Favorite Guitar Pedal and Effects

Hey kids. I have only been playing guitar for about a year. I started with a Yamaha Dread which though was cheap still has a fine tone. Six months later I got an Epiphone LP and an Orange Pix LDX 20 wt amp. Not shortly after I started on the addiction of tone enhancers. I got some Boss pedals from Ebay where they are cheapest. CE-5, MT-2, and NS-2. I want the PH-3, but I don't have any more moo, so I bought the Behringer VP1. I don't love the Orange amp. It has digital circuitry and you can hear in in a kind of screwing, cycling hum. It also picks up radio waves in the effects especially the chorus and flanger and enhances the hum, and feedback of my signal. It only cost me 125 bucks so I can complain. It doesn't suck, but I would recommend something else to newbies or the impoverished.

I just ordered my Boss NS-2 and in a week I'll know whether I could eliminate the hum and feedback from my effect chain. If so then I'll be ecstatic.

I love chorus on a clean signal with bridge pickup and phaser all set to zero rate. The chorus expands the treble and the phaser gives a slight saw. Both increase the harmonics without overwhelming the signal with too much moderation.

I like distortion with some mid scoop with both humbuckers. Right now I have to keep the Boss MT-2 set to lowest distortion at 7:00 to prevent feedback. So I switch between these two trying for a shimmery sound contrasted with an overdriven sound.

I really want to get an Ibanez TK999HT, though a TS808 would be really cool.

 

Your hum and feedback are most likely coming from your boss distortion pedal.
Make sure you put your ns-2 after that pedal in your chain. It should help, but you will find it potentially takes away from some of your tone...

I reccomend an analog delay pedal, those can be alot of fun. Look at the electro harmonix memory toy. it's a fun little pedal.

 

A few things come to mind here about your pedals and signal chain. The first is "Define Feedback"...

There are two completely different types of feedback we could be dealing with here. One is acoustic feedback and the other is microphonic feedback... Or in short good feedback and bad feedback. Good feedback (acoustic) comes from high gain situations, it is controllable and is caused by string movement. This movement is being caused by sound pressure levels from your amp. If you mute all the strings it stops. Bad feedback (microphonic) is an uncontrollable high pitched squeal that is caused by wires moving within a coil, sometimes by a cover around a coil, if you mute the strings it gets worse. The only way to get it to stop is by playing (if it's the pickup coils causing it, *this is where the plot thickens*) or by just turning the shit off.


So which type of feedback do you have?


I'm saying all this for a few reasons.

The MT-2 or Metalzone pedal has been known to fail and cause microphonic feedback all by itself... (The thickening plot*) If you bought the pedal used off eBay this could be the reason it was sold. It is an extremely high gain pedal and I've been through these pedals a thousand times and can't figure out what causes them to do this, when they are right it doesn't happen but every once and awhile one comes along and you just can not turn the damn thing all the way up without microphonic feedback. This can happen with just the pedal and the amp, no guitar involved.

Another source for microphonic feedback, and the more typical reason are the guitar's pickups. Epi's are usually pretty good, they are potted and the covers are usually well mounted so as to not vibrate. This doesn't mean one can't slip through manufacturing that has this problem. You say you use both pickups with the MT-2 distortion... If you are having microphonic feedback try one and then the other pickup and see if this turns this feedback on and off... You could have a bum pickup.


If you are not having "Bad" feedback and are actually experiencing good acoustic feedback, move away from your amp until you learn more about controlling it because it's some really groovy shit when it's workin' for ya.


Now, about that noise suppressor. This pedal is actually designed to quiet down single coil pickups or hum and static from external sources, and it should really be used first in the pedal chain. It may not do so well after the MT-2 without sounding like a bad "gateing" effect if it works at all after the MT-2. In other words it will sound choppy, or at settings where it doesn't sound choppy it won't have much control over the noise. (It's a suppressor, not really a good noise gate)

Not to buck heads with Shivaya, he has a studio too, but instead of saying the hum is coming from the MT-2 it's more likely that pedal is amplifying what's already there (In theory it can't produce hum if it's running off a battery or a properly designed power supply) I would think you may have a bad cable or two in there that is picking up hum from the room or there's something up with that amp you have. If it's the room try this, without playing and while muting the strings with your hand, volume up and distortion on, slowly spin around and see if the hum goes away at one position... Then don't move for the rest of the night. The next day go out and get some better cables or you will be forever playing in that one spot. (this is an old Strat trick as those things can be a total pain in the butt when it comes to noise)

If this hum get's louder as you move towards your amp, it could again be cables or there could be something going on with that Orange. That model is not their better quality designs... No offence, but you already know this.



