Megi's Jazz Odyssey - the return

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  • MegiMegi Posts: 7,207Member

    And here is the latest pic of the pedalboard setup, hot off the press:

     

    pedalboard 071115

     

    It looks a lot cooler in reality, with all the led's and screens glowing in the dark - I had to use flash for the picture which spoils the effect. Anyway, as you can see, the board is pretty much fully occupied, or at least it would a bit of a job to get much more on there. I may get a tuner pedal (perhaps a TC Polytune type) which would sit somewhere top right, but that would probably be about it.

     

    So the full chain is:

    1. Expresso buffer unit (top right) purchased from the builder on ebay - helps to preserve signal integrity through all the following patch cables and effects boxes. It does seem to make a real difference.

    2. A "Cleggy" compressor pedal, to the left of the Boss volume pedal (made by a diy pedal-building enthusiast, and bought from someone on thefretboard.co.uk forum)

    3. Zed Drive overdrive (to the left of the compressor) - this is basically a copy/clone of the more famous Zendrive overdrive. Again bought second hand from thefretboard.co.uk. It's nice for low to medium gain overdrive - bluesy kind of tones for example.

    4. Trouble overdrive (small white pedal) - a Chinese-made copy of a Fulltone OCD overdrive. A bit higher gain than the Zed Drive, and has a natural, amp-like kind of tone to my ears. It certainly seems good for crunchy rhythm stuff if I ever need to do that, and a

    Marshall-esque kind of lead tone. But pretty versatile in fact.

    5. Donner Morpher distortion - yet another clone, this time copying a Suhr Riot pedal. It's the red unit sitting above the Digitech looper on the left. Researching online led me to believe this would be good for a smooth, sustaining, singing kind of lead tone, and it hasn't disappointed. Overall, it's what you'd call a "high-gain" pedal, but I find it quite musical all the same. Good for that smooth fusion guitar lead tone.

    6. Boss FV500H volume pedal, used largely for swells, although I can also back it off just as a convenient way of cutting the guitar signal when needed. Also bought second hand from thefretboard.co.uk

    6. Zoom G3 (of course the big unit at the top) - this can do lots and lots itself, but I'm tending to use it mainly for modulation effects, such as Chorus, and also for delays and sometimes reverb. I've recently got an FP02M expression pedal for this also, which you can see lower-right - still have to explore what I can use that for though.

    7. Zoom MS70CDR pedal (top left) - this does a lot of the same things as the G3, but it concentrates on modulation, delay and reverb effects, and has quite a lot more of them. It will probably be most used for it's reverb effects on my board, but like the G3, you can make patches of up to 6 individual effects. The "particle" reverb is gorgeous, and there's some other cool stuff too. Great for ambient effects. Yet again bought second-hand on thefretboard.co.uk - I'd been wanting this pedal, and one showed up for sale at an attractive price, and in mint nick only last week, so I jumped in and got it.

    8. Digitech Jamman Solo XT looper pedal (lower left) - great for laying down a chord track to practice soloing over, or for doing a bit of the old ambient looping. Another interesting use I read someone suggesting is if playing live, when soundchecking, one can record a loop and leave it playing, then put the guitar down, and walk out front to see what the sound is like - not a bad idea I reckon!

     

    Anywhere, there you have it - this project has taken care of I guess a fair few hundred quid over the last few months - amazing how one finds the money for things like this. I'm very happy with the 3 overdrive/distortion pedals I chose - I find the internet and Youtube is really useful for decision making with things like this. It does feel as if I really have everything I might want on the board now though, which is probably a good job.

  • Derek_RDerek_R Posts: 1,721Member

    Nice work Megi. I look forward to hearing the result as well as seeing it. I must confess to being a bit jealous, I've often tried to use effects and I just can't. I'd love a bit of distortion and sustain and echo on occasions but whenever I try it just sounds like mush and unless I really increase the volume my solos just then get lost in the mix.

