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    • #74210
      1bassleft
      Participant

      Nice board, rewind; that looper looks interesting.

    • #74262
      lee_UK
      Participant
    • #74220
      lee_UK
      Participant

      [quote=”Tim”][quote=”lee_UK”]Im not impressed with those cables Tim, did you get them at the local Car Boot Sale? marked up Buy one for £1 and get the other 9 free? 😆

      One thing i did invest in, and it has paid dividends is high quality cables, i got the best i could afford and they really do make a difference.[/quote]

      😆 Yeah, if you remember a while back I was asking about cables, I think it was you who recommended Monster? I’m still in the market for some! At the moment when I cut out I just waggle the 4 jacks in turn until the sound comes back…it’s not the best solution :oops:[/quote]

      did you get around to buying those cables? 😆

    • #74254
      rewindspline
      Participant

      rehashing the board

      going with two different loops using a Radial loop selector

      upgraded power supply under construction

      #http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y119/rewindspline/DSC02982.jpg

      #http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y119/rewindspline/DSC02981.jpg

    • #74264
      1bassleft
      Participant

      [quote]but it’s true that a long cheap cable will steal some top end, which may be a positive if the tone is just a bit too bright!

      capacitance is a real world effect but it certainly isn’t a major player in the sound stakes – connector quality is more important imo[/quote]

      Completely agree with that, rewind. Walter Harley who makes Cafe Walter headphone practice amps has all his techs sent on a very expensive course on how to solder properly. And long, cheapo cable can have a treble rolloff. Partic with a valve amp, it may be enough to alter what was an 8ohm cab to give a slight mismatch and knock some audible Hz off. Despite the supposed danger of frying the OPT, I deliberately run the Marshall at 8ohm into a 16ohm 2×10″ as it seems to give the cab a bit more darkness. Can’t really explain, but it’s preferable to eq tweaking to my ears.

      Not knocking Gary, but in theory I can’t see more than a picoFarad of difference on such a short run. It shouldn’t have any affect but I’m happy to admit I’m no exp (even more happy to save money for something else). Wine is a good analogy. There comes a point where I can’t see how the incredibly expensive bottle is better than the merely extremely expensive one.

    • #74202
      lee_UK
      Participant

      Bass, i had my doubts about the silver over copper over gold for amp to speaker use, but ive known Gary for a long time, he is a real tone head, he has a real ear for quaility, and if he says he can hear a difference then i beleive him. Maybe it’s psychological.

    • #74228
      rewindspline
      Participant

      all valid points 1bass

      but it’s true that a long cheap cable will steal some top end, which may be a positive if the tone is just a bit too bright!

      capacitance is a real world effect but it certainly isn’t a major player in the sound stakes – connector quality is more important imo

    • #74186
      1bassleft
      Participant

      I agree with the comments on the V-twin; both the +ve and the -ve. Its superior (because the OD is truly 3D as well as versatile) is the Matchless Dirtbox. Unfortunately, they’re even more expensive and no longer produced nor supported.

      Lee, I remember the “Hendrix sound” eBay cable 😆 but check again what rewind wrote; he never said single strand – it’s just not useable in guitar or TV applications. He was referring to signal (hot) and shield (ground) = co-ax.

      There are parallels between hifi overspending and the guitar world. The quality of the electrics in the source (whether pickups or CD player) have a great effect; money well spent. The quality of the design of the amp circuit ditto (and a PCB, if done well, is better than a lousy job of P2P wiring). The least important of the lot is the cable from the amp to the speakers. Given that your Gary has minimized the distance from each power amp to its relevant speaker, there isn’t a cat in hell’s chance that gold will sound “clearer” than silver.

      The cable might sound different, and that (having spent the money) will HAVE to mean “better”. The main difference between hifi amps and guitar amps (speaking valves here) is that a relatively crap design can produce a great guitar amp but rarely a great hifi amp. Case in point is the Hiwatt DR head. Ever opened one up? Superb standards of layout; everything of consequence at right angles to each other. The Marshall Superlead, by comparison, is a right mess. Both are popular, but the Marshall sold more. I have a lovely little 8W head that’s brilliant for my bass, handmade for me by my chum with the gold discs in LA. Even the tone control was omitted; it’s the purest valve sound I know. Wouldn’t be everyone’s cup of tea, though.

