Modulation effects and acoustic guitar

Bob-Dubery

I don't know why more people don't do this - FX with acoustic. Sure, overdrive or distortion would be inappropriate (though I think John Martyn occasionally got up to such tricks) but you can have some real fun and get some beautiful effects.

Here's what I got with the accumulated GAS money...

A Line 6 MM4. I was torn between this and the Carl Martin Surf Trem. The Martin may have had the nicer tremolo effect but the Line 6
a) is not far off
b) does a lot more.
(but if you're looking for JUST tremolo, you should check the Carl Martin out)

After an hour or so's playing around at McGibbons today I am sold on tremolo and acoustic guitar. A lovely, big sound. It may be that this, and not the uni-vibe, is the sound I've been hearing in my head.

The line 6 has two tremolo effects. They name them "opto" and "bias" and say that "opto" is the Fender tremolo and "bias" is the Vox tremolo. I understand how the opto must work (photo cell and pulsed light) but don't have a clue about "bias".

Interestingly the "opto" way of doing things has a very distinct sound. You can hear the same thing in the uni-vibe (which also used lamps and photo cell).

So far I am opting for the "bias" tremolo. Less dramatic, but, I think, warmer. The MM4 allows you to modify the wave form from sine to totally square. I have "squared" the wave form just a little.

One thing I learned too late. You have to manage this kind of pedal carefully. I have loaded the 4 memories with settings that I like (my notepad reads
1) fast vibe
2) slow phase
3) trem
4) slow vibe

But I forgot to write the actual dial positions down. So if I ever lose what's in the memory....

TomCat

Nice on Mr X

BTW talking about OD on an acoustic...one of our guitarists at church did that for a while into an amp on stage and it actually worked very well....The only problem was feedback due to the extra gain but tonewise it was excellent....

Bob-Dubery

TomCat wrote Nice on Mr X

BTW talking about OD on an acoustic...one of our guitarists at church did that for a while into an amp on stage and it actually worked very well....The only problem was feedback due to the extra gain but tonewise it was excellent....

What did it sound like? More like an electric?

I mentioned John Martyn earlier. For a while he had two pickups on his Martin D28. One was a hot dot or whatever other kind of piezo pickup you could get then (early 70s) - not under the saddle but taped to the top of the guitar. The other was a humbucker mounted on a bracket in the sound hole. This gave him an "electric" sound out of the acoustic guitar as well.

TomCat

It did sound very much like an electric.

Had an unique hollowness / fullness as well. Very Musical.

racman

Monte Montgomey used to use the following gear on acoustic:

"A Boss trem, Boss comp, ts 9, TC Electronics chorus, Boss DD-5 and Boss Reverb. From his board he has 2 pre amps running into 2 SWR California Blondes."

PeteM

I'm afraid I sacrilegiously use effects on my Cort Nylon - particluarly for some blues stuff.
I have a Roland Cube 60 and use the Black Panel setting with 50% gain and also the Classic Stack setting with a little bit of gain when I want a slightly more distorted sound. The problem (or the advantage in some cases) is the feedback. But that can be managed. I get a distinctive sound that can't be emaulated by a steel string acoustic or an electric guitar.
It sounds cool to me, but may be a bit upsetting to the purists.

TomCat

PeteM wrote I'm afraid I sacrilegiously use effects on my Cort Nylon - particluarly for some blues stuff.
I have a Roland Cube 60 and use the Black Panel setting with 50% gain and also the Classic Stack setting with a little bit of gain when I want a slightly more distorted sound. The problem (or the advantage in some cases) is the feedback. But that can be managed. I get a distinctive sound that can't be emaulated by a steel string acoustic or an electric guitar.
It sounds cool to me, but may be a bit upsetting to the purists.

Like I always say....If you know the rules you can break the rules....... 8)

Bob-Dubery

PeteM wrote I'm afraid I sacrilegiously use effects on my Cort Nylon - particluarly for some blues stuff.
I have a Roland Cube 60 and use the Black Panel setting with 50% gain and also the Classic Stack setting with a little bit of gain when I want a slightly more distorted sound. The problem (or the advantage in some cases) is the feedback. But that can be managed. I get a distinctive sound that can't be emaulated by a steel string acoustic or an electric guitar.
It sounds cool to me, but may be a bit upsetting to the purists.

Yeah. It ISN'T strictly acoustic. But once you've plugged in you're on the slippery slope anyway. If you want absolute acoustic then mike up - and tell the sound guy to go easy on the reverb.

I just think that there are possibilities that you can explore WITHOUT lugging an electric axe and an amp around. Though I now have two pedals and a bad itch for the Carl Martin tremolo. I have to get things under control or I'll be lugging a pedal board around (which is a bit ridiculous when the only gigs one gets are 15-minute spots at open mic nights). And once I have a pedal board there'll be a power supply...

Bob-Dubery

racman wrote Monte Montgomey used to use the following gear on acoustic:

"A Boss trem, Boss comp, ts 9, TC Electronics chorus, Boss DD-5 and Boss Reverb. From his board he has 2 pre amps running into 2 SWR California Blondes."

Yes. I think there may be more of this kind of malarkey going on than I recognise. I was watching a Jeff Lang DVD last night and it's clear he's up to something with stomp boxes and an acoustic as well. It does seem to be mostly delay and modulation effects, but I think Lang might be up to something with an overdrive as well.

AlanRatcliffe

I also use trem on acoustic (or piezos) in preference to other modulation effects. I like it on the high frequencies only if I can too. I prefer more of a sine or triangle wave too, especially if I am running it stereo, although the choppiness of a square wave can be fun on occasion for a near "slicer" type effect.

Bob-Dubery

The MM4 has a control that allows variation from pure sine to pure square. I don't like pure square, but I do like squaring the sine a little.

PeteM

I posted earlier on this thread that I 'sacrilegiosly' use effects on my nylon string guitar. My entry in this week's challenge demonstrates this.
The rythm guitar is played through the clean channel of my Cube 60 and miked up for capture on my computer. (Sennheiser e835)
The lead guitar goes through the Black Panel setting with 50% gain - just to the point of squaring off - and also miked up and captured to the computer. (Using the clean channel gave me no b@lls)
A little bit of room abience was added to the lead guitar at the mix to 'fatten' it a bit and to give it a light stereo spread.

Bob and Keira, I would particularly like to get a crit from you guys on the sound I'm getting. I obviously like it, otherwise I wouldn't have done it like this.
http://www.box.net/shared/g60a8pex5s

Bob-Dubery

PeteM wrote I posted earlier on this thread that I 'sacrilegiosly' use effects on my nylon string guitar. My entry in this week's challenge demonstrates this.
The rythm guitar is played through the clean channel of my Cube 60 and miked up for capture on my computer. (Sennheiser e835)
The lead guitar goes through the Black Panel setting with 50% gain - just to the point of squaring off - and also miked up and captured to the computer. (Using the clean channel gave me no b@lls)
A little bit of room abience was added to the lead guitar at the mix to 'fatten' it a bit and to give it a light stereo spread.

Bob and Keira, I would particularly like to get a crit from you guys on the sound I'm getting. I obviously like it, otherwise I wouldn't have done it like this.
http://www.box.net/shared/g60a8pex5s

That's a pretty interesting lead tone, somewhere between the sort of "gypsey jazz" Selmer sound a-la Django and an old-fashioned arch top. Suits the piece very well. I like the clean sound too.

PeteM

@Bob - Yea, it is different - that was my concern (or joy). One gets so close to something that you begin to wonder whether it's really working or not. Thanks for the feedback.