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Gizzorge
Silver Member
USA
245 Posts |
 Posted - 11/08/2006 : 21:56:29
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My two cents...
Does the tone loss vs. using effects argument come down to a simple choice of sacrificing the natural tone of you guitar (to a degree in most cases!), vs. having the ability to adding unnatural tones (effects) to your sound?
The question I ask is would I rather have the option of delay, phasing, flanging, tremolo, wah, tuning (up really fast) high gain ,etc available to me, or saying no to those options cuz I will lose some of the natural tone of my guitar? Do you get a bigger kick out making all of those interesting sounds with your effects, vs. the clear unaffected tone of your guitars truest voice? It seems like a trade off, and in the end is highly contingent on the style of music you play, and what gets you off?
Can any of us with 6 or more pedal honestly say that our tone is un-listenable?
Sure I love the sound of my guitar going right into the amp with nothing else involved, but I also love the sound of my guitar echoing into space, and the sound of it taking off like a jet engine!!!!
It would be nice to have your cake and eat it too, but hassle, time, and budget all play into it.......
My point may seem like the obvious, but in the end I think this is what it all boils down to! |
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Chucks Tone Garage
Copper Member
USA
13 Posts |
Posted - 11/09/2006 : 02:05:51
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diggum12,
Thanks for the welcome. It's good to be here!  |
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Johnrocks
Silver Member
Brazil
175 Posts |
Posted - 11/09/2006 : 05:13:22
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Well, when I tried my DS-1 last week (Iīm a kind o vip client at some musical store here so I can bring some equipment to my home to try them before buying), TU-2 was not on the chain so my DS-1 mit sounded wonderful on the chain. TU-2 is back on the chain, but it seems that something happened to my sound. I never heard something like that about TU-2 but I was moved to read this topic and I agree with you. I read some reviews in other site at the same time and yes, a lot of people are saying the same thing about TU-2. Iīm thinking about saying bye bye to TU-2 and get a tuner.
NO offense but if we think about great players like Eric Clapton, George Lynch and Gary Moore, tehreīs no TU-2 on their chain. Ok, Reab Beach uses a TU-2 but maybe itīs not on the chain. http://www.rebbeach.com/gear_gallery_pedals.htm
Thereīs a rumour that GE-7 is a tone sucker. Does anyone know something about that? |
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Chucks Tone Garage
Copper Member
USA
13 Posts |
Posted - 11/09/2006 : 11:13:26
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My experience has been that some pedals are worse than others - tuners especially, however, for the most part it is a cumulative effect. The lack of true bypass on most compact effects means that you are getting a Y in your input signal at almost every pedal in the chain. When you get to 5-6 pedals it becomes more apparent.
Using a true bypass loop box for some of your effects and an AB for your tuner will help fix this. This is the reason why I started building loopers and modding effects.
To see some of my work - I know shameless plug - go to: www.chuckstonegarage.com
Chuck
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Briggs
Copper Member
USA
40 Posts |
Posted - 11/09/2006 : 17:07:53
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IMO, the tone suckage comes from the 1M ohm input buffers on most boss pedals (and alot of other gear). It sounds sterile and lifeless to me...almost too hi-fi sounding.
I bought one of these and have not been disappointed:
http://www.tonebone.com/tbone-dragster.htm
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StratoSphere
Double Platinum Member
Canada
2232 Posts |
Posted - 11/10/2006 : 00:06:25
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my opinion on this and tone suckage in general is this. only certain pedals can suck tone. i think that the only pedals that can suck tone are the ones that dont change or alter your tone in any way. (TU-2, NS-2, LS-2) and even then i find i have to be turned quite loud to even notice.
how can a flanger or chorus suck tone when it alters your tone altogether? i never understood this. i say it changes your tone, but certainly doesnt suck it. same with distortions and any box for that matter that somehow changes your sound. and the same goes for if your not even using the pedal and its bypassed. ive had instances where a flanger makes my signal a little bit quieter, but i consider this a volume drop.
