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viking
Copper Member
Denmark
20 Posts |
 Posted - 04/22/2008 : 08:01:45
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Whats your take on this ?
Ive read a lot about buffers , true BP , and tonesucking over the years , but frankly , I cant really tell the difference.Vintage Wahs could suck some serious tone when bypassed , but newer versions with buffers dont really do much damage , according to my ears anyway....
So , your observations , please.....Whats the worst " tonesuckers " out there , Boss or otherwise ?
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zentropa
Gold Member
USA
837 Posts |
Posted - 04/22/2008 : 08:05:58
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i've only had one pedal that i felt was a bit of a tonesucker and it was an MIJ CE-3. i owned this pedal for like a week about 10 years ago and jettisoned it.
other than that, i've found more problems with bleed than with tonesuckage (PN-2, OD-1, SD-1, etc.)
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Goran
Double Platinum Member
Sweden
2203 Posts |
Posted - 04/22/2008 : 08:46:36
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Well, this is a can of worms�.
My findings when tested with a True-bypass-box (aka Looper) some months ago (one pedal at a time) were that the older pedals sucked tone more, generally speaking, very generally speaking.
Tone sucking with Boss pedals are not the same as many others, many Boss pedals adds a slight trebly shimmer. And to me this is not all bad.
TU-2 is known to suck tone a bit, so if possible keep it out of your pedal line.
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Edited by - Goran on 04/22/2008 14:49:30 |
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viking
Copper Member
Denmark
20 Posts |
Posted - 04/22/2008 : 12:01:17
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I dont see any worms anywhere.....Its all a question about what we hear , or what we want to hear , LOL......I have tried a lot of times , and cant really hear any difference. Off course , I have never used 20 pedals at the same time , and I have played with people using other kinds of pedals that had problems .I believe some of the MXR pedals were really bad in the "bad old days".
I have also heard some people claim some of the Ibanez models affect the by-passed tone a lot.... |
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FRANZONI
Double Platinum Member
Ireland
3543 Posts |
Posted - 04/22/2008 : 13:02:20
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I keep the top row of pedals in a loop off a LS-2..i find not only does it keep my signal to the amp cleaner,but also keeps things a lot simpler..less 'tap dancing' on pedals in the middle of a gig.. ..i find the LS-2 does bring a little treble to the signal ,but not as much as i would notice in a live situation and it more than compensates by it's usefulness on my 'board.....i also should say that my twin tube overdrive is true bypass and sometimes you can hear the 'click'.when changing channels but again this doesn't bother me too much as the sound and response i get from it are excellent...i used to use about 10 boss pedals in a row but since i cut back to what i need,and got a LS-2 to loop some of them i my tone has improved a lot.. |
Edited by - FRANZONI on 04/22/2008 13:06:46 |
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happyplucker
Bronze Member
United Kingdom
126 Posts |
Posted - 04/22/2008 : 13:45:12
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franzoni, did you post a pic of your pedalboard? i seem to think you did? |
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FRANZONI
Double Platinum Member
Ireland
3543 Posts |
Posted - 04/22/2008 : 14:59:31
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quote:
Originally posted by happyplucker
franzoni, did you post a pic of your pedalboard? i seem to think you did?
yep in the 'lets see your pedalboards ' post ..should be on the last page.... my old 'board and my current one... |
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Dirk
Platinum Member
Netherlands
1309 Posts |
Posted - 04/22/2008 : 17:22:00
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A CS-3 eats a little low end when used with bassguitar, but that doesn't really matter when you have it turned on all the time like me.
Just turn up the bass on your amp a little to rectify it.
Also the SD-1 sucks a lot of low end when unmodded. Doing the Monte Allums (or a similar high quality) mod solves this problem.
One of the worst tonesucking, in both high end, low end and volume is probably the old Morley power wah boost pedal.
While it's a great looking vintage pedal with a huge cool factor to it, everytime I'm just disappointed by the tonesuck and overall sound.
I like Morleys Bad Horsie and Dual basswah pedals a lot more.
I once owned an old model Dunlop GCB-100 basswah, which is about the worst pedal ever invented, both volume and treble would drop when engaged, I did a mod on a standard GCB-95 crybaby involving one single resistor swap and it kicked ass with both guitar and bass.
