Hey sweetwater why are supporting/employing a con artist? Is it part of sweetwaters company policy to lie and cheat customers? That's what employing Mason says to me. But hey maybe sweetwater might never get caught pulling a con on their customers and be force to apologize and refund. You have lost a customer.
@@be5792 Hi there! You may or may not be aware, but every customer and dealership that ever owned an Axis Wah was provided a full refund, rebate, or exchange according to their desired restitution back in 2014. In fact, we still leave the door open to any owner of the product that was previously unaware of refund options and keep a public record of all Axis Wah refunds on our website for anyone to view since 2014: www.vertexeffects.com/redemption . The Axis Wah is not representative of our company values and the products we make. We've worked tirelessly to make a new impression and continue to maintain a high standard of quality and customer service with transparency around each product and its origins. All we can do is release the best sounding products possible and give our customers the best possible quality and support in hopes that with time we'll earn back their trust. The intent of this video is to get out the best information possible to musicians regarding pedalboard best practices. Perhaps I'm not the best messenger for you, but the things talked about and the reasons I recommend them exist independently of me and are central tools and building blocks among rig builder. I tried to distill these concepts as best as possible for UA-cam viewers. None of my products are a part of this video, nor are they mentioned in any way. Hopefully you can find some useful tips here to improve your tone and lower the noise floor of your pedalboard rig. Kind regards, Mason
The upgrade I would like developed is an extension board that can be placed on a table or stand with a snake down to a loop selector stomper unit on the floor board that also has the power supply and maybe tuner/buffer stuff. I would also like some kind of digital standard that permits one A/D conversion into the first digital pedal, then digital I/O through all the rest of the digital pedals, then one D/A conversion at the end. This is how you stay really silent and also skip a ton of redundant D/A->A/D conversions and the analog signal cable between each one. They could use those mini USB connectors especially because 1/4" jacks really do suck.
@@VertexEffectsInc You only mention the Axis Wah in all your public responses, but MOST of your products/services at the time went through the same sort of controversy. You since then lied about even the Axis Wah in interviews to minimize and further deceive. I honestly don't understand how you're back in business after all the relationships you've ruined, speaks to your business acumen I guess.
Hey Joel! Obviously, a guitarist could get by with less than this! However, these are some good things to have if you're trying to build a rock solid board! If you're not into it, do what what sounds good too! :)
"it uses high frequency to isolate all the outputs" - that sentence has no meaning, frequency is a physical property, not a method or a construction used to make/do something. "brighter sounding cable" - can you explain how a conductor can sound brighter? because average cable has a capacitance od 39pF/ft so the high frequency rolloff isnt in guitar's range even up to 30ft. next, 100k ohms is 1000x 100 ohms, not hundred or ten times higher, besides that any buffer will drive enourmous lenghts of cable so output buffer is not needed. I hope that someday this industry will start learning about physics and electronics and not try to just sell snakeoil... stay safe.
This is marketting dude. Im pretty sure all these are the most expensive examples available on their respectable website. Although a power supply does remove a bit of hum from the pedals. And ive gotten by pretty wellwith cheap donner PC's
@@alexandertorrente198 i know what it is. im saying they should focus on facts, and not some band practice fairy tales. On the other hand, yes, a quality power supply could help someone's pedalboard, but im not getting at that, my focus is their selling ethics and non-scientific background.
Well, a 20-30 foot cable COULD have a noticeable effect on what you hear depending not only on the capacitance of the cable, but the inductance value of the pickups you are using. It is very possible that a slightly higher capacitance cable could be just enough to push into affecting the resonant peak of HIS pickups.
B Ctrl Without spending a lot of time in passing on distinguishing the difference between a linear analog supply and a switching supply, I agree that I could’ve gone into more specifics, the challenge is how to synthesize the stuff quickly when it’s not really about the anatomy of a power supply, but rather just making the distinction of an isolated supply versus a non-isolated. I mentioned in an earlier comment about this, that it probably would’ve been a better explanation to say that it does what an analog linear supply does, however it takes a high frequency oscillator and runs it into miniature transformers compared to something like a toroid, and is able to do it in a much smaller package with a lot less heat generated. The difficulty is how to synthesize this in a passing sentence, and I agree that I could have done a better job. With regards to cables, they are all filters, and I think that something that most of us can understand. Just like a capacitor value you choose for say a guitar volume pot, the value that you choose will have an impact on the overall tone. In particular, on your input cable going from the guitar into your Pedalboard, assuming that there’s some signal conditioning on the input, that cable is going to be the most susceptible to leaving a sonic imprint on the overall sound. Different cables are going to produce different sounds, some exaggerate low end, some exaggerate high end. This is not necessarily correlated with expense, George L cables are not particularly expensive, but every extremely bright compared to say a 10 foot equivalent of Mogami. Conversely, a Belden 9778 is going to be much darker, compared to the more mid range heavy Mogami. This is something that exists independent of me, however I’m working with in the confines of the cables that are carried at Sweetwater and recommending accordingly.
