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How Do You Use Your Expression Pedal Besides Volume And Wah?


stumblinman
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Looking for some alternate effects ideas. Decided to use my crybaby pedal instead of always using a Pod Wah model. So now my expression pedal is freed up. Currently I set it up to fade in and out the mix on the barberpole phaser for a little texture during certain parts of songs and solos.

 

Looking for some alternate and cool ideas that you guys use so I can try out different stuff. Settings would be the most helpful. I know you guys have some great ideas. Let's hear them!

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I use mine for a lot of things:

- To morph Reverb level between barely there and "Help, I'm drowning" levels

- Chorus level or rate adjustments

- Univibe rate ALA the original

- Delay feedback to get spaceship whack outs and recover

 

Off the top of my head...

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One of my best presets is where I use the Expression Pedal to control the amp drive of the Treadplate. I can go from a fairly clean sound to full on overdrive or anything in between. Of course I also control the channel volume level at the same time to have control over the volume from one extreme to the other.

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One of my best presets is where I use the Expression Pedal to control the amp drive of the Treadplate. I can go from a fairly clean sound to full on overdrive or anything in between. Of course I also control the channel volume level at the same time to have control over the volume from one extreme to the other.

I use my volume knob on my JTV59 to do that sometimes...

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the expression pedal is the single most overlooked feature in the POD.  There is no end to the number of parameters that can be simultaneously controlled within a patch and with no DSP use.  Check out the attached patch for a good example of morphing between two completely different amps with almost every parameter linked some way to the pedal.  This is an area where you can really get creative.

 

I just got a second pedal and now I am looking to create a whole FX morph with one pedal and an amp morph with the other.  It just opens up so many new possibilities...

 

http://line6.com/customtone/tone/256795/

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One "exotic" application of the exp pedal is to use it for controlling the key and scale params of the smart harmony effect. For example, the "Hotel California" harmony parts change from B-Harmonic-Minor to A-Major and back again. Another similar examples : "We are an American band" harmony solo (changing from D-MAjor to C-Major), "Highwaystar",etc. You can implement these cool features by assigning the smart harmony params to the max and min values of the exp pedal.

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  • 2 weeks later...

I occasionally use it for fading in an octave up tone so it sounds like I get that harmonic feedback sustain tone.

That sounds cool, I think I'll try that.

I use it for tremolo depth and shape, going from a gentle trem to a square-shaped off-on sound.

I also use it for speed of the phaser (listen to Jerry Garcia's solo in "Candy Man").

Whammy down is fun, but I also increase the amp volume as it dives so the sound doesn't get lost.

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I have a patch set up that controls the delay time and feedback to make those trippy sounds mentioned above. I also have a bass patch with the expression pedal set up for one of the EQs (I forget which one) to simulate a dubstep wobble (instead of springing for a Hot Hand). And I think I have one that I mostly use for ridiculous noises where the pedal controls some ring mod parameters.

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  • 2 months later...

I have a patch set up that controls the delay time and feedback to make those trippy sounds mentioned above. I also have a bass patch with the expression pedal set up for one of the EQs (I forget which one) to simulate a dubstep wobble (instead of springing for a Hot Hand). And I think I have one that I mostly use for ridiculous noises where the pedal controls some ring mod parameters.

Hey! Any chances to share the patch?

 

Is it possible to link the tremolo frequency to imitate smth like variable slicer?

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I use it to go from low-volume clean or dirty rhythm sounds to high-volume lead sounds. I usually set up parallel feeds to the amp - one has a tube screamer, the other a compressor or nothing. In these patches I also use the pedal to adjust amp, compression, reverb and delay settings as well.

 

I like the speed of going from a rhythm sound to a lead sound without looking down and also being able to grab in-between tones, semi distorted or semi loud.

 

You know how you'll be playing and you want to throw a lead line in between vocals or whatever? With this you just slam the pedal down and bam your whole tone changes. No looking down, no hopping from one button to the other. It's extremely liberating.

