Musician Gear & Tech Discussion

Is it a bad idea to add analog effects boxes to your pedalboard if your other pedals are digital? What do you think of the modtone pedals? Specifically the Modtone Aqua Chorus and there phaser?

Hello,
I'm flattered that you want my advice...
afa adding digital and analogue... I have some digi and some analogue pedals on my board...

the thing you want to be careful of is digital clipping.

When you are running a digital pedal there is potential to hit a ceiling at which the pedal will clip... and digital clipping sounds horrible to most folks.

If you are going to run a booster pedal to try and saturate your tubes you are most likely going to run into problems if you run a digital pedal right after it... however, toss that digi pedal in the send return and in most cases you will be ok.

another option is to make sure the digital device is prior to any analogue devices... this way you are 'past' the ceiling when you kick on your analogue device and crank up the signal to levels that would have made the digital device clip.

afa mod tone... they are def towards the boutique end of things... but they aren't hand wired... still they are true bypass and part quality is supposedly good.
their delay is based on pt2399 DIGITAL chip... still a nice sounding delay.
sadly I was unable to locate a schematic for the chorus but I'm 80% sure it's based on the eh small clone.
for eighty bux I like it... smaller than the small clone and probably better component quality. afa sound think 'smells like tean spirit' - kurt used the small clone.

the phaser is a tuff call... you can get an mxr for $40 on craigslist or ebay... and they absolutely kill... but they are not true bypass. still the mxr just sounds soooo goood.

I'd go listen to clips on youtube and decide for yourself.

Thanks Mike,

I am trying to replace my Boss Super Chorus but I don't want to make the same mistake I made last time and buy something useless. The super chorus will make a nice doorstop or bookend LOL! I had heard the Aqua Chorus and kind of liked it. I was definately looking at the scripted MXR Phase 90 or Phase 100. The way I have my pedalboard set up is tuner to crybaby and then Boss Super Overdrive straight to amp input. Then Boss PS5 Harmonizer to Chorus to Delay into effects loop of amp. I am wanting to solve the chorus problem and Flanger/phaser for the band that just hired me I beleive the flanger is going to be more what I need. Also what do you think about the BBE phase correction pedal (Sonic Stomp)? I noticed it seemed to work better on my modeling amp (Johnson Marquis) than it works on my all tube amp. My amp is a Crate V32 Palomino. I like the sound of this amp but the bottom end is a little spongy and I would like to tighten it up a bit I just retubed it.

The Way I see it is any guy that can build his own pedals is bound to know a heck of a lot about pedals and plays a mean guitar as well. Thanks so much for taking the time to share your vast knowledge with me.

def my pleasure haley,

not sure I'd spend the money on the script reissue... the key to this pedal is in the matching of the transistors - and they do that on all the versions... afa I know the scripts version has only a few small changes that actually make the effect less noticeable... (the ever popular r32 resistor cut)

the phase 100 is def worth it IMO tho.

sounds like your board is set up just right. the tuner is a bit of a concern because they tend to suck tone... In general tuners should be on a tuner out or a separate loop,
but I'm not sure I'd loose too much sleep over it.

afa bbe... you mean the sonic maximizer pedal? It's not something I'd use on every sound... but I've had one in my rack for years and I have the stomp on my board too. I like to use it when I'm going for a metal sound because when you pour on all that gain you tend to loose some definition.
I also like it with mild settings for clean tones.
def something to use in moderation... it doesn't seem to work well on a med to low gain application, IMO.

The palamino is a great sounding amp... that model (v32) does have some serious heating issues you can read about online. If you want your tubes to last I'd def make sure to put a quiet fan near it and/or just keep it well ventilated.

if you want to tighten up the bottom end... one thing you can try is to open up the speaker cab and toss some foam in there.

anywho,
cheers!

I have an AB switch type box on my board that I am using to silence my board while I am tuning (slaps forhead) I could remove the tuner from my signal chain and plug it into that empty B side I didn't know tuners suck tone I'll take all the tone I can get. Thanks again for sharing your knowledge.

I have a $200 petersen strobo stomp that was advertised as true bypass...
but I swore I heard some tone suck from it...
looked online and I wasn't alone...
looked at the schematic and sure enough... not really true bypass.

not saying there isn't a tuner out there that doesn't... but in general it's not something you need in your signal path so...

Hello,
I'm flattered that you want my advice...
afa adding digital and analogue... I have some digi and some analogue pedals on my board...

the thing you want to be careful of is digital clipping.

When you are running a digital pedal there is potential to hit a ceiling at which the pedal will clip... and digital clipping sounds horrible to most folks.

If you are going to run a booster pedal to try and saturate your tubes you are most likely going to run into problems if you run a digital pedal right after it... however, toss that digi pedal in the send return and in most cases you will be ok.

another option is to make sure the digital device is prior to any analogue devices... this way you are 'past' the ceiling when you kick on your analogue device and crank up the signal to levels that would have made the digital device clip.

afa mod tone... they are def towards the boutique end of things... but they aren't hand wired... still they are true bypass and part quality is supposedly good.
their delay is based on pt2399 DIGITAL chip... still a nice sounding delay.
sadly I was unable to locate a schematic for the chorus but I'm 80% sure it's based on the eh small clone.
for eighty bux I like it... smaller than the small clone and probably better component quality. afa sound think 'smells like tean spirit' - kurt used the small clone.

the phaser is a tuff call... you can get an mxr for $40 on craigslist or ebay... and they absolutely kill... but they are not true bypass. still the mxr just sounds soooo goood.

I'd go listen to clips on youtube and decide for yourself.

Hey mr Mike looking for a guitar player for a gig. please email randyroberts@cox.net]

hey partner I'm really flattered but I'm not sure I'd be up for it... It's all I can do to hold down the title of "best guitar player on my sofa" these days!
Still I can't help but want to learn more about the gig so... I'll shoot out an email.
cheers,
mv

EDIT... fyi email account is bad.