“Some of you may know me from my UA-cam channel” and some of us know you from rehousing bbe products without permission, saying you had player endorsements with people who cut ties with you and then later putting the jack Orman boost out as an original design.
@@FriendlyNeighborhoodBallsack search thegearpage for any vertex topic they might be intolerable boomers over there but theyve detailed the man's escapades thoroughly.
@@TCMx3 erm - this guy’s videos keep popping up in my feed. It’s obvious that he’s selling constantly; however, I had no idea about the faux bootik wah pedal, stolen booster, etc. What a POS. Makes Bill and Becky Lawrence look like honest business people - and that takes talent!
ShittyMcPoopyBalls I’m aware that there are different qualities of cables - conductor size, amount of shielding, quality of connectors/ terminations and strain relief. These are the elements that ensure that the signal passes correctly and reliably. As long as you aren’t using some cheap Chinese cable you won’t have any problems. The concept of “this cable sounds better” is absolute snake oil.
Mark Hammermeister Considering you do acknowledge that there is indeed a difference in how cables can color sound, then you should also be very much aware of what was implied by “this is a really great sounding cable”. What you’re missing though is cable impedance relative to signal chain length. Not to mention if you’re running all true-bypass circuits in your pedals. AND, not to mention the genre of music you’re playing. You may want a super sterile signal for cleans but if you’re looking for nose-bleed high gain, all of that sterility is going to be converted into harsh, bright, fizzy bullshit. Same goes the other way around and a properly matched cable can be the difference in securing your tone and thinking your rig is broken. Also, are you playing live on stage or in a studio? All of those things matter when selecting a cable. How much does it matter? I guess that’s up to how one wants their end product to sound. I want mine to sound the best and sometimes a better cable, or a proper cable for the task at hand, can do that. A butter knife makes for a halfway decent flat-head but I bet you still use a screwdriver instead.
Thought this video was actually going to be useful... Here's an actual upgrade you should get: get a nice Altoids tin and put it on your board for picks, slides and batteries.
Noak Westerberg And it’s not something that you necessarily need to address immediately, the difference between a shielded and non-shield it is going to be minimal, especially if you’re using a cleaner amplifier platform, but all things being equal if you can help it it’s better to go shielded than not. Where are you will notice a difference if you have any pedals that are AC powered, or have hardwired AC cables, and it’s always best to dress those away from audio, or if they have to cross doing it perpendicular to reject noise.
as a person who plays house shows and tours basements, i promise, i do not need a high quality mesa dual buffer. what i do need is a way to keep opening bands from putting drinks on my fender twin. when sweetwater has something like that, let me know
Also another alternative to the linear analog power supply like the Voodoo Lab. I really like the switching ones however like the Strymon and the Truetone because they can accept any input voltage and work anywhere in the world.
I have a walrus audio aetos and I love it. Fits perfectly under my temple audio board. I like that it has a standard wall type socket on it. Makes powering the hx stomp with it’s included power supply easy.
moog man Hopefully you don’t need to add too much, perhaps the power supply would be a drop in replacement? And if you have a boost already, you could always substitute the Mesa Boogie in there and get your buffer at the same time!
@@brayansolis2214 www.thegearpage.net/board/index.php?threads/michael-landaus-open-letter-regarding-vertex.1477017/ Just to get you started, but be ready for a lot of disappointment. A real tragedy in the pedal making business. Not only was Landau, Ford, Bonamassa hurt by his fraudulent activities, regular musicians have been scammed.
@@guitarnoodles7576 This falls into that Switching Supply category like the Truetone and the Zuma. Good stuff! I like getting the shielded DC cables however from Sweetwater, the Voodoo Lab branded ones and then just solder on the RCA connectors that got to the CIOKS.
