Rack mount vs pedals

[Kiwi]

I have a noise free and compact rig at home - a Lexicon MPXG2 into a Burman Pro501. I have about 5 or so patches - one for Nile Rodgers sounds, one for Andy Summers, one for Edge riffs, one for Joe Satch and one for David Gilmour. Still find myself wondering about certain pedals though, like a cry baby wah pedal, as that wah has a very specific character that the same setting on the MPXG2 doesn't do so distinctively.

How have some of you made decisions about the route you go down re: effects? Do you have a signature sound that you adapt for different songs or do you have a whole range of pedals that you use more creatively to explore stuff?

[BigRedX]

For me it's all about programmability. Being able to call up the sound I want at the press of a button/footswitch and for that sound to be exactly the same every time I call it up. I'll settle for that sound maybe being not exactly how I might want it, if it is consistent.

Currently I'm using a Roland GP8 - essentially 8 boss pedals in a rack with programmability - which is 80s technology, but it's built like a tank, sounds great, and after almost 30 years still going strong. I've also got an Electrix MoFex which while not programmable in itself, every parameter responds to MIDI continuous controllers and therefore can be "programmed" using triggered CC bursts from a sequencer or similar. It does have the advantage that it's 3 time-based effects can all be synchronised to MIDI clock which I consider to be essential.

TBH I don't have a lot of experience with what be called classic pedals, so I'm not really hankering after some mythical sound that I once heard, and from my days playing and programming synths I've learnt that trying to replicate other people's sounds is nearly always an exercise in futility. The reason those sounds are so good is because they work within the context of the track and using them outside of that context requires modification until they mostly don't sound the same anymore. Far better to start with an idea in your head and work towards it using the tools you already have than fretting about owning another device that will give you "that sound" because there's a good chance that it won't.

I don't really have any "signature" sounds. I start with the guitar and the amp and then add effects as required depending on what the song needs. I do have a patch on my Roland GP8 where each effect has already been set up with what I hope is a usable sound on it's own and then turned off which I use as a starting point for creating new patches from scratch. Or I'll flick through my existing patches until I find something that's close and modify that.

[randythoades]

I spent years trying to emulate the sounds on the records I was hearing, trying all sorts of combinations of amps and pedals, complicated racks and floor processors. I always sounded like me!
Then I took 2 routes, one being a simple to programme old Zoom 1010 floor processor with minimal effects to programme 4 sounds (clean, slight crunch, more crunch and solo boost) and plugged into the PA. I used the same sounds for whatever style song we played (in a classic rock covers band at the time and an old time soul/ r+b band) and just slightly changed my playing style to compensate individual songs.
The second was purely straight into a Fender valve amp. I couldn't get the variety or consistency I needed (was ok for the soul band but not for the rock) to jump from Chuck Berry to Ozzy Osbourne with pedals but once I realised that I could make guitar adjustments on volume etc to control gain it all made sense to a degree. Volume as the issue there though as the amp sounded and reacted differently at different levels.

I still prefer the simplicity of the Zoom though. 4 presets, always consistent at any volume you like. So, in a roundabout answer to the question, with any amp or effects unit I now try to find my "signature sound in my head" and just make small adjustments and stick to 3 or 4 similar patches.

[Kiwi]

[quote name='randythoades' timestamp='1389782597' post='2337763']
I still prefer the simplicity of the Zoom though. 4 presets, always consistent at any volume you like. So, in a roundabout answer to the question, with any amp or effects unit I now try to find my "signature sound in my head" and just make small adjustments and stick to 3 or 4 similar patches.
[/quote]
For all the gear Steve Lukather has, he's got pretty much the same four types of patches on all his songs too!

[EBS_freak]

[quote name='Kiwi' timestamp='1389793885' post='2337958']
For all the gear Steve Lukather has, he's got pretty much the same four types of patches on all his songs too!
[/quote]

And after seeing him live, I reckon he'd still sound better straight into the amp!

[Bassnut62]

I am trying to keep it fairly simple too, but with number of pedals limited by what I can get on a Pedaltrain Mini.

I think I prefer being able to stamp various combinations of mostly gain, boost and compression into the signal and just look at the pedal lights to see what's going on....not sure I would like a rack mount, as I hate spending time with instruction manuals and programming stuff.

This is how it works at moment with pedals.....

