Suggestions for an ambient type pedal board setup?

Megii

I'm putting together a very modest setup, with the idea of getting into a bit of that ambient looping kind of stuff. More for my own entertainment at this stage, and probably will stay in the practice room at home. Anyway, what I have at the moment is:

So as you can see, not exactly boutique stuff - it's just cheap Behringer compressor, into a couple of overdrives, into the G3 for all the modulations, delays, reverbs etc. and into the Digitech looper. The board may evolve over time I guess. In the short term I may well upgrade the compressor if I feel the need. Also, I've just managed to buy a Boss FV500H volume pedal on this very forum, which I'm thinking I'll have after the compressor and drives, and can be used for the old "ambient swells" and creating washes of sound used with delays, and that kind of stuff.

But anything else this board might need? I do wonder if I should have some sort of buffer at the beginning of the chain for one thing. Another thought is to get some kind of distortion pedal for a smooth sustaining lead tone. Also, are there any other pedals that would really enhance the setup? Just interested in what kind of gear people use for this kind of ambient pedal setup.

Drew_TNBD

You need a volume pedal.

Megii

Drew_fx said:

You need a volume pedal.

Indeed! - bought a Boss FV500H from @Branshen on this very forum yesterday, so hopefully that will do the job. Am planning to have it after the compresser/drives - is that a sensible place in the chain?

steamabacus

I do a lot of ambient looping and, for me, the most important part is multiple delays and (as you've worked out) a volume pedal. I don't have anything too esoteric on my boards (I have them split into 'pre amp' and 'delay boards) but I've slowly upgraded over the years. Here's my setup ...

Pre amp board


Delay board


The whole setup with my latest Digitech looper


There's a few things that I think make a big difference when layering up multiple ambient loop textures -

1) Stereo. Having a stereo setup really opens up the sound. I have everything going direct into my mixing desk via two Award-Session pre-amps (for speaker emulation) and a Lexicon reverb on the desk's aux send. One of the reasons for 'upgrading' from the DL4 looper to the JamMan was because the DL4, although stereo on its delay models and dry-through, sums everything to mono on the looper. However, I've not found anything affordable that can do the mutated ambient loops you can get on the DL4 using it's half/double speed and reverse functions. I use both loopers but the DL4 is the one for the more ambient flights of fancy.

2) Multiple delays. I find these work better than heavy reverb for ambient 'wash' sounds. Too much reverb can leave everything quite 'flat' sounding. Multiple delays seem to leave a bit more depth.

3) Multiple drive textures. I have several drives/boosts that all stack together in different ways to give varied drive/eq textures. Again, this helps to give some separation between multiple layered parts (I can get a dozen or more layers going at once). A versatile guitar and using the guitar's controls helps as well.
One thing to bear in mind when layering up multiple drive textures is background noise, which can really build up after a dozen or so layers - I have all my drive/boost pedals (and the phaser, too) in the loop of a Boss Noise Suppressor to keep the 'gaps between the notes' clean.

4) E-bow! Made for ambient guitar. Takes a bit of practice to get the hang of it but well worth perservering.

You can hear the sort of things I record if you go to my SoundCloud or BandCamp pages (links in my sig below) - it's not all ambient but it shouldn't be too difficult to find the stuff that is. The 'Or' album on my BandCamp page would be a good place to start.

If you have any specific questions about my boards or techniques, just ask.

Megii

Extremely helpful, and fascinating also, thanks @steamabacus . Will take me a while to digest it all, but I'll know a good person to ask re advice in the future. I'll check out your web pages also, cheers again!

Megii

Actually, a question straight away @steamabacus - what were you using for the long sustaining lead tone on "The Longest Journey"? Like that sound (and the track) very much.

steamabacus

Hang on, let me have a quick listen to refresh my memory.

Right, I'm back!


That's my trusty e-bow through all 4 delays. I have an Arion analogue 'always on' but very subtle, just as a thickener, into a Boss DD-3 that I have set up as my 'ambient wash' delay. Then there are two more which are sync'ed in with tap tempo - a TC Flashback which tends to stay on the 'Steffen Schackinger' (? me, neither) toneprint - a tape-style delay with dynamic ducking - and then a EHX Memory Man model on the DL4. I can set the delay depth on the DL4 using the expression pedal to the left.

Beexter

The EHX SuperEgo is lovely for adding pad sounds. I use one with a Pitch Fork and Zoom MS70CDR in it's effects loop and it can do some wonderful stuff!

Megii

steamabacus said:

Hang on, let me have a quick listen to refresh my memory.

Right, I'm back!