I’m using an Ampeg SCR DI as the last pedal in the chain of my ampless bass rig. I have an Empress Buffer + as my input buffer but will the Ampeg serve as an adequate output buffer? Thank you🙏🏻
As a worship guitarist, wonderful how this information is so informative. It's like reading the bible for me. I live it and find it very very interesting. Love every detail, thanks a lot Rig doctor! Peace from South Africa.💯👌🥇🎸
"This is brighter sounding cable." GMAFB. If I blindfolded you and held a gun to your head, you couldn't tell the difference. People get suckered into buying premium gear they don't need so easily.
Hi, Jonathan. Yes, if you're wanting to do an end-of-chain buffer and are running in stereo, then you would need two channels of buffer. Sometimes this happens at the end of a chain anyway as many delay and reverb pedals are buffered and have stereo outputs. The other option would be to buffer the signal before splitting to stereo so that you could just use one buffer. Thanks for your interest! Charlie Davis, Sweetwater Sales Engineer, (800) 222-4700 ext. 1320, charlie_davis@sweetwater.com
I've NEVER used an isolated power supply in 25+ years of gigging - I've used one of those cheap daisy chained un-isolated ones. Never had a noisy rig. Ever. Just bought an isolated power supply for my studio rig and I'm going to do some a/b testing to see if there is any benefit. My instinct is that you only need isolated power to prevent a particularly old or poorly wired pedal interfering with other old or poorly wired pedals. I don't have either, my oldest pedals being a 30 year old Rat and an equally aged JD Wah. Am I missing the point?
There are several pedal combinations that work just fine that way. In my experience problems begin when you combine analog and digital pedals. I can use a daisy chain with an Ego compressor, RC Boost, Zendrive and Vertex Boost without any hum or noise but when I add a Flashback delay and a Hall of fame I can hear a dramatically increased noise floor and hiss. If I power the two digital pedals with a seperate power supply it´s fine again.
Joe, there are conditions where an isolated power supply may not make an appreciable difference, but will depend greatly on the pedals you're powering and how well they are filtered, whether there is an internal clock in the, whether they are analog vs. digital, as well as other factors. If you were powering, for example, 10 overdrive pedals, a Boss tuner, and a wah, you might be OK. However, if you introduced something with higher current and digital into that mix, say a Strymon Timeline, it won't play well with those other pedals if it's paralleled off the same power and can introduce noise into everything since each output of the power supply is tied to one-another. I hope that clarifies.
@@guitarelaxed Yeah, I can appreciate that scenario. My point is that buying gear BEFORE you need it is the driving force behind a lot of musical accessoriy sales. I certainly don't consider an isolated power supply as a must-have and it certainly isn't an upgrade - it's a solution to a specific and relatively rare problem, that probably wouldn't occur if the offending digital pedals were properly designed in the first place.
@@joelonsdale It's pretty common now that pedals are so pervasive - I would agree with you if it were the year 2005, but now there are too many voltages, too high current, and irregularities among pedals to make a non-ISO'd supply workable the way it was. I would argue that the conditions for not having an ISO'd supply are actually more fringe now than ever before.
Joe Lonsdale I disagree with this comment. My pedalboard (cali76, KOT, HX stomp, BigSky) with my onespot is unbelievably noisy and almost unplayable. I hooked up a Truetone CS12, dead quiet. It is most certainly an upgrade DEPENDING on the combination of pedals.
Hi, eroddddd. You don’t necessarily need a buffer, especially if you have a Boss pedal towards the front of your signal chain. That said, not all buffers are created equal so adding a high quality one could give you some improvement to your tone. I would check out the Bonafide Buffer from TC Electronic, the Mesa Boogie Stowaway, or Empress Buffer I/O. Thanks for your interest! Charlie Davis, Sweetwater Sales Engineer, (800) 222-4700 ext. 1320, charlie_davis@sweetwater.com
As a truetone booster owner (which has the visual sound buffer in it, as do all of their pedals) I am VERY curious about this exact thing. I have the Polytune3 at the front and truly wonder if the buffer you mentioned is a good line driver at the end of my board. Mason?
Chris Allarie don’t see it published, so it’s hard to say. An alternative is the TC Bonafide buffer but you’d need two of them to get the dual buffer function of the Mesa Boogie.
Talking about isolated power supplies, do you know the Brazilian brand Landscape? Look for they website, seems like a great power supply, it would be great if you could get one of those for testing... they have the models ISO power 4, 7 and 12. Cheers from Brazil!