      Hifi snake oil I’ve seen are the $400 mains leads (pointless) and, my favourite, solid rosewood and mahogany tone and volume knobs “as used on the legendary McIntosh blahblah” at $50 each. Audiophiles and some guitarists also fall for the cryogenically cooled valve/tube, which I have boringly ranted against for years.

      The trouble is, a lot of suppliers and retailers like to jump on a grain of truth and then heap a load of carp on top to justify a high price tag. If you do a Goggle on, say, “cable capacitance” you’ll see what I mean. Hundreds of audioseller links telling you why you need this/that brand and, if you look harder, technical pages (maybe with equations 😯 ) that point out exactly why you’d be wasting money.

    • #74241
      rewindspline
      Participant

      nice boards there!

      i would like to comment on the mesa v-twin pedal seeing as i have one and a 3-channel dual rectifier head too

      the pedal on its own is good (even if the heavy distortion is a little dark and one dimensional)

      however i absolutely love it in combination with the behringer di with speaker simulation – there is a soundbyte here http://www.myspace.com/unamis

      that tone is simply the v-twin through the di into protools – no tweaking

      unfortunately the di is no longer in production, it took me ages of searching and phone calls to get 2 brand new ones…

      i will save my comments on the rectifier head for another discussion 😀

    • #74201
      Gordy Smiff
      Participant

      Being ex hi-fi industry myself, I can see where your mate is coming from. Nothing beats the sound of analogue bass, even something like a Naim cd player pails into insignificance. Gold cables transfer sound at a much more efficient rate than copper. but there’s the rub, the human ear can only differenciate to a degree, hence the “snake oil”. Vinyl beats cd into a cocked hat, hands down, despite the “cleanness” of cd. The Sergeant Pepper album is a good case in point, at the end of the album, the “everlasting chord” part, the faders were turned up to such a degree thta you could hear the air conditiong units running, interesting stuff, but detracts from the original intention of why the music was made in the first place.

    • #74230
      lee_UK
      Participant

      Our Bass player in ‘Land’ Gary is a Hi-Fi nut, he has custom made stuff, pre-amp is hand made and designed by a top amp designer, he has a pair of valve amps one sits behind the left speaker one behind the right speaker, the turntable is handmade, and he only plays vinyl, he never got caught up in the CD revolution, he has never owned a CD player (only in his PC) but has never bought a Music CD, always Vinyl, he told me his Speaker cable is solid Silver and he would have gone for solid gold if he could have afforded it, he swears there is a difference between silver and copper, but im not so sure.
      The setup he has got now has taken him years to put together, but other than the cable he says there is nothing he would change, it is the best sounding Hi-Fi i have ever heard, much better than a good CD system.
      But then for the cost of his system you could buy 25 tennis lessons from Britains ex-number one Jeremy Bates at £1,000 a lesson! 😆

    • #74204
      Gordy Smiff
      Participant

      Coiled loopy cable?
      I’ve still got one that I use occasionally, when I’m desperate.

      OFC cable is a watch word in the hi-fi industry, cleaner signal path etc.

      But then, in the hi-fi industry “snake oil” was also a phrase much used, between various reps and their suppliers.

    • #74198
      lee_UK
      Participant

      Who was it on ebay selling coiled loopy guitar cables, and mentioned that using these cables would get you a bit closer to the ‘Hendrix’ tone?
      How do they get away with it. 😆

      Bass, would you say that there are different grades of copper wire? and that OFC copper does benfit a guitars tone?

      Also the inner core of my guitar cable is multistrand, and as far as i know, every cable ive ever owned is multistrand.

    • #74188
      1bassleft
      Participant

      BTW, anybody remember “thepedalboardguy” posting here? Very nice chap with some very nice, custom boards. Worth searching his posts if you like ’em nicely laid out.

      Another thing. Speaking of satellite (and UKTV is 50% owned by the Beeb so you pay subscription, watch ads AND pay their licence fee), more harm is done to the GHz converted to mere MHz signal coming from your dish by the goons that install them than anything else. Crappy cable, badly sealed against water ingress (hugely affects impedance) and those regularly spaced metal clips they love to use have turned my Glasgow-rated 60cm dish into a tea saucer. My 1.4m dish in Spain is even worse – run down the length of the steel supporting beams and clipped to death. I’m too chicken to shimmy down 20m and re-route it.

