Essential effects

[gbesson]

I see a lot of musicians creating pedal boards with a lot of different effects in tandem. I hae used a phase shifter playing acoustic pieces but nothing more elaborate. What do those of you more experienced with this consider to be essential effects for acoustic guitar. I have only used reverb built into an amp. Is there a reason to separate out that effect?

[RogerPease]

For me just a touch of reverb is the only “essential” effect. Just a tiny bit of chorus can be nice sometimes, too.
A bit of delay can occasionally be a cool thing, but only on some songs. It’s possible to have certain effects to be an important part or your sound, but I prefer to keep the acoustic guitar sound out front. It’s taste thing, no rights or wrongs.

Why outboard reverbs? Because different reverbs sound different. A room reverb sounds different than a plate reverb (my fav) and a spring reverb sounds very different than those. And some people have strong ideas about what their reverb should sound like. Since I like the reverb to be barely noticeable if at all it’s less critical what kind of ‘verb it is.

But there are times when it’s cool to push the effects (or the EQ for that matter) forward on certain songs. Then it matters more what they sound like.

Helpful? Cheers, _Roger

[Silly Moustache]

This is my "old fashioned" opinion.

We spend a whole pile of money on getting the finest sounding acoustic guitars.
For me - that's the sound that I'd like the front, middle and back rows to hear.

I have only used "reverb" on the mixer, and the old axiom is turn the reverb up until you can hear it then back one notch. This gives a little "space" to the sound but doesn't change the tone of the instrument.

In the '90s I went though a load of different pick-ups, UST and preamps etc. None (repeat none) sounded like my Collings Ds2h, my Dobro or my mandolin.

I resolved to only use mics. For a while with a five, four then three piece combo, I used SM58s for vocals and AKG CS1000s for instruments.

Going back to solo and duo, I simplified things to just the one Rode NT1.

That's enough.

[T.Lime]

My 2 cents worth.. as soon as you plug an acoustic into something you lose part of its allure, its pure sound. After that then the soundscaspe you try to create is up to you.. the acoustic side of my board has a octave pedal, reverb, delay, low gain OD 7 channel EQ, tuner, amp/cab sim with AER Three IR and preamp with notch filter and treble boost.... I do play in a rock band which changes what I want from those who play solo/duo

[gbesson]

Thanks for the responses. I am leaning towards trying to get a good acoustic sound through an amp with the pickup. The B string on 1 of my guitars with a Fishman UST sounds "off". I have a Boss AD-2 pedal coming soon which I think will give me some control over that. I have been using a Spark Mini for practice and that has heavy reverb. THat's ok but made me wonder about separating out the effects. Thanks for the feedback

[IraDuncan]

I've been playing around with various configurations of delay pedals before getting to my RC-50 Loop Station.

Right now my acoustic board has an Ernie Ball VP JR for volume control prior to any effects, and that leads into consecutive Boss DD-6s. One of them is set for reverse function, and the other for standard delay.

Those empty into a Walrus Audio Slö and the RC-50 Loop Station.

When I'm done building a loop, I'll close the song out with another Ernie Ball VP JR to bring it down slowly.

I think it's going to be advantageous if I build another board soon to provide some spacing and ease of access to certain pedals.

It has evolved since the picture below, but you get the idea of how I use it.

[shufflebeat]

It depends…

On:
Your character as a performer,
The song/tune,
The context,
The audience.

What is your imagined outcome?

[fwphoto]

I'd like to be able to get away with just a mic & an amp but I play with a band & that just won't work. Once you go beyond the mic/amp combo you can get really good sound but it will not sound like your good guitar by itself or mic'd. Once you get over that fact it's time to consider what your ideal signal chain should look like.

I prefer a tuner/mute pedal right after the guitar/pickup especially instead of an onboard tuner. From there I personally have a DI/multi-effects box that includes my favorite effects. If you will be running you signal to the house you'll want some sort of DI box to plug your guitar cord into the DI's 1/4" jack to be converted to an XLR output for the long run to the house mixer. Since I use a small amp as my stage monitor the DI should have an additional output (1/4" jack) to run the signal to the amp, as well. I always have a very small amount of compression going to sort of focus the sound of my guitar (primarily a D-18). If you choose to read further you'll notice that most all of the things I add are done very minimally. After the compressor I mostly add a small amount of reverb, as well. My box is a Fishman ToneDeq & it has 2 reverbs built-in & controls for each. I use so little that it really doesn't matter most times which I select. From there I have several other effects available but don't use most of them (like the flanger :-) at all. I do use the chorus whenever I want an "effect-sound" for specific songs.

