thin tone pedal?

[impetus maximus]

looking for a pedal to give me a thin sound.
here are a couple of exaples.

QotSA

Rage Against the Machine

thanks

 

[Frankie]

You could just turn the bass down on your amp.

 

[Marshall & Moonshine]

that, or an eq pedal.
that, or play a strat.
that, or get the afd and run #34 (from what i hear).
that, or use a 5 watt amp to push two full stacks.
and that's all i have to say about that.

 

[impetus maximus]

well i want it to be on the fly. i have an EQ pedal (GE-7) but it hisses like a mofo.
i'm using a 1W amp/2x12 as it is and it sounds huge

 

[chuckmehh]

How did you embed a particular time of a song? That was cool...


On a different note, get a noise gate and use your EQ pedal; that's probably the best way good sir.

Toe down wah pedal could also work...

 

[impetus maximus]

i think i have a noise gate kicking around somewhere. i forgot about that thing!
maybe i could set up a A-B switch with the noise gate/EQ

i have a crybaby somewhere i need to find. haven't played it in a looong time.

on youtube click share/show options/start at 0:00 etc.
it was a pain in the ass posting those. my post kept getting embedded starting the vids at 0:00.
even though i unchecked auto embed media using the short links finally worked.

thanks for the good ideas chuckmehh

 

[BluesRocker]

Run your pickups out of phase.. That would work..

 

[impetus maximus]

interesting, would that work on a single humbucker or would i need two pickups?
my one guitar has a switch to make it a single coil or a humbucker.

 

[BluesRocker]

You can add a switch to make it out of phase.. Also if you have a HH guitar, if at least one humbucker is 4 conductor, you can wire the middle position to be out of phase.

 

[impetus maximus]

cool thanks. i'll have to check on the wiring.

 

[Riffraff]

It's done with an EQ. Cut all frequencies and boost just a few of the mids. With a GE7 maybe just one. Kick it on and off for that lowfi transiter radio effect. If the pedal is noisy make yourself a loop box to stick it in and leave the EQ on all the time. All you need is a DPDT switch, 4 jacks and a box. It's cheap, easy and very handy for noisy effects. Just stomp on the loop box to switch it on and off. I can post the wiring diagram if you need it.

 

[tubes]

My impression is that most pedal-modding people can make an old GE7 quiet for a few dollars.
I had one fixed - works okay.

Also, I'd second what Riffraff says: put any noisy pedal through a looper.

I'm expecting to get a 4 channel looper delivered in a couple of weeks.
I'm a bit worried about whether it will eliminate enough noise - given that the noisy pedals will still be powered from the same supply along with other pedals. We'll see in a couple of weeks.

 

[SmokeyDopey]

This is what I used to do:

1. Amp cranked, so you would be using your main 'distortion' from the amp itself.
2. MT-2 Boss Metal Zone (Not using as actual distortion, but more the EQ part). Pedal gain just a tad. Enough to compensate for the following:
Turn the Bass all the way down, and roll back the Volume/level of the pedals output.

Since it will have a lower output, it will be like rolling back the guitar volume knob so in the amp it will sound cleaner, but this is not what we're looking for.
Since there is a little gain in the pedal, it will mimic the distortion that the amp has (when cranked).

So, when the pedal is activated, it will sound like the intro for QOTSA, or that transition in the RATM song.


There are probably more 'pro' way in doing this, but you can't really acheive it with just an EQ, cuz you'll be losing the amps distortion.

If you have another dirt pedal with EQ it will work, but the metal zone particularly has a wide range for EQ, so it comes in handy to do this effect.

Hope this helps!

 

[Riffraff]

That is an interesting and creative suggestion. The MT2 is definitely a step in the LoFi direction. The EQ works fine if you use it in the efx loop of a master volume amp. I've tried this before and it actually works great. If you don't have that then there would probably be a gain change issue. I guess we need to know what you are using to give you the best suggestion.

 

[impetus maximus]

thanks for all the ideas guys

well i have two amps. a 2204 with a line level loop, and a 1W FireFly.
i mostly use the FireFly that simply has a volume knob, and a volume for
the switchable cascade boost.

@Riffraff thanks, i think i'm going wire up a box to bypass the EQ to eliminate the buffer "tone suck".

