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I forgot about the Klon-style pedals. Those are really good for "jazzy tones", imo. It's one of the reasons I have kept mine- I have other drives I much prefer for blues and rock stuff, but the Klon hangs around for the thicker tones it produces so easily.
Originally Posted by bluejaybill
I bought a Morning Glory v4 because of Lage, and it RULES with my tele... for those Lage-type tones. With my PRRI (12" speaker)
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05-21-2021 01:52 PM
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I'm experimenting with the American Sound* for my warm, sustaining, toothy but not gritty "Sax 'o Fender" ballad tone. It's true bypass, so I can have my amp set to a nice clean tone for sitting back in the mix. A JHS Haunting Mids (sweepable cut/boost parametric EQ) fine -tunes the mids, if necessary. Finally, the El Pescadoro adds octal warmth from its modified JR. Barnyard section, and pre-spring reverbs and delay emulations for the icing on the proverbial cake. All of which may prove to be a wash on stage, but it makes practicing much more sonically rewarding, IMHO. Originally Posted by Doctor Jeff
*The knobs are extremely sensitive. Three degree of rotation has a big effect. Patience is mandatory.
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I've got both of the Boss Fender pedals (when GC had them on closeout) and they're OK, but I wouldn't pay the going rate for them these days.
For the smaller multi-effects, I use a Zoom (pair) MS50Gs, a first gen Zoom G3 with the XLR out and a Tech 21 Bass Fly Rig V2 I really like. Other then no reverb (V2) , it's got an octave, chorus, tuner, XLR out, compressor and easily fits in my guitar case. It also has an effects loop built in where I usually run my MS50G for reverbs and a few specialty sounds (vibrato/tremolo) if I need them.
Almost everything I play is clean, so don't really care about the drives on this stuff.
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I have only a looper. I hardly ever use it. Originally Posted by citizenk74
I'm experimenting with the American Sound* for my warm, sustaining, toothy but not gritty "Sax 'o Fender" ballad tone. It's true bypass, so I can have my amp set to a nice clean tone for sitting back in the mix. A JHS Haunting Mids (sweepable cut/boost parametric EQ) fine -tunes the mids, if necessary. Finally, the El Pescadoro adds octal warmth from its modified JR. Barnyard section, and pre-spring reverbs and delay emulations for the icing on the proverbial cake. All of which may prove to be a wash on stage, but it makes practicing much more sonically rewarding, IMHO.
*The knobs are extremely sensitive. Three degree of rotation has a big effect. Patience is mandatory.
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Likewise. I should use it more for practice, and probably stick to bass parts. More than one pitch at a time implies too much; I need a blank slate to fully exercise my role as a comper or soloist. Originally Posted by Litterick
When I was playing jazz gigs, I just plugged my ES-175 into my JazzKat or my DRRI. My decision to go with my Acoustic Image Corus Serie III was nullified by the crash of 2008 and surgical issues. On stage, a clean amp and a little reverb is all it takes. Knobs and switches, Boys and Girls. Knobs and switches.*
* Of course, a little manual dexterity doesn't hurt, either.
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[I can't find it anymore, but there used to be a vid of Kurt R plugged into a fender-style amp and no effects, just messing around -- and it was amazing!!] Originally Posted by citizenk74
When I was playing jazz gigs, I just plugged my ES-175 into my JazzKat or my DRRI. My decision to go with my Acoustic Image Corus Serie III was nullified by the crash of 2008 and surgical issues. On stage, a clean amp and a little reverb is all it takes. Knobs and switches, Boys and Girls. Knobs and switches.*
* Of course, a little manual dexterity doesn't hurt, either.
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Pedals are a subject near and dear to my heart.
Like I think most of us here, my core tone is guitar/amp. But I do have an extensive pedal collection and 2 currently built gigging boards. The small one gets the most use. I've been into pedals since college in the '80s, so I've got a few
. I never use pedals to "fix" my tone, only to enhance it. So no EQ pedals or preamps for me.
For my needs, as the minimal set up, I like to have 2 gain stages, 1 volume pedal and a delay. The amp should provide reverb and tremolo. For the 2 gain stages, 1 is low gain, edge of breakup type tones and the other is saturated and sustaining. On my fully hollow, neck pup only guitars, I don't use the higher gain stage, only the lower. But for my Teles and Semis, it's all fair game.
After an exhaustive (and expensive) search, I've narrowed down my gain stages to this:
Low gain:
- Digitech Hardwire CM-2. A tube screamer type with a much, much flatter mid-range profile and 2-band EQ controls. I use it with the gain turned all the way down and the EQ pushed almost to the top which gives a pretty flat response and a very light amount of grit.
- MXR Timmy -- currently on my small board. Again, 2-band EQ. A harder toned grit than the CM-2, and I don't like it quite as much, but it's tiny, so it gets the nod.
- EXHtortion -- on the big board, a physically large preamp with 3-band EQ, 4 position gain-profile switch, and 2 knob "boost" on a 2nd foot switch. The best, most "amp-like" low gain pedal I've ever tried, keeping in mind I've never tried a Kingsley. The boost is like a treble boost with its own saturation control. It's way overly bright, till you roll back the guitar's volume knob. It cleans up like a really good fuzz face, giving that magical sparkly, gritty clean tone. A real sleeper of a pedal.
