strymon - The Ultimate Pedalboard Build Series - Episode II - Pedal Concerns - Strymon
The video provides a comprehensive guide on building a pedal board, emphasizing the importance of selecting the right pedals based on the music style and era. It discusses the significance of pedal order, particularly how distortion and modulation effects should be placed in relation to each other and the amp's preamp. Practical advice is given on testing the pedal setup to identify and resolve potential issues before final assembly. The speaker highlights the need for custom cables and thorough testing to ensure all components work harmoniously. Examples include using different pedals like fuzz, wah, and volume pedals in specific orders to achieve desired sound effects. The video also covers the use of multi-effects units like the HX Stomp for versatility and space-saving on the pedal board.
Key Points:
- Select pedals based on music style and era for authenticity.
- Place distortion pedals before the amp's preamp for optimal sound.
- Test pedal setup thoroughly to avoid issues during final assembly.
- Use custom cables and test them to ensure proper connectivity.
- Consider multi-effects units for versatility and space efficiency.
Details:
1. 🎸 Kickoff: Building the Ultimate Pedal Board
- Consider a range of pedals such as distortion, delay, and modulation for diverse sound capabilities.
- Pedal board order is crucial; for instance, placing distortion before modulation can preserve tone clarity.
- Testing and identifying potential issues like power supply problems is essential before finalizing the pedal board setup.
- Utilize a structured approach to categorize pedals by function, e.g., tuners, dynamics, modulation, and time-based effects.
- Evaluate the impact of each pedal's placement on overall signal chain efficacy and adjust as necessary.
- Experiment with different configurations to achieve desired sound outcomes, ensuring each pedal's role is optimized.
2. 🎛️ Mastering Pedal Placement and Distortion
- To replicate the sound of iconic recordings, understanding the recording era is essential. For instance, Jimi Hendrix's 60s recordings used amps without effects loops, meaning pedals were always placed in front of the amp, influencing the overall sound.
- In contrast, modern musicians like Matt Bellamy from Muse utilize advanced technology, complicating the determination of pedal order solely by listening.
- Pedal placement is crucial depending on how distortion is generated in the setup. For crunchy or compressed sounds, distortion pedals or preamps should be placed at the front of the chain.
- For a clearer, high-fidelity sound with less distortion influence, effects should be placed in the effects loop or after distortion-producing pedals.
- In setups lacking effects loops, such as certain amps, configure the preamp to handle all desired sounds when using delays or reverbs. High distortion levels can negatively impact these effects, making careful setup critical.
3. 🔄 Organizing Overdrive and Distortion Pedals
- Overdrive and distortion pedals are typically placed in front of the amp's preamp 99.9% of the time, which is crucial for their intended impact on sound. This standard placement allows for optimal gain staging and EQ.
- Placing distortion pedals in the effects loop is less common and can significantly alter the sound due to changes in gain staging relative to the amp's preamp. This can lead to unique tonal characteristics, which might be desirable in certain musical contexts.
- The placement of pedals can be subjective; if a sound works for your music, it is valid. For example, placing overdrive pedals post-distortion can create a smoother, more compressed sound, which might be unconventional for some genres but perfectly suitable for others.
4. 🎚️ Navigating Fuzz and Wah Placement
- Fuzz pedals, a subset of distortion pedals, function differently and prefer being directly connected to a guitar's pickup.
- A fuzzface variant, when connected directly, allows for unique volume knob interactions and tonal variations.
- Fuzz pedals without a buffer should ideally be the first in the signal chain to maximize tonal quality.
- Buffered fuzz pedals offer flexibility in placement but should still be tested early in the chain for optimal performance.
- The closer a fuzz pedal is to the guitar, the better it generally performs, enhancing sound quality.
- Modifying older pedals to true bypass can optimize placement, allowing for fuzz to be positioned later in the chain.
- Specific examples like the classic Fuzz Face work best right after the guitar to exploit dynamic interactions with the guitar's volume and tone controls.
- Buffered fuzz pedals can interact well with other effects like wah pedals, but placement testing is crucial to maintain desired sound.
5. 📉 Compression & Volume Pedal Techniques
- The placement of a wah pedal in the effects chain significantly affects its sound. Placing it first or second is traditional and provides a distinctive sound.
- The wah pedal alters the frequencies that get distorted, which can sound unusual if placed later in the signal chain.
- If a wah is placed before a fuzz pedal, it may sound uninteresting, suggesting the fuzz should precede the wah in some cases.
- Generally, positioning the wah early in the chain is recommended to maximize its effect on subsequent effects, particularly with mid-range frequency sweeping.
- For example, placing a wah pedal before a distortion pedal can enhance the mid-range frequencies, giving a more pronounced 'wah' effect.
