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.
Comments
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.
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.
Remember, it's easier to criticise than create!
Remember, it's easier to criticise than create!
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.
Remember, it's easier to criticise than create!
http://www.thefretboard.co.uk/discussion/45457/my-dd-20-ambient-setting#latest
Band Stuff: https://navigationofficial.bandcamp.com/album/silhouette-ep
http://www.gak.co.uk/rs/pictures/tn1_30401.jpg