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Do pedals add or take away?


Felix_Unger

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Firstly, "character and dynamics" are not objectivve qualities that can be added to or subtracted from.

 

Secondly, there is a huge difference between a volume pedal at one extreme and a digital delay or chorus at another extreme.

 

The question has no answer.

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I once owned an MXR boost pedal, and essentially it was nothing more than a preamp. It was clear as a bell, pristine, as if it wasn't there, but I can accomplish the same thing with my cheap Audio Buddy two-channel mic preamp. In fact, that's how I forced my 2x10 cab to blow out the windows through an Alesis SS power amp.

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It depends on you. Use em tastefully, don't worry too much about them and they can add a great flavor to your music.

 

As far as the actual tone... get a buffer pedal if you use more than three or four pedals... true bypass or not. I currently run 6 pedals, and aboyt 40 feet of cable (12 from guitar to board and then 25 from board to amp, then patch cables in between pedals. I have A/B'd the clean tone with and without the buffer pedal back and forth several times and the difference is definite. Even with semi-boutique, true bypass pedals, you lose some tone... that high end sparkle. With the buffer it sounds the same as a 6' cable straight into the amp.

 

So yeah... I guess the answer to your question is "only if you want them to"

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It depends on you. Use em tastefully, don't worry too much about them and they can add a great flavor to your music.


As far as the actual tone... get a buffer pedal if you use more than three or four pedals... true bypass or not. I currently run 6 pedals, and aboyt 40 feet of cable (12 from guitar to board and then 25 from board to amp, then patch cables in between pedals. I have A/B'd the clean tone with and without the buffer pedal back and forth several times and the difference is definite. Even with semi-boutique, true bypass pedals, you lose some tone... that high end sparkle. With the buffer it sounds the same as a 6' cable straight into the amp.


So yeah... I guess the answer to your question is "only if you want them to"

 

:thu:

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Turn the amp off - ultimate in clean tone.

 

After hanging out at TGP for a few years, I've learned that a strat plugged into a 1966 Twin loaded with JBLs turned off is the cleanest tone one can get... but it's slightly cleaner with a Callaham bridge.

 

I am NOT kidding! :mad:

 

:lol:

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Both. It depends...

 

 

That's about all I was going to say. Even along the lines of something like over drive/distortion. Something like a Tube Screamer pedal can add more dimension, but go further in to "fuzz" and you're limiting that relationship but getting something that otherwise might not be on tap.

 

I'm more of a fan of modulation pedals, reverbs, delays (not so much for choruses, phasers or flangers)

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