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Post subject: Question for those who use just a footswitch...
Posted: Sat Mar 05, 2016 2:07 pm
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Many guys play guitar live without any pedalboards, they just like the amp's organic drive and go onstage with just a footswitch...

I admire that but I wonder how they deal with having to play different songs that require different tones and levels of drive...

How do you make it work for you?

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Post subject: Re: Question for those who use just a footswitch...
Posted: Sat Mar 05, 2016 2:35 pm
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Leave the amp cranked and adjust the overall level with the guitar's volume control(s).

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Post subject: Re: Question for those who use just a footswitch...
Posted: Sat Mar 05, 2016 4:55 pm
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Hi de Melo, memorizing your amp EQ seems to work, plus couple of guitars as in these vids.
how many tones can you get out of one amp


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Post subject: Re: Question for those who use just a footswitch...
Posted: Sat Mar 05, 2016 7:32 pm
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My little Mustang I (v2) has a jack for a foot switch, to toggle back and forth between any two of the 24 presets.
I'm not sure what additional options the bigger Mustang amp have.

Then again, that doesn't really use the "amp's organic drive", as such.

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Post subject: Re: Question for those who use just a footswitch...
Posted: Sat Mar 05, 2016 7:46 pm
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A lot of this has to do with your amp, what songs you're playing and how precise you need your crunch.
As Arjay said, you can bring overdrive in and out with your guitar volume. But if you're doing covers and have a song where you want a clean tone for one section and overdriven tone with the same volume for another section, you may need to use a two channel amp. Bad Company's, Ready For Love, is like that. I want super clean for the verses, and crunch for the chorus, but it's not a solo and I don't want to overpower the vocals, so the crunch has to be about the same level as the clean.
A lot of two channel amps, I'm finding, are designed with a real nice Fender like clean channel, and a ballsy Marshall like dirt channel, but the volume difference makes it real hard to use both channels in the same song.
I have an Egnater Renegade that lets me go back and forth between channels. I took it to a band audition and I didn't bring any pedals and it worked great. But, with both of my other amps, I need to use OD pedals with the clean channel for certain songs.
So, as with most things, one size doesn't fit all. You have to adapt.

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Post subject: Re: Question for those who use just a footswitch...
Posted: Sun Mar 06, 2016 6:59 am
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I have a 1990's , Fender Roc-Pro 700 which I just set everything for one setting. Does the job and sounds great to this old fart !


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Post subject: Re: Question for those who use just a footswitch...
Posted: Sun Mar 06, 2016 8:12 am
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In addition to the volume controls on guitar and the controls on the amp there is also your pick attack. Plenty of variation in gain can be had simply by controlling how hard you pluck your strings.

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Post subject: Re: Question for those who use just a footswitch...
Posted: Sun Mar 06, 2016 10:21 am
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BMW-KTM wrote:
In addition to the volume controls on guitar and the controls on the amp there is also your pick attack. Plenty of variation in gain can be had simply by controlling how hard you pluck your strings.


+1000

I believe one master of that technique was Roy Buchanan.

Arjay

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Post subject: Re: Question for those who use just a footswitch...
Posted: Sun Mar 06, 2016 12:33 pm
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Retroverbial wrote:
I believe one master of that technique was Roy Buchanan.

Quite right.
Roy is an acquired taste but there's no denying the man's got chops.


Not every amp is as touch sensitive as some amps are though.
I remember A/B-ing a friend's SFDR and my SFVR one time back about 10 years ago or so and we were both quite taken by how sensitive the VR was compared to the DR. Different animals for sure but the difference in sensitivity was quite striking. My friend didn't like it because the VR revealed more of his hands and he wasn't used to that, hearing every little nuance of pick scratch on the windings and the sound of his thumb when he choked up on the pick.

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Post subject: Re: Question for those who use just a footswitch...
Posted: Sun Mar 06, 2016 7:05 pm
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ripitup555 wrote:
Hi de Melo, memorizing your amp EQ seems to work, plus couple of guitars as in these vids.
how many tones can you get out of one amp


When, after 2:15, Dave Simpson was still talking, and about everything except the topic, I gave up.

Back on topic, sure you can get away with just using a single channel on a single amp with no amp effects. By adjusting guitar volume, amp gain and pick strength, you can get a lot of different sounds. But not all of them.


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Post subject: Re: Question for those who use just a footswitch...
Posted: Sun Mar 06, 2016 11:42 pm
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arth1 wrote:
When, after 2:15, Dave Simpson was still talking, and about everything except the topic, I gave up.

Pff.....................please fast forward :)


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Post subject: Re: Question for those who use just a footswitch...
Posted: Mon Mar 07, 2016 2:34 am
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I'm out auditioning for a new band later. Nothing exciting just a pub covers band. But it's a payer.
I won't be using a pedalboard...
...I'm taking my rack. :lol:

Rip shows the nice amount of sounds available with a simple un-modded Strat in that vid. Which yeah I will never deny is totally valid.
People forget the tone controls too. I don't know where I'd be without them these days. I never used to use them. However lately at home, I've taken to eq'ing my amp with the guitar volume on 7/8. And a little brighter with the tone control the same, 7 or 8. So I have somewhere to move to on the guitar. Not just cleaner and thicker. I dunno, it may just be me but I've found that the low powered pickups I use in one of my strats and one of my les pauls both sound a lot better with the volume slightly lowered anyway. But then, I wire all my guitars to the original 50's circuit. Pretty crucial if you want to have usable controls on your guitar without having to get into those horrible treble bleed circuits.

I have to ask the question, which is more important. Simplicity and comfort. Or having an array of different sounds that work?
I'm no fan of outboard effects. I despise having them onstage. Particularly because I move about a good bit. My Marshall KK I modded to have a 2nd footswitchable volume control. As it has plenty of gain, a built in noisegate. And now has a wireless receiver built into it. So all I have is one wire going to the amp. The footswitch for the volume. Which I use for solos. That works tremendously in one of my bands. It's all I need and nothing I don't. Really fast set up and breakdown times, particularly if a cab is provided. I'm on and off in one lift. Even the guitar I use with that amp tunes itself, so I've no need for a tuner.
However I can't take that to my other band, and the band I'm going for tonight, it would be unthinkable.
When it comes down to it, effects are tools. You'd never hear an electrician moaning they have to take a screwdriver to work with them.

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Post subject: Re: Question for those who use just a footswitch...
Posted: Mon Mar 07, 2016 6:32 am
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ripitup555 wrote:
how many tones can you get out of one amp

maybe it's my bad ears, but I don't hear a whole lot of variation in the actual sound there.

A lot of players feel they've got this great pallet of sounds to work from when really it's "switching from this Allman Brothers sound to that Allman Brothers sound."

Try going from a very clean sound with reverb and chorus to a distorted sound with NO reverb, some delay, NO chorus, and a phaser. Using just your volume knob. I didn't think so.

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Post subject: Re: Question for those who use just a footswitch...
Posted: Mon Mar 07, 2016 7:11 am
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I don't think anyone anywhere is foolish enough to think they can emulate a phaser/flanger/chorus pedal with just an amp, a guitar and a patch cable and, more importantly, nobody made any such assertions here.

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Post subject: Re: Question for those who use just a footswitch...
Posted: Mon Mar 07, 2016 7:21 am
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apparently some are foolish enough to think they are getting a different "tone" by changing their picking attack. :lol:

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