Oh and my favorite effects?
Overdrive, echo, reverb and univibe... Lots of feedback from sound pressure levels, thick fat reverbs, dripping wet analog/tape echos.... Oh! Where was I?

No particular brands but I do still have my ART SGX2000 express rack and Digitech RP-20 floor unit from back in the day. There's a box of pedals that got soaked in the flood, mostly DOD pedals I've modded (Not sure what I may be able to salvage there... dammit!) Still have My KMD amp and my GK RL-250 amp (also both flood victims) I lost the speakers I was using with that GK though...

Lately I've been flogging some Line6 computer based software effects and amp models. Actually quite impressed with some of those amp models. :2thumbsup:

 

What's your favorite tube overdrive pedal?

I checked what you said and the MT-2 squeals above the 3 o clock. The Orange amp has its own hum. The MT2 boosts that hum to disturbing new heights. I know what you're saying about good feedback. Belliedat!

I have good cables - hosa. My house is a hundred years old with some wiring that old. Few plugs, things are in multi layered surge protectors. I've just gotta make do.

If I put the MT-2 in the NS-2 loop would that be good?

 

You could try it... The only place I've ever had luck with one (the NS-2) was first in the chain just to clean up single coils. It's not really a great noise gate as I said earlier. So you're saying the MT-2 squeals all by itself?

I have a 100 year old house too but ran some wires. While on that subject are you sure the amp is grounded?




EDIT: Several of those modded DOD pedals are overdrive pedals, so I can't name something you could buy as my favorite.

 

First, some advice on your Orange amp. Try out different power tubes and preamp tubes in your quest for tone. Pedals are essential, but there's nothing quite like plugging in straight into your amp and getting the tone you want, without relying on pedals.

For example, my Orange TH30 Combo had Orange manufactured EL84 power tubes, which are good, but because of my obsession with tone, I went ahead and tried KT88s and 6550s tubes, and was happy as a bunny when I got closer to that sound in my head. Now I use European made Svetlana 6550s and EHX preamp, and let me tell you, my tone is serious. Those 6550s have a lot more grind and sustain than most tubes.

Pickups are also super important for your tone, obviously. Try as many as you can afford, I personally currently use DiMarzio, Lace and EMG pickups on my guitars.


Back on topic, here is a list of pedals I use:
- MXR ZW Overdrive, I use this for my crunchier solos.
- MXR BLS Chorus, which works nicely with a clean tone, mainly for chords but also works for leads.
- Boss Metal-Zone 2, which I see you also use. Those are great for shreds and metal licks. I personally never use this pedal for rhythm play though, only for some leads.
- EHX Bif Muff 2, which is actually designed for bass guitars, but works fine if you like that extra, fuzz-loaded low-end ın your tone.
- T-Rex Mudhoney 2, yet another fuzz pedal. Delicious, and expensive, but definitely worth it if you're into fuzz.
- EHX Cathedral, one of the coolest reverb and delay pedals you could own, especially if you're into psychedelic rock music.
- Dunlop ZW-45 Wah. A wah pedal is a must.
- Boss NS-2, essential to reduce feedback noise when you're on a high gain channel.

Those are the main pedals I currently use.

If any of you guys live in London and want to jam, let me know!
Peace

 

His Orange amp is solid state so the "changing tubes for better tone" doesn't apply in this case...

Orange 20LDX amp

 

Yeah, unfortunately I'm on a serious budget. The MT2 last night started to squeal upwards of 9 o clock on the dial with strings muted. Today I decided to change the cable from the guitar to the pedals from hosa to planet waves and the hum is much reduced. I guess the hosa aren't so great after all.

The Orange I got for a hundred bucks - really couldn't beat the price at the time. Before that I was using my Klipsch speakers though my PC but I blew them out with Guitar Rig and the Rammfire virtual amps. But now that I know more about circuitry and tubes I hear the incessant winding undertone of the integrated circuitry and the effects are crappy and just noise.

I am going to get another cheap amp soon. But it will be a tube amp - for around two hundred bucks I can get: Crate Palomino, VHT Special 6, or a Vox Pathfinder R. Got any opinions? Or other low cost tube amps. I also really want the Ibanez TK999HT, or at very least the TS808 - but it costs as much as the amps now.

Yeah the amp is grounded. The noise isn't a hum but a winding circuitous noise which increases as the levels are upped, especially the overdrive, and any of the effects. On cleanest sound with no amp supplied virtual overdrive stuff the winding noise is diminished even at full volume.

But when I add the pedals and the effects and a bit of overdrive the whole thing feedsback badly with a hum and winding coursing pulsing sound. The whole thing at time makes me want to rip my hair out.