  • Reg SoxReg Sox Posts: 3,121Member

    Perhaps you should rename your diary to "Megi's Tap Dancing Odyssey"?

     

    Being terminally clumsy I could see me going arse over tit trying to use something like that when playing live.

     

     

  • MegiMegi Posts: 7,207Member

    Cheers Derek! I think it is very true that it's easy to have too many effects on at once, and end up with an unfortunate mush. I have got a bit addicted to using chorus lately - I find it's just lovely with a clean tone when playing a melody, especially on latin numbers. It adds a certain sparkle, and strangely seems to make the notes sustain more, though that must be psychological. There is a lot of exploring I have to do though - at the moment it's rather the case that I've been busily acquiring all this stuff, and setting up the board, and now I really need to sit down with the manuals, and do some work and find/develop my own individual settings.

     

    It's all good fun, but there is still a lot to be said for guitar-cable-amp, and I still do a lot of my gigs like that. Funny what you say about not being able to use effects yourself - I suspect that's largely down to the type of bands you play with. I'm sure that in the right setting, you'd find that effects were possible. And I don't think you need any excuse if you ever fancy playing with effects boxes at home, for your own entertainment. image

  • MegiMegi Posts: 7,207Member
    Originally Posted by Reg Sox:

    Perhaps you should rename your diary to "Megi's Tap Dancing Odyssey"?

     

    Being terminally clumsy I could see me going arse over tit trying to use something like that when playing live.

     

     

    Cheers Reg! I really do hope it doesn't turn into a tap-dancing nightmare. image Probably won't be too bad I think - in the band where I am using the board, it's mostly just one or two effects on at any given time.

  • Derek_RDerek_R Posts: 1,721Member

    I do have a Boss DD something - it's meant to have a good rockabilly sound, but I've yet to nail it. I've also got a Korg AX1500g that has numerous built in sounds - including lots of echoes and distortion - that I have no problem using when playing at home as my submissions here will attest. But live... just can't use them. I wouldn't mind a tremolo or vibrato, not sure which it is, but I love this sound:

     

  • ESBlondeESBlonde Posts: 980Member

    Nice choices Megi, if you are doing much variety of work some kind of pedalboard is pretty much essential. The only thing you're missing now is a good WahWah and that is a whole new technique of standing on one foot wiggling the other, although leaving the wah 'cocked' part way can give some lovely tones on some parts.

    I have three 'drives' on my big board and have been known to cascade two or even three on occasion but no one else notices the subtle changes I guess. the only other observation I would make would be about those cheap link leads, in my experience they last a while but eventually break down and the plugs oxidise so that over time the sound suffers. You don't notice because it's slow and subtle but budget in the future to replace them with some quality jacks and cable (make you own or try Rob at Kabl).

     

    Anyway a nice setup, suitably versatile and compact. Enjoy.

     

  • MegiMegi Posts: 7,207Member
    Originally Posted by ESBlonde:

    Nice choices Megi, if you are doing much variety of work some kind of pedalboard is pretty much essential. The only thing you're missing now is a good WahWah and that is a whole new technique of standing on one foot wiggling the other, although leaving the wah 'cocked' part way can give some lovely tones on some parts.

    I have three 'drives' on my big board and have been known to cascade two or even three on occasion but no one else notices the subtle changes I guess. the only other observation I would make would be about those cheap link leads, in my experience they last a while but eventually break down and the plugs oxidise so that over time the sound suffers. You don't notice because it's slow and subtle but budget in the future to replace them with some quality jacks and cable (make you own or try Rob at Kabl).

     

    Anyway a nice setup, suitably versatile and compact. Enjoy.