    • #74209
      1bassleft
      Participant

      Interesting thread. I have an even droopier jack than Tim’s (I trod on it) – must upload a pic of it in use. Neither straight nor right-angled, it’s about 45degree-angled jack.

      In fairness to rewindspline he wrote
      [quote]if your cable has a signal core and a ground shield it is coax [/quote]

      (my italics). Not single core. While standard instrument cable is not a good idea for connecting power amp to cab (can’t take the heat), the vice-versa isn’t good either. Connecting guitar to amp with unshielded cable hums like Paula Radcliffe’s marathon pants.

      I remember a huge argie went around cables on “The Bottom Line” forum. A couple of caveats raised were that capacitance effects, once the maths are done, are restricted to frequencies that should be beyond our hearing. It might be a big deal with UHF (and hence TV coax is usually of high quality and often OFC) but not really in the 20Hz-20kHz range. OK, I’m a bass player with (usually) a low impedance, active output through a (by guitarist’s standards) relatively uncomplicated path. But even with passive pups, tube amps and a fair number of interconnects, decent soldering and no kinks (remember those coiled leads?) are what you’re hearing – not the reduced capacitance of xAWG OFMC cable.

      As for amp to speaker cables, think Danny deVito in “Taxi”. Keep it short (under 50ft) and thick.

      Another player (and psychologist) warned of the “I know they’re better so they sound better” effect. He did a “blind” test of various cables on players and their ability to distinguish them (apart from the obviously badly made) decreased markedly. I once installed different preamp valve makes “blind” (bit fiddly) and was surprised at the results of what I preferred over others.

    • #74261
      lee_UK
      Participant

      Well you pay a subscription fee to watch it, and its got adverts on.
      of course if you have SKY plus you can skip the ads, but you pay a subs for sky plus.

    • #74248
      glw
      Participant

      Hey, what’s wrong with UK Gold?

    • #74184
      lee_UK
      Participant

      [quote=”rewindspline”][quote=”lee_UK”]Guitar leads use OFC oxygen free copper cable, mains lead is very poor quality. And coax isnt going to be anywhere near the quality of a good OFC guitar cable.
      Im not sold on the Coaxial TV cable idea, you might start picking up BBC1 or worse still TV-Gold.
      Does anyone else use this kind of cable? or has anyone else heard of using this kind of cable?
      You obviously dont connect guitar cables from your head to cab because this is a voltage being handled and not a signal, lots of people make the mistake of using guitar cable, and like you say it’s not designed for this kind of use, and can fail, and if you lose the connection between your head and cab then it could also damage the output transformer. which can be very costly.[/quote]

      Dude if your cable has a signal core and a ground shield it is coax – whether it’s branded OFC or whether it’s used for cable tv or antennae or industrial ethernet communications or instrument signal. The defining factors are the capacitance and characteristic impedance – some importance can be placed on physical flexibility for musicians.

      OFC is a gimmicky title used to sell more – the oxygen content of the copper in different brands of cable is not going to vary enough to affect your signal – do you think a cable manufacturer has a copper refinery and can develop it’s own type of copper? No, they give their copper supplier a specification.

      Picking up BBC or whatever will not occur – coax is used to deliver the signal from an antenna to the reciever, coax itself is not a very good antenna. Amps have been known to pickup radio though!

      The amplifier and the guitar pickup both output a voltage – the difference is the amp voltage will be in the hundred’s while the pickup voltage will be in the thousandth’s. That’s basically the difference between power and signal – hence the term power amp. You need a power amp to produce enough voltage across a speaker to move it and create sound – obviously the amp power output is related to the speaker/s.

      Because the power signal to the speakers is so large it doesn’t suffer from interference or losses like a tiny guitar signal does. That’s why the signal from a guitar pickup needs to be protected – interference signals can create more voltage in a cable than the guitar pickup and the guitar signal can be lost. Hence shielded cable i.e. coaxial cable.

