I got an email yesterday asking me what I thought about doubling up on overdrive pedals and if that was ok to do. I think I’ll answer it in a more broad sense. When its time to play a solo or a line that needs to jump out what do you do? Lets think about some other things with that. Do you want it to jump in volume only? Drive level increase? How about a mid bump or high frequency increase?
Lets talk about a few of the options starting with the question I got.
Double overdrive/Distortion:
There are a lot of guys that do something like this because when their solo jumps out they want the overdrive level to increase. They want the drive level as well as the volume to increase. For instance I have a friend that uses a Fulltone Full-Drive as his main sound and then uses a Keeley TS-9 for solos. This is a good option but the rookie mistake here is to use both pedals with the drive up which makes the tone muddy and forces the sound guy to reach for your guitar level and pull it down. If you want to take this option you usually want to pull the drive most of the way down on the second pedal and push it with the volume. This is really nice with a tube amp because you can get a bit more grit out of the tubes that way as well.
Clean Boost/ Power Boost/ Boost
This is also a great option for guys who want to keep a consistent tone but want to push the overall volume and maybe even push the tubes in the amp a little bit. Some guys like to be all over the map with different types of distortions and levels and such--- other guys like to have one staple drive tone they use and boost it.
Channel switch with pedal
The primary drive sound that most people like to hear is actually the tubes breaking up and not a pedal. Tubes have the most natural sounding overdrive and so it sounds great to have a overdrive channel on a tube amp and boost it with a pedal. In this case either of the first two options will work depending on what you want.
Volume knob
Here is the old school way roll. You’ve got your amp cranked to a place that it’s distorting nicely with your volume knob on the guitar rolled back a few notches. Its time for a solo and you roll the knob forward which increases volume and a bit of drive at the same time. This is a great way if you can get used to having a stable place to move back and forth.
---- Side note on this! Most modern pickups have been over wound to produce more out put volume and have sacrificed tone in doing so. Some of the best sounds I’ve gotten have been by turning the amp up and the guitar down. This warms up the tone and gives you somewhere to roll up to for solos where it can be a bit more aggressive.
Treble boost/ Mid boost/ ect
Back in the 70’s this guitarist (you may have heard of) named Brian May started using a treble boost for solos. Few guys I’ve heard have done it well but sometimes its nice to not just jump out with drive and volume but also with frequencies that can cut through the mix and help you be heard. There is another called a germanium boost which gives a nice bump to the mids, which a good place for a guitar solo to jump out since those are the primary frequency covered by a guitar.
Higher output pickup
The last is worth mentioning. Some guys will have their amps and pedals set but use different levels on their pickups. (More of a Gibson thing) Then they will switch pickups to create the illusion of turning on an overdrive pedal. I saw Jimmy Page do that in the movie “It Might Get Loud.” He had the front pickup turned down and played a riff on it before switching to the other pickup, which was cranked for some killer lead riffs. Other guys will actually have a lower and higher output pickup they switch between for lead tones.
And lastly… some guys play light…. And then just dig in when its time to scream.
Wednesday, September 30, 2009
Thursday, September 24, 2009
Why Modify?
I wish I could give you a detailed history of how this whole “modifying guitar pedal” started but even my partnership with Google has yielded limited info. Somewhere along the line though someone realized… “Boutique pedals are expensive and store bought pedals don’t sound very good--- I wonder if there is a way to get the best of both worlds.” What really contributes to the sound of a pedal? Why do some pedals have the beauty of sounding like an extension of the amp and others sound like a vomiting cat?
One thing that really impacts the tone is the design of the tone stack. This is the sequence of components put together to achieve a certain tone. This is the hardest thing to overcome because you can’t do a lot to change this when modding pedals. If the tone stack is just really bad… it’s pretty hard to overcome.
The other main contributor is quality of components used. For example: Even a wonderfully designed pedal like the TS808 (or TS-9) isn’t the most beautiful right off the shelf. Because, if you are a company trying to make the most profit possible you are probably going to find out the cheapest way to make as good a product is necessary. Most pedals are pretty much made up of resistors, capacitors, diodes, transistors, and op amps. If you are Ibanez making a run of 100,000 TS-9s you probably are going to spend 12 cents on a ceramic capacitor instead of 50 cents on a metal film or silver mica one. That cost isn’t huge for you or I working on the few pedals we own but it’s a difference of $38,000 on a run of 100,000 pedals. That is why boutique pedal companies charge $180 to $400 for a circuit that is alarmingly similar to the $89 TS-9. I know that is a bit of an over simplification but it at least paints the picture for you.