There are plenty of pedal choices out there to build your own chain but since I have rather modest needs a quality all-in-one box + tuner/mute is perfect for me. FYI - There are a number of multi-effects boxes with built-in tuner/mutes for even more streamlined operation than mine!

Frank

[Daniel Grenier]

All valid replies and individualized to each player - as it should.

In my case, the "essential effect" I use is to output my sound in stereo (ok, maybe not an effect per se..) with a touch of reverb added. What I have is a dual setup (k&k + internal mic) in my guitar. This goes into a Sunnaudio MS-2 stereo preamp. The k&k has a TCH IR loader to it. Both channels into a Neunaber Immerse stereo reverb for a touch more "air". (the looper+AB is for practice recording, sound check, etc). At home I feed this to HS5 speakers and I have 2 QSC CP8s for bigger spaces.

Works for me but to each their own, of course. YMMV. Cheers and good luck with your quest.

[CharlieBman]

While I wouldn't consider any effects "essential" to an acoustic guitar, just a light touch of chorus can provide a nice shimmer and bring it forward in a mix.

[Josh P.]

Hi Daniel Greener, your pedal setup is very close to what I am looking to put together. I also have a guitar with a K&K+mic setup and have been interested in the Sunnudio MS-2. Doug Young's demonstration of the Mid-side effect is really appealing to me. Combined with a reverb in stereo (I like the sound of the UAFX Golden Reverberator) and out to a good set of speakers. Perhaps with some kind of a looper in there as well.

Couple questions on your rig:

How did you come up with the arrangements of pedal order - looper than reverb?
How or for what reason are using the boss AB pedal?
Are you liking the voodoo power supply?

Thanks for the info and for sharing.
Josh

[jay42]

I think 'something' swirling is good. That could be phaser, chorus, or flanger. There are many to choose from. I have an original tc SCF which gives a range of possibilities without being hardly definitive.
Recently, I was pondering a well recorded Whitebook and realized that the James Taylor tracks where you can actually hear the Whitebook, are processed...so you really can't hear it. Sigh

[nuchdig]

I've run the spectrum from no pedals to a board with chorus, flange, OD, delay, auto wah, reverb......to back to basically nothing. All this to say that no pedal is essential. I do think reverb and perhaps slight chorus can be helpful. LR Baggs has a lineup of acoustic pedals that are popular

[Guitars44me]

Originally Posted by Silly Moustache

This is my "old fashioned" opinion.

We spend a whole pile of money on getting the finest sounding acoustic guitars.
For me - that's the sound that I'd like the front, middle and back rows to hear.

I have only used "reverb" on the mixer, and the old axiom is turn the reverb up until you can hear it then back one notch. This gives a little "space" to the sound but doesn't change the tone of the instrument.

In the '90s I went though a load of different pick-ups, UST and preamps etc. None (repeat none) sounded like my Collings Ds2h, my Dobro or my mandolin.

I resolved to only use mics. For a while with a five, four then three piece combo, I used SM58s for vocals and AKG CS1000s for instruments.

Going back to solo and duo, I simplified things to just the one Rode NT1.

That's enough.

I will go even farther than our esteemed SM.

A great sounding acoustic guitar is all I NEED. Period. Granted I play solo and usually in quiet places for folks who are actively listening. No more rowdy bars for me, thanks.
No effect needed. Maybe a great sounding amp/PA. But often even that not needed… I hear a LOT of solo acts all the way to production bands playing way louder than Actually sounds good to me,
and I hear other folks saying the same often.

YMMV, different strokes, etc.

Cheers

Paul

[rokdog49]

Preamp➡️Compressor➡️Delay➡️ Reverb
I can use the delay as a Chorus effect as well.