      You can’t use instrument cable to connect to your amp head because of the current going through it and the cable resistance. Current handling capacity of speaker lead is much higher than instrument – have a look at a subwoofer installation – it will use thick cable.

      summary – guitar lead is coax! :lol:[/quote]

      My guitar cable is multistrand and not single core, i know what coax is, ive worked as an Lan/Wan installation engineer for the past 15 years, i know why a cable is shielded too, i also know about bandwidth on cable, i dont accept that there is one quality of copper, i do beleive you get better guitar signal from OFC cable, and i also accept the better sheilding you have the clearer your signal from guitar to amp.
      What i didnt know was that some people use Single Core Coax for guitar leads, ive never come across it in my 20 years of playing, ive never seen it mentioned in any articles either, like you say its not going to be flexible enough to use as anything else other than patch cables.
      The BBC TV thing was a joke, im not that dumb.

    • #74218
      cgbrocks
      Participant

      Adam,
      Nice set up on your board.
      And a very nice web site.

      The 4 jack box is just basic mono in thru the effects and back out to my Crate tube amp. Just makes things a little easier when setting up.
      I’m using some 4″ velcro that I picked up at the local hardware store to keep everything in place.

      Later,
      Patrick

    • #74212
      captainadama
      Participant

      Patrick,

      Those are george L’s for sure. I really like them for a couple of reasons. One, is they sound great, or maybe better put, they don’t sound at all, no coloration or loading if you will. To my ears anyway.
      Second I like that they are solderless which makes for quick assembly once you get the hang of it.
      I am using Monster for the connections between guitar-board and board-amp.
      Now I am not Eric Johnson anal about my stuff, but I have no tone or signal loss weather I am straight into the amp or running through the board. Very cool!

      I like your natural wood pedalboard. i love the risers for monuting stuff underneath. You obviously are meticulous about your stuff which I totally apreciate aesthetically.
      What function does the 4 jack box provide for your signal routing?
      How are you sticking them to the board?

      As far as selling, I cant keep them around when I list them so there is a market for them!

      In case you missed it check out my personal rig previously on this thread
      Dig it!

    • #74239
      cgbrocks
      Participant

      Adam,

      Thanks!
      Those are some NICE boards you’re building! How are you doing selling them? Thought about that myself!

      Are those George L’s cables between the pedals?

      I built mine a couple of weeks ago. I was going to either paint mine or put carpet on it but I decided to go for a natural look and just put a couple of coats of sand and sealer and polyurethane on it. I Just used 1/4″ plywood for the bottom, and riser. And a 3/4 trim for support on the sides. Rubber feet on the bottom.

      The Mesa Boogie V-Twin is a Very nice pedal. I havent tried any of the Mesa Rectifier amps so it’s hard for me to say if it sounds anything like on of those. But I can tell you it has a very nice tone. Just grab one up on e-bay. If you decide you don’t like it, you CAN re-sell it on e-bay with no problem!

      Later,
      Patrick

    • #74251
      captainadama
      Participant

      cgbrocks

      Nice board. well organized.
      Does the Boogie pedal give you that ‘rectifier’ sound?
      Did you build the board yourself?
      I build small batches of these pedalboards a couple of times a year and sell them on ebay.
      Here is a represenative picture;

      #http://i53.photobucket.com/albums/g72/heyrey/IMGP0559.jpg

      Here is a picture of a board I built and wired for a kid at my church;

      #http://i53.photobucket.com/albums/g72/heyrey/Bryansboard4.jpg

      Keep up the good work!

      Adam

    • #74258
      cgbrocks
      Participant
    • #74074
      rewindspline
      Participant

      [quote=”lee_UK”]Guitar leads use OFC oxygen free copper cable, mains lead is very poor quality. And coax isnt going to be anywhere near the quality of a good OFC guitar cable.
      Im not sold on the Coaxial TV cable idea, you might start picking up BBC1 or worse still TV-Gold.
      Does anyone else use this kind of cable? or has anyone else heard of using this kind of cable?
      You obviously dont connect guitar cables from your head to cab because this is a voltage being handled and not a signal, lots of people make the mistake of using guitar cable, and like you say it’s not designed for this kind of use, and can fail, and if you lose the connection between your head and cab then it could also damage the output transformer. which can be very costly.[/quote]

      Dude if your cable has a signal core and a ground shield it is coax – whether it’s branded OFC or whether it’s used for cable tv or antennae or industrial ethernet communications or instrument signal. The defining factors are the capacitance and characteristic impedance – some importance can be placed on physical flexibility for musicians.

