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One highly underrated pedal which works really great as a fun box for Jazz is the Strymon Deco. Before all this™, I played a few gigs with a small board with just this pedal and two EQs and really started to like this setup.
You can use it to add a bit of compression and saturation which is quite different from your usual 'overdrive'. Its second side does modulation (flange, chorus, short delay), from subtle and beautiful to crazy wild. It shines adding a little warmth and something to your sound without being an over the top 'effect' necessarily.
As for the question, while of course every other type of guitarist should probably get an overdrive as a first pedal, imho for Jazz you should get an EQ first. Not very exciting, but you can get so much sonic mileage out of it, it solves all kinds of venue-acoustics problems, allows you to plug into any kind of shitty amplifier you might have to plug in to, etc.
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08-03-2020 08:38 AM
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I agree about the Deco. I had one in the past, and regret selling it.
Originally Posted by thpm
As for the EQs you mention, I'd be interested in hearing how/why you use two. And which models are they?
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A graphic and a parametric, by Boss and Empress respectively. Not very exciting, I use the graphic to tune to the room and some general tone shaping— slightly cuttting some lowend, or fake a Fender-scoop on non-Fender amps, that sort of thing. It‘s mostly always on. Originally Posted by einarcc
The ParaEQ I use more specific to cut or boost certain frequencies, to get rid of feedback for example, or to give a bit of “single-coily” punch to humbuckers. Another thing I like it for is the “solo boost without more volume”— stepping on it to go from a slightly scooped rhythm sound to an emphasis in midrange can really change your presence in the band without being overpowering. I don‘t like bridge pickups usually and never got into rocking that volume ore tone pot a lot… It comes more naturally to me to do this with pedals.
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Originally Posted by thpm
I couldn't agree more. I use the Boss GE-7. (I did an inexpensive Fromel mod to quiet down the hiss/noise that is built into some of the stock GE-7s). For example, before the COVID-apocalypse I was playing a Tuesday night gig at a local restaurant. I would usually take my ES-175 and a Quilter 101 Reverb with a Raezer's Edge cabinet. I would set up in a corner of the dining room that had a strange boomy frequency that I couldn't shake by moving the location of the cabinet; nor could I roll it out with the bass control on the Quilter. However, I easily located and dialed it out on the GE-7.
One other (unlikely) pedal I have found really handy in jazz settings is the Wampler Tumnus. I do a fair amount of theater and musical pit orchestra work, so I like to keep an all purpose overdrive on pedal board. I found that if I turn the gain all the way down and treat it like a clean boost, that the Bass, Middle, and Treble controls act as nice tone shapers. By boosting the mids a bit and rolling off the treble a hair, I can get a nice jazz (almost an archtop) tone out of my ES-335 into a Princeton or Deluxe Reverb.
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I have Empress ParaEQ and MXR 6 band eq. Empress is incredibly good. Very flexible for tone shaping. But what's even more impressive is how transparent it is (other than the eq change you intend obviously). MXR to me has a more processed sound.
You can do a million things with Empress. For example one of my archtops is noticeably loader in certain mid frequencies. I can identify the exact center of that frequency range, choose one of the 3 Q values that best cover it, and reduce the volume there. I get a very balanced guitar for chord melodies. I can make my Tubescreamer sound like a completely different pedal (any pedal pretty much). I can shape the tone of my amps for lead and rhythm in very specific ways. All this without any unnatural, processed sound. Just amazing.
I haven't gigged with it yet as I got it during the covid lockdown but I suspect I can get the sound I want in any room with any amp with this pedal in a very pleasant way.
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The Empress ParaEQ looks to be a useful tool to stop feedback, this vid at 4:13 explains how.
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For playing out in different venues with different acoustics I have 2 recommendations:
- Go wireless - this will allow you to go to different parts of the room to hear your sound. You'll be amazed at the different sounds you hear in different rooms or even different places in the same room, with identical amp settings... Plenty of good gear here - my choice was the Boss W50 in pedalboard format.
- Use eq to correct what you hear in the room. What you hear next to the amp is - most of the time - in no way representative of what you will hear elsewhere in the room. My choice here was the MWR 6 band eq. It allows me to keep my amp settings identical in terms of tone.
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Heads up though Empress ParaEQ is discontinued. Some stores still have it in stock. It's expansive (not for what it does) but I suspect it'll hold it's value really well in the used market for years to come.
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I'm in favor of anything that kepps you interested and makes playing more fun. There are no rules and no referees and the only one who gets to tell you what works best for you is you.
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That sounds interesting. I do some pit work and the occasional tune that requires a nylon string sound is generally politely ignored. I suspect you may have the opposite problem in trying to cope with tube-screamer type tunes or have you found a way around that on the Godin? Originally Posted by ronjazz
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I'm not big into pedals either, but this one has entered my consciousness as nearly as essential as reverb, for the sole purpose of adding depth to the sound. I typically use the chorus/vibrato completely rolled off, Blend around 5 o'clock (very quiet), Feedback around 10 o'clock, with a rather long Delay (12 o'clock or longer); match the Level to your amp volume or use it as a boost if you really want. The overall effect is similar to reverb, and the low volume of the delay ensures that the sound doesn't get muddy. Some folks in studio will apply multiple delays at slightly different latencies in stereo, which adds a nice room-filling effect (see e.g. Pat Metheny : Question & Answer for a similar approach using faster delay). The Memory Man unit I have is analogue, which adds a warm depth that doesn't sound as artificial as can digital delay (though of course depends on the unit).