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Edited by - StratoSphere on 11/10/2006 00:08:07 |
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Dr. Bob
Moderator
Australia
6593 Posts |
Posted - 11/10/2006 : 16:58:01
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Hi Guys
Aside from Boss pedals that Tone Suck
The all time Tone Sucking winner in my Book (collection) is a
Dean Markley Overlord Pedal
Classic Overdrive Model III
It's basically a Tube Screamer, Diode clipping, 9V battery.
And it sucks SO MUCH TONE that:
(well in respect for the decent people that let me make comments on this forum)
I will refrain from making those type of comments here.
But lets just say that, my friends told me, that I should, Sex & Travel it off. 
It really needs a major rewire, to true bypass.
Sound wise it's not too bad though....
I think the sound check & quality control guys were deaf of blind drunk, when they approved this pedal for production.
The Overlord Mark 1 is a true valve pedal, & is held in very high regard ... So what happened here Dean Markley?
Regards Dr. Bob
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Johnrocks
Silver Member
Brazil
175 Posts |
Posted - 11/10/2006 : 18:52:21
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| Well, TU 2 is OUT! I went to the store, talked to the guy and he agreed with me. So, I come back home, tried my pedals without the TU 2 and YES thereÂīs a good diff! |
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diggum12
Silver Member
USA
282 Posts |
Posted - 11/10/2006 : 21:06:58
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quote:
how can a flanger or chorus suck tone when it alters your tone altogether? i never understood this. i say it changes your tone, but certainly doesnt suck it.
I think what we are referring to is tone sucking when the effect is engaged, yes, but even more so about when it is bypassed. Hence, all the True Bypass buzz.
As an example, does anyone have a MXR Phase 90, or a TU-2? Put it into a True Bypass loop, then just switch between loop/no loop. Don't even turn on the Phase 90 or TU-2 on, just toggle between them. You will hear a muddier tone come out!
It's a simple experiment, but it proves the point: lots of pedals out there suck tone when bypassed.
In other words, you want the signal to sound just as good coming out of the chain that has 10 pedals as the chain that has just 1! |
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StratoSphere
Double Platinum Member
Canada
2232 Posts |
Posted - 11/10/2006 : 21:16:07
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| but dont all Boss pedals have buffered bypasses? |
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jack
Platinum Member
USA
1418 Posts |
Posted - 11/11/2006 : 01:49:27
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quote:
Originally posted by StratoSphere
but dont all Boss pedals have buffered bypasses?
I think so, but I think there are differences between buffered bypass and true bypass. Also differences between true bypass and hardwired bypass, its hard to explain, but I think Analogman has something about the differences between them all in his FAQ section. |
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Chucks Tone Garage
Copper Member
USA
13 Posts |
Posted - 11/12/2006 : 07:21:50
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Jack,
You are exactly right. A buffer will drive the signal through the pedal and can even be a help when running long legnths of cable but, it does not preserve the tone of the guitar/amp combination. In fact, it actually changes the tone to some extent.
True bypass actually takes the entire circuit board of the pedal out of the signal path when in bypass mode. It is literally like the pedal was never there.
I personally think that the Dunlop Crybaby is one of the worst offenders of tone suckage. Every time I get one of these I remove the buffer and make it true bypass. Sometimes I even add an ON/OFF LED.
Chuck
www.chuckstonegarage.com
http://stores.ebay.com/Chucks-Tone-Garage
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Johnrocks
Silver Member
Brazil
175 Posts |
Posted - 01/24/2008 : 22:29:30
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| Well, ha, itīs been two years since my last reply. But well, I donīt have a lot of pedals (still trying to find whatīs the best for me) and I used to have a GE-7 (mij) and TU-2. Yes, they were tone suckers and things got waaaaaaayyyyyyyyyy better when I sold them. A solution (I think) itīs getting an A/B and put the TU-2 not on the chain. I think that (maybe) this is the reason that volume pedals has an input for tuners, so they are not on the chain. Am I right? Please people, correct me if Iīm wrong. |
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verivorax
Platinum Member
Canada
1185 Posts |
Posted - 01/24/2008 : 23:50:40
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| just steal a line-level signal from somewhere else in your chain for your tuner.. it won't operate as a mute in that way, but an FX send is a handy tool in such cases. |
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Topic |
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Which Boss pedals are guilty of sucking tone?
