How do YOU do it?

[Guitarist-Jonny]

Sorry for not replyin in AGES everyone, been mad busy this week :S. Right, so are you sayin something like a Damage Control Glass Nexus would be the best option for chorus and stuff? It would be perfect for 99% of what I need (modulation and delay- however where do I turn for say wah or a volume pedal, for example?) Or are you recommending I turn to rack effects or something else even like computer based effects? Sorry dudes I really am rubbish at this kind of thing! Thanks for all your help
Regards
Jonny

[560licious]

Line 6...has the effects and the wah, which is very sweet by the way, and the volume pedal..I have an older model head with the floorboard, but all their current stuff has the wah and volume..with tons of effects

www.line6.com

[Guitarist-Jonny]

Originally Posted by eviltwin

First, let me say that I don't use pedals. I either plug my guitar into a Digitech GSP2101 or go guitar -> crybaby -> JCM900, in which case I'm not too convinced about the bypassed sound.

Secondly, starting with any pedal will not be as transparent as starting with a proper amp input, unless the pedal is a tube preamp type pedal, with the tube up front.

But as many have already mentioned, it might be exactly the sound someone is looking for; roll off a bit of the highs, followed by a grainy overdrive, coupled with some low tech modulation effects.

But it appears you are more interested in very clean and transparent effects, if so, stomboxes are not the way to go, IMHO. Even when using properly buffered pedals up front and true bypass pedal after that, you will still have unnecessary levels of noise and signal degradation.

Stomp boxes will invariably use wall wart power supplies, as such pedal power may become the achilles heel of your set-up, sucking tone and dynamics from your sound.

Lastly, a unit like the ME50 is digital, everything after the input is in the digital domain, so stuff like routing, buffering and impedance is completely irrelevant. Whether or not these units maintain your sound (tone and dynamics) is another matter of debate. In general you will not put them in a pedal chain, instead pedals need to be put in the loop of those units, or in front of them.

Eviltwin, your right I do want the most transparent, signal 'friendly' effects i can get. What do you think of the Damage Control (Peavey) Glass Nexus? It's tube, and has modulation and delay in one () so it would also simplify my setup as I wouldn't need a seperate delay pedal (i have spring reverb in the amp that I'm happy with so it would be perfect for me it seems). Would it be as 'transparent' as what you were referring to? And your Digitech.... how good is that for sound?

560licious, the line6 is digital isn't it? I've had a go of the spidervalve, very good but the effects aren't as good as i want them to be tbh but thanks- I will definately keep the floorboard modeller thingies in mind :P!
Thanks
Regards
Jonny

[eviltwin]

Originally Posted by Guitarist-Jonny

Eviltwin, your right I do want the most transparent, signal 'friendly' effects i can get. What do you think of the Damage Control (Peavey) Glass Nexus? It's tube, and has modulation and delay in one () so it would also simplify my setup as I wouldn't need a seperate delay pedal (i have spring reverb in the amp that I'm happy with so it would be perfect for me it seems). Would it be as 'transparent' as what you were referring to?

No experience with the Glass Nexus, but looking at the site:
-specs: looks cool, but my 2101 is 48bit and it's close to 13years old!
-tubes: these make sense if used in front of an amp, but IMHO reverb and delay effects should not be used in front of distortion, so this thing to me makes more sense in an FX-loop.
-transparency and time domain effects before distortion are not compatible IMHO. Digital reverb needs to go in the FX-loop. Simple.
-reverb: sample sounds crap anyway,
-U-vibe: cool effect, but the UniVibe is a celebration of low tech, a pedal like this just to create that sound is a bit of a paradox.
-the same could be said of the other modulation sounds, why build a digital pedal with tube buffers, brag about 32bit and SNR, but include only one knob for reverb and allow only a single modulation effect at one time (with just one control as well!)
-note that none have distorted samples (Jimi UniVibe, EvH phaser, SRV leslie etc.)

And your Digitech.... how good is that for sound?

The GSP2101 is great, I can highly recommend it -if you can deal with the programming- or any of its slightly simpler sister units (2112, 2120) do a search on this site for more threads on Digitech stuff.

http://www.jemsite.com/forums/f30/di...hlight=GSP2101

You may want to look into their latest offering, the (non-tube) GSP1101,
http://www.digitech.com/products/mul...SP1101demo.php

the presets shown probably won't do it any justice, as was the case with the 2101, a bit of tweaking and a tube power amp and you can go 10x better.

BTW Rikk Beatty (a jemsite member) is doing a promotion/clinic tour with the Digitech truck showcasing their equipment.

http://www.jemsite.com/forums/f26/di...ighlight=truck

[Guitarist-Jonny]

I would be using the glass nexus in a serial FX loop, and I would be using delay all of the time to be honest and chorus for certain songs- do you think I should go for a glass nexus? I'm not really after big pedals or anythin with loads of effects, all I'm after right now is transparent chorus and delay effects in the pedal really. Is the GSP 2101 tube? What would you recommend I do for my needs at the moment?
Thanks
Regards
Jonny

[eviltwin]

since you already own a GT-8, why don't you figure out a way to use that in the FX loop of your amp, and not assign use any distortion in the GT8's patches. That would surely preserve your tone much better.

Perhaps you can go into the GT-8 using the FX return iso the regular input:

Guitar -> Amp input
Amp FX send -> GT8 FX return
GT-8 output -> Amp FX return

Alternatively you could go
Guitar -> GT-8 input
Gt-8 send -> Amp input
Amp FX send -> GT8 FX return
GT-8 output -> Amp FX return

But be careful how to match the levels, plus these kind of loop may add noise.

Is the GSP 2101 tube

Yes, twin tube preamp (with analogue compression and EQ) + digital effects, both MIDI programmable. Effects be assigned and routed into virtually unlimited signal paths.

Most people will use such units with a poweramp, but it is also possible to bypass the pream section and go in via the FX loop, using the preamps of your favorite amp and only the digital effects of the 2101. Which were world class in the day and are hardly surpassed by anything currently available, especially in terms of flexibility.

[Guitarist-Jonny]

In that case, would it matter if it were an ME-50 in my FX loop? I wouldn't wanna use a big GT-8 for two effects really unless I have to. What's ur opinion on the Damage control solid metal for a distortion pedal?
Thanks
Regards
Jonny