Advice For Pedal Enthusiasts

[Nicky]

Particularly you young fellas. When you try out or buy a pedal, make sure you run it through its paces at all volume levels. You really need to crank your amp to saturation to know how a pedal will REALLY affect/effect your sound.

Too many folks buy a pedal, take it home, then play it through their amplifier at bedroom levels because you don't want to piss off mama. You cannot adequately evaluate a pedal in this manner. Both your amp and pedal need to warm up in order to test the circuit's tones and textures. This is what the builders had in mind...using their pedals at performance levels. I bet thousands of pedal purchases ended up on dusty shelves or the trading block because they were not properly analyzed.

Just my $0.024 worth. Ask me how I know...

[Hector Arcadius]

Your mana won't let you crank those toobes...?

[Nicky]

Originally Posted by Hector Arcadius

Your mana won't let you crank those toobes...?

Nope, my toobes been tied for 29 years.

[AngryHatter]

I learned at an early age that playing with the stores amp and guitar sounds absolutely nothing like my rig.
So I take them home to "try them out."
And using the range of the amp is a good idea.

[kboman]

Good advice! However, if you are primarily playing at lower volumes at home it is not a bad idea to try to emulate those conditions as well when you try out a pedal - how it sounds with the amp "cranked" is less relevant in that case.

The best idea is to always try to test the pedal in person but with all these smaller, interesting builders that can be difficult. It's a good thing we have Burgs, Andy et al!

[Batman]

Great advice Nicky!

I've returned quite a few pedals that didn't pass this test.

I no longer play pedals at the store. . .if I think I want a new pedal, I buy it and take it home to run it through its paces with my rig. If its not exactly what I want, I return it for a refund.

[TeaForTwo]

Hmmm....I got tired of dust gathering on my shelves....
So, the shelves now have pedals on them....
The dust is no longer actually on the shelves....

[snaredrum]

i never go to music stores. every pedal i buy is a calculated risk based on what i know about my equipment.

[rybass]

Originally Posted by kboman

Good advice! However, if you are primarily playing at lower volumes at home it is not a bad idea to try to emulate those conditions as well when you try out a pedal - how it sounds with the amp "cranked" is less relevant in that case.

This. So many people these days never gig and never crank an amp. Test pedals to reflect your current playing situation. If you crank, test it cranked. If you bedroom, test it bedroomed.

I bought a boss metal core a couple years ago because it sounded great at low volumes in GC. I get it to the practice space and crank it with a gig level amp; it sounded like wet horse ass.

I traded it to a buddy who only plays at home and he still loves it. And I still like playing it when I'm at his place just not cranked.

[Nicky]

Originally Posted by kboman

Good advice! However, if you are primarily playing at lower volumes at home it is not a bad idea to try to emulate those conditions as well when you try out a pedal - how it sounds with the amp "cranked" is less relevant in that case.

I disagree somewhat. Every electrical device has varying operating potential that can be observed only by running through the entire band of volume and gain. Certainly, every guitarist must want to know how a pedal inteacts with the instrument and all other circuits at both the low and high end. Hell, even a simple tone knob on a pickup is highly interactive with all the other complex circuits that are present in a guitar rig.

However, we can do a whole other thread on the ubiquitious tone knob later.

[Nicky]

Originally Posted by snaredrum

i never go to music stores. every pedal i buy is a calculated risk based on what i know about my equipment.

YOU, my friend...are a calculated risk.

[Nicky]

Originally Posted by rybass

So many people these days never gig and never crank an amp, but they should. Test pedals to reflect your current and potential playing situations.

Fixed.

[snaredrum]

Originally Posted by Nicky

YOU, my friend...are a calculated risk.

not very well calculated either

[StandingWave]

OK, just a risk.

[snaredrum]

Originally Posted by StandingWave

OK, just a risk.

actually, "risk" suggests it could still go either way. it can't.

[Batman]

What adjective do you suggest then?

[snaredrum]

instead of calculated risk, i would be

horrifying inevitability

[kboman]

Originally Posted by Nicky

I disagree somewhat. Every electrical device has varying operating potential that can be observed only by running through the entire band of volume and gain. Certainly, every guitarist must want to know how a pedal inteacts with the instrument and all other circuits at both the low and high end. Hell, even a simple tone knob on a pickup is highly interactive with all the other complex circuits that are present in a guitar rig.

Well, it's just down to how you use your stuff. If for some unfathomable reason I'd want to buy a car, how it performs at 250 km/h is pretty irrelevant to me - performance/handling/whatever people look for in a car in the 50 to 120 km/h range would be the relevant things to know.

I mean I know a Big Muff sounds great through a 100W Hiwatt fullstack but that doesn't reflect my "AC15 at apartment volume" setup.

But sure, I'd LOVE to be able to blast away at full tilt every day - it's just not going to happen a lot in the foreseeable future

However, we can do a whole other thread on the ubiquitious tone knob later.

[Leendrix]

Thank you, Nicky. I'll do that from now on!

[StandingWave]

Good points all the way around. Like any tools or toys, pedals need to be matched to the job at hand. It's also wise to look forward to realistic potential uses.

I think that the key concept is that equipment sounds different at gig vs. bedroom volume levels. Information on how a pedal is used often is missing when someone describes how awesome or awful a given pedal is. Context is everything.

I'm a bedroom player. All I care about is pedals that sound good in that context. It is worthwhile to know that if/when my situation ever changes, I may need different tools. If my present tools won't meet unanticipated future needs, I'm fine with that.

[snaredrum]

i suppose i should contribute something useful to this thread. or try to, at least.

as i said above, all my pedal choices are based on clips from t'internet, and that's due to my disability, and my basic (and justified) phobia of british music stores. elitist hell holes, each and every one.

anyway. i had a GREAT bedroom board. i could sound like clapton, or gilmour. then my band started, and it got a bit messy. I tried to keep as much of the original board in early practices, but as i'm the only guitarist (oh, the irony) it quickly became obvious that the pedals i needed to play live and have "our sound" weren't the ones i had.

so, i changed. and changed again. and am still changing.

now, here's the irony - my pedalboard sounds awesome live. at home, it sounds good if i use it through my marshall that has an attenuator, but the preamp is stronger than the fender or hiwatt that i use live, and the eq isn't the same, so my drive sounds don't sound right. i'm tempted to touch the dials to get it right at home, but then i'll forget and when i get to a gig i'll sound wrong and won't remember why (damn painkillers).

so a couple of months ago, i got a TC Electronics Nova system second hand. "awesome," i thought - " i can keep the board in it's case, and use this to write and rehearse."

nope. no magic there - it wasn't MY board. just wasn't right, the sounds weren't as transferable or controllable as they are on my board.

so, i'm now playing my big board through a big amp turned down. and it works, oddly enough. i write riffs, i can play along with stuff.

moral of the story? no idea.

[Nicky]

Originally Posted by snaredrum

..i'm tempted to touch the dials to get it right at home, but then i'll forget and when i get to a gig i'll sound wrong and won't remember why (damn painkillers).

Make yourself a drawing of your pedals and amps with blank circles for each knob. Use a pencil to mark your settings for each type of sound. Save these drawings...do not throw them in the bin. Sorted.

[kboman]

I saw a brilliant way to "store" your settings in one of Premier Guitar's Rig Rundowns: the guy in Primus had put pieces of flourescent tape on the dials with arrows painted on them. When the arrows pointed up, they knobs were set right. Genius.