     

    Thanks ES - you're thoughts and experience appreciated. I will almost certainly make myself some better cables in the not too distant - it will be nice to have the exact lengths needed, and I fancy using those Hicon pancake jacks (which I think Rob at Kabl also uses). Re the cascading overdrives/distortions - that was my original idea - I thought the Zed Drive for lowish gain, Trouble/OCD for medium gain, and cascade them for high gain. But these Chinese mini-sized knock-offs are sold so cheap, and I just couldn't resist trying the Morpher (Suhr Riot clone) - and I have to say I am pleased I did, as for my taste it does have a certain something I can't get out the other two pedals - it is pretty high gain, but with nice fat mids, singing sustain, and smooth and sweet sounding.

     

    As to the wah pedal, where would I put it? image Run out of room I'm afraid, but my hope is that I'll be able to get a reasonable wah using the Zoom G3 with the expression pedal. It possibly won't compare to some of the classic or boutique wah pedals available, but I'm not (currently) a big wah user, so if it got me through the very rare occasions I might need wah, that would be enough. I really don't want to go any bigger with the board size at this point - it makes me smile to think I was worried I'd gone to big with the board I chose. Now it's more or less done, I'm relieved I didn't pick anything even slightly smaller. image

  • MegiMegi Posts: 7,207Member
    Originally Posted by Derek_R:

    I do have a Boss DD something - it's meant to have a good rockabilly sound, but I've yet to nail it. I've also got a Korg AX1500g that has numerous built in sounds - including lots of echoes and distortion - that I have no problem using when playing at home as my submissions here will attest. But live... just can't use them. I wouldn't mind a tremolo or vibrato, not sure which it is, but I love this sound:

     

    Sounds like a fairly subtle vintage tremolo to me Derek. I'm sure a bit of tweaking with the right fx unit would get you in the ballpark. image

  • JockoJocko Posts: 7,107Member, Moderator

    I find the WAh Wah from my G3X is most effective. I too have an expression pedal (as well as the built in expression pedal in the G3X) which I use as a volume/swell pedal.

  • MegiMegi Posts: 7,207Member
    Originally Posted by Jocko:

    I find the WAh Wah from my G3X is most effective. I too have an expression pedal (as well as the built in expression pedal in the G3X) which I use as a volume/swell pedal.

    That is good to hear Jocko, cheers. I am aware that the G3X has certain advantages over the G3, one of which, from what you say, is that it's possible to have two expression pedals. Probably for use as a stand-alone unit, the G3X is clearly the winner, and well worth the small extra expense. Since I've gone into all this pedalboard malarky though, I'm happy that I just went for the G3, just due to the smaller footprint. That's entirely fortuitous though, as if I think back to when I bought it, I was thinking I'd be using it for everything I wanted, and certainly not in terms of a pedal board. Bit of a mind change or u-turn happened there somehow... 

  • MegiMegi Posts: 7,207Member

    And now, already, the above pedalboard pic is out of date - I have just taken delivery of a brand spanking new TC Electronics Hypergravity compressor. This is almost certainly going to oust the "Cleggy" built compressor on the board. Compressors are interesting things, and it seems quite an individual choice.

     

    I've tried a Behringer one, which was OK, but a bit noisy for me at higher compression levels, then the Cleggy one - basically a modified/improved version of the classic Ross/Dynacomp type - not at all bad, but it just seemed to alter the attack of the notes subtly, however I set it, and also seemed to colour the sound somewhat. These things are subtle, and could be quite desirable in certain instances, and a lot of people like this compressor type for that very reason. But having tried it on the board for a while, I came to realise it's not for me (at least most of the time). What I'm after is something which will subtly even things up and perhaps add a bit of sparkle, but otherwise be pretty transparent in terms of not altering tone or attack, and just add sustain and hold to chords and single notes.

     

    So, GAS strikes, and I've thrown some proper money at the whole thing - enter the TC Hypergravity. This is a digital compressor which borrows technology from some of TC's higher-end studio compression software. From what I can tell, the "Spectra" mode will be right up my alley, but it also has a Vintage mode that models the more classic coloured kind of compression, plus another "Toneprint" mode, where you can download special parameter settings, some designed by top guitarists, or modify all the parameters to create one's own thing, using free software downloadable from TC's website. So it should cover anything I might want, with any luck.

