[Harp-L] Re:No effects or delay

[Michael Easton <diachrome@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

I've gone through a love/hate relationship with pedals over the  
years.  Bought a lot of them and either gave them away, stored them or  
trashed them in one way or another.

Recently I dug out all the pedals I've kept and invested in a powered  
pedal board.  I went through the band songs I recorded at practice or  
on our cd and played along with each pedal to possibly gauge it's  
effective use on a given song.  I don't use any pedals at practice  
since the practice amp has reverb and tremolo built in.  My gig amps  
are dry.

My perspective on using pedals is less is more and more just thins out  
the tone as it moves out into the room.   If you want thick pedal  
effect and still be heard on stage mic it and add the reverb or delay  
at the pa.

I use a Hardwire reverb pedal.  The feature I like the most about it  
compared to other high quality reverb pedals is the pedal has a rubber  
cap for the controls. Once you find your settings you can place the  
cap over the pots and nobody can screw with them or accidentally move  
your settings. The pedal pots without the caps always get moved  
durning setup and packing.   The setting I chose is very subtle.  I  
set it more to complement the natural resonance of the amp cab rather  
then to fill the room.  It's one thing to hear a lot of reverb on a  
recording and another thing to try to duplicate it live.   Most of the  
studio effects are added post amp from the board anyway.

BTW, I took a photo of each pedal setup and keep it on my IPhone. It's  
helped more then once when I needed to reset to my default settings.

I use an analog delay pedal but only on 2 songs. I blend it with a  
flanger to get a Jerry McCain type effect on a swamp and surf type  
originals we play.

There is a jazzy Allman Brother'ish original we play so i use a POG 2  
and EH Whiggler.  Even with the POG I use the settings to be subtle.   
I have it set so it sounds like there is a flute undertone playing in  
unison with the harp solo.  I only turn it on for the solo. The effect  
is low in the blend. I don't want it to sound like I'm playing a synth.

Pedals and processors can be a great tool if used wisely. Like an amp,  
just because there is a 10 on the volume pot doesn't mean you should  
aim to max it out.  Those were put there for guitarists. :-0

Take Care
Mike
www.harmonicarepair.net