Placement of effects/footswitches

Nicholas Dedring · Post by **Nicholas Dedring** » 6 Oct 2003 10:33 am

So, I'm trying to work in a couple of effects loop options, for variety of sound... Where do you folks put a wah pedal or other boxes, so that you can get at them relatively easily???

I feel like I'm one leg and one foot short of adequate limbs to switch, toggle and wah with...

Stompboxes (if they were used) I can see putting next to you, and getting them with a hand... but something like a Rotosphere, or a wah pedal, or the effects loop footswitch seems to need to be stepped on.

Rainer Hackstaette · Post by **Rainer Hackstaette** » 6 Oct 2003 11:43 am

Nicholas,

you can place a single stomp box like the loop switch behind your volume pedal, but turned by 180 degrees, so that you can activate the switch with the heel of your right foot by sliding back on the vol.-pedal. (I hope that makes sense!

)

If you have 8 or less pedals a wah-wah could be placed to the left of the vol.-ped. With 9 or 10 pedals there is definately not enough room there. You may have to use angled phone jacks to save space.

In order to use the on/off switch of a leslie during a solo you'll have to grow another limb.

I just switch my rotosphere on (by hand) before a solo and switch it off when I'm done.

A couple of months back there was a thread here about micro-switches that can be activated by a flick of the wrist, a nod of the head or the blink of an eye - or by sticking your tongue out.

But I'm not yet ready for that ...

Rainer

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Remington D-10 8+7, Sierra Crown D-10 gearless 8+8, Sierra Session S-14 gearless 8+5, '76 Emmons D-10 8+4, Peavey Session 400 LTD

C Dixon · Post by **C Dixon** » 6 Oct 2003 11:48 am

"In order to use the on/off switch of a leslie during a solo you'll have to grow another limb.

"

The great Bob White (Hank Thompson fame), had a white MSA PSG with what appeared to be a RKV.

However, it turned out to be nothing more than a switch to turn his Leslie on and off.

carl

carl

Erv Niehaus · Post by **Erv Niehaus** » 6 Oct 2003 12:32 pm

I use a two button remote to turn my Rotosphere on and off and also to change speeds from hi to low. I place the remote just to the left of my first foot pedal. It's suprising how a person can get used to operating it.
Erv

Jon Light (deceased) · Post by **Jon Light (deceased)** » 6 Oct 2003 12:39 pm

Erv--what footswitch do you have? I ran the roto last night pretty successfully, on the floor, turned sideways just to the left of the volume pedal, but I'd much rather try your way.

John Macy · Post by **John Macy** » 6 Oct 2003 1:46 pm

When I was touring with Richie Furay, we did a lot of his earlier Poco stuff that Rusty Young played that cool leslie stuff on. I mounted a momentary contact switch between the necks with velcro so I could activate the speed change with my right palm. Worked like a charm, and no need for the extra limb...

.

Jon Light (deceased) · Post by **Jon Light (deceased)** » 7 Oct 2003 12:34 pm

Hey John---most excellent. My right hand is far more available for something like that than either foot. Definitely the way I will go.

Erv Niehaus · Post by **Erv Niehaus** » 7 Oct 2003 1:34 pm

Jon,
It's just a two button Peavey foot switch that I used to use with a rack mounted guitar amp. It has a stereo plug on it so you can access both the on/off and the fast/slow. It really works slick. I play through a rack setup and locate the Rotosphere close to the rack with short chords. It even has lights on it so you can see what you're doing.
Erv[This message was edited by Erv Niehaus on 07 October 2003 at 02:35 PM.]

Mike Perlowin RIP · Post by **Mike Perlowin RIP** » 8 Oct 2003 6:23 am

I built a vertical stomp box rack that clips on to the right leg of my steel. It has 4 effects ( Compressor, Fuzz, Phase shifter, and EQ unit), a power supply, and a box with hand switches to activate the effects.. I plug the output of the steel into the input of the rack, and the output of the rack into the volume pedal.

The effects are always turned on. I used bypass loops to rought the signal through the effect or away from it. The switches for the loops are conveniently located near my right hand so I can get to them very quickly.

The system, which was invented by steel guitarist Dave Zeiglar, works extremely well. It makes it very easy to use the effects, and it also prevents signal loss and bleed through. The bypass loops themselves are passive and need no batteries or maintenence.

If anybody wants a wireing diagram and directions on how to make them, E-mail me and I'll send them to you.

Joerg Hennig · Post by **Joerg Hennig** » 9 Oct 2003 9:00 am

I don´t always use effects but one or two distortion stompboxes now and then and put them just to the right of the volume pedal and find that pretty comfortable.
Buddy Cage has an effects board with maybe four or five pedals also on the right side at a 90 degree angle.

Regards, Joe H.[This message was edited by Joe Henry on 09 October 2003 at 10:02 AM.]