     

    All sounds good, but I wonder if the main reasons I went for this is just that it has more knobs on it, and it comes in a really nice shade of sparkle-blue finish. And there is this nice video on Youtube, and who wouldn't want to drive around in the LA blue sky and sunshine, and play cool disco grooves...

     



     

    so, the power of advertising eh? image

  • MegiMegi Posts: 7,207Member

    The TC Hypergravity has not long kept it's status as the newest pedal on my board (really like it by the way) - in the next hour I am due to receive a new Hardwire HT-6 polyphonic tuner - Gear4Music had them reduced to £30 and I couldn't resist. Not sure I really need it, being already in possession of the excellent TC polyclip clip on tuner, but there is an annoying pedal-sized space on the board, and this will fill that nicely, and look pretty, so.. I will update with a pic of the "final" board layout in due course anyway.

     

    Video to watch re the Hardwire tuner, for no particular reason:

     



     

    People often say I look young for my age - last week I did a gig at a pub that puts bands on in Lincoln, and the chap doing sound, who was clearly (to me at least) younger than me, miked up my amp, asked me to play a bit while he adjusted levels etc., and then said, with no irony, "well, there you go, that's you all set young man" - funny, but I admit I was quite chuffed in a way. image

  • Reg SoxReg Sox Posts: 3,121Member

    A pedal tuner will give you a mute function for tuning when playing live, which the clip on won't.  Of course you may well have the mute facility with other pedals on your board, in which case enjoy the "Which pedal is muting my sound" hunt with half a bar to go until your big intro

  • MegiMegi Posts: 7,207Member
    Originally Posted by Reg Sox:

    A pedal tuner will give you a mute function for tuning when playing live, which the clip on won't.  Of course you may well have the mute facility with other pedals on your board, in which case enjoy the "Which pedal is muting my sound" hunt with half a bar to go until your big intro

    That's true Reg, although I have no trouble with my usual procedure of simply backing off my guitar volume control before using the clip on tuner. My volume pedal on the board (a Boss FV500H) has a tuner out jack socket, which should allow me to operate the tuner without it being in the main signal chain - not exactly sure how that works, but I will give that a try first I think. You actually do raise a pertinent point re the no-sound big intro scenario that you describe, and I am well aware that the more complicated my setup gets, the more likely such a thing could happen. I just do my level best to check everything on the board (pedal settings, cable connections, connections from the power supply etc.) prior to performing, and so far so good. It is a comfort to know that I can always just bypass the whole malarkey and plug the guitar straight into the amp. image 

  • MegiMegi Posts: 7,207Member

    So, by popular demand  ...here is the latest incarnation of the Megi pedal board. I know it must have been difficult having to wait for this:

    pedalboard051215

    Impressive stuff eh? Thought I'd switch everything on at once for the Christmas lights effect. I've now got the new Digitech Hardwire HT-6 polyphonic tuner installed top right (it's really excellent, responds fast and very clear to use) which just takes a feed from the tuner out jack on the Boss volume pedal, so I can leave it switched on all the time, and it's not in the signal chain.

    All three overdrive/distortion pedals are now at the front, so easy to access - I'm very happy with the Zed Drive (Zendrive clone) and Trouble overdrive (OCD clone) - in fact the Zen Drive is gorgeous for just adding some subtle grit, or a low-gain blues tone. Less sure re the Morpher distortion (red pedal) - I'm after a sustaining lead tone from this, which it does, but perhaps the sound lacks a little "life" and zing - a bit character-less maybe. I may change my mind about this, but I've ordered a "Myomorpha" RAT clone mini pedal from China, via ebay (all of £17 posted!) which I'll see if I prefer.