Guitar (usually MIJ '54 Strat with Lindy Fralin pups) >>>>> Custom Audio wah (on the floor, not on board) > Tuner > Keeley 4 compressor > Lovetone Les Lius (double gain switchable) > Keeley Java Boost (treble boost) > Catalinbread Picoso (clean boost) > TC Corona chorus >>>> amp (either MusicMan RD11265 or Burman Pro501)

I find the sound I get is pretty consistent and classic simple; as long as I get the amp set up right in the first place.

I am very tempted to just go out with both amps and an ABY switch, using the Musicman for clean and the Burman for Gain...........

[BigRedX]

A good MIDI floor control will tell you exactly what's going on.

Even if your foot controller doesn't allow patch naming on the unit itself a little advance preparation will sort you out. Mine has one song per bank, with the default sound for each song in the first patch and others as the song progresses in subsequent patch locations. So for instance if the main riff of a song was patch 11, the verse would be 12, chorus 13, middle eight 14, solo 15 and so on. The next song would be in another bank starting at say 21 and on.

I don't need to know what's going on in each patch just to know that it is the right one for the song as my ears and the set list tells me.

[Bassnut62]

[quote name='BigRedX' timestamp='1397143948' post='2421136']
A good MIDI floor control will tell you exactly what's going on.

Even if your foot controller doesn't allow patch naming on the unit itself a little advance preparation will sort you out. Mine has one song per bank, with the default sound for each song in the first patch and others as the song progresses in subsequent patch locations. So for instance if the main riff of a song was patch 11, the verse would be 12, chorus 13, middle eight 14, solo 15 and so on. The next song would be in another bank starting at say 21 and on.

I don't need to know what's going on in each patch just to know that it is the right one for the song as my ears and the set list tells me.
[/quote]

that sounds like a good idea; but do you still have to spend a lot of time programming it all up in the first place?
and what if the set changes; do you have to re programme the whole thing or can you easily shuffle all the patches around so they come up in same order as set (if that is even necessary)?

[BigRedX]

If the unit is programmable and you don't like any of the factory patches then you will have to do some programming. It's easy. Simply pick a patch that's close to what you want and tweak it. If you want to be really organised you can do what I did with my Roland GP8 which is to create a default user patch with all the effects off, but with each individual effect set up with a basic usable sound already set up. That will get you where you want to go much faster.

Regarding swapping patches around, if the device is any good it will be easy (although you might need to go slowly and carefully so as not the overwrite anything you still need) alternatively if you use the one or two songs per bank that I do all you have to do is know which patch each song starts on. After that it's no more complicated that switching on and off individual pedals.

[Kiwi]

It's a good way to spend a wet Sunday afternoon. Although when you don't know exactly what it is you are looking for, experimenting with effect order and routing via scrolling menus can be a faff. This is where the user interface of software based systems like Native Instruments Guitar Rig really comes into their own.

[MacDaddy]

for me it's about convenience. One pedal or fx unit to rule them all as it were. As I play bass and guitar I'm current using a J-Station as it has amp sims for both and fits nicely in my gig bag.

[Ancient Mariner]

For more than 15 years I used a Korg AX30G processor, but eventually went back to separate pedals a few years back because I simply couldn't get sounds I was happy with after 1 particular amp died irrepairably. The Korg does come out occasionally, and it has the best, most musical compressor I've found anywhere. I have also been known to use a Roland GR33 synth with a Godin xtSA, but not so much right now.

[mcgraham]

I love pedals. Love the whole philosophy.

For me I like simplicity, so it all starts with the guitar and the amp. Once I've got that right, and the interaction dialled in, I can start layering on pedals. Again, for me it's all about complementing that interaction rather than being an obtrusive *thang* that lives on my pedalboard.

I generally run subtle compression as a tonal shaper, a clean boost to give me *more* of my amp, a programmable delay (or one or two choice delay pedals), and occasionally a reverb. I intentionally don't use dirt pedals (other than fuzzes) as I find they mess with the sound of my amp more than I'd like.

I generally want my pedals to only ever bring out MORE of what was already there, rather than take away from it, hence subtle compression, a clean boost, and a programmable delay to preserve whatever is going on.

[grey]

I run an AxeFX Ultra for pretty much everything, after a bunch of tours with a 6505+ head, 4x12 and a 6u rack case full of effects, I decided to downsize and haven't regretted it. My back's even happier!
I'm not a fan of having to step on things on stage either, I've run pedalboards before but often I'd get too into the performance and be lead's length away when it's tapdance time.
The added bonus of having patch changes automated and synchronised with a backing/click track was a big plus too. One cable between my guitar and the Fractal, just how I like it.