweet Boost pedal
Nux Sculpture compressor

[garybaldy]

If you want a fatter tone,try a Boost pedal or an EQ pedal. I’ve had great luck with the following pedals
T.C.Jauernig Luxury Drive set to minimum gain
Xotic Sweet Boost pedal
Nux Sculpture compressor

My preferred jazz tone is dry and clean (old school?) but I do find that if one uses an amp with a lead channel, that channel with very little gain remains clean but is much fatter sounding than the clean channel.

[jads57]

Agreed but sometimes certain amps need the push to achieve that tone. Take a Roland Jazz Chorus for example.
You can turn the distortion knob on and set to lowest setting. I think John Scofield is the one where I learned that from an interview long ago.

I use boosts especially with my Quilter 1x8” Aviator Combo. To get more Clean Volume as well.

[Aiq]

The Centaur is the Behringer “clone”.

Better chorus, delay, reverb than the last board I shared.


the old one:

[mheton]

John Abercrombie convinced me at a workshop that a little bit of FX isn't bad at all.
I loved his sound and playing ...