Thanks Chris – it sounds like what you’re describing is what I would just call
a typical four way extension. That is to say a cable with a plug at one end
that goes into the wall, and a block at the other end that has four standard
three prong plug sockets, each with their own power switch.
I sometimes wonder what it must be like to have a pair of incredibly sharp
ears, that are aware of these sort of electrical interferences you refer to.
Andy Collins
Sent from my iPhone
On 17 Apr 2020, at 8:10 pm, Chris Norman (Redacted sender chris.norman2 for
DMARC) <dmarc-noreply@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
Modular, modular, modular. Nothing electrical on the board at all. Apart from
the fact that it's billed as a pedal board, you could stack plates on it you
felt so inclined.
There's various power units. I'm using something called a "Onespot" I think.
It's a daisy chain affair, so there's a really long 9v wall wart, which just
ends in the normal transformer plug you'd expect. Like those that go into
keyboards (not figure 8). The intern has a 5-way (just the right amount as it
goes) cable which starts at a female plug, which you plug the male end of the
wall plug into, and it's got 5 male plugs coming off it. There's a few inches
or wire between each plug, just enough that I can run it around the rails
between the pedals, and cable tie the whole thing down.
I believe the proper posh jobs are like a block, with a bunch of plugs un
them (probably female transformer type), and you just plug your wall plug
into the power block, then plug your pedals into the power outlets. Don't ask
me how they work, because honestly I have no clue.
As with all this stuff, you can pay 30 odd quid like I did, and get something
that "just works", or you can spend hundreds of pounds and get something that
takes into account all the foyables of the power systems of particularly
older buildings. I'm assured by people who know way more than me, that you
can really hear the affects of bad wiring in a building, particularly through
a guitar amp. I probably couldn't, but then I've never used overdrive or
anything that's going to really send my signal to stadium volumes.
Take care,
Chris Norman
On Fri, 17 Apr 2020 at 20:02, Andy C <andyc003003@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
Thanks again Chris – all interesting stuff, and I think I understood most of
it. Still trying to picture the pedal board a bit though: when the pedals
are positioned on it, how are they powered? do The pedal boards have lots of
sockets on them adjacent to where you would position each pedal?
Sent from my iPhone
On 17 Apr 2020, at 7:17 pm, Chris Norman (Redacted sender chris.norman2
for DMARC) <dmarc-noreply@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
So to address the point about setup confusion. Musicians, especially ones
looking for pedals, tend to be a bit geeky. They want to know exactly what
thing is used where. Also, everything, and I mean everything in a chain
colours the sound. From the state of the electrics in the walls of the
building you're playing in, to the size, shape, and materials in the
performance space, the material of the pick you're using, the guitar, the
woods therein, the engineering, the wiring (loads of stuff about wires),
the type of strings you're using, the composition of the plating inside
your plugs, the list really does go on. Not to mention the type of amps /
speakers you're using, the stands you put your speakers on.
Fun fact, when Peavey first built their Renound amp, players were moaning
that when they turned them up, they vibrated along the stage. Peavey took a
leaf from the little book of washing machine building (or maybe it was the
other way around), and put a lump of concrete into each amp.
Anyone who's ever put a speaker onto a pole where the locking key vibrates
against the mountin pole will know the rattling that insues.
How much does each thing matter to you personally is the question. I know
bugger all about the woods in my guitar. My wife has researched, and knows
a little more than I do. I don't even know what my instrument is made of.
My pedal board is an aluminium (I think) rectangle, looks a bit like a
fense, sans diagonal crossmembers. So there's a rectangular frame, with
"rails" running horizontally. You get the board supplied with a massive
roll of male and female velcro. You Stick the velcro strips down (I
recommend putting the furry stuff onto the board, the scratchy onto your
pedals to avoid picking up dust and hairs), then you stick bits onto your
pedals. You plug them in whatever order you like, then attach loose cables
down with cable ties. You can get various sizes. Mine only runs a single
row of pedals, because I don't have any that remain on constantly (like
some others use compressors or EQ's for example).
As for finding stuff... No clue. I've got the harmoniser at the right hand
end, because I'm mainly right-footed, so that's the position that's easiest
to reach. The vocal FX are far left, because the end of the board is
easiest to find. The boss chorus has a single bit of the casing that sort
of hinges down as a footswitch, rather than the button style, so that's
easy to feel even through my trainer souls. The others are just
hit-and-miss... no pun intended.
So consider this: Your pedal boards come in two major flavours: The
all-in-one types, like the TC Helicon Voice Live series, or the DigiTech
Vocalist series. These are single items that you plug into the wall. You
plug your guitar / vocals into an input, and you plug your speakers, or
your amp, or your mixer into an output.
Then you have the "pedal board" setup. This is designed to be modular, from
the material of the board (I think mine advertises itself as
aviation-grade), to the length of cables, the quality of the cables, and
the case it comes in. My Pedal Train came with one, and I believe that's
standard across Pedal Train models.
The third type I haven't mentioned, because I know very little about them,
are the remote kind. You get a bunch of MIDI-enabled stuff, then you
control it with some kind of brain, be it something like the iRig Blueboard
(or whatever it's called) from IK Multimedia.
That has the advantage that you can have some monstrous rack of killer fx,
but only have a little board in front of you. It has the distinct
disadvantage of probably costing the national debt of a small country. Also
- and please bear this in mind while you're journeying through the dizying
array of fun awesome you can buy - you have to transport it.
My pedalboard, microphone, leads, and mic stand (thanks to an ingenious
bloke at Coventry University) fit into the pedal board bag. It's probably
not great for the board - occasionally pedals need to be re-stuck), but I
can carry them on one shoulder, my guitar amp on the other (it's a Roland
Street Cube EX if you're interested), and my guitar on my back. Luckily
I've not had to do that before, but I could take my whole rig on a bus if
needs be.
