Grateful Dead Music Forum

When I am playing and I want to switch effects, it is never a smooth transition, on / off when selecting a new effect or turnig one off? sounds chunky sort of, not smoooth.

if you listen to the dead and jerry is switching effects you don't really hear the transisition,

Say i have my phase on and i want to shut it off during a song or put somehting else on, you can really notice that i did something. it doesn't sound very good or smooth...

is there a fix for a smooth effect transition?

i appreciate the help...

I used to have this problem but not so much anymore. Honestly, I think it has a lot to do with your playing the instrument and knowing when to time it. If your strings are still humming or your strumming a chord or even hitting a note and you go to switch off the FX, depending on the volume of you and the rest of the band and that dynamic, you're going to hear it. I not only noticed the GD were very smooth at transitioning, but also Phish, and by sort of watching what Trey did made me realize that it wasn't the FX fault, it was me. I think it comes w/ time and practice in doing it. Try to time it right in the dynamic of the sound, even turning down your volume if you have to. There's a lot of things you can do to minimize the awkwardness of the change.

Also - make sure you have all your FX levels set right. That's always a classic problem I see - one or two stomp boxes are set higher than the rest so when those ones get turned on/off, it really is noticable. When I first started using FX it took me a while to dial mine in and figure this out.

Yo Bucket
check out the Strums thread on by-pass systems from last week.By-pass the pedals could help keep the transition smooth.
All Jerrys stuff had the true by-pass,so maybe thats part of it.
Pedals are fun and a pain in the ass at the same time.
Good luck.

i have all my pedals going through the effects loop on my fender amp. i am saving for a voodoo labs swithcer.

thanks for the reply's

finding a happy medium of the levels is essential... drop volume sharply just before hitting your lead sound and then turn up as necessary. Also, try to hit your switch in time with the beat, using the rhythm section as "camouflage"... I find the onboard loop great for getting a combo of two or more fx cued up in advance. for example I'll be playing and singing the end of Half Step with the fx bypassed, and I can step on the switches of my envelope and octave pedals, getting the combo of both ready for the intro to Stranger, for which I can activate them in a split second with the fx switch on guitar .

tigerstrat wrote:finding a happy medium of the levels is essential... drop volume sharply just before hitting your lead sound and then turn up as necessary. Also, try to hit your switch in time with the beat, using the rhythm section as "camouflage"... I find the onboard loop great for getting a combo of two or more fx cued up in advance. for example I'll be playing and singing the end of Half Step with the fx bypassed, and I can step on the switches of my envelope and octave pedals, getting the combo of both ready for the intro to Stranger, for which I can activate them in a split second with the fx switch on guitar .

what do you mean by onboard loop? is this a mod to your guitar or is it a stand alone, something like the voodoo labs board?

bucketorain wrote:

tigerstrat wrote:finding a happy medium of the levels is essential... drop volume sharply just before hitting your lead sound and then turn up as necessary. Also, try to hit your switch in time with the beat, using the rhythm section as "camouflage"... I find the onboard loop great for getting a combo of two or more fx cued up in advance. for example I'll be playing and singing the end of Half Step with the fx bypassed, and I can step on the switches of my envelope and octave pedals, getting the combo of both ready for the intro to Stranger, for which I can activate them in a split second with the fx switch on guitar .

what do you mean by onboard loop? is this a mod to your guitar or is it a stand alone, something like the voodoo labs board?

fx-loop/bypass guitar mod

tigerstrat wrote:

bucketorain wrote:

tigerstrat wrote:finding a happy medium of the levels is essential... drop volume sharply just before hitting your lead sound and then turn up as necessary. Also, try to hit your switch in time with the beat, using the rhythm section as "camouflage"... I find the onboard loop great for getting a combo of two or more fx cued up in advance. for example I'll be playing and singing the end of Half Step with the fx bypassed, and I can step on the switches of my envelope and octave pedals, getting the combo of both ready for the intro to Stranger, for which I can activate them in a split second with the fx switch on guitar .

what do you mean by onboard loop? is this a mod to your guitar or is it a stand alone, something like the voodoo labs board?

fx-loop/bypass guitar mod

do you have any info on this type of guitar mod? please and thanks!

Read this http://dozin.com/jers/guitars/tiger/info.html

Do you have active pickups in your guitar? This also helps because it buffers line drops across a effect.

Dozin wrote:Read this http://dozin.com/jers/guitars/tiger/info.html

Do you have active pickups in your guitar? This also helps because it buffers line drops across a effect.

thanks. how do you tell if your pups are active or not? i just have the stock strat pups

Do you have a battery in your guitar?

no

I would look into a stratoblaster and have it wired so it's continuously on.

The advantages of having active pickups is that it's really a preamp/buffer. It will supply a higher output signal when needed especially when switching effects. Your sending a hotter signal to your amp too so your pickups sound clearer and have a nice tighter response.

Jerry's guitars from the very early 70's on had active pickups.

Dozin wrote:I would look into a stratoblaster and have it wired so it's continuously on.

The advantages of having active pickups is that it's really a preamp/buffer. It will supply a higher output signal when needed especially when switching effects. Your sending a hotter signal to your amp too so your pickups sound clearer and have a nice tighter response.

Jerry's guitars from the very early 70's on had active pickups.

Ack! I'm now confused, as I know bupkus about electronics...

(But first, kudos on your site... a real treasure trove!)

I get the preamp thing, but is the active eq in the Ibanez Musician or Artist also acting as a UGB? Is the definition of an active pickup merely one which has onboard juice available, if not always engaged? As I understand it, Garcia's rig had the UGB switched on merely by plugging in the chord... so... if I left the active eq on my MC400 on all the time, that circuit would be acting just like his rig (albeit w/o the effects loop) in terms of cutting signal loss due to cable runs and pedals that aren't true bypass. Yes?

I've not had any problems switching effects on or off with either the active eq on or off, but am just trying to get my head around it...

Thx.
C