Mason , I saw your videos about a year ago and I tore my board apart and hand soldered every cable. I couldn't find a place to purchase an in/out box so I bought a Friedman buffer bay to act as the main hub. Buffer bay has an input buffer on it. I go from the buffer to a voodoo labs px switcher. The out of that switcher runs back to the buffer bay, then from there to my Mesa roadster. The px has an output buffer. Is this a good enough buffer setup or should I look into the Mesa?
An easy test to to AB your board versus plugging the guitar right into the amp and see if you hear a difference. If you have an AB box to do the test in real time, even better.
Do the power cables that are supplied with a Truetone product (I own CS12) have shielded cable like the Voodoo Labs ones that you mention in the video are shielded? Amazing video as usual. thanks
Hi, Anthony. Yes, the Truetone cables are shielded as well so they will perform equally well to the Truetone. I've used both cables in my own rig and have found them to perform the same. Thanks for your interest! Charlie Davis, Sweetwater Sales Engineer, (800) 222-4700 ext. 1320, charlie_davis@sweetwater.com
I use six pedals on a pedal board. I use a 1 Spot power supply. I'm not in a band, so the 1 Spot is perfect. I feel frustration playing alone, but I'm 67 and would not be dedicated to a band, so mixed feelings! Enough venting. What is your situation?
John A it might be ok with certain combos of pedals. If you introduce more high current and digital devices or devices with clocks, you’ll hear the difference. It’s more Pedal specific than anything.
Hi John ,Me too,i'm 67 & i live in Les Paul's home town. I have been playing for about 40 years & even got out of jury duty once for a gig down in IL . Now i play for myself & the grand kids, i found little Noah a short scale, nice quality 20 yr old Archer w/gig bag & amp for $75.00 - delivered on FB Marketplace., Every kid needs an electric guitar for a 3 rd B-day present. I rigged up a low to the ground mic amp stand w/an M-Brace from E-Bay for $56.00 & he can stand behind it now & strum instead of head on.Oh... yes sir & for little ones (2 yrs-5) bike needs,please check-out Kid's Ride Shotgun a new product from New Zealand that had 3 people come up to us & ask "where did u get that ? " also Noah approved ! :-) lol Respectfully, Kim -pres. Fox River Sports
Josh Guzman You would need to get either, something like the TC electronic bona fide Buffer for the right output, OR you can look at something like the Empress Stereo Buffer, or you may need to get an output buffer with an isolated output and polarity switch depending on whether your stereo amps are on the same ground, you may need this feature. If so, look at the Suhr buffer.
Fantastic, but what about a sliding rack shelf?! Mogami put a switch on an instrument cable for all of those without a tuner in the chain?! 🤦🏽♂️ EQD SwissThings is what everyone needs for the buffer portion... it’s godsend!
@@patrickcarroll1754 The thing is, it wasn't a long time ago, that's what he wants you to believe, he hasn't changed he keeps lying, up to this day, the axis wah is like 10% of his lies. add the lie with the belden cables, lies of his "original" designs, the fake dumble amp, the wrong mod of amps video, the lies on his boost pedal, the lies of his EE "studies", the insults to other pedalbuilders, the stealing of other people's work to make believe it's his, the landau letter warning people of him, the bonamassa letter warning people of him, the list only keeps growing and growing. Don't believe me, read the forums, look at the screenshots, the videos, the posts of him lying, dude is pure trash.
Hey @Sweetwater, this stuff makes no sense: 1:15 "this is a switching power supply and it uses something called high frequency to isolate all these outputs..."
Daniel Yeh Switch mode power supplies use high frequency as the way to isolate, differently than the linear supply would use for example a toroidal transformer and regulators, etc. The important thing, and what differentiates a high-quality switching supply from a low quality switch in supply is the frequency chosen, hopefully outside of the audio range.
More info on switching power supplies here and the use of high frequency as a component of that: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Switched-mode_power_supply#Isolated_topologies
@@VertexEffectsInc Power supplies do NOT "use high frequency as the way to isolate." Switch Mode is used to REGULATE power, not ISOLATE. Isolation circuits like opto-couplers or flyback transformers isolate and are used in pedalboard power supplies.
@@KYDY, you're right, I guess I could have said something as simple as, switching power supplies takes the line coming in and feeds it into a high frequency oscillator that feeds tiny little transformers that can produce the same power that a linear analog supply could (i.e. Voodoo Lab in this video) in a much smaller package that won't produce the same amount of heat as it's linear counterparts. But, in one sentence, in passing, what showed up on the video was the best I could do. Believe it or not, the video was one take, with one punch in when I mumbled a word to start a sentence. Kind regards, Mason
Vertex Effects Hey Mason, whenever I come across your videos, I'm impressed by your ability to recall a lot of info quickly off the top of your head, like all the cable part numbers lol. You've got a good head on your shoulders. But even that last reply is kind of nonsensical, perhaps leave the electrical engineering stuff alone? Hope it’s a useful feedback data point from an internet stranger, cheers.