    The Zoom G3 and MS-70CDR are great in my opinion, I really can't fault the quality and variety of effects available, and now I've got the Zoom expression pedal wired up, that seems great as well - Jocko you were absolutely right re the wah working well with it - I tried it with the Vox wah model, and it sounded excellent to my ears. 

    May not look like it, but just moving things around a little and getting the tuner installed, took me ages - best part of a full day just to get all the pedals sat in the best place, allowing room for the wires/jacks, and having the wiring nice and tidily routed - needs more thought than one might imagine. Also it's amazing how much putting a board like this together costs, and how much just getting all the little things like the right wires and patch leads can add to that cost. I've spent more than I should have, even though I didn't go for the more expensive boutique kind of pedals. Oh well, sorted now for the time being anyhow, and I do really enjoy using the board.

  • Just TelJust Tel Posts: 519Member

    Well Megi, your pedal board looks like the dogs  danglybits. So neat and organised but then I would expect nothing else from yourself. Well done that man.

  • Derek_RDerek_R Posts: 1,721Member

    A fine looking board, indeed. I was almost tempted to use my digital delay on Wednesday - but in the end did my normal thing of plugging straight in. But I am starting to weaken...

  • MegiMegi Posts: 7,207Member
    Just Tel posted:

    Well Megi, your pedal board looks like the dogs  danglybits. So neat and organised but then I would expect nothing else from yourself. Well done that man.

    Thank you kindly that man! image

  • MegiMegi Posts: 7,207Member
    Derek_R posted:

    A fine looking board, indeed. I was almost tempted to use my digital delay on Wednesday - but in the end did my normal thing of plugging straight in. But I am starting to weaken...

    Cheers Derek! it's a slippery slope, be careful. Although I am doing a small gig this evening with just guitar and amp, so effects mania has not taken over completely at least. image

  • Mark PMark P Posts: 2,314Member

    Great looking pedalboard and looks very organised.

    I'll have to admit though, I'd not have a cat's chance in hell of remembering what was what when there's that many bits of gear. I could imagine standing there jabbing my foot up and down on all those buttons desperately trying to get the sound I'm wanting while all sorts of strange noises issue forth!

    But this is a man speaking who can't even cope with the complexity of a tablet or a smartphone!

  • Reg SoxReg Sox Posts: 3,121Member

    That Charlie Christian has a lot to answer for, nailing a pick-up onto a Jazz guitar.

    I'm with Mark.  In a live situation I'd just be standing there with my mouth slack looking down at it like a deer caught in headlights!

    Looks good though.

    Cheers, Reg.

  • MegiMegi Posts: 7,207Member
    Mark P posted:

    Great looking pedalboard and looks very organised.

    I'll have to admit though, I'd not have a cat's chance in hell of remembering what was what when there's that many bits of gear. I could imagine standing there jabbing my foot up and down on all those buttons desperately trying to get the sound I'm wanting while all sorts of strange noises issue forth!

    But this is a man speaking who can't even cope with the complexity of a tablet or a smartphone!

    Thanks Mark! It's really not at all like the foot jabbing desperate scenario you describe, at least the way I use the board - I think/hope what will happen is that I develop a few key sounds, which will become "mine" and have fairly simple ways to switch between them. In the band where I use the board, it's very often a case of having just one effects combination for a whole number. I guess for home use, when using the looper, I can experiment a bit more. This sort of thing is not for everyone though I know. image

  • MegiMegi Posts: 7,207Member
    Reg Sox posted:

    That Charlie Christian has a lot to answer for, nailing a pick-up onto a Jazz guitar.

    I'm with Mark.  In a live situation I'd just be standing there with my mouth slack looking down at it like a deer caught in headlights!

    Looks good though.

    Cheers, Reg.

    It's not that bad, honestly! image But cheers all the same Reg. image

  • ESBlondeESBlonde Posts: 980Member

    Nice and Tidy, I know what you mean about taking all day. i have a big board in a box/case and a mini board. Stuff gets moved onto just the mini board or all back to the big board but only about every 6 months because it's a faff and I'm using the little board most of the time for portability.

