Big problem on my empress compressor at gigs. Orange text on a blue pedal with a blue light--the text washes out every time. Nice pedal, though.
Enjoy the benefits of a premium membership!
Upgrade Account
-
TalkBass has been independent since 1998. Add your voice.
Create a free account to reply to discussions, view embedded media, and browse with fewer display ads.
Join free Log in
Want zero display ads or expanded classifieds tools? Compare plans.
Dear pedal companies.
- Thread starter JesseVMT
- Start date
-
- Tags
- bass pedal
Big problem on my empress compressor at gigs. Orange text on a blue pedal with a blue light--the text washes out every time. Nice pedal, though.
You remember that scene at the end of Indiana Jones? The one where everybody's face melts when they look at the Ark? I'm reminded of that every time I turn on my Ampeg ScrDi.
the LED on my EQD Afterneath is pretty damn bright blue-white. Great for dark stages but less good everywhere else. Most of my other pedals have red LEDs which I don't understand- red doesn't travel so well under stage lighting as blue or white. That said, changing LEDs is ridiculously easy so if it was ever that much of a problem I could just switch them.
What's really annoying is putting the input/output jacks on the side. The top is so much easier, not all of us have fancy pancake jacks.
What's really annoying is putting the input/output jacks on the side. The top is so much easier, not all of us have fancy pancake jacks.
One of the churches I play at has a screen that comes down almost to the stage for most of the service (the message/sermon part) as that's often simulcast from another location. Note I said almost. If my delay pedal doesn't have something to shield the light towards the audience, they're treated to a nice, bright rhythmic blinking right near the edge of the screen for the whole message - half an hour to 45 minutes. Yes, led's can be too bright, especially when they blink.
this is honestly something I havent given much thought. Probably because if I can't tell if a pedal is on with my ears I typically sell it pretty fast.
I agree there. I like the jacks on the top for most types of enclosures. (Not all but most)
Because you couldn't do that, turn on the bottom?
There's other alternatives than velcro, mind you.I said that whatever you'll use or stick on there, the bottom of the pedal fairs better if rubber feet, pads, serial number label is turned inwards/upwards, when it does service on any pedalboard, velcro or not. That flip side is more often than not not finished and has bare rugged steel, or anything similar, and whatever you stick on there sticks better. And if it leaves residues later on, when you are flipping the bottom again, the rubber feet/pads/serial number side are pristine as it was new. And you don't lose the rubber feet.
A couple of friends of mine bucked this "visible pedal" thing with the following cunning idea. Umbrellas. Black Umbrellas in front of the pedal board. So, outdoor it could protect from rain from the outside if the stage had roof. Protected from beer cans, other fluids and whatnot, as well as keeping the gearheads out from go to the front of stage to see which pedals they were using. Now, it "shadows" the pedalboard even from stark stage lightning so green/red normal leds can be seen, as well as settings of all pedals. Not huge large umbrellas but those who golfers uses, and put on their heads. So they are "arching over" half of the pedalboard from the from side.
Me too looks for pedals that are not completely black with white printing on. I prefer grey, or silver pedals, with black text on. Or white text. On dark stage they are more visible than a complete white pedal with black text on too funny enough.
If it was a mechanical solution they could have some fluorescent paint, that is lit only when stage lights, and when the stage lights dim they have charged the fluorescent. But then you have to build a mechanical "flag" that jumps into a visible window when its on. And jumps from that window when it's turned off. I think this would work at daylight too, but may be hard to detect from the side.
One thing that is detectible in broad daylight, if it blinks. You can detect that, since you see the difference. But it is annoying in the long run. Blinking seems just be good for warning of stale batteries.
I think a sensor is the best thing anyway. And easiest. Can't be that hard.
Me too looks for pedals that are not completely black with white printing on. I prefer grey, or silver pedals, with black text on. Or white text. On dark stage they are more visible than a complete white pedal with black text on too funny enough.
If it was a mechanical solution they could have some fluorescent paint, that is lit only when stage lights, and when the stage lights dim they have charged the fluorescent. But then you have to build a mechanical "flag" that jumps into a visible window when its on. And jumps from that window when it's turned off. I think this would work at daylight too, but may be hard to detect from the side.
One thing that is detectible in broad daylight, if it blinks. You can detect that, since you see the difference. But it is annoying in the long run. Blinking seems just be good for warning of stale batteries.
I think a sensor is the best thing anyway. And easiest. Can't be that hard.
Yes some still do. Ask Eric Johnson. Some old analog funky pedals works better, since you get rid of earth ground hum. You're truly isolating the power. But on digital pedals this is a nono. Wah wah of the old school works better with batteries. And you have these old fuzz boxes that just sound better when they are sagging and the batteries doesn't provide it with full 9v but ... like 6-7 volts.
EDIT: FWIW, I don't.
Agree, it's a "dear pedal companies..." if there ever was one. On that directon, top of any pedal, there's ample room for most things. plugs can go under the second tier, Or shelf, and so on. Especially annoying is when they put the 9v dc jack at the sides. Slap me silly...Turbo Tuner does this. But derail thread, back to leds.
Last edited:
To figure out battery life, you take the average current draw and divide that into the battery capacity. A typical 9V alkaline battery has a capacity of 500mA-hr. So, if you have a 1mA draw the battery would last 500 hours, 10mA draw has a battery life of 50 hours....
-Frank
Good to know. Whoever said you never use Algebra outside of high school?
I was surprised to see how many of our customers use batteries. Most people with multiple pedals use a power supply, but some of the people with only a few pedals use batteries. I would guess that about 5-10% of our customers use batteries.
-Frank
A guitar player I played with would use batteries for certain effects...mainly low-current drive pedals. He felt the batteries gave less headroom and he didn't have a boost, so he liked that.
You can get power supplies that emulate the sag Eric Johnson likes now. Only time I use batteries is when I use a single pedal on a fly gig, and I use a rechargeable. I can't imagine having more than two pedals and using batteries for them. But OK...
Yes of course, but there still are pedals made that do not have an external 9v DC jack. And the old wah wahs, then you have to use a cable that has 9v clips on one end and one to go the to power supply with a regular barrel plug. Then you'll have to leave the bottom of the pedal slightly open cause you can't squeeze the cable when closing the bottom plate and screing all screws tight. Oh then I'll hear you go "aaahhh but you can just file a slit in there and..." well, most people don't want to destroy their pedals, and are non tinkerers. It is my experience too that the fewer pedals folks have, the more batteries are used. I even know people who keeps their batteries inside stomp box tuners, as they can use that the without anything plugged in to the grid. They can take it out from board and tune instruments anyway. As it is, I think tuner pedals are the ones that keeps the batteries the most, actually, even on larger boards. Because all other pedals, there's a need to hear the sound from the rest of the line, output, whereas with tuner pedals not. The signal stays in the box while tuning, doesn't need to pass through. You can have it detached from the board.
People still likes power supplies detached from the grid otherwise such items as the Sanyo Pedal Juice device wouldn't be around.
Last edited:
