Ooh the sacrilege (guitar board help)

[Jared Lash]

Ok, here's the deal. My guitar player from one of my current bands is going to be part of my new project which is best described as dub meets d'n'b/jungle stuff. We've jammed a couple times (bass/guitar/drums/vocals)and I'm very excited about the sound so far.

I know what effects I want/need, but my guitarist isn't a big gear head so he wants some help figuring out what he needs. At present his board is pretty vanilla but it works for our other band. Here's what he currently has: Boss DS-2, BD-2, & DD-3, EHX LBM & Pulsar, a chorus (I forget which), Phase 90. Off the board are an EMMA DiscumBOBulator (needs repairs) and a Bass MuRF.

I think the MuRF is a given. I also told him he needs either an analog delay or a digital one with a convincing tape setting. I think a synthy fuzz is required (Fuzz Factory ideally, but on his budget likely a Frazz Dazzler) and a looper might be helpful (which one?) but I'm not sure after that.

At some point I'd like to add another member (keys or horn but someone who could also trigger samples/manipulate sounds) but for now we need to fill space musically as a trio.

Any thoughts?

[Swimming Bird]

What's his playing style?

[Kelly Coyle]

I think the Akai Headrush is the best inexpensive looper, and you get a free tape delay sim thrown in. The EH Harzai thing might work for him, too. Or a Boss DD-20. Or go retro and find a Digitech PDS delay/looper -- any of them will do: even the "2 second" version can be modded up to 10 or 12 seconds of delay.

One step ($300) up gets you into Boomerang or RiffBox territory -- the Boomerang doesn't sound that great, but has the best interface of all of them. The Riffbox is very cool, but hard to explain.

I don't like (this is just me, mind you) any of the Boss loopers or the Digitech Jamman. (The Lexicon rocks, however. I miss mine.) It is just a question of how you interact with them, really, and little issues about how they work. Everybody is different, so YMMV.

If you're all going to be looping (or using long delays, whatever), the DD-20 is the coolest because you can enter in an exact value. So you can all agree on a time base, and set your delays accordingly. (Or you could use 18 secs, and he could use 9 or 3 or 12 to make it interesting.) (I just thought of that idea. Now I'll have to try it...)

I, um, have some opinions about loopers and delays. (I have a Headrush, three PDSes wired in parallel, a Pigtronix which is a PDS on steroids, and Mobius on my laptop. I think they are all swell.) Sorry. Carry on...

[Jared Lash]

Originally Posted by Swimming Bird

What's his playing style?

He's pretty versatile and understands that his role in this band will be different than his normal style, but the guitar players that he has really woodshedded on are Lennon/Harrison, Jimmy Page, Jeff Tweedy/Nels Cline, Johnny Greenwood/Thom Yorke, Tom Morello and Jeff Buckley.

[rnilson]

Really he shouldn't need to much to get a basic sound.
I think a boss RE-20 Space Echo would be the delay he would want to get. For that style of music you can get a lot of mileage from clean guitar with heavy tape delay. Other than that I think the board should have the phase 90, LBM, DS-2, he needs a wah/filter of some kind. The Bass Murf would work if you get a tap tempo pedal. Rythmic effects need to be beat synced.
For more esoteric pedals maybe something from Mi-Fi like the glitch computer or Pitch Pirate.
My guitar player has a very simple board. (Boss distortion, flanger, chorus, CryBaby, DD-6, Ibanez FZ-7 Fuzz) I am after him to get a Re-20.
I run my guitar player though a computer with Abelton and several different VSTs for craziness (mostly camel audio camel space and camel phat.)

Have him listen to some D'n'B/Dub with guitar parts you like. I can recommend (Spring Heel Jack/68 Million Shades, Any thing from Kaly Live Dub or Jaga Jazzist, You like the Dub Trio also right?) He will need an education if he is not already hip

[SoonerMatt]

He should look into an Electronix Fussdrive; from what I've heard they give a pretty synthy fuzz.

[rnilson]

What does your board have on it in this group?

[Wasted Bassist]

If he likes Morello, a whammy is a neccesity. My guitard just picked one up about a month ago, and it's been good times all around. As long as he doesn't get carried away, it can be very usefull. In abundance it just gets silly.