This mod can be found on the net, generally referred to as "bass and gain boost" or something in that vein.
I won't even begin to mention the Behringer pedals, I have the tremelo pedal, UT-100 and while the effect itself is fine, it's tonesuck is even worse than the aforementioned Morley PWB.
Needless to say, don't bother buying 'em, just buy 2nd hand Boss pedals instead!  |
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tomasanibal
Copper Member
Spain
9 Posts |
Posted - 04/22/2008 : 20:04:01
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| Tonesucker??? My FZ-2, with the rest of the boss pedals ( the FW-3 also) no problem |
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Caliban
Bronze Member
United Kingdom
145 Posts |
Posted - 04/22/2008 : 20:38:25
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| Tone-sucking is not always about your pedals; sometimes it's about your amp and its relationship to variable input impedences. I've read lots of reviews about ultra-expensive and ultra-responsive boutique amps being made ordinary simply by the presence of effects pedal between guitar and amp, and I'm sure it could also be true of lots of other, rather less pricey amps. It wouldn't matter, in those circumstances, whether your pedals were buffered, bypass or A.N.Other; if the amp doesn't take kindly to effects, you'll have problems. |
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PaulH
Gold Member
535 Posts |
Posted - 04/23/2008 : 00:21:42
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In 30 years of playing music, listening to music, and watching live music, I've never ever heard or seen an effect pedal suck tone.
Can anyone show me (and I've asked this before) an example <audio or video> of this tone sucking thing actually happening. |
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viking
Copper Member
Denmark
20 Posts |
Posted - 04/23/2008 : 08:49:34
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Well , first of all : you will never notice tone sucking listening to/watching others play.What you see/hear is what you get , how on earth could you know how it would sound without ( by-passed ) effect pedals?
You have to try changing your own stuff around to notice it , and believe me , there can be a difference.Im too lazy to do this at practice , and on stage I have a lot of other things on my mind : you know , making sure the drummer shows up ( and preferrably sober ) , sorting out the bass-players gear , ( because he�s already drunk )etc.....
Seriously , I have only experienced it in a really bad way with older wah pedals , so much that it was immediately apparent after putting it in the chain |
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zentropa
Gold Member
USA
837 Posts |
Posted - 04/23/2008 : 09:17:06
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Caliban pretty much nailed it, but personally, i would consider that tone sucking :)
i consider it tone sucking when you plug straight into the amp, then route through 1 pedal with high quality cables and you find you lost 40% of your guitar output and half of the "body" of your tone when the pedal is in bypass mode.
but yah, that one CE-3 was the only pedal i had that did that and i'm guessing there was something wrong with it.
viking is correct that tone suck is relative. you only know it's happening if you have an instance to compare it to where it is not happening. without that, there wouldn't be an SD-1 bleed fix mod. |
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Johnrocks
Silver Member
Brazil
175 Posts |
Posted - 04/24/2008 : 09:49:17
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Hi guys!
I remember a topic like this. People used to say that GE-7 is a tone sucker. I had an old MIJ and yes, it colored my sound. Great pedal, but it�s a tone sucker. I don�t have it anymore. I have SD-1 (MIJ 84), DM-2A (82) and BF-2 (96) but I don�t have any probs w/ them. Oh people said that Boss tuners are tone suckers too. |
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sirshack
Copper Member
USA
41 Posts |
Posted - 04/24/2008 : 22:56:59
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I notice some tone suckage with my TU-2 and maybe a tad with my HM-2....not so much with any of my other Boss pedals.
Keep in mind that cables have a lot to do with tone sucking, too. The more length you're using the higher the capcitance (or something like that), which can affect your tone negatively. You can have a pedal that doesn't suck any tone at all...but if you're using 40 feet of cable (20 feet on each side of the pedal) to connect it it can potentially roll off a lot frequencies.
Sometimes lessening the amount of cable you're using or buying high quality cables is all you need to do avoid stuff like that. |
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Laurie
Double Platinum Member
Canada
4854 Posts |
Posted - 04/24/2008 : 23:33:36
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| Connectors can really affect it too... dirty/poor quality 1/4 inch plugs or sockets. |
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Topic |
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Any Boss pedals bad tone suckers ?