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  • 8 months later...

Respectfully, no it's not. Typically you would perform it by using your pinky finger to roll the tone knob while you're playing but because the rhythm is so fast it's almost impossible to do that.

You're telling me that every Disco song in the 70's used the tone knob on the guitar instead of a wah? 

I guess I've been playing wrong. 

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Thank you pfsmith0. I tried that first but I can't get it dark enough. Thanks Wicker, I do the same thing switching between the acoustic and electric. Wow! Pianoguyy. How did you take my statement about the 1 song Moves Like Jagger and apply it to every Disco song from the 70"s? Again Respectfully, A wah will cut the treble but in doing so it also boost the mid range and adds a very distinctive ah vowel like sound to the mix that a straight treble roll off does not. I would not be so ignorant to suggest that every treble roll off is performed by using the tone control. However, if you listen to the phrase of that particular song in detail you can hear that a wah was not used. I've watch them perform the song a few times and neither time did he perform the roll off. I suspect that it was performed by the engineer. The reason for my question is that although I've been playing pro, touring and studio, for over 30 years and have more gear than most, I am new to Line 6. The JTV 69 along with the HD 500x offers a lot of flexibility such as being able to change amps and parameters on the fly as well as being able to assign a different guitar model for each preset. This is huge for me because some songs that I play will start with and acoustic guitar and switch mid song to an electric. Having the ability to change guitars just by changing patches keeps me form having to bring 4 or 5 guitars to each show as well as not needing to put my acoustic on a Grace stand. Again, I've only had this Line 6 gear for 1 month, It's versatile but I don't know everything about it yet. I have a major televised concert coming up New Years and I want to use this gear. I'm reaching out to the Line 6 community to see if someone knows whether a tone roll off can be accomplished using the HD500X expression pedal coupled with a JTV 69. Thank you guys for your suggestions and help.

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I use it a lot for delay feedback and mix...

 

If you want to use it for the tone knob on your guitar then probably your best bet is to add an EQ with a low pass filter at the beginning of your chain and to map that LPF frequency to your pedal.

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saTa, that's a great idea! I'm going to try that. Thanks. Something I do that you guys might be interested in is, I play in stereo. I pan each amp in the signal chain hard left and hard right, then add an intelligent pitch shifter to each amp using a different harmony per amp with a 3 to 5 millisecond delay on one channel only. The delay throws the timing off a little bit which makes it sound human like 4 different guitarist and keeps it from sounding like you're using a harmonizer. Then assign each shifter to a different region on the expression pedal. This way when you start your solos, you start as a single guitar then as your solo builds you go to 2 guitar harmony and climax with 4 part guitar harmony. The sound is Fat especially if you're playing harmonic minor runs. Thanks again saTa, 

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Sorry, I don't hear what you are talking about. 

Its 'modern' music. I only have it on mp3. Not vinyl. So I may be missing parts --- which has been a complaint about digital compression since its inception. 

 

 

To me, it sounds like picking technique and a wah. 

 

 

So I am bowing out of the conversation. 

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Another thing most people probably don't do but that's possible with the POD: You can use its stereo signal chain to make the Pedal an FX send...

 

If you pack a bunch of FX into the left channel, your dry signal into the right, you can put a volume pedal onto the beginning of the split and only send certain notes of a solo into the delay, for example. I do this a lot. For most applications, you could just assign the FX mix to the pedal, of course, but say you want that last note of the solo ring for another 3-4 bars while you go on playing dry, the "send" is the way to do it.

