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Dear pedal companies.
- Thread starter JesseVMT
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- bass pedal
I don't like insanely bright LED's but I do want to be able to see them outside on a summer's day in Florida, since I often gig outside on summer days in Florida. Red is my favorite color for LED's, but I don't mind white or yellow or green or purple, or even blue if it's toned down. But man, that piercing harsh blue...holy moley!
Then I guess I'm crazy. I really don't like super bright indicator lights, I just want to know if the pedal is on or not, and I have actually covered up a light or two because I couldn't even look at my board on a dark stage.
I've had a couple of special "tone moments" using my VT Deluxe on early evening outdoor gigs the past few weeks because I couldn't tell which bank or setting was on.
Let's just say the band wasn't crazy about my super gritty Foot Stompin' Music patch in the intro of Reelin In the Years.
I'll take the LEDs thank you very much.
Let's just say the band wasn't crazy about my super gritty Foot Stompin' Music patch in the intro of Reelin In the Years.
I'll take the LEDs thank you very much.
You could, but there's a far cheaper solution... just find the limiting resistor for the LED, should be either on the anode or cathode side and change it... if its 3K, change it to 2.2K, if 2.2K, change to 1.5K, etc.
I forget what value Boss likes off the top of my head, but I know its a pretty high resistance.
Edit: On a CE-2, the resistor in question is R51 on the circuit board. Its 3.9K, so change it to 2.2K and see if that's better. Same for a CE-2B.
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I actually won't use pedals unless they have blue LED's, the rest are useless in daylight (outdoor) shows! I have a few pedals I had modded to Blue LED's but aside from those it's just a factor when buying for me!
I don't use many pedals. But one of my favorite guitarists does. He has three with extra bright LEDs. They are hideous on stage to me. Especially when the lights are dimmed you can literally see a blue, a green and a red circle on the ceiling!!!! If he stands over his board during a song with dim lighting he has to squint!
Darkglass uses such bright LED's I can't sleep if I leave my pedalboard plugged in.
If they put LED dimmers on them, then it would NEVER matter. Such and easy solution, yet only a few have done it that I've seen.
While you don't speak for me, or the entire bass playing community as a whole, I don't particularly dislike bright LED's either.
I'm the same way. I've not gotten rid of pedals because of the brightness but I've modded them before or switched out the LED's. Added a stronger resistor to dim it...and what not. It's super annoying if it's blue. I have a astigmatism in both eyes and the blue colors bother me worse than anything for some reason. I can't even read my microwave because it's blue led's in there. Sucks ass.
If they are going to be bright, I prefer them to be large LED's so the light is evenly distributed. I've had them so bright before that I can't change the settings on a pedal when I'm looking at it unless I turn it off, which is annoying.
The Darkglass ones don't bother me as much for some reason? But I've had ones that really, really do.
If they are going to be bright, I prefer them to be large LED's so the light is evenly distributed. I've had them so bright before that I can't change the settings on a pedal when I'm looking at it unless I turn it off, which is annoying.
The Darkglass ones don't bother me as much for some reason? But I've had ones that really, really do.
Hmmm. If you can't tell if it's on or off without a light why do you have the pedal?
I appreciate how on a dark stage the blue LEDs are crazy bright almost to the point of pain. But they continue to function: you know if the pedal is engaged or not.
The converse, on a bright sunlit stage, like many festival gigs, the dim red and green LEDs *do not* function any longer - you can't tell if those pedals are on or not! This is worse in my opinion.
So I too prefer bright LEDs on pedals. If it's just too much a little painter's tape will dim it down enough for dark stages. There is nothing that makes the dim pedals operable on bright daylight stages.
The converse, on a bright sunlit stage, like many festival gigs, the dim red and green LEDs *do not* function any longer - you can't tell if those pedals are on or not! This is worse in my opinion.
So I too prefer bright LEDs on pedals. If it's just too much a little painter's tape will dim it down enough for dark stages. There is nothing that makes the dim pedals operable on bright daylight stages.