I love EHX everything. I love watching pedal demos on Youtube. That is my source of visual entertainment nowadays, while I lust uselessly over things I will never be able to afford.

 

As I mentioned earlier, this feedback may be coming from your pickups... Have you tried the "One or the other vs. both" test?

 

Yes, I play bridge for some brighter tones and both for more chug. I wouldn't be able to sasy really from this amp, but when I played through software and my Klipsch speakers I had to use a good bit of gate when I played emulated Marshalls and Mesas. The pickups may not be so great, though they are standard Epiphone. I am sure you're right that Dimarzios would improve things. But again, a set is beaucoup bucks and I am between jobs. I get my Boss NS2 later this week. I get a cheapo Behringer VP1 phaser today sometime. I personally don't like vibrato, spring reverb, echoing stuff, but I love a strange ongoing harmonic dissonance to occur on a very slow wave within the sound so phaser, chorus on with depth but with low rate. That will be fun, and if I can clean up my signal then it'll be business finally. It has taken me half a year to figure out some electic guitar tonal basics. Plus I read the Mitch Gallagher book on Tone - good stuff. Helped.

 

Absolutely.
And when you can learn to operate a guitar/amp thats right on the edge, transformer, tubes and spkr all just at the verge of meltdown, mad physics howling at the slightest sign of timidity, you wrest the electric beast to your will as you become an autonomous agent in this non-linear dynamical system of sound... you'll find in the end the tone is really all in your fingers... :beatnik:

 

My favorite pedal is a Cry Baby Wah Pedal and favorite effect is Wah and Phaser.

 

Infinite reverb... :2thumbsup:

 

My favorite effects?

Only the fuzziest sonofacockmonger out there
BIG MUFF

 

Cheezy...

 

One trick pony. Does it well though. unless I am playing stoner metal, I usually reach for something else.

When it comes to distortion pedals, I have a boss ds-1 modified by Robert Keeley and it's the best distortion I've ever owned.

Fine, if we're talking about that, the my favourite effect is plugging my les paul straight into my 1974 Traynor YBA-1, putting everything on 10, and letting er' rip.

 

Didn't Hendrix use a Big muff?

 

So they say, but I thought it was the Fuzzface. Could be wrong.

I love pedals, I had about 10 on a board. TS9, Boss OD (the yellow one) Boss EQ, analog delay (green?) digital delay, flanger (purple I think)....all going into a JCM800 2x12 50w combo.

Buuuut.....it failed at a gig. The board went down for no discernable reason, and I was amp only for the night. Not a BAD thing, but you can't crank a JCM to distortion levels without the soundguy having a fit, at least in smallish venues.

After that, I diced all the outboard stuff and got a Line6 Flextone Plus (about 1998 I think). Sure, it may be less organic, but the fucker works EVERY time. It even went down a flight of stairs-unassisted-on the way to a gig, doing 3 cartwheels enroute. Plugged it in and all was fine.

Big FX boards are cool if you have a tech, or if you are only playing in the studio. For me, the digital stuff was just more user friendly at gigs.

If I had my choice, I'd have a HUGE FX board. TS9, the old analog delays, Fuzzface, an early wah pedal, phaser and flanger, the whole kit. As long as I had a tech who was competent, reliable, cheap, female, hot and wore slutty clothes....

 

Hendrix used a Dallas Arbiter Fuzz Face, The BigMuff wasn't invented yet.

 

Yeah exactly. I think I had read that he had tried out a prototype just before is death or something.

(gonna go look it up and edit it in later)

EDIT: turns out this is really subject to debate.

''Jimi may have had a Muff Fuzz or an Axis/Foxey Lady fuzz (the same pedal rebranded) in the studio for Electric Ladyland in 1967/68, since those pedals were in production in New York at the time. It is also rumored that Jimi owned a two knob Foxey Lady fuzz in 1968. Several sources also state Jimi had a Big Muff "prototype" in the studio, though that contradicts statements Mike Matthews has made, and those sources may have been confusing it with the Black Finger prototype (see below), or a Roger Mayer prototype (Jimi's guitar tech and pedal builder), or possibly one of the other prototype E-H products Mike Matthews has stated he showed to Jimi. Many people think Mike may just be mistaken about exactly which pedal he saw, though he has claimed firmly in several interviews that it was indeed the Big Muff, and he saw Jimi use it in 1969 or 1970. That post dates the Electric Ladyland recording sessions, though interestingy, Jimi was recording a new record in the new, but unfinished "Electric Lady" Studios in Greenwich Village, New York around this time. ''

http://www.kitrae.net/music/Jimi_Hendrix_Big_Muff.html