- The traditional approach of placing the wah pedal early in the chain is derived from historical usage and provides a consistent, expected tone.
- Experimenting with different positions can lead to unique sound textures, but the classic early placement is preferred for its proven results in most musical contexts.
6. 🌊 Modulating Effects: Where to Place Them
- Placing a compressor early in the signal chain, such as a D comp or Ross, helps achieve a signature sound by influencing the tone before entering the preamp.
- For studio-like compression, placing the compressor after the mic preamp that mikes the speaker cabinet provides a polished and controlled sound.
- Positioning the compressor in the effects loop allows for dynamic control before the signal reaches the speaker cabinet, which is crucial for live performance setups.
- To achieve the characteristic 'suck and blow' effect in guitar compression, positioning the compressor early in the signal chain is essential.
7. ⏲️ Strategic Delay and Reverb Placement
- The placement of a volume pedal in an audio chain significantly impacts its behavior; placing it before distortion affects distortion levels similar to using a guitar's volume knob.
- Placing the volume pedal after distortion pedals but before time-based effects allows for swelling distorted guitar sounds into delays and reverbs, acting as a master volume control.
- For setups with an effects loop, the volume pedal should be placed at the beginning of the loop to effectively control volume dynamics.
- In setups without an effects loop or using modeling amps, place the volume pedal after distortion but before delay and reverb to maintain sound clarity and control.
- Placing the volume pedal before distortion can lead to a cleaner tone, while placing it after distortion but before delay and reverb can enhance the depth and presence of time-based effects.
- In live performance settings, adjusting the placement of a volume pedal can dynamically change the texture and impact of sound, allowing for smoother transitions and more expressive music delivery.
8. 🔧 Specialty Effects: Synths and Pitch Shifters
- Modulation effects such as phasers, unibes, and trims are often placed before the amp to capture the character of the preamp.
- After the preamp, effects like the Leslie simulator or stereo chorus are used to enhance the main sound.
- The placement of delay and echo effects can be influenced by the length of the delay repeat; longer delays might need to be placed after distortion-making elements to maintain clarity.
- Short delays, such as slapback echos, are often placed before the amp's preamp to utilize the preamp's ability to enhance sound without causing distortion.
- For modulated and longer delays, placement after distortion is recommended to keep the repeats clear and avoid excessive noise.
9. 🛠️ Selecting the Right Pedals for Your Needs
9.1. Reverb Pedal Placement
9.2. Specialty Pedal Considerations
10. 🔌 Testing Your Pedal Configuration
- Ensure your pedalboard includes all necessary pedals for your specific rig needs, especially for sessions, gigs, or tours.
- Avoid being unprepared for specific song requirements, such as needing a Leslie effect for a song intro.
- Consider the amps you will interface with when selecting pedals; different amps may require different pedal combinations.
- Include versatile post effects like Big Sky, Timeline, Mobius, and Volante that are compatible with any amp.
- Use multiple drive pedals (up to eight) to ensure compatibility and flexibility with various amps.
- Prioritize dedicated effects for the highest quality sound, such as using Big Sky for ultimate reverb.
- Utilize multi-effects units like HX Stomp as a Swiss army knife for versatility and space-saving needs.
- Assess your gear complement based on the amps you will be using to ensure optimal performance.
11. 🧪 Ensuring Pedal Functionality and Sound Quality
- Identify critical pain points in the rig and test them exhaustively to avoid mistakes and difficulties in making changes later.
- Custom cables are being made and cut to length, so ensure all choices are correct beforehand as changes later will be tough.
- For simple rigs with wob, distortion, modulation, and delay, test in series by plugging into an amp.
- Testing the chain that goes in front of the amp is crucial; some pedals' input and output impedance may not be compatible when following other pedals.
- Test pedals in the specific order of use, including wah and volume pedals, to ensure full scenario testing with no surprises during build.
- Using Morning Star ml 10x units as the audio nerve center for the rig, with one in front of the preamp running mono for 10 loops and another after the preamp in the effects loop running five loops in stereo.
- Ensure all loops are buffered, which is critical for distortion pedals; use pickup simulator circuits designed by Jack Orman.
- Need for 10 TRS to TS Y cables for using all 10 loops, ordered from Amazon but found incorrectly wired, highlighting the importance of testing all cables with a multimeter.
- Test all cables to ensure functionality before plugging them in to avoid issues in complex scenarios.
- Incorporating 8 drive pedals in the ml10 X with Y cables controlled by an mc6 Pro to check for clicks, pops, proper gain staging, stacking, noise levels, and sound quality.
- Complex wiring may be uncomfortable for those sensitive to messy setups.