Finding the Sweet Spot- Effect Pedals

[DetroitBlues]

I recently obtained my Boss DD3 Digital Delay. Rather cool effect if you know how to use it. Originally I found a video on youtube with Joe Bonamassa discussing his DD3. He uses his DD3 through the effects loops of his amps for a cleaner effect so there was no preamp distortion in the mix. He mentioned all the knobs were set to 12 o'clock. He played a few things and it sounded great. I tried to do the same on my Deluxe Reverb, too much delay. I want my delay to enhance lead playing tones, not over power them. I have a feeling when he uses the effects loop, the signal level is lower than what I do running through the front of the RD. But trying to find the sweet spot was rather difficult, so much so I've been considering returning the pedal. Yesterday, I did a web search to see if there were any more recommendations on settings. I found one and tried it out. Bingo! I found my perfect setting. Level at 10 o'clock, Feedback a 9 o'clock, Delay time at 12 o'clock, and using the long 800MS (12 o'clock). I now have what believe is a perfect setting for lead delay tone. Must of played for an hour non-stop at that setting!

 

I also have a Boss ST-2 Power Stack. This is my only OD pedal and it may be my last. For lead rock tones with the 140, I set the level at 10 o'clock, bass at 11 o'clock, treble at 1 o'clock, and drive at 9 o'clock. This gives me that great all around classic Marshall like lead tone for anything like ZZ Top, AC/DC, Free, etc... When I'm using my strat, I change the level to about 11 o'clock, the bass to about 2 o'clock, treble 11 o'clock, and the drive at 11 o'clock. Any more drive and the pedal gets too noisy and unusable for my taste. I can roll back the volume on the guitar to clean up the amp rather well.

 

What pedals do you use and what's the sweet spot settings you use them for?

[tulk1]

ST-2 your last OD pedal? Uh huh, sure.

 

It does take some tweaking to get "your" sound from pedals ... or amps ... or guitars for that matter. Definitely.

 

My board sports 3 OD pedals at the moment:

JHS Morning Glory: Vol - 12:00; Drive - 1:00; Tone - 1:00.

OCD: Vol - 1:00; Drive - 9:00; Tone - 1:00

Suhr Shiba: Vol - 2:00; Drive - 11:00; Tone 1:00

Phase: 7:00 (lowest setting)

Delay: uh, depends. The knobs move too freely and sometimes I forget to check. Gets interesting at times.

'Verb: All knobs at 9:00

[koula901]

Detroit -

 

the directions that come with the Boss DD7 (that's the delay I used to use) suggests some nice settings. You bought your DD3 used, (I assume, since you've said you get nearly all of your pedals used) and therefore, my guess is that you probably didn't get any directions with it for suggested settings. I find a lot of very helpful vids on You Tube - try searching DD3 there, and perhaps someone will share what their sweet spot is. I know I'm on a big learning curve with my delay (MXR Carbon Copy).

[DetroitBlues]

It did not come with directions, but Boss has the manual online. There were a few settings posted, but none were that useful to me on the website. I tried them out all out several times just to double check. So I went back to Google searching for more settings because of my doubts about the usefulness of the pedal to me. I was considering sending to Robert Keeley to have the analog modeI until I found someone with some different settings to try.

 

My other new pedal was the Boss BF3. I did find a guy on Youtube have a ton of settings for different songs for the BF3 Flanger. But there were so many, I actually have a cheat sheet I keep on a card in my song book.

[Bonefish]

What type of delay effect are you looking for? Are you going for a slap back type effect or more of a nuanced type effect. If you're looking for slapback, the key is going to be keeping the feedback and the blend at low levels so that it is subtle and not overpowering.

[DetroitBlues]

I think I found what I was looking for. Just a little depth to the lead rock tone. I've got a lot of recordings to do tonight, so I'll share those when I'm finished.

[smurph1]

I've never been a fan of delay..Especially in airports..(Thank you I'll be here all week!!) But my Basic setup is this..Dunlop Cry-baby into Small Clone chorus set about 9 o clock into an Ibanez TS-9 Gain and Drive dimed, tone on the bassy side..Then into my new Boss noise reduction pedal..My distortion is actually in two stages, I use the pre-amp stage on the amp for my crunch tone, and then add the tube screamer when I want to peel the paint off the walls..It adds a degree of agressiveness and sustain that I don't use a lot, but it sounds great when used sparingly..

[DetroitBlues]

Dunlop GCB95F is the next pedal on my list that or a Big Muff PI w/ Tone Wicker

[Trouble]

Dunlop GCB95F is the next pedal on my list that or a Big Muff PI w/ Tone Wicker

It cost a little more, but if you get the Dunlop/MXR/Custom Audio Electroncs wah, the one with the circuit diagram on top, you will have a much, much better wah.

 

It's tru bypass, has both red and yellow Fasel inductors that you can switch between, an adjustable boost circuit, and I believe internal q and sweep adjustments. Designed by Bob Bradshaw.

 

It should be all the wah you would ever need.

[DetroitBlues]

I've tried one like that, the Dunlop 535Q. I didn't care for it that much. I rather like the GCB95F Classic because it has the Red Fasel and it's true bypass. I can adjust the sweep myself just by messing with the pot. Haven't used a wah in awhile so, I get a cheap one to practice with for now.