Grateful Dead Music Forum

maybe its my imagination, but it seems like the sound of my clean tone when plugged directly into the amp sounds richer than when I got my wah pedal hooked up. is this common?

Thats how it goes for me as well. But I use an EQ which helps me bring up the highs and the level a bit to get it sounding fuller and sharper and richer again. Its still missin a bit but itll have to do.

caspersvapors wrote:maybe its my imagination, but it seems like the sound of my clean tone when plugged directly into the amp sounds richer than when I got my wah pedal hooked up. is this common?

It's not your imagination. Any pedal effects tone unless it is true bypass. That is why many here use either GCX units or other type of buffers to have them out of the chain unless activated.

Just to add onto what strummin said-- Wah's are the worst for the tone sucking. Since expression pedals need to be in front of you, you would need to get a tbp wah to not suck your tone.

disclaimer:I play bass
but last year I was at Fur Peace taking workshop with Jack Casady, when Hot Tuna played their electric show I noticed that Jack had his Boss tuner hooked up with a separate cable run from his amp, not inline like most folks would do so that you can use the mute function. So I asked Jack the next day why he did that and he said he wants the signal from his guitar to be directly fed to the amp, and any extra connections will diminish the sound quality( he also uses a very high end guitar cable)..So it seems to me any time use run your signal in and out of a stomp box you will have some signal deterioration(albeit minor). I now run my bass right into my head ...my .02
http://www.theCAUSEjams.com

True-bypass & other mods for wahs: http://homepage.ntlworld.com/s.castledi ... z/wah.html

its opposite for me, my tone is awful unless my wah is plugged in first in line

GratefulPat wrote:its opposite for me, my tone is awful unless my wah is plugged in first in line

Weren't you the same guy who said solid state sounded better than tubes?

While searching for the ever elusive sound.... I have really gone down the "Clean up the chain" path....
Disclaimer... I play every night to a packed house... 3 kids, a wife and a cat. I played in gigging bands in the past, but hung it up for a roof, groceries and paying for college for three teen-agers.....
First step for me was as simple as getting rid of the inferior patch cables. In the past, I would use whatever was in the gig bag, depending on which "Set" of effects I wanted to play... Bad move. For what it's worth, start with quality instrument cables.
I am now in the process of having all of my old effects "modded" to be true bypass. This, for me, was a leap of faith.... for the most part, I LOVE my tone ('78 Artist with coil-switches (Taps) on each PU through two '64 DR's with a variety of old and new effects) however I was getting some unpleasantness from some of the configurations, so.... I am having a local tech "bypass" all of my effects, we are moving slowly and I test each as he finishes.. So far so good. I will have to wait to have all (Or my main effects) completed to give a good evaluation. I really have no idea of the cost, as I have known my tech for about 187 years and my cost is dinner at my place... I do a mean steak.... I will follow up when complete.
PEACE,
Phil

Phil dude you are hilarious.
Ya know your point about cheap cables is good.I bet I got cables that are 10 + years old.
I just re-did my pedal board last night 'cause every other week I hate the thing.
Boss OC->mini Q-tron->Blues Driver #1->B.D # 2->Mem. Man-> Boss reverb delay.
Always thought about getting the by pass in the guitar and not the pedals.
Let us know what pedals you get done and how it works out.
Good Luck

Hey Phil, do you remember when dirt was born?

Kidding, bro, very kidding....

Good advice.

Another idea if anyone chooses not to mod pedals is to use pedal loopers which work just fine and an alternative to GCX type systems

Not too sure what a pedal looper is Strumming.
Is it cheaper than the GCX ?
How was the debut gig?
Bet you guys killed.

Tennessee Jedi wrote:Not too sure what a pedal looper is Strumming.
Is it cheaper than the GCX ?
How was the debut gig?
Bet you guys killed.

I played a solo slot! Bouk's guitar went down.

Cheaper than a GCX assuming that is $700 w/controller:

http://www.woboge.com/ click on remote systems. Theres is about $460 with a non-midi controller. They will be my next choice after GCX.

From there you can get the Voodoo Lab switcher:
http://www.voodoolab.com/switcher.htm

Dude I would so fold if the other half of my duo wasnt there!
The pressure would kill me.
Thanks for the links.

strumminsix wrote:Hey Phil, do you remember when dirt was born?

Do I remember when dirt was born..... Man, I was there during the conception.....

My kids tell me I must have sat behind Moses in the third grade... Talk about your pranksters....

When the pedals are finished, I'll take a shot at snapping some pic's of "innards" to illustrate how "invasive" the procedure is.... (This is starting to sound more and more like a proctologist procedure) I will have to send the pics to some kind soul as I neither have a "My Space" nor a site to link the pics to.... (I'm still keeping one foot firmly in the '70's---- You know when people shook hands and hugged and kissed pretty girls on the cheek when you met).... I digress....
PEACE,
Phil