I have personally had an absolute blast hearing a once sucky pedal come to life. I recently finished a Boss SD-1 which sounded gritty and harsh. Now with the change of just ten components I’ve got a warm and rich pedal I would be proud to play anywhere.
So how do you enter this brave new world? The easiest way is to sit down with someone who has a bit of experience and learn a trick or too… that is always the best way to learn something. But, if that isn’t a luxury afforded to you I would recommend this great book which has also taught me a lot in learning to walk this hobby out. http://www.indy-guitarist.com/inc/sdetail/102
This book has several examples to practice with and learn how to start working on this kind of thing.
Closing thought:
I’m always annoyed that the only people who can afford the best gear are usually guys who are to busy making money to actually play the stuff they buy. So, a lot of my motivation in this stuff is getting the best sounds for the lowest price. I hope this kind of thinking and some of what I’ve been through in the last couple years is helpful to someone.
Here is a list of a few pedals I’ve gotten great results from when I’ve modified them.
Ibanez TS-9, Boss SD-1, Boss BD-2, Boss OD-1, Boss DS-1, Boss OS-2, ProCo Rat with Serial # under 300,000.
Here are a few I’ve done and they didn’t even sound that good with a Mod.
MXR Distortion+, Marshall Drive Master, Danelectro Daddy-O, ProCo Rat over serial # 300,000, and I’m not having much luck with the Electra 500d I’m working on right now… so we’ll see.
OK- That’s all for now.
One thing that really impacts the tone is the design of the tone stack. This is the sequence of components put together to achieve a certain tone. This is the hardest thing to overcome because you can’t do a lot to change this when modding pedals. If the tone stack is just really bad… it’s pretty hard to overcome.
The other main contributor is quality of components used. For example: Even a wonderfully designed pedal like the TS808 (or TS-9) isn’t the most beautiful right off the shelf. Because, if you are a company trying to make the most profit possible you are probably going to find out the cheapest way to make as good a product is necessary. Most pedals are pretty much made up of resistors, capacitors, diodes, transistors, and op amps. If you are Ibanez making a run of 100,000 TS-9s you probably are going to spend 12 cents on a ceramic capacitor instead of 50 cents on a metal film or silver mica one. That cost isn’t huge for you or I working on the few pedals we own but it’s a difference of $38,000 on a run of 100,000 pedals. That is why boutique pedal companies charge $180 to $400 for a circuit that is alarmingly similar to the $89 TS-9. I know that is a bit of an over simplification but it at least paints the picture for you.
I have personally had an absolute blast hearing a once sucky pedal come to life. I recently finished a Boss SD-1 which sounded gritty and harsh. Now with the change of just ten components I’ve got a warm and rich pedal I would be proud to play anywhere.
So how do you enter this brave new world? The easiest way is to sit down with someone who has a bit of experience and learn a trick or too… that is always the best way to learn something. But, if that isn’t a luxury afforded to you I would recommend this great book which has also taught me a lot in learning to walk this hobby out. http://www.indy-guitarist.com/inc/sdetail/102
This book has several examples to practice with and learn how to start working on this kind of thing.
Closing thought:
I’m always annoyed that the only people who can afford the best gear are usually guys who are to busy making money to actually play the stuff they buy. So, a lot of my motivation in this stuff is getting the best sounds for the lowest price. I hope this kind of thinking and some of what I’ve been through in the last couple years is helpful to someone.
Here is a list of a few pedals I’ve gotten great results from when I’ve modified them.
Ibanez TS-9, Boss SD-1, Boss BD-2, Boss OD-1, Boss DS-1, Boss OS-2, ProCo Rat with Serial # under 300,000.
Here are a few I’ve done and they didn’t even sound that good with a Mod.
MXR Distortion+, Marshall Drive Master, Danelectro Daddy-O, ProCo Rat over serial # 300,000, and I’m not having much luck with the Electra 500d I’m working on right now… so we’ll see.
OK- That’s all for now.
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