NPD x 2: Boss LS-2 Line Selectors!

[Dave Sloven]

Well I've rebuilt my board so that I can not only engage whole chains of effects at once but also mix chains together.

To do this I used two LS-2 pedals. The first is in the front end, set to A+B mix with the Rottweiler and 6-band EQ on A and the overdrive and phaser on B, while the second is in the effects loop, again set to A+B mix with flanger, chorus, and delay and B left empty to serve as a dry mix with A.

The lines on the front end will be used differently for bass and guitar.  They work great!!

For bass:

Distortion + EQ on A, dry on B

For guitar:

EQ on A, overdrive and phaser on B

Here's a couple of images (I've always wanted to make one of those spaghetti and meatballs charts, hope you can read it)

[dave_mc]

wow

[Kiichi]

I donīt even...man...respect!

[Dave Sloven]

The second LS-2 simply offers a choice of either straight effects (on A/B) or mixing effects with dry signal (A+B mix).  It provides a way of bypassing the loop or mixing in the dry signal.  I've been finding it useful for keeping the basic rhythm tight while adding in chorus, flange, or delay.

The first LS-2 (in the front-end) is more interesting.  I placed the compressor ahead of the LS-2 so that it can compress the whole signal when needed. I also have a compressor built into my bass amp, so it's up to me how I set it up.  I will run this A+B mix and use the level knobs to adjust the mix. When using distortion on a bass I've found it useful to use the blend knob on my MXR M-80 but have never liked the distortion sound on that pedal very much.  So I have a Rottweiler going into a 6-band EQ now before the M-80 DI box, and can use the other line (which has the overdrive and phaser) to mix in dry signal or a slightly overdriven signal alongside the high-gain sound of the Rottweiler.  When using the board with my guitar I have found that it provides an excellent phase sound.  I prefer to run an overdrive into the front of my phaser as a boost that also provides a little compression, but I also like mixing in some dry signal on the other line.  However, instead of running a straight dry signal I have scooped the 6-band EQ to boost the highs and lows while retaining the overdriven phase sound in the mids.  When I am using the guitar I will keep the M-80 switched off, but I quite like the EQ options and the colour switch for bass, and it provides a DI.

[Dave Sloven]

Stripped everything I don't need for tomorrow's show off my board to keep it simple

You can see all of the stuff I removed laying around the board in this pic.

Left on: TC Electronic Polytune Mini, Boss NS-2, ISP Decimator G-String II, MXR 10-band EQ.

Removed: everything else!

[Plenum n Heather]

^ this photo illustrates why I have given up on trying to have a set pedal board now; it's like chasing down a will o the wisp (or opium dream!). 

I used to run 2x Lehle D Loops with a Roland foot controller, but I then I gravitated to a 2 loop Road Rage switcher for gigging, and ultimately went back to using pedals in series. :)

[gwEm]

Interesting board, enjoyed reading about it!

[Alex]

Looks cool and quite complex. How do you power all those pedals? Is that green box a T-Rex Chameleon?

[Dave Sloven]

Looks cool and quite complex. How do you power all those pedals? Is that green box a T-Rex Chameleon?

Yes it is.  I run a couple of daisy chains, at least a couple of 1->2 cables (one 9V, the other 18V, maybe I am running another 9V to the two NR units?), and a single 9V cable that goes to the LS-2 in the loop.  If I want to run either a volume pedal or a wah pedal off the side of the board I just plug a cable into either a NS-2 or an LS-2 (all Boss pedals seem to have power out).

Everything seems to work okay so far and is not noisy.

I keep the loop and front end power separate as much as possible.

I have actually thought about getting a second small board and just running those few pedals on it and then running cables from the NS-2 and ISP to the bigger board.  That way I would have plenty of power on the big board (and could add even more pedals!) and more than enough power on the small board to run power-hungry stuff like the ISP.  I would also place the DI box on the small board, as that is connected to the output of the NS-2