That's my trusty e-bow through all 4 delays. I have an Arion analogue 'always on' but very subtle, just as a thickener, into a Boss DD-3 that I have set up as my 'ambient wash' delay. Then there are two more which are sync'ed in with tap tempo - a TC Flashback which tends to stay on the 'Steffen Schackinger' (? me, neither) toneprint - a tape-style delay with dynamic ducking - and then a EHX Memory Man model on the DL4. I can set the delay depth on the DL4 using the expression pedal to the left.

Thanks @steamabacus - the e-bow, aha! Used to good effect there, I can see a highly useful bit of kit. Not something I've ever considered, but I will now. Appreciate the info re the delays also - at the moment I would be restricted to combining delay models on the G3, but it still gives inspiration as to ways to do this. Was there any particular overdrive or distortion units for that lead tone also, or is it more that the e-bow tends to give that kind of sound on it's own? I'll stop with the questions soon, I promise.

Fretwired

Check out Chords of Orion for tips and trips ... I have Ditto looper, TC Electronics Flashback Triple Delay, Timeline and a Big Sky ..

Megii

Beexter said:

The EHX SuperEgo is lovely for adding pad sounds. I use one with a Pitch Fork and Zoom MS70CDR in it's effects loop and it can do some wonderful stuff!

Interesting - will look into this one, cheers @Beexter

Fretwired

More suggestions ...

steamabacus

Megii said:

 Was there any particular overdrive or distortion units for that lead tone also, or is it more that the e-bow tends to give that kind of sound on it's own? I'll stop with the questions soon, I promise.

I'm happy to answer any questions - we're all geeks together round here.


There's no drive on that e-bow but I am using a clean boost and hitting the amp (Blackstar HT-5) input quite hard. The e-bow tends to produce quite high levels anyway and much more treble frequencies so the tone on the guitar needs to be backed of quite considerably - it's very common to roll it all the way off but I find the best settings are with 'just a hair' of treble rolled back in to suit. I always ride a volume pedal when I use e-bow as they're feisty buggers and can produce loud resonances just when you're least expecting it.

I have a Rothwell compressor first in line after the guitar that I have set up quite subtly and that is left on all the time.

Megii

Fretwired said:

Check out Chords of Orion for tips and trips ... I have Ditto looper, TC Electronics Flashback Triple Delay, Timeline and a Big Sky ..

Looks to be great stuff, appreciate the tip @Fretwired . Some amazing sounds he's getting there, wow. So now I want a TC Flashback, not to mention a Line 6 DL4... Starting threads like this is not good from an avoiding GAS point of view.

Fretwired

Another good one ...

Megii

Fretwired said:

More suggestions ...

Nice! Cheers @Fretwired

Megii

steamabacus said:

Megii said:

 Was there any particular overdrive or distortion units for that lead tone also, or is it more that the e-bow tends to give that kind of sound on it's own? I'll stop with the questions soon, I promise.

I'm happy to answer any questions - we're all geeks together round here.


There's no drive on that e-bow but I am using a clean boost and hitting the amp (Blackstar HT-5) input quite hard. The e-bow tends to produce quite high levels anyway and much more treble frequencies so the tone on the guitar needs to be backed of quite considerably - it's very common to roll it all the way off but I find the best settings are with 'just a hair' of treble rolled back in to suit. I always ride a volume pedal when I use e-bow as they're feisty buggers and can produce loud resonances just when you're least expecting it.

I have a Rothwell compressor first in line after the guitar that I have set up quite subtly and that is left on all the time.

Actually that is very useful information, so glad I asked the question. It's funny, I could have sworn there was some drive on there, but that just goes to show how wrong one can be. Cheers again @steamabacus

Megii

Fretwired said:

Another good one ...

That is a good one - I like his straightforward approach and how he starts with the basics. A great link, appreciated @Fretwired, cheers mate!

Branshen

You have all the gear you need for swells and ambient. The key is a delay with a tone knob. You want to turn it down. Check out my setting using a single delay pedal.

http://www.thefretboard.co.uk/discussion/45457/my-dd-20-ambient-setting#latest

Megii

Actually another question for you @steamabacus - take a track such as "The Longest Journey" just to use that one as an example again. What would be the basic process you use, start to finish, for recording that? I'm interested in how the drum track is made, and synced with the loop for one thing. Also just the various bits of gear used at each stage, including the recording setup. Sorry, quite a big question really!

I do admire how the various layers work together to create the whole thing - it sounds to be skillfully arranged in a way, though I guess you may have developed the ability to do such things on the fly? So is there a lot of planning involved, or do you just launch into a new recording when inspiration strikes? Enough questions for one post I feel.

not_the_dj

Bot a pedal of course, but get an e-bow.

http://www.gak.co.uk/rs/pictures/tn1_30401.jpg