Pedal Board Overview

[Jazzdogg]

I've been trying to assimilate information provided so generously by fellow TBers as I prepare to to assemble my first pedal board.

I've attached a rudimentary Excel flowchart in an effort to check my thinking. The “effects” labels are generic placeholders for possible future purchases. Does it look like I'm on the right track, or do you see things I've forgotten, or errors that need to be addressed before I give it a try?

Thanks!

[JanusZarate]

Hmm... well... without knowing what you want to achieve at all...

I'd switch almost everything in "Effects 2" with the stuff in "Effects 1".

What are you trying to go for? What sort of sound?

This is a pretty generic plan you've got... difficult to give advice. I don't see any "errors", per se (it's totally subjective)... but I certainly do have lots of questions about what you have in mind!

[Jazzdogg]

Originally Posted by MysticBoo

Hmm... well... without knowing what you want to achieve at all...

I'd switch almost everything in "Effects 2" with the stuff in "Effects 1".

What are you trying to go for? What sort of sound?

This is a pretty generic plan you've got... difficult to give advice. I don't see any "errors", per se (it's totally subjective)... but I certainly do have lots of questions about what you have in mind!

Thanks for replying. I usually play straight-ahead jazz, swing, blues, R&B, Latin jazz, and vintage rock. I'm usually happiest when my sound is clean and articulate, but it could be fun to change my sound for some kinds of songs.

My first pedalboard is going to be very basic: X-2 Wireless, compressor, tuner pedal, graphic EQ pedal for my main rig, pre-amp EQ on/off switch for my secondary rig, and perhaps a compact volume pedal.

The "effects" may come later; My bandmates have said they'd enjoy it if I added "effects" on some of the classic rock songs. I'd like to corroborate or correct what I think I've learned from TB and other sources.

There's a lot for an older guy, without much exposure to this stuff, to learn. Thanks for your help!

[Swimming Bird]

Generic so far, but ambitious. There are a few things I would suggest though, but Boo's right -- it's all subjective order. Here is the best advice I can offer:

1) for ease of use, you probably want the tuner as your first pedal so you won't have to go about switching everything else on or off when you want to tune.

2) Pitch shifters have a fairly hard time tracking, so similarly to the tuning pedal, you want to put it near the beginning of your chain.

3) Modulations (phasers, flangers, etc) tend to get lost if they're put before heavy distortion, especially fuzz. This is where Boo's advice comes in. Also, with ODs, distortions and fuzzes being the noisiest/least controllable sounds you're going to have, putting them before the compressor is generally a good idea. I have my wah in between a fuzz and an overdrive, so keeping the wah in that first section sounds good to me.

Now, have you given any thought to control mechanisms? As in line selectors or something along those lines... unless you're only planning on using one or two effects at a time, it becomes very hard to switch between sounds you want when you have a large setup (this is the biggest advantage of multi effects, though you sacrifice sound quality). Of course, you could always just learn to tap dance.

Best of luck!

[Jazzdogg]

Hi, Swimming Bird. Thanks for presenting your suggestions with rationale that's easy to understand and follow.

Somehow, I doubt that I will end up having a complicated pedal board that requires oodles of thought, or elaborate switching or bypasses, but I could be wrong - it's fun sorting these issues out and hearing the way each of these pedals influences the sound of my bass.

My first pedal board (sounds like an elementary school primer, doesn't it?) has been an interesting exercise so far, and promises/threatens to quickly overwhelm if I don't put my thoughts in front of all of the pedals.

Perhaps I'll post a snapshot when I'm done building the beta version.

[Racermech]

For me, I have found that pitch/harmony/octave effects work great at the beginning. I am running a Whammy 4 and Octabass right at the beginning. I also run my pedal compressor first thing after the bass to get a good clean signal to all my pedals.

Then, I am using a few of my overdrives to add some color and dirt, backed up by EQ, followed by modulation (chorus, flanger, phaser). I like the way wah sounds after distortion (personal preference) plus I can get crazy feedback.

I end with a volume pedal, followed by delay (and hopefully reverb soon). I like being about to cut the sound of my bass after all effects, but if I am running delay, having some trails leftover.

Ideally, I will someday run a rack compressor at the very end to keep everything "in line".

As most of the guys on this forum say though, its all experimentation and personal preference. For example, I run overdrive and distortion before my modulation, but I am soon going to be getting a fuzz to run after both the overdrive and modulation.