      OFC is a gimmicky title used to sell more – the oxygen content of the copper in different brands of cable is not going to vary enough to affect your signal – do you think a cable manufacturer has a copper refinery and can develop it’s own type of copper? No, they give their copper supplier a specification.

      Picking up BBC or whatever will not occur – coax is used to deliver the signal from an antenna to the reciever, coax itself is not a very good antenna. Amps have been known to pickup radio though!

      The amplifier and the guitar pickup both output a voltage – the difference is the amp voltage will be in the hundred’s while the pickup voltage will be in the thousandth’s. That’s basically the difference between power and signal – hence the term power amp. You need a power amp to produce enough voltage across a speaker to move it and create sound – obviously the amp power output is related to the speaker/s.

      Because the power signal to the speakers is so large it doesn’t suffer from interference or losses like a tiny guitar signal does. That’s why the signal from a guitar pickup needs to be protected – interference signals can create more voltage in a cable than the guitar pickup and the guitar signal can be lost. Hence shielded cable i.e. coaxial cable.

      You can’t use instrument cable to connect to your amp head because of the current going through it and the cable resistance. Current handling capacity of speaker lead is much higher than instrument – have a look at a subwoofer installation – it will use thick cable.

      summary – guitar lead is coax! 😆

    • #74056
      lee_UK
      Participant

      Guitar leads use OFC oxygen free copper cable, mains lead is very poor quality. And coax isnt going to be anywhere near the quality of a good OFC guitar cable.
      Im not sold on the Coaxial TV cable idea, you might start picking up BBC1 or worse still TV-Gold.
      Does anyone else use this kind of cable? or has anyone else heard of using this kind of cable?
      You obviously dont connect guitar cables from your head to cab because this is a voltage being handled and not a signal, lots of people make the mistake of using guitar cable, and like you say it’s not designed for this kind of use, and can fail, and if you lose the connection between your head and cab then it could also damage the output transformer. which can be very costly.

    • #74054
      rewindspline
      Participant

      all guitar leads are coax… 😀

      same stuff as TV antenna, just lesser quality (generally)

      as opposed to power cable like speaked lead which is two core

      that’s why you can’t use a guitar cable to connect your head to your cabinet – shielded cable doesn’t handle high power

    • #74038
      lee_UK
      Participant

      I bought a high quality guitar lead, hacked it up and used that.
      With nuetrick 1/4″ jacks.
      How common is it top use Coax?

    • #74045
      rewindspline
      Participant

      [quote=”lee_UK”]You use Coax cable for patch leads?[/quote]

      of course i do

      what do you use?

    • #77053
      lee_UK
      Participant

      [quote=”rewindspline”]that’s exactly what i use the tube DI for – works a treat

      you can go nuts with cable – if you have a trebly spiky guitar you can smooth it out by using the longest and cheapest cable you can find

      coaxial cable is like a capacitor (low pass filter) i.e. as the frequency increases the impedance to ground decreases, therefore the high frequencies go straight to ground and the low frequencies go through to the amp – capacitance increases with length

      i use high bandwidth cable tv coax – it is the lowest capacitance cable you can buy and make my own leads, makes a huge difference

      i also use a heavy mahogany body guitar with high output pickups through a mesa dual rectifier :D[/quote]

      You use Coax cable for patch leads?

    • #74043
      rewindspline
      Participant

      that’s exactly what i use the tube DI for – works a treat

      you can go nuts with cable – if you have a trebly spiky guitar you can smooth it out by using the longest and cheapest cable you can find

      coaxial cable is like a capacitor (low pass filter) i.e. as the frequency increases the impedance to ground decreases, therefore the high frequencies go straight to ground and the low frequencies go through to the amp – capacitance increases with length

      i use high bandwidth cable tv coax – it is the lowest capacitance cable you can buy and make my own leads, makes a huge difference

      i also use a heavy mahogany body guitar with high output pickups through a mesa dual rectifier 😀

    • #74060
      captainadama
      Participant

      Lee,

      thanks for the compliment.
      The VHT Valvulator is a Tube buffer that drops the direct guitar signal from high to low impedence in order to allow the signal not to be affected by the loading of your pedals.

      As far as placement, I think there is quite a bit of flexability depending on what you want to hear.