Pete Burak · Post by **Pete Burak** » 9 Oct 2003 9:46 am

FWIW, I think Compression works best when put before the V-ped.
Basically, IMHO, anything that you want to get a full strength signal to (ie. compression, chorus, etc), should be before the volume pedal.
I've found Delay and/or Reverb work better (for me) after the V-ped, because I like the way the decay/repeats still sound after the V-ped is shut off.
If there is a quick "stop" where silence is desired for a moment, I just shut the Delay/Reverb off a few seconds before that part so I can still hit the last note hard, but not have any repeats/decay sounding after that. OTOH, If you run the Delay/Reverb before the V-ped, nothing will get by it when it is closed.

What do others think/do?

Jon Light (deceased) · Post by **Jon Light (deceased)** » 9 Oct 2003 11:31 am

Absolutely, Pete. I find it downright disconcerting to back off the v pedal and have it cut off the tail of your 'ambience'.
My ear is far less disturbed by whatever tonal inconsistencies may result from variable signal feed into a reverb or delay from the v.pedal.

Jim Smith · Post by **Jim Smith** » 9 Oct 2003 11:36 am

Buddy Emmons has a nice discussion of the placement of his effects at the end of the Denver CD. All of his effects, even his compressor and distortion are after his volume pedal!

They don't sound good when I do it that way, but then I'm not Buddy.

I think he might have his volume pedal maxed when using these effects, but I'm not sure.

Randy Beavers · Post by **Randy Beavers** » 9 Oct 2003 12:21 pm

I've found a new placement for my effects pedals. The CLOSET!

b0b · Post by **b0b** » 9 Oct 2003 3:32 pm

Moved to 'Electronics' section.

Jon Light (deceased) · Post by **Jon Light (deceased)** » 13 Oct 2003 7:22 am

Just wanted to follow up--I made a little box with two push button switches--on/off and fast/slow. John---either they've changed the circuit a bit or else you are mis-remembering a bit--I made the box with momentary (n.o.) switches and discovered that the unit calls for standard on/off switches (no mention either way in the manual). So I had to run back out to Radio Shack (why on earth are there 4 R.S.'s in walking distance!?) to get the right switches. But this idea was still hip enough---and it worked brilliantly at last night's gig--that you are still way, way in the thumb's up column of my mind.

Erv Niehaus · Post by **Erv Niehaus** » 13 Oct 2003 8:13 am

Jon,
Glad you got it to work! I sure find it handy set up that way.
Erv

Jon Light (deceased) · Post by **Jon Light (deceased)** » 13 Oct 2003 8:57 am

Thanks Erv. Sure is nice to get this expensive and bulky unit off the floor. The first night I kept getting my foot tangled in the chords and had to keep bending down to plug the guitar back in. Not to mention coming off the volume pedal, kicking it in the process and messing up the volume level and fishing around with my foot for the right Roto button.
I've opted for putting the controls by my hand---I've got a Lawrence IQ 1200 plugged into the guitar's output jack so I've just velcroed this new controller box on top of that. Really works for me.

David Doggett · Post by **David Doggett** » 13 Oct 2003 11:08 am

One solution is to get a multiple FX and amp modeler like Genesis or POD. These usually are put between the volume pedal and amp. My new POD XT not only has every effect you could imagine, it has multiple choices for each one, typically modeled after the classic units of the past and present. For example, there are about 14 different kinds of reverb.

It's all available by pushbuttons, and the unit can be set next to you on a stool or mounted on a short mic stand. Some of the smaller ones, like Genesis, could be rigged with a leg clamp. Not only can you get any of the effects by hitting a button, you can program in different configurations of effects in different "channels" that are available by hitting a button.

Something like wah may still need a foot unit, but those are available as plug-ins to the basic unit. You also get 4 tone knobs, drive and output knobs, a reverb level knob, a tuner, and a headphone jack. Finally, you can use these as preamps going into a board.

At moderate volumes at home, all the FX and amp models sound like the real thing to me, and would probably record well. I'm still testing it out at live club levels, and the jury's still out on that.

The cost is about the same as 3 or 4 separate FX units.

Jim Ives · Post by **Jim Ives** » 13 Oct 2003 11:29 am

You use a wah-wah pedal too? I'm glad to hear I'm not the only one. My wah is on the floor, angled, between my 8th floor pedal and the volume pedal which is also angled (out).
From my steel, I have in this order:
- Goodrich 7A
-Wah-wah pedal
-Volume pedal
-Truetone Distortion
-Boss RV3

The last two pedals sit on top of a 2-space wooden slat I have mounted on my 4-space rack, which faces up, on my left side, so I can de/activate and make adjustments easily. They are secured with velcro tape, and don't come loose with transport. Also in the rack is a single sapce Korg tuner, which gets its signal from the speaker out of my Evans. It's been there for years and hasn't blown up yet.

I played this weekend with this rig which is newly configured, and it worked well. I use a drummer's seat, so all my bigger items like foot pedals and amp stand go inside the spare area of the rack box, smaller items like string changing paraphenalia, strings and cables go in a plastic tool box. All told I have 5 items to account for after the gig, 6 if you count the handtruck.

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Mullen D-10
Boss RV3
Fulltone Full-Drive II
Evans FET 500
Sho-Bud Pro II D10
Fender Stratocaster