    I've even gone for just the one drive pedal to do everything and tweak the guitar volume to push it more or less for variation. I'm trying to be set and forget most of the time so an effect is either on or off and that setting covers all the material for the night (well mostly). The KISS principle. ;-)

  • MegiMegi Posts: 7,207Member
    ESBlonde posted:

    Nice and Tidy, I know what you mean about taking all day. i have a big board in a box/case and a mini board. Stuff gets moved onto just the mini board or all back to the big board but only about every 6 months because it's a faff and I'm using the little board most of the time for portability.

    I've even gone for just the one drive pedal to do everything and tweak the guitar volume to push it more or less for variation. I'm trying to be set and forget most of the time so an effect is either on or off and that setting covers all the material for the night (well mostly). The KISS principle. ;-)

    Thanks ES - I do appreciate you talking about your own pedal board experience, since you have more experience working with these things than me. My board is a bit on the big side I think, although that was the only way to get everything I might want covered - there are situations where I wouldn't need it all, but for now I'm just staying with the one board setup. I can understand where you're coming from with the mini board though, that does make sense.

    As to drive pedals, I could probably do happily with one myself, but somehow they seem so moreish, and so tempting to get "just one more" to see what it does. That old never ending search for the "perfect tone" I suppose - of course there's no such thing anyway. image

  • MegiMegi Posts: 7,207Member

    What have I done? - God forgive me, I have just bought another guitar is what! And it has seven strings! It's a Schecter Damien Elite 7, in transparent black burst, which was on offer at Andertons at £399. Richard must forgive me also for ordering from a box-shifter - just a tempting price, and they had something I was after. To be fair, I've had trouble free service from them for smaller items in the past, which I feel counts for something. Plus I'm able to do my own fret levelling and setup work if needed, which helps.

    These type of guitars tend to be aimed at the death metal/djent brigade, but I'm more interested in using it to expand my  chord playing, and to be able to take the guitar's range down into true bass range. It has EMG active pickups - again favoured these days by the metal crowd, but the EMG 85 model in the neck is apparently one of the company's sweeter/warmer sounding versions, with alnico magnets, and hopefully should get some decent kind of jazz tone. Should be fun learning to use the guitar and finding some new chord voicings. I'm intending to tune the 7th string to a low A, an octave below the 5th string A, so that means I'll still know where/what the notes are. Probably comes more into it's own for playing solo, or if the only accompanist, but could be fun annoying bass players as well...

    Here's the guitar on the Schecter website:

    http://www.schecterguitars.com...-7-2013-12-10-detail

    I think it has quite a nice clean kind of look, and it's not too "pointy headstock heavy metal". Yes there are those little gothic cross inlays on the fingerboard I know, but I've sometimes said there is a closet goth hiding inside me, so that's just a nod in that direction. image

  • Derek_RDerek_R Posts: 1,721Member

    Wow. Can't wait to hear you playing with that extra string. Kudos to you, brother! I'm still battling to remember six of the things :-)

  • MegiMegi Posts: 7,207Member

    Thanks Derek - it's a bit of a mad sudden development, but we can't be sensible all the time can we? Good to do something spontaneous and have a bit of fun occasionally.

    There is a tradition of jazz guitarists using 7 strings, starting I think with the great George Van Eps. So there are some decent books and instruction materials out there to help me from that angle, which is obviously where my main interest lies. Jazz guys like to use a low A tuning. The heavy metal players seem to prefer a low B, which keeps to the tuning in 4ths principle - I suppose that would be better for playing single note riffs on the lower strings. I believe there's also a tradition of playing nylon string acoustic guitars with 7 strings in Brazil, where they tune to a low G - I'm not sure why they like that, but there must be a reason. I can try them all I suppose!

  • JockoJocko Posts: 7,107Member, Moderator

    I wonder what else attracted you to that one, Graham.

    Shine

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