As I get older, my obsession falls less in the category of "how many kick
ass things can this bad boy do", and more in the category of "can my Mum
carry this if she insists on helping me into a pub".
Final thoughts, many mixers offer basic (but more than adequate) fx these
days. Also, you can build fairly small racks, if PA is your thing. My PA
rack, which I built more as a labour of love and being a massive geek than
because I need it, contains 4 wireless microphones, a TC Electronic M350,
rack-mounted power and patch bay (thanks Ebay and Thomann), and a Denon
rack-mounted CD player, all in a bag that I can carry on one shoulder.
The mixer I plug it into (the Yamaha MG20 (not the USB version)),
unfortunately isn't blessed with light-weightedness, but still, it's a one
handed job.
I appreciate this email is starting to look like me geek-spewing my gear
list, and honestly I partly am, because I've collected this stuff over the
past 20 years of being a miusician, and I love all of it, but also, I want
you to understand that it is a massive world out there, but most of the
stuff can be used without any sight, and it's a search for perfection you
should treat more like a curry crawl, than a homework assignment.
Now I'm going before the length of my emails triggers something in the list
config haha.
Take care,
Chris Norman
On Fri, 17 Apr 2020 at 14:24, Andy C <andyc003003@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
Wow Chris! A lot of that sounds like a foreign language to me. I can’t get
past the first two pedals without asking so how do they give harmony and
string fx. I must try and hear them in action. My intention is not to be a
performer in public, but a player just for my own enjoyment and maybe the
odd friend who might find enjoyment in some accompaniment to their singing.
One of the difficulties I find is when trying to learn about fx is that
rarely does a player just use a single pedal to demonstrate exactly how it
sounds. So often they say I’m running this through…, Which is usually a
peddleboard of some description with other fx in the chain. Oh well, more
digging around on YouTube I guess. Just one final thing though Chris, what
does an actual pedal board look like? Is it some kind of framework where
the pedals patching to one another from short cables? Do all the pedal sit
in a long line side by side? And how do you manage if you have as you do,
eight or 10 pedals on a board, and you quickly want to find one in the
middle with your foot to tchange the sound of your instrument?
Andy Collins
Sent from my iPhone
On 17 Apr 2020, at 12:57 pm, Chris Norman (Redacted sender chris.norman2
for DMARC) <dmarc-noreply@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
OK, so this is a huge can of worms.
There's lots of videos entitled "how to sound like <artistname>", so that
you can watch until your ears bleed. If you're looking for a specific
tone, that's where I'd start.
Alternatively, just try a bunch of stuff, and honestly be prepared to
spend loads of money on stuff you'll eventually get rid of, while you
find the sound that suits you. Remember, even if your guitar sounds like
John Petrucci, doesn't mean you'll play like him, so his sound might not
suit you entirely.
You can happily use electric effects on an acoustic, but that might not
be what you're after.
I'll run down what's on my pedal board (which is a basic pedal train
model if you care), that will tell you what I think is important. You
might disagree, certainly others will.
Please bear in mind that I'm an acoustic player who sings, so all of this
stuff is geared towards that end.
From right to left (I'm largely right-footed):
TC Helicon Harmony Singer 2: This gives me excellent tone fx that smooth
my voice out, with a combination of compressor and EQ and stuff that I
don't need to mess with. It also - as the name suggests - gives me
harmony.
Electro Harmonix Synth9: This allows me to layer a string sound over my
acoustic. Really bulks out the sound.
Some sort of Boss cheap chorus pedal: This thickens up the sound of the
guitar (and the strings if they're turned on), to make my sound even
bigger.
TC Electronic Spark Mini Booster: This makes my guitar that wee bit
louder for solos (that I don't do very often), and stuff. Only really
useful if you're playing with other people, or if your loops ended up too
loud.
TC Helicon Mic Mechanic 2: This gives me basic reverb and delay for my
voice. It can be toggled on and off with the single footswitch, and
that's about all it does.
Personally find loopers a great practise tool, but far too volatile for
my liking. One wrong move, and you're creting audible chaos through your
speakers. Even worse, my old TC Electronic Ditto got to a stage where it
would happily record until the cows came home, but it couldn't be
stopped. Not what you want in a live situation.
If I was bothered, I'd put in delay as well. Dotted triplet delays are
beautiful, and pingpongs on vocals are pure magic.
If you like your reverbs, and don't mind the odd pedal running on 12v
(most are on 9v, which is why all of mine run off 1 daisychained lead
which I can't remember the name of), then Strymon do a pedal called the
BigSky, which to my ears is juse pure black magic.
Final thought, TC Helicon's Voice Live 2 is a wonderful machine that is
completely accessible. I have a sheet listing the menu structure and all
the stuff you need.
More geared towards singer songwriters (and runs on 12V which is
annoying), but a great powerhouse of a pedal none the less. The Voice
Live 3 might be worth a look too, especially because you can assign the
footswitches to do different things, but I'ver personally never used it.
Anyways, sorry for the rambling email, but hope it helps someone.
Take care,
Chris Norman
On Fri, 17 Apr 2020 at 11:15, Andy C <andyc003003@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
So far, I’ve just been playing my electric using the clean and overdrive
channels in my Marshall amp. I haven’t invested in any fx pedals. I am
now looking to get started, but I’m not sure which is the most important
one to buy first, other than a looper.
there are so many fx pedals, and so many different manufacturers. I
don’t know the name of the one to research that will help me achieve
popular lead guitar tones? Any suggestions would be much appreciated, so
I can then go and do my research on YouTube.
Andy Collins
Sent from my iPhone
