Our very own mate - Mr. mad has inspired me to write this post, regarding shifting effects on stage or while performing a piece from one end to the other.
Of course, when we are recording in the studio, each channel is recorded separately - clean tones in one take then the distorted tones and so on, but when we are on stage, if we aim for a very tight sound, we should pay attentions to this matter.
Usually, if we have a good rhythmic sense, stomping around on effects will not be too much of a difficult task - especially if we are using an effects processor or a midi controller, which is set to activate more effects in your rack or stomps.
BUT what if you only have the channel switcher and a few stomps - having a midi controller is not worth it and you have to LEARN HOW TO DANCE - this is where I am at right now
I usually have to add reverb and delay to some parts of songs and in the same time switch the channels between clean, crunch and then riff and immediately take out the reverb and delay.
The riff tone has to be dry usually, in order to sound tight so, imagine that if the delay gets in the way at a huge volume, things are not good at all
My idea is to always switch the channel first and then take out the effects as fast as possible. I am usually using rhythmic subdivisions in order to move my feet in an orderly way and make the moves as fast as possible.
What are your experiences in this direction and how are you dealing with this on stage or while playing music which requires tone and effects shifting?
Cosmin
Oh man I wish I had any experiences to share with you. I am not in a band and have never been so I never played live. But if I were playing live I would buy a small foot switch for my amp Are they so expensive anyway ??
I know what you are talking about. We have one song with my band where i have to change between clean and distorted and its not as easy as people may think. Especially changing from distorted to clean.
I have to do this while singing. I have no option for tap-dancing on multiple pedals while trying to also sing in time and not move my mouth too far from the mic. Thankfully in this band when I'm singing, I'm generally not playing lead guitar. So I'm only switching switching dirt/clean, not trying to change effects settings as well.
With my new rig coming (Axe Fx2, which I'll control with a Boss GT-10 via Midi) everything will be programmed for one button switching.
If you're using a multi-channel amp (or even a clean amp with pedals for dirt) and then also have modulations and time effects to switch on individual pedals, it gets pretty hairy! People build pretty complex pedal boards to accomplish all these changes in one press of one footswitch. It's not cheap!
I Rarely use effects when I play. My friend always does the effects side of things. But I find it is nice to play with 2 guitarists because you can cover for each other but if there is only guitar player I can imagine it would be much trickier. If you are going to be using multiple effects at once my advice would be get something like a Line 6 floor pod where with 1 stomp you can take all the effects out and bring them back in instead of having to step on 2 or 3 pedals each time.
I even have problems with a midi controller and singing changing patches and instant access buttons
Recently I started using a pod HD pro with the shorboard controller for live work. You can change the entire rig with one switch if you want. Works great, sounds great, can definantly recommend it!
It is much easier make extreme switches in tone using digital effects, simply because you can edit ALL of the effects prior, save it to a "patch" and just CLICK and you've changed as many tone settings as you want!!
But, I think Cosmin is like me....and we use more "analog" effects, in a traditional pedalboard setup. I may be wrong, but I think I remember that about Coz. And for us, it can take SEVERAL pedal clicks to change tones properly for a song!! Ugh!!
But, for most of my projects and experience, it doesn't pose much of a challenge. That's for two reasons...
1.) I really don't use a ton of effects. I have a botique tube-screamer style pedal for gain (HBE Power Screamer), a Seymour Duncan (clean) pickup booster which is always on for my funk band, but I swap it out for an Extreme Metal (modtone) pedal for EMULATOR. I also use a wah, and a boss OC-2 octave pedal. That's IT!! So the most complicated I can get is to turn on/off the wah, gain and octave....which I don't often need to do.
2.) In fact, I will avoid making more than 2 clicks to change tones for almost all songs/situations. For my bands, it's actually not that limiting.
But for the Coz-man, I imagine that he is responsible for more switching, and VERY specific tones for those epic rock bands and big stage productions!! Coz....time to go "Line 6" maybe?
Kidding. Us "analog effects" people are snobbish, and we would NEVER think about using digital!!
I totally agree on the 'snobbish' dear Gabe (holding a little cup of tea with the little finger raised )
I for one have a rather simple setup, but still, I need to switch around with the reverb, delay, phaser and booster, so it's always dancy dancy time
But I would never shift to digital it's just not for me
Look into http://www.thegigrig.com/acatalog/switching_systems.html
You put all your pedals into a separate loop (or you could put a group of pedals into the same loop) and then you use dipswitches to make patches with the required loops on. They even have a boost option too
Wow thanks man - this looks very, very interesting! I'll take some time to inspect
I would slide(the chord or note) and let the delay ring as I was switching to clean
I am currently using the Hardwire Delay, but I will definitely think about getting the Nova Delay from TC Electronics or the Eventide Time Factor, as I have heard a lot of good things about them and I wish for a serious looping machine.
For instance when I want to record a phrase, I have to hold the delay pedal pressed, while playing and right as the phrases finishes I have to quickly lift my foot off and the phrase will start playing that instant. I need a device who can understand a tempo and act accordingly, by naturally dividing the time frame into bars and fitting everything to the tempo - do you guys know of such a device?
No, unfortunately the tap tempo option is not available in the case of looping on the Hardwire
I'm going to post a separate thread also, but here's a glimpse at my current and simple setup.
I just bought the Mesa Bottle Rocket Tube drive the other day....WAY better than the drive channel on my fender deluxe!! Also, it may actually end up replacing the Power Screamer (HBE....love that pedal too!) but I have yet to determine. Also, the new "Extreme Metal" pedal swaps into the Seymour Duncan Pickup(Clean) Boost spot when I play with EMULATOR. For jazz/funk/everything else, the Pickup Booster stays on always.
Other than that, a standard Crybaby wah and Ernie Ball Volume Jr. Always extra strings on the board when gigging. Also, it's a cheap/ghetto power strip and not a one-spot.
Oh, I remember several times, when I missed my dist button and began playing part with "awesome" ceramic bridge humbucker clean sound... With time and practice it goes away) I always switched my tremolo off, then channel, then delay and other effects.
Currently I'm using axe fx with rocktron midi mate controller - it's a pleasure!
I'm honored
Well, when recording a whole piece I use my Zoom G2.1u. With this one I can shift the effects back and forward - which can be tricky if I use 3 effects in one piece (e.g. Cosmins Katatonia Style lesson) and have to switch from effect 3 to 1.. currently I cheat by just copying the first effect to the 4th position so I just have to move forward
When rehearsing I use my Sanpera II board with the corresponding Vypyr Head, like it!
This combination used to be a little buggy until I installed a newer firmware into the Vypyr: sometimes while changing the effect the amp's software crashed and all you could hear was a loud roaring and beeping noise from the cab.... I never played live on stage, but I remember having a nightmare where exactly that happened...
Well, maybe a midi controller would be a good idea after all for me as well I'll look into it a bit more and who knows? I will also get a wah and a whammy in the near future, but those don't need to be controlled with such a device.
haha. I have a hard enough time finding the channel button on my amp while playing live. I tend to use the volume pot to clean up - just turn down for soft parts, and turn up for the dirt. But I really do need a few pedals - delay and boost for solos. Call me simple
Simple JamsAlot
ah man, you guys are killin me. Okay, call me simple :P
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