Pedalboard layout

[TheBassBoss]

Ok, so I have been thinking a lot about pedal board design lately, and for a while I had been planning to have a layout like:

Bass>Tuner>A/B/Y box>misc effects>Volume>Delay>Reverb

The A path on the A/B/Y would go through all the shifters, dirt, and modulation and then into the A input on a stereo volume pedal. The B path would go directly into the B input on the volume pedal. Then the rest of the chain would run through a stereo delay and reverb and into two amps.

However, today I saw a demo for the strymon Lex, and I saw that it only had a mono in but stereo out. So I started thinking about instead of an A/B/Y box, have an effects loop that could run either the effect, the clean, or both signals at once. This would go into the Lex, the Lex would split it into stereo and I could have the Volume, Delay, and Reverb after that.

At the moment this is all theoretical, as I only have a few basic effects right now, but I wanted to know what you guys thought about these setups, and which would work best.

 

[chuck3]

Ok, so I have been thinking a lot about pedal board design lately, and for a while I had been planning to have a layout like:

Bass>Tuner>A/B/Y box>misc effects>Volume>Delay>Reverb

The A path on the A/B/Y would go through all the shifters, dirt, and modulation and then into the A input on a stereo volume pedal. The B path would go directly into the B input on the volume pedal. Then the rest of the chain would run through a stereo delay and reverb and into two amps.

However, today I saw a demo for the strymon Lex, and I saw that it only had a mono in but stereo out. So I started thinking about instead of an A/B/Y box, have an effects loop that could run either the effect, the clean, or both signals at once. This would go into the Lex, the Lex would split it into stereo and I could have the Volume, Delay, and Reverb after that.

At the moment this is all theoretical, as I only have a few basic effects right now, but I wanted to know what you guys thought about these setups, and which would work best.

the good thing about that rig is, you don't need a band!

 

[TheBassBoss]

Any suggestions?

 

[Ubersheist]

Any suggestions?

My advice is to first get rid of the reverb, unless you're strictly using it for recording or playing in world-class venues known for their high fidelity. Either that, or maybe, maybe put it on a separate loop with a high pass on it so as not to muddy up the bottom end any more then the crappy dive room's bad acoustics already does without the help of reverb.

Beyond that, I'm not sure you'd hear enough sonic difference between the mixed signal and the effected signal. Sure, there would be some difference, but most effects have a 'clean' level anyway. It sounds like trying to get the mixed signal in would be sort of redundant and just adding more complexity to your board, with more opportunities for things not to work right.

 

[metalinthenight]

My advice is to first get rid of the reverb, unless you're strictly using it for recording or playing in world-class venues known for their high fidelity. Either that, or maybe, maybe put it on a separate loop with a high pass on it so as not to muddy up the bottom end any more then the crappy dive room's bad acoustics already does without the help of reverb.

It depends on how you are using the reverb and of course which reverb you are using. I use reverb and delay all the time on my rig from huge volume swells to tight slap back echos and it's never muddy or anything like that. I use the Iron Ether Nimbus and it doesn't sound muddy at all, but I've used plenty of other reverbs that sound great on bass, including the Dr. Scientist RRR and even the Boss RV-3.


OP, the trick is to figure out what you are really going after sonically with your signal chain. Obviously the end result is a stereo rig set up, but what do you hope to achieve by splitting and mixing your signal before the volume pedal? Just a clean blend? you could do that with something like the exotic X-blender and wouldn't need to be fully stereo before the volume pedal. Just my.02

 

[Ric5]

http://www.3dentourage.com/425/effects.htm

 

[TaySte_2000]

Get a Boss LS-2 instead of the whole ABY > Volume pedal setup, you'll likely run into phase and impedance issues.

Most stereo pedals only work when on, so Strymon off = mono, strymon on = stereo

Alternatively a decent blender will also do what you want

 

[Ubersheist]

It depends on how you are using the reverb and of course which reverb you are using. I use reverb and delay all the time on my rig from huge volume swells to tight slap back echos and it's never muddy or anything like that. I use the Iron Ether Nimbus and it doesn't sound muddy at all, but I've used plenty of other reverbs that sound great on bass, including the Dr. Scientist RRR and even the Boss RV-3.


OP, the trick is to figure out what you are really going after sonically with your signal chain. Obviously the end result is a stereo rig set up, but what do you hope to achieve by splitting and mixing your signal before the volume pedal? Just a clean blend? you could do that with something like the exotic X-blender and wouldn't need to be fully stereo before the volume pedal. Just my.02

Well, it's just my 2 cents, too. I cant judge how you sound by reading about it on a forum. You're probably the exception, and not the rule.

Many good reverbs do have a low pass built in. They usually call it something else, like how they'll call a low pass 'dampening.' The interplay of the waves is almost always beyond the physical sound's wavelength (18 feet, I think, for the low E) and gets worse the farther away you get from your amp. Compound that with crappy acoustics, and it's safe to say that reverb can really mess with the muddiness, unless you're very careful.

 

[TheBassBoss]

Wait, so the A<->B mode on the Boss LS-2 doesn't output the clean signal, but switches between just A loop or just B loop? Then that might be what I need. I think I'll get one used to see if it works for me.

 

[TaySte_2000]

Yep