Quote:
Originally Posted by Irish Pennant
Resurrecting this thread.
I've kept the Radial JDX Direct Drive, taken the Zoom and the looper off the board. I added a Blackstar HT Modulation pedal. My signal path as of now is Tube Screamer>Blackstar>MXR 10 Band EQ>Radial JDX. There seems to be one missing element, a noise gate or a compressor? something to tame some of the spiked harshness that occurs when using the Tube Screamer. Maybe both pedals? I'm open to suggestions. Also, where in the chain should a compressor be added?
The Blackstar HT Modulation pedal has been a very positive add on, it's a keeper.
This has been a work of discovery and a work in progress.
|
Compressors can be added at the front or end of the chain, the results will be of course different. Others can chip in with their experience and preferences with comp near the end of the chain. Mine comes after the tuner and before the overdrive. By squashing the peaks you get increased sustain as well as that great country sound. By raising the volume/gain level on the compressor it can also be used as a booster - by putting it before the overdrive it of course changes the level going in, and so the volume boost also gives the overdrive more, well, overdrive! Post-overdrive placement would still give some of the sustain and peak levelling results but without the change of character on the overdrive!
Compressor pedals will often have tone controls as well as the usual threshold, ratio, attack and gain controls etc and become an additional way of increasing the available tones at your command as well as the actual compression. I only got my first compression pedal a few years ago, a Wampler Ego. It’s a very versatile pedal which colours the tone a bit - not a bad thing in itself but something for me to be aware of. A friend of mine had two Carl Martin pedals so I tried one of them and it now sits on my board: low noise and fairly neutral in how it handles the original guitar tone. I’m not saying one is better than the other but the CM is remaining on the board for now...