      This FAQ was helpful for a way to look at things;

      http://www.robertkeeley.com/faq.php#Effect%20Order

      Cheerio!
      Adam

    • #74117
      lee_UK
      Participant

      Very nice setup, your VHT box, is it a valve preamp? some people say your Modulating effects should come after your distortions but i notice you have them before and after, thats the beauty of individual effects, you can see what works and what doesn’t, and its always changing too,
      im always looking for new pedals to try.

    • #74053
      captainadama
      Participant

      As far as cables I do use Monster for the guitar and amp connections. I can hear a difference between those and less expensive cables such as Planet Waves or the typical bargain bin types.
      The pedalboard though is wired with George L’s. Easy to assemble and sonically pure to my ears anyway!
      There is a difference as far as i am concerned, but its what i want to hear. Some people don’t care. Clean, quiet reproduction of my guitars tonal nuances, which the Andersonsons have in abundance is what i want!
      BTW the TA Tele has the Kinman Broadcaster pups installed. Very fat and noiseless single coils. He got it right!

      #http://i53.photobucket.com/albums/g72/heyrey/pedalboardflowchart.jpg

    • #74044
      lee_UK
      Participant

      Pair of Andersons too? Very nice setup, can you show us a diagram of the setup, nice to see how you loop it all together, good quailty monster cables too, i keep trying to tell Tim about the importance of cables, but he still swears by his ‘Supermarket trolley dash’ Cables.

      Anyone else echo the importence of high grade cables?

    • #74048
      captainadama
      Participant

      Here is my current rig.
      Hope you like!

      #http://i53.photobucket.com/albums/g72/heyrey/IMGP0252.jpg
      #http://i53.photobucket.com/albums/g72/heyrey/Pedalboardcurrent.jpg

      Not shown is a 65 Twin Reverb Reissue when more wattage is needed.

      adam

    • #74047
      lee_UK
      Participant

      Looks like im in tha market for one.
      thanks.

    • #74080
      Megadeth45
      Participant

      My set up is simple LP classic w/ emg 81 bridge and 60 neck, into marshall dsl 100 with a boss eq in the loop. i need a lead boost…does a tubescreamer sound good when put on top of distortion?

    • #77105
      lee_UK
      Participant

      Just enquired about one, i know they are meant for condenser recording mic’s, but how well do they do the job for guitar?

    • #74089
      rewindspline
      Participant

      [quote=”lee_UK”]Can you give a URL to that Behringer pedal? ive got a PB100 booster with gain – treble – bass controls but no splitter like you said? the one i have is here:
      http://www.behringer.com/PB100/index.cfm?lang=ENG
      i currently use it as a ‘solo’ pedal, does a very nice job too. and at £12.50p new im not complaining.[/quote]

      http://www.behringer.com/02_products/audio_index.cfm?lang=ENG

      check out the MIC100, that’s what i have

      it’s a copy of the A.R.T. gear which now come with USB – direct recording into the computer with tube tone!

      http://www.artproaudio.com/default.asp?p_id=4

      #http://www.artproaudio.com/images/products/art_tubemppsusb.jpg

    • #74085
      rewindspline
      Participant

      [quote=”vitaminE”]Great post rewindspline – you’ve given me a case of pedal envy! I am, however, questioning the lack of ground-in beer dirt on your gear… :wink:[/quote]

      thanks mate – rum doesn’t stain so bad…. 😆

    • #77077
      lee_UK
      Participant

      Is there an Emoticon with a ‘shaking head in disbeleif’?

    • #74041
      Tim
      Participant

      😆 Is that better?!

      And I assure you that is my patch lead, I’d have binned it by now if I wasn’t using it!

    • #77109
      lee_UK
      Participant

      [quote=”Tim”][quote=”lee_UK”]
      😆 Brilliant 😆 if i didnt know you any better…[/quote]

      #http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b378/subphonic/Bent.jpg

      :oops:[/quote]

      I had no idea 1/4″ jacks suffered with that too.
      And i dont beleive for a minute that you use that thing, hope this doesnt become your ‘Tennis Tournament’ (see1bassleft) .
      😆

    • #77113
      Tim
      Participant

      [quote=”lee_UK”]
      😆 Brilliant 😆 if i didnt know you any better…[/quote]

      #http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b378/subphonic/Bent2.jpg

      😳

    • #74118
      lee_UK
      Participant

      [quote=”vitaminE”]Here’s the current incarnation of my set-up. I built the board myself out of plywood and hardware from All Parts. Amateur hour, I know, but it sounds good and is easy to operate while half drunk on a dark stage. All the send and return levels on the back of the preamp are adjustable. The DOD chorus is junk and will soon be replaced by a T.C. Electronic. A volume pedal and a Mutron are also on the wish list, but then I’ll have to build a bigger board.