Med/high gain:
- J. Rockett the Dude v2 -- on the big board. A very compressed, mid heavy drive with a pretty sharp top end but no fizz. Fusion in a box! I keep the gain from 10-2 depending. Works on the neck pickup as well as the bridge. Palm muting works pretty well, though certainly not to Djent levels. A bit generic, but for fusion tones, that's pretty much the ticket.
- Skreddy Screwdriver -- on the little board. This is an older one with the Led Zeppelin graphics and is nothing like the more recent ones. I use it mainly on the bridge pickup, all controls set to noon. It's got a beautiful sustain and mid-voice, and some flub on the low strings -- it is a fuzz after all -- so palm mutes don't really work. Like the Dude, absolutely no fizz. A very characterful drive pedal.
Volume Pedal:
- I use the Dunlop DVP4 mini volume pedal as it's well built, small enough to fit on a board, doesn't use a string and is passive. Of course, since it is passive, it really needs a buffer/line driver before it. On the big board, the EXHtortion has a very, very good always on buffer. On the little board, I use a Zvex Channel 2 mini-boost always on set to unity gain.
Delay:
- Strymon Volante! -- on the big board. A fantastic Echorec/EP-2/Reel-2-Reel emulation with a stellar Sound-on-Sound looping mode -- which is why I bought it! Not cheap.
- TC Electronics Flashback v2 -- on the small board. Just a decent enough delay but it has a loop mode which I always like to have access to for some ambient looping.
Honorable mentions:
- Leslie -- I have a cheap, but good sounding Danelectro Money Laundry on my big board. Good for when I get bored of my tone and want something completely different. Can't quite bring myself to shell out the $400 for the Neo Vent Micro.
- Pitch -- I used to use a Digitech Whammy many years ago, but size and power requirements led me to sell it off a long time ago. I've had a mini POG at one time as well, but again, sold it off. Now, if I want to scratch that digital harmony itch I have an EXH Mod11 that I can pull out. Not analog dry-through, which always makes me uneasy, but it's definitely a lot of bang for the buck.
- Clean boost -- I actually have a clean boost on both my boards as a utility pedal. I use it post drive pedals as I'm not really a fan of boost into distortion. On stage I like being able to get more volume on the fly to punch out if necessary or to adjust my overall volume on the fly so I can wait till the end of the tune to go back and fiddle with the amp controls. On the little board I use an always on ZVex channel 2 set very transparent for buffering and on the big board an Xotic EP Booster, which I use only for the occasional boost as it has an audible EQ curve.
What about chorus/flanger/phaser??
- Chorus -- The Devil's tool. DO NOT USE
In the 80's, like a lot of people, I never turned off my chorus pedal. Once I got a good amp, I realized I was using the chorus to try to make up for the tonal deficiencies of the amp and have never looked back. If you want instant cheese, use a chorus. - Flanger -- The non-cheese, cool older brother of chorus. The EXH Electric Mistress is the classic for this sound. Think Andy Summers. I don't currently own a Flanger as I just don't want that sound anymore. The audible delay -- which is how flanger/chorus is made -- eventually makes me uneasy.
- Phaser -- you want 70's, you gotta have a 4-stage Phase 90 style pedal. I have a Retro-Sonic that I really love. No audible delay as phaser doesn't use delay lines to create the effect.
And finally: Wah/Envelope Filter
I love wah when other people use them, but after owning several, have decided it's just not for me. Crybaby is the one to get, though there is a whole can of worms regarding pedal position, buffers and volume drop associated with wah pedals that various builders have attempted to solve in various ways. If you wanna bring the funk, a wah and/or envelope filter is de rigueur.
Well, that's maybe a bit of over-sharing! But, like I say, 80%-90% of my jazz playing is guitar -> amp.
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I dont think most serious jazz players are much into pedals. A little verb and delay. But for sonic fun I recently bought a Line6 HX EFX that has the categories of pedals and about 15 variations on that category i.e. OD,delay,octaver. Its pretty good for about 500$. Not as good as a hand picked turn the knobs pedal board but next best thing I think. The digital ODs are not much good to me so I bought a Bogner Blue Channel EQ-OD and use it barely turned on kind of like an attenuator without the risk to my vintage amp. My guitar sounds clean unless you really dig in and then you get a little soft clipping I suppose you could call it.The HX EFX also has a looper to practice with. I purchased a XTS 3 in one pedal on Reverb a few moths back but like the Bogner better at the moment. Im having a 335 pickups switched to Fralins right now and I may use the XTS for a D-sound when that guitar is finished. The sounds Line6 uses to demo on a new board are terrible to my ears mostly. You have to set them your own settings to please you much. The learning curve to operate the HX is I would say med. difficulty. Check YT and try and have return privileges if you can. I like to play along with a Boss or Alesis drum machine with octaver somtimes.
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SPX 90 is pretty good but it does have a bypass mode.For some reason Mike Stern seemed to forget that it really had this function with a foot switch. Originally Posted by ruger9
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SPX 90 is pretty good but it does have a bypass mode.For some reason Mike Stern seemed to forget that it really had this function with a foot switch. Originally Posted by ruger9
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