Author Topic: Adding to the pedalboard! (Read 7698 times)

ibanez4life SZ · « **on:** April 17, 2006, 05:24:21 PM »

Hey guys!

So, within the last 6 months, I've been slowly building my pedalbaord, and it is doing very well so far! I already have a wah, overdrive, and noise gate that I am very happy with! I'm hoping to slowly build THE perfect pedal board, and I have found two more pedals that I would like to add into the mix: a pedal tuner, and a delay pedal.

Keep one thing in mind though....I'm a tone freak, my amp is a Mesa Dual recto, so I want to keep my tone intact.

1. With pedal tuners, I have stumbled upon two choices:

http://www.musiciansfriend.com/product?sku=210064

http://www.musiciansfriend.com/product/Guitar/Effects?sku=210054

As both are true bypass, and I don't need all the additional features of the peterson, I'm thinking of going with the planet waves. All I need the pedal to do is tune conviniently. I'm done with unplugging my guitar and going to my little tuner on the side.

2. The delay pedal.....I have looked at the Boss DD-3, DD-6, line 6 echo park, line 6 delay modular, and a few other more expensive units (EH, H&K, etc.) As the pedal will be in the loop, and only able to switch in and out with my recto fx switch, I will not have control of the pedal itself with my foot....I will make one good setting, and go with that.

My main question is, as the pedal itself is in the loop, is true bypass necessary in this situation? I obviously want it to effect my tone when it is switch in, but when I turn the fx loop off, will it effect my original tone at all? They way I see it, when turning the fx loop off (with footswitch), my original tone should come back, so true bypass doesn't seem to be necessary. Opinions please!

3. Powering: Right now, my pedalboard is powered by a daisy chained morley 9V adapter.....I will have to get one more daisy chain, or rearrange my pedal board for better spacing, to power the tuner. Will this still work, or am I running short on power? I think it will be fine, but I just want to check!

For the pedal pedal, I will just get another 9V, or use the radioshack one I have lying around, to power it by itself.....I will have two nice volt adapters and my recto plugged into one power strip....any power problem you see there? Idk, hum produced or something....just throwing this out to be sure, though I think it is a pretty stupid question.

4. Cables for the loop:

http://www.musiciansfriend.com/product/General/Accessories/Cables?sku=336001

Pricey, but I want to keep the quality going through my rig.....good idea, or not worth it in the loop?

Thanks alot for all the help guys!

Dakine · « **Reply #1 on:** April 17, 2006, 05:31:23 PM »

OMG, the TRUE-BYPASS issue lol.
First, Boss DD, great delay.
Tuner, open to my mind.
As for bypass (seeing as you are building up your board) this may be worth a read :)

http://www.petecornish.co.uk/case_against_true_bypass.html

And, BTW, before T.O. chimes in, ya got a HBE Big D???? If not ya not rocking :)

ibanez4life SZ · « **Reply #2 on:** April 17, 2006, 05:35:53 PM »

Good article....that's alot!

Do you think this will be a big problem with 4 pedals? If so, where can I look for one of the high impedance buffer loads.....

ibanez4life SZ · « **Reply #3 on:** April 17, 2006, 05:39:09 PM »

Sorry to double post, but from what I know, either my wah pedal or Keeley modded SD-1 are completely 100% true bypass, but they do it well enough where I can see no difference in my tone.....

So, will it be a problem (in reference to the article)?

Dakine · « **Reply #4 on:** April 17, 2006, 05:40:16 PM »

BIG problem, nah, just another take on things when most people rave about tru bypass is all.
A buddy of mine (years ago in UK) started working for a company make VERY high end stereo cabling. Bascally (long story short) he would say "listen to this" with a 3,000 gbp cd player and his leads (and this was years ago) and I would say "ask the cat, my hearing aint THAT good" :)
Just my opinion.
Losing that much tone would not be so easy in my opinion, studio recording is one thing but playing/live/jamming/pub-bar rocking, nah.

Dakine · « **Reply #5 on:** April 17, 2006, 05:43:01 PM »

Maybe Voodoo Power would be a better buy in long run to power ALL your pedals from one source (or similar multi supply).
Thus keeping the power even and not coming from different outlets.

ibanez4life SZ · « **Reply #6 on:** April 17, 2006, 05:43:09 PM »

Alright! Thanks alot!

Any more opinions of the pedals themselves? How about the delay and fx loop dilemna? Powering, and problems there?

Searcher · « **Reply #7 on:** April 17, 2006, 05:48:34 PM »

All your links just took me to MF's home page. Is it just me? Maybe my browser doesn't like them for some reason.

Dakine · « **Reply #8 on:** April 17, 2006, 05:57:22 PM »

I too am taken to MF home page.

I personally like the Boss TU-2 tuner, but dunno your choices there.
As for Delay, if you are looking at the Line 6 delay modular I would look at the Boss DD-20 Giga Delay.

ibanez4life SZ · « **Reply #9 on:** April 17, 2006, 06:22:49 PM »

Ok, redid the links, they should all be working now.....if not, I was looking at the planet waves and peterson pedal tuners.

For the delay, both the line 6 modular and boss giga delay look pretty nice, but since the pedal is going to be in the loop (behind the amp, not at my feet), there really is no point for me to have so many options. I want to keep it simple, just have one nice delay setting, and switch it in and out with my recto footswitch. Which would you recommend for that?

Do you think the power supply is a big issue? Eventually, I will get a better supply, but at the moment, do you think the two 9V adapters would get me by?

Dakine · « **Reply #10 on:** April 17, 2006, 06:27:59 PM »

Two power supplies should be fine.
Don't take this the wrong way :) but think yous r being abit too anal/critical.
A single power supply would be neater and "should" be better at supply exactly same volts/amps/Hz at once is all.
As for tuners, that Peterson one is way OTT to me and I am not a lover of planet waves stuff. To see it clearly etc. why not look at the Fender or the Boss TU-2 (which has good rating and spec.s and is cheaper).
As for delay, just go for summit basic that works for ya :)

Dakine · « **Reply #11 on:** April 17, 2006, 06:33:54 PM »

OR
for the cash you are looking at, maybe one of these :)

http://www.tcelectronic.com/G-Major

Had similar years ago when playing Bass and loved it.

ibanez4life SZ · « **Reply #12 on:** April 17, 2006, 06:36:44 PM »

I know I'm being anal.....no offense taken.....I just want to get as much info on the topic as possible....this always happens when I'm looking into new gear.

With the tuners, the planet waves one is new, so I can't find any reviews on it. It seems to be pretty good for the price, so I may give it a shot. Boss pedals are horrible tone sucks....they really bother me.

The peterson is definitely the best choice, but I think I might be able to get through with the planet waves for less that half the money.

Have you personally tried the fender or boss? I haven't tried them myself....just going off my experience with other boss pedals.

Dakine · « **Reply #13 on:** April 17, 2006, 06:37:48 PM »

have the Boss yes and had no issues myself.

downrodeo · « **Reply #14 on:** April 17, 2006, 06:48:13 PM »

Hey man! I love BOSS pedals...in fact, the only one I didn't like that I've owned (i've owned 6) is the Metal Zone...But I hate stomp box distortion...So fizzy compared to a good tube amp. I would definitely recommend the Boss DD-3 and DD-6. Both EXCELLENT DELAYS. They just sound great with a high gain solo sound or smooth clean. DD-6 has way more options and in my opinion is the way to go, so as far as overall quality goes, Boss is tough to beat.