Expression Pedal for more interesting solos

[jmlakar]

Hi gang, 

 

looking for tips and best practices using the floor expression pedal in the middle of solos to add more interesting sounding solos (anything other than wah or volume).  Any tips on what settings or fx you use for this?  I’m very new to this concept and historically have just added a volume boost to make solos sound different. Thx. 

[HonestOpinion]

17 hours ago, jmlakar said:

Hi gang, 

 

looking for tips and best practices using the floor expression pedal in the middle of solos to add more interesting sounding solos (anything other than wah or volume).  Any tips on what settings or fx you use for this?  I’m very new to this concept and historically have just added a volume boost to make solos sound different. Thx. 

 

The Pitch Wham, or Poly Wham are solid choices as a start. The options are limitless though. Essentially you can assign practically any of a wide variety of effects' parameters you want to the expression pedal. Some of the many available choices are the time/division from a delay block, interval on pitch block, level of drive on a distortion block, change EQ/cut while increasing the drive, pan volume from left to right, etc. . You can assign one parameter from two different effects with one going up while the other goes down(reverse min/max values). The video below may help get you started and give you some ideas. Cliché but the only real limit is your imagination.

 

 

[soblivion]

 

On my lead patches, I use the on-board expression pedal to adjust the mix of delay. When I rock it forward it adds more delay to the mix. The  pedal can be configured to adjust any parameter of any block or even multiple parameters across different blocks (as HonestOpinion already explained).

 

I have an external, spring loaded expression pedal that I use almost solely for wah/pitch stuff.

[jmlakar]

56 minutes ago, soblivion said:

 

On my lead patches, I use the on-board expression pedal to adjust the mix of delay. When I rock it forward it adds more delay to the mix. The  pedal can be configured to adjust any parameter of any block or even multiple parameters across different blocks (as HonestOpinion already explained).

 

I have an external, spring loaded expression pedal that I use almost solely for wah/pitch stuff.

Awesome.  Im basically looking for ideas on what would sound cool to audience (rock/Country).  For example, Im soloing with a solo snapshot, but in the middle of the solo to spice it up a bit I add something with the expression pedal to make the solo sound more interesting, dynamic etc.. The easy thing would be adding more drive/gain, but I do not want to do that.  I will try the delay piece...any other tips you have is appreciated. 

[codamedia]

I do the delay trick as mentioned earlier. I keep the built in expression for volume/wah, but use an external expression to control delay levels. On a few presets I have the external expression control something different and leave the delay(s) as fixed on/off with switches.

 

18 hours ago, jmlakar said:

Im basically looking for ideas on what would sound cool to audience (rock/Country). 

• Try assigning the BLEND of any modulation block. Phase, Flange, Tremolo, etc... etc...  or even combinations of a few such as blend/rate/depth. It can get really interesting really quick.
• Do the above with a Rotary effect and you've essentially added a Leslie to your setup. Organ players used to spice things up with a Leslie all the time. 
• If you run stereo.... experiment with panning
• A wah doesn't have to be full sweep.... set it up with a really low mix and a short throw and experiment with the tones you can achieve with an expression. 
• Add the blend of an "octave" or "harmony" pedal.

Really... as stated already your imagination is your only limit.