      Great post rewindspline – you’ve given me a case of pedal envy! I am, however, questioning the lack of ground-in beer dirt on your gear… 😉

      #http://usera.imagecave.com/vitaminE/eRig.JPg
      #http://usera.imagecave.com/vitaminE/eRigDiagram.JPG%5B/quote%5D

      Im a bit worried about your Marshall amp footswitch and its lack of paint!
      Looks like most people use a tube preamp at the start of the chain, might be something i’ll look into.
      Does it make that much difference to your rig? Angled 1/4″ jacks on your patch leads would sort out your pedals pointing to all points on the compass problem 😆

      Hope you dont mind i edited your post so that it had a direct link to your URL rather than a cut and paste.
      Lee.

    • #74114
      lee_UK
      Participant

      [quote=”Tim”]At the moment when I cut out I just waggle the 4 jacks in turn until the sound comes back…it’s not the best solution :oops:[/quote]

      😆 Brilliant 😆 if i didnt know you any better…

    • #74059
      vitaminE
      Participant

      Here’s the current incarnation of my set-up. I built the board myself out of plywood and hardware from All Parts. Amateur hour, I know, but it sounds good and is easy to operate while half drunk on a dark stage. All the send and return levels on the back of the preamp are adjustable. The DOD chorus is junk and will soon be replaced by a T.C. Electronic. A volume pedal and a Mutron are also on the wish list, but then I’ll have to build a bigger board.

      Great post rewindspline – you’ve given me a case of pedal envy! I am, however, questioning the lack of ground-in beer dirt on your gear… 😉

      #http://usera.imagecave.com/vitaminE/eRig.JPg
      #http://usera.imagecave.com/vitaminE/eRigDiagram.JPG

    • #77070
      Tim
      Participant

      [quote=”lee_UK”]Im not impressed with those cables Tim, did you get them at the local Car Boot Sale? marked up Buy one for £1 and get the other 9 free? 😆

      One thing i did invest in, and it has paid dividends is high quality cables, i got the best i could afford and they really do make a difference.[/quote]

      😆 Yeah, if you remember a while back I was asking about cables, I think it was you who recommended Monster? I’m still in the market for some! At the moment when I cut out I just waggle the 4 jacks in turn until the sound comes back…it’s not the best solution 😳

    • #77078
      Gordy Smiff
      Participant

      Good quality cables do make a huge difference, even with a simple set-up like mine, the only pedal I use is the footswitch for changing channels, and switching reverb on or off.

      I really admire you guys that have “all singing, all dancing” pedal boards.
      I subscribe to the KISS principle, no, not that dodgy parody of a rock band, the Keep It Simple Stupid, school of thought.

      Until recently I made up my own cables, then the current Mrs Smiff bought me some Planet Waves ones for my birthday. Sturdy, well made, but enough about Mrs Smiff, the cables are pretty good too.

    • #74093
      lee_UK
      Participant

      Im not impressed with those cables Tim, did you get them at the local Car Boot Sale? marked up Buy one for £1 and get the other 9 free? 😆

      I have a few pedals for the varied set we play, you have to have a bit of Flanger for ‘Are you gonna go my way’ dont you? but i only use it for that song.
      The originals band i play in is different, i use the bass players kit, he has a Marshall 100watt superlead with 2×12 cab with Fane speakers, and a Boss ME6 multieffects unit from the early 90’s, the old guitarist used to play with it, it’s kinda like stepping into a dead mans shoes.

      One thing i did invest in, and it has paid dividends is high quality cables, i got the best i could afford and they really do make a difference.

    • #77083
      Tim
      Participant

      Just for the sake of contrast, this is my live rig:

      #http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b378/subphonic/Tims-Rig.jpg

      Man, I love playing bass 😀

      The pedal is a Boss LMB-3 Limiter/Enhancer, I don’t use it when rehearsing so I can practice my dynamics but I have it on stage to kurb the adrenalin/alcohol effect.

