Re: active/passive volume & controll

[M T <ylpunk@yahoo.com>]

hey -


thanks to everyone for the input so far.  I've heard good things about
the Ernie Ball pedals, but they are relatively huge, and the same goes
for the Morleys, which makes me reluctant to use them.  With a Wah and
a huge volume, I don't have a hell of a lot of room left on my
pedalboard (not that I need much, but one never knows...).   I've
thought about getting a wah/volume combo, which would solve the
size/weight issue, but that seems like it might be a drag somehow - if
anyone has used these, I would love to hear what they think of them. 


It sounds like I want a passive pedal, although one person has weighed
in heavily against them.  The reason I say that is because a) I'm not
sure I really want to deal with the power issue, and b) it seems to me
that an active pedal will add some noise to the whole signal path,
which I could do without (the downside of using a used effect rack from
the 80's).   I was thinking of the boss pedal, which is nice and skinny
(and looks cool), but someone bagged them, so I'll look around. 


I'd be curious to see what people think of the following :
http://www.harmony-central.com/Guitar/Articles/Avoiding_GAS/Part-6.html
It's an article about "Assembling a Professional Pedalboard".  It has
become my default reference since it is very difficult to find books
and info on this stuff.  My setup is different in that a QV GT is
handling most of the effects at this point, but the multiple signal
paths - one with tuner - seems like a very sensible setup to me...  Any
books or other additional references would be appreciated.


It doesn't help with the controller issue though.   The delay trick
someone described is just the type of thing I'm looking to play with. 


As a last point of my very long message here, I'd like to cast my vote
for the QV GT or similar rack effects unit as a very viable option to
get "unusual" guitar tones, and at a great cost.  I picked this unit up
used for $225, and, although I'm beginning to suspect the meter lights
don't work reliably, I've been able to get some very odd sounds indeed
with various combos of ring mod, distortion, delay, pitch detuning,
etc.  My feeling is that a lot of people are probably not really
motivated to delve into messing with the settings on these units, but I
know it will be a while (and an education) before I feel like I've hit
the ceiling on the range of possible sounds. 


MT





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