@tubes thanks for the idea! i looked into modding GE-7's and found a few
kits. i finally settled on one that replaces the 4558 chips for NE5532AP to kill the hiss.
it also comes with metal film capacitors to help with the "tone suck".

don't know anything about loopers but if your getting noise from
a power supply check out a Voodoo Labs power supply. they isolate each output.
i'm about to pull the trigger on a "pedal power 2 plus".

@SmokeyDopey this does help. i remember playing a friends metal zone.
it does indeed have a wide range of tone. i have a dirt pedal but it's a DOD classic fuzz i never use.
it's so damn dark unless i turn up it's volume but that just overdrives the amp.
i'm going to try putting the fuzz with the volume up and cut it back with the EQ.

my new used Dimbag Wah ($37) should be here any day now. i think this
will help with the lo-fi effect as chuckmehh suggested.

thanks again guys!

 

[tubes]

I got my 4-switch looper this week - my birthday request.
I'll try it out in a week or so.

Currently I'm using a Godlyke power supply for pedals.
It is supposed to be smart and quiet. (I mean, the advertising said that.)

But I'd definitely consider a VooDoo if I get the impression that people find it a good solution for noise.

I'm really not too clever about this noise business - but I'm hoping to fix it over time.
I probably don't even have a bad dose of noise - but I do see how noise can accumulate very quickly if you're not careful. Then your signal is muddy and horrible.

Hey impetus, this has turned out to be an interesting thread. Possibly it doesn't all relate closely to your original question - but all very interesting.

BTW, a "Looper" in this context is really just a box of foot switches.

The idea is that your pedal is always on, but connected through your looper: when you turn a pedal off, using your looper, the pedal is bypassed: it's as if it does not even exist in your chain.

Another advantage of the looper: I have often wished that the controls and knobs of my pedals were within reach of my hands - like waist height on a little table.
But then I want the switches on the floor for my foot.
A looper can do that.

I probably haven't explained very clearly. Well, it's late.

impetus, do keep us posted with your progress, i.e. how you're getting on with finding the sound you were looking for.
Like I said - all very interesting.

 

[impetus maximus]

loving this thread

a week or so? how can you wait? i'm like a kid on Christmas when i get new gear.
speaking of which i just got my Dimebag wah and it's amazing! they shipped
it with a battery which broke the little door during shipping. no biggie.
the 6 way selector pot nut was loose. fixed it with an allen wrench/piers.
the boost switch didn't work but it's just held in with a rubber grommet.
pulled it out and put it back in and wallah it verks! the boost volume was
noisy at first but now it seems quiet. not bad for a $30 pedal
</ramble> anyway it's pretty good for the sound i'm looking for.
toe down with the boost volume up gets a pretty good lo-fi tone.
if i can set it and forget it for wah/lo-fi use that would be awesome.

tubes you explained the loopers just fine. definitely going to use one or more
in my pedal board when i get my layout figured out.
what a great idea! putting a pedal where you can tweak it mid song
i may do that with my EQ pedal since it's used as a boost as well.

well talking about noisy pedals is on topic since i'm dealing with a hissy EQ.
from what i read, pedals that share a common ground tend to get noisy.
the Godlyke power supply's i've seen daisy chain and share a ground.
also i hear mixing positive (germanium fuzz) and negative tip pedals creates noise.
i would try the pedals with batteries and see if they are still noisy.
some pedals are just noisy like overdrive/distortion pedals. dealing with
said pedals a lot of guys use noise gate(s). i'm not a fan of boss pedals but
a friend of mine gave me a Boss NS-2 noise suppressor pedal. it has it's
own loop for noisy pedals. i haven't use it in a long time because i remember
it being hard to get it to work without cutting my guitar and sounding strange.
it mutes or reduces the volume of the effects when your not playing.
i went to try it tonight but i have a shortage of 9 volt batteries lol.

/max

 

[Riffraff]

I just made this simple one:

There are diagrams for a lot more here:
Beavis Audio Research

 

[The Ozzk]

Oh, sorry, I thought ya'll were talking about the DS-1

 

[impetus maximus]

kudos Riffraff
do they make a noise when you switch it on/off? i was checking out Jack DeVille's true bypass system.
i was thinking of putting it in my EQ or in the my looper when i build it.
it looks pretty slick as long as his system doesn't color the sound.
[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nN3C5GsHJMw"]‪Jack DeVille Electronics True Bypass Retrofit at Summer NAMM 2010‬&rlm; - YouTube[/ame]

Oh, sorry, I thought ya'll were talking about the DS-1

why are they thin sounding? i never heard one err never knew if i heard one lol.