      Right, you can all carry on as you were now…

    • #77126
      glw
      Participant

      Blimey!

      Nothing as organised as any of that.

    • #77081
      lee_UK
      Participant

      Can you give a URL to that Behringer pedal? ive got a PB100 booster with gain – treble – bass controls but no splitter like you said? the one i have is here:
      http://www.behringer.com/PB100/index.cfm?lang=ENG
      i currently use it as a ‘solo’ pedal, does a very nice job too. and at £12.50p new im not complaining.

    • #74084
      rewindspline
      Participant

      you have more pedals than i do!

      people rant about what order the pedals go in but at the end of the day it all comes down to what you like yourself – why play somebody elses setup?

      i think you would benefit from a DI at the start, between the A/B switch and the morley wah.

      there is a behringer tube pre amp with output level and gain controls that is ridiculously cheap – it also acts as a splitter so one output can go to a tuner outside of the loop. put this at the start of your effects and you will notice a huge difference in your final sound

      power supply is also critical to tone – there are several devices out there that cater for multiple pedal setups – i made my own 7 output power supply but you can buy things like the voodoo labs pedal power 2, juicebox etc

      *that’s just my home recording setup, half of that shit disappears for stage

      stage is just guitar, pedalboard, dual rectifier 😀

    • #77093
      lee_UK
      Participant

      I have a pretty simple setup compared to yours,
      #http://img157.imageshack.us/img157/4853/rigws7.jpg

      i dont use more than 2 pedals at any one time,
      and the chain goes in the front of the amp,
      it’s an old 1973 100 watt Hiwatt head with a 2×12 cab,
      2 vintage 30’s.
      I use high quality patch leads (home made)
      between the pedals, and there is a home made
      A/B box between the guitar and the Wah one side goes to
      the chain, the other goes to the bright channel on the amp.
      I know the text books say tere are better ways of setting it up,
      but from the combination of pedals i use, i find this is the
      best solution…. for now.
      Any sugestions welcome.

    • #74070
      rewindspline
      Participant

      [quote=”lee_UK”]Have you ever tried using an A/B box at the front of the chain? to see what the actual difference is in loss of ‘Clean’ guitar tone? i mean whats the difference between you going through your rig with everything on bypass, and the tone going straight to the amp?
      I have a setup that uses 10 pedals in a chain, and i do notice a bit of tone loss between bypass and straight to the amp, but i have a home made A/B box to switch, i notice yours doesnt. And the worse offender for me was a noise supressor which i notice you have.
      Worse pedals in the world for tone loss, Danelctro, those mini pedals! my god they suck the tone right out of your guitar and leave it lifeless, like a well sucked ice lolly (popsicle) all ice no flavour!.[/quote]

      usually the tone is sucked out because of the loading on the pickups – the guitar signal trying to drive all the pedals, especially old style pedals like the wah

      if you buffer the signal first with an active DI it reduces the …effect… 😀 of the effects on the guitar signal dramatically

      i go one step further and use a tube DI with output level adjustment – this is basically a pre amp that drives the pedals – works great, especially when you can adjust the output level to suit the pedals, they work much better with a decent signal, and i can use whatever length guitar cable i like

      Gordy: the trick is to use them sparingly, not all at once!

      where’s the rest of the rigs? has to be some good ones out there!

    • #74096
      Gordy Smiff
      Participant

      That’s a most impressive set-up.
      Did you take tap-dancing lessons to be able to use it?

      Take no notice of me, I’m just jealous. 😉

    • #74040
      lee_UK
      Participant

      Have you ever tried using an A/B box at the front of the chain? to see what the actual difference is in loss of ‘Clean’ guitar tone? i mean whats the difference between you going through your rig with everything on bypass, and the tone going straight to the amp?
      I have a setup that uses 10 pedals in a chain, and i do notice a bit of tone loss between bypass and straight to the amp, but i have a home made A/B box to switch, i notice yours doesnt. And the worse offender for me was a noise supressor which i notice you have.
      Worse pedals in the world for tone loss, Danelctro, those mini pedals! my god they suck the tone right out of your guitar and leave it lifeless, like a well sucked ice lolly (popsicle) all ice no flavour!.

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