[thombo]

Originally Posted by TheBigO

He's pretty versatile and understands that his role in this band will be different than his normal style, but the guitar players that he has really woodshedded on are Lennon/Harrison, Jimmy Page, Jeff Tweedy/Nels Cline, Johnny Greenwood/Thom Yorke, Tom Morello and Jeff Buckley.

you are a lucky man...
he has most of the essentials on the board for the stuff you are doing. a few unnecessary but cool suggestions for the stuff your doing- an octave or whammy pedal, line 6 verbsilla w/ the octo setting (reverb set an octave higher than what is played... real ethereal), eh microsynth, pigtronix disnortion.

as for the delay, i would go w/ a line 6 dl4 w/ the extension pedal. on the tape echo and setting, the extension pedal can do some pretty rad dub trails.

for loops, i would advise against the boomerang- i used to own one and it was expensive and did not sound natural (glitchy). i am happier with boss loop; the headrush is cool; everyone w/ an echoplex wired together w/ midi cables is the ultimate.

[Jared Lash]

Originally Posted by rnilson

What does your board have on it in this group?

My board is just a modified version of the board I posted not too long back:

Boss OC-2
Barge VB-jr
In the loop of the Barge are a Tech 21 XXLB and Moog Low Pass Filter
Maxon PH-350
Frantone Sandwich
Empress Tremolo
Empress Superdelay

The XXLB is being replaced by the OLC Chunky Cheese when it arrives and the PH-350 will get replaced by my custom phaser whenever Mario has time to build it. I was thinking of replacing my Empress with a small, simple delay and free up some pedal board space (maybe for a BMS) but the Carbon Copy I got is just a noise machine so it's going back.

I'm definitely open to suggestions for my board, but I think I have a better handle on what I need then he does on what he needs.

[Jared Lash]

Thanks for the suggestions so far, I appreciate it.

But I should clarify just a bit. I have a good idea of what's needed for the dub type stuff: delay, reverb (I forgot to mention he also has a Holy Grail), and perhaps an envelope filter and/or phaser.

But I'm a bit stuck as to what he should have for jungle/drum & bass stuff. Especially since (at least early on) we won't have a keyboard player. I'm also trying to think of what we could put in our singer's hands (since he doesn't really play an instrument) in terms of sound manipulation.

[whoatherechunk]

a microkorg in the singer's hands may help out.

[Gashaponcito]

I think he can use a SMMH its a very versatile pedal with some spacey noises and its also a looper its not so hard to use

[WeightedWings]

+1 on the SMM w/H. It looks exactly like what you guitarist is looking for. As an additional plus, there a bunch of really good clips of it one youtube that showcase what it does quite well for him to drool over.

As far as synthy fuzzes go, http://www.deviever.com/ comes immediately to mind, as she offers a huge variety of different, versatile, and entirely unique fuzzes. So, have a looksie at her site.

And your singer might want to take a look at the new EHX Voicebox. It looks pretty nifty from what I've seen. Alternatively, the dude from Battles seems to use the Whammy to pretty good effect too as you can see here, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z5Lvo...eature=related.

[Gashaponcito]

Originally Posted by TheBigO

I think a synthy fuzz is required (Fuzz Factory ideally...

I remember there's a video in youtube of a guy that made a clone of the Fuzz Factory...

[Jared Lash]

BUMP.

Nobody else?

[warwick.hoy]

Originally Posted by TheBigO

I think the MuRF is a given. I also told him he needs either an analog delay or a digital one with a convincing tape setting.

Hate to seem like I'm pushing this pedal down y'alls throats.

ToadWorks Redux 1st Impressions (56k warning)

http://www.toadworksusa.com/

Navigate through to the Redux page and check out the audio samples.

[Jared Lash]

That's not a bad idea. I saw your thread on the Redux, but I'm not a fan of really modulated delay on bass. On guitar though, that might be perfect.

[warwick.hoy]

Originally Posted by TheBigO

That's not a bad idea. I saw your thread on the Redux, but I'm not a fan of really modulated delay on bass. On guitar though, that might be perfect.

My Sentiments Exactly.