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  • 2 weeks later...
Hey guys, just want to thank you again for the help. The concert went well. I did not use the Line 6 gear, couldn't get it dialed in in time. I used my Boss GT-10, my PRS 408 Brazilian and PRS 513. The show went well, but I got a workout changing guitars and patches on the fly lol... I have the Line 6 gear dialed in now. It sounds good. Now the only problem is with using my wireless with this rig. When I change patches the guitars don't change like when I'm using the cable. I talked to Line 6 and they say that's by design. One thing about the Boss GT-10 that I like is that you can setup a rhythm channel and a lead channel per patch and switch between the two with the dynamic switching feature which allow you to switch from your rhythm channel to playing lead simply by attacking your strings harder or by turning up your volume, then when you're finished soloing, back down the volume a little and the channel automatically goes back to rhythm. This is perfect when you're using a wireless because you don't have to stand in front of your pedal to change channels. You can be on the other side of the stage or out in the audience and still have full functionality of the pedal. IMHO If Line 6 would add this feature with the ability to change guitars with the patch using a wireless and add a dog gone on and off switch to the HD500x, there would be nothing on the market that could touch it for a live performance applications. Peace!

 

saTa, I like your last post. I'm going to try that, Thanks.
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I use my 500HD purely for effects and control.

 

I midi out to my JVM410C and have set up identical patches to simulate the 12 channels on the amp, I use the expression pedal to morph into solos. Heel down gives me my amp only, toe down brings in whatever else I have switched on including boost, I do this by putting a pan effect right where the chain splits, and put my front effects to one side, 4 cable method through the amp, time based effects and clean boost after the fx loop controling the delay mix with the pedal as well.

 

This also means I can switch off the boost, go toe down and bring in any effects on my rhythm setting as well. So versatile, go from clean amp to full on distortion and delay smoothly, then back off leaving the delay trails going, awesome.

 

Amazing piece of kit, my only gripe is why can I not access more effects as i'm not using any amp or cab modelling, surely there is enough processing power, amps should class as effects with regards to processor useage.

 

There, I said it.

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That's nice Steve. Is there a way to assign a different guitars to each channel instead of 1 guitar per patch? Like having an acoustic setup on the left channel with a Guild 12 string assigned to it and a lead channel with a Uber amp and a Masonite Plank guitar assigned to the right channel and use the panner to change channels and entire rigs?

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Since I started this thread a while ago, I just wanted to say: You guys are geniuses (genii?).

 

Some seriously great ideas I never would have thought of.  I'm impressed and glad to call you all brothers in tone! (Patent Pending)

 

Seriously though.  Awesome ideas all around.  I ran out of +1's, so I'll add more tomorrow.

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That's nice Steve. Is there a way to assign a different guitars to each channel instead of 1 guitar per patch? Like having an acoustic setup on the left channel with a Guild 12 string assigned to it and a lead channel with a Uber amp and a Masonite Plank guitar assigned to the right channel and use the panner to change channels and entire rigs?

To be honest I havn't tried, i've got a JTV59 but rarely use it live, I did once assign the whammy to the tone knob just to do the harmonic drop in little wing (no trem lol)

 

I'm pretty sure it could be done as most paramiters are assignable, might come in handy crossing from accoustic to electric for soloing, have to think about that one.

 

My main problem is effects blocks getting used up for panning, fx loop, would like to claim them back as i'm not using the amp modelling but LINE 6 WON'T LET ME!!!!!!

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LOL... That's funny Steve that tone knob trem setup. You know, I'm the guitarist who sits out in crowd at everybody's shows watching your hands and listening to your amps and saying, "He ain't really playing that, his axx doesn't even have a trem. That's a track! LOL... 

 

We refuse to use tracks and stams, We pride ourselves on being players so in addition to sounding full, I enjoy setting up these complex patches for the guys in the audience ( LIKE ME ) who are hawking my hands and amps, watching to see if I'm really playing. You can tell who they are cause they turn their heads sides ways when you do something nice. LOL... I love it, just having fun. You ever do something so nice that you turn your own head and say, "Damn did I do that?" You want to claim it but, you can't cause you know it was a mistake and you couldn't do it again if your life depended on it. LOL....

 

Sorry about getting off topic, just funnin. 

You're right about the effects blocks. 

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