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I like to have an idiosyncratic sound and don't want or need to sound like anything other than me. My band does all original music, and I want to sound the way I sound. I have some 'always on' pedals that do that, an EQ (Fromel Shape), a comp (3 Leaf Audio), and a noise gate. I set the compressor and noise gate to soften the attack and change the sustain to make things more horn-like.
I'm not interested in trying to sound like classic players or emulate classic guitar sounds from any genre, but I also don't need to because I don't play in groups that are trying to do that. I like players like Kurt Rosenwinkle and Mansur Brown who have a signature sound that is their own.
As long as whatever is in between the strings and the speaker is controllable musically to add expression, and you use it not as an 'effect' but as part of 'your voice' and so is part of the instrument you play, as long as it's available why not?
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Very interesting...Thanks for the details. I'll give a try. Originally Posted by mabbott88
I'm not big into pedals either, but this one has entered my consciousness as nearly as essential as reverb, for the sole purpose of adding depth to the sound. I typically use the chorus/vibrato completely rolled off, Blend around 5 o'clock (very quiet), Feedback around 10 o'clock, with a rather long Delay (12 o'clock or longer); match the Level to your amp volume or use it as a boost if you really want. The overall effect is similar to reverb, and the low volume of the delay ensures that the sound doesn't get muddy. Some folks in studio will apply multiple delays at slightly different latencies in stereo, which adds a nice room-filling effect (see e.g. Pat Metheny : Question & Answer for a similar approach using faster delay). The Memory Man unit I have is analogue, which adds a warm depth that doesn't sound as artificial as can digital delay (though of course depends on the unit).
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Nice!
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Centuries were spent by guitar players looking up new gear instead of practicing. Originally Posted by Marcel_A
Myself included of course.
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Thing is, the Masters we admire so much had many fewer distractions to keep the from practicing. Today's plethora of choices is simply overwhelming. How many guitars are available at how many price points? Amps? Pedals? It's a wonder when anything gets done! Originally Posted by eblydian
This, coming from a major offender in the equipment category.
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Yeah, I was fortunate that I "unfortunately" did not have an amplifier for the first six years of teaching myself guitar (I started with a $29 electric solid body piece of junk). My practicing was all continuous playing, no turning of knobs, no selecting of pickups, no experimenting or hunting for just the right tone with effects or settings, etc.
I did have to listen very carefully... looking back, I think this had the greatest influence on how I play (and hear) today.
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What, no “Kenny” or “Grant” setting??? Originally Posted by pauln
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Joe Pass would be good too! I bet JD would like the 'Johnny' setting! Originally Posted by Doctor Jeff
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Originally Posted by pauln
I didn't know Boss were making pedals back in the 1960s
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When the Seasons Guitar Quartet toured, they all used pedals in front of the original Lunchbox amp (each player had one). I don't know what the pedals were, except for reverb. I think one of them was using a TC Reverb.
Larry Koonse, Anthony Wilson, Chico Pinheiro and Julian Lage. (different amps in this video).
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Since I have no amp I use pedals exclusively and plug them into a studio mixer and monitors.
I use a Boss CS-2 Compressor ----> Boss GE-7, 7 band graphic equalizer --- > Boss CE-2B Bass Chorus. (the CE-2B works great with an archtop)
The nice thing about Boss pedals is that even in bypass mode they warm up the sound, somewhat like a slightly saturating analog tape recorder but in a very nice way while still retaining a lot of clarity.
The Chorus I use very sparingly just enough to get a tad of movement in the sound. Makes the sound more natural. The same with the Compressor. I use it very sparingly, just a touch of compression. With the GE-7 I use a fair bit of boost (about 10dB) in the 400 to 800 Hz region to get a very fat horn-like lead sound.
I am using an Epiphone archtop with a Gibson pickup.
One problem with pedals is that you can trip over them very easily. Crashing face first into cymbal and microphone stands with a guitar strapped to your chest is rather frightening. Especially the high-hat stand with its spike pointing straight up as your face and your eyes approach it rather quickly. Fortunately I knew Judo and how to fall and managed to spin my body while falling so I ended up on the floor on my back.
To prevent further re-occurances, I removed the circuit boards, jacks, knobs, and potentiometers from the pedals and with some drilling, small screws and some wire and soldering re-mounted them into a blank 1U rack case from an electronics shop, making a rather nice pre-amp. The pedal part of the pedals were replaced with bat-handle momentary on/off switches, so to turn an effect on and off I have to press the switch by hand instead of by foot. It's no problem though, I usually just set the controls once, and leave them on forever. So probably even the bat handle on/off switches were really not all that necessary.
Cheers and hope this helps - Avery Roberts
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where can i buy it? Originally Posted by pauln
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there should be a theory/feel knob Originally Posted by pauln
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