My top 3.... 1. get rid of solderless cables they suck 2.Power Supply 3.3 pedals you don't need but you want ..and for fun....LED light strip remotely controlled with multi lights for fun just because you can
Zen The trouble is, as a young student studying phonics, I always felt that the silent “E” was given too much attention. To combat that, I decided that I would pivot to the silent “L” in protest.
It’s the best power supply for a massive pedalboard. But if you have a Classic 1 or smaller, the three power supplies here (add the Aetos if you don’t need 18v) are more than enough.
Hi I'm curious about what types of fuzz pedals you would recommend against buffering before. I know a buffer isn't recommend before a fuzzface but are there any other fuzzes this applies to?
Anthony Ciccarello most vintage style fuzzes or high impedance circuits (some vintage wahs as well) can be sensitive to buffers before them. Things like Fuzz Faces, Tone Benders, would be examples of fuzzes that will react poorly to buffers. In this case you’d place the input buffer after the fuzz and the output buffer before you leave the board going back to the amp (or last in the chain).
Paolo Cristofoli It makes it harder, but one thing that I found really useful is an upholstery crowbar, since it’s plastic it allows you to remove devices without damaging the paint.
Awesome stuff! Mason is King! I will say from personal experience, and seen it demoed on a well known German UA-cam channel. The Voodoo labs power supply type picks up noise something terrible. My experience playing in environments with big power runs directly under the stage spelled disaster for that type of power supply.
SMSuperstrat You do have to be careful with linear analog power supplies, because the transformer does have a magnetic field, and although that is mitigated to a degree with the steel enclosure, a lot of this is completely circumvented when you move to a switching power supply like those I mentioned from Strymon and Truetone.
I don't understand why the good ones are expensive. It's not a delay, overdrive, modulation, or something just amazing. Its a dang box that runs electricity to your pedals. They should all be atleast 30-80$. Another part of the guitar marketing to just get a bunch of money from you.
Vertex Effects all I know is his voice is the same as Jack Black’s. And I can’t see anyone but Jack Black’s face when imagine what GMD’s face might look like.
Some nice tips! But before you guys spend hundreds of dollars on expensive cables remember SRV insisted upon using cheap Radio Shack curly cord to get the sound he wanted... and I guess he didn't sound too shabby!
Indeed, however his tone was so bright that this was a way from him to attenuate high end from his rig. As he got into the late 80's and 90's he definitely trimmed the fat and was using better stuff that early on. Once Rene and Cesar Diaz got him dialed in, I think he was using Belden 8410 at the end.
Why should I believe anything you say if your voice recording sounds horrible? Seriously, what kind of mic did you use for this video? It sounds atrocious!
Those can also work! We find that having one of the power supplies mentioned in this video can be a bit more reliable, because you only have to worry about one piece of gear instead of several pieces strung together!
I would love to see something about pedal and board maintenance and cleaning. Lord knows most band rooms and gigs are less than perfectly clean. Dos and don’ts.
@@dewiecox3533 He likes to depend big bucks not doing the common sense stuff. Like wireless. You can get a cheap 5.8 rechargeable wireless set for the same price as those fancy Dan cables. I got my EBS Gold flat cables in bulk sales and use a Caline P-1 power unit that not isolated but has been working fine for pretty much 4 yrs. Only pedal out of 12 on board that's noisy is my Butler Tube driver and that's noisy sitting on the floor by itself. Sometimes my spare 5 knob makes a noise just to remind me to use that 1 also. If someone can figure out a way to get the rowdy pedals to not be noisy I like to see that. I just have to remember to turn it off at end of use. Everything else is quiet on my board. He's always talking buffers and other expensive items for boards that just with common sense you don't need. I run a AKG wireless bug into board and a 5.8 wireless out to amp. I can move my board anywhere a electric plug can reach. Also something they never tell you, wireless can boost your signal enough to eliminate a buffer need. I got a Wampler dB-1 on my board and don't even use the buffer side of it. In other words the buffer switch is not on. No difference on or off. 12 pedals, no fancy expensive pwr unit, no fancy have to solder homemade cables, no expensive buffers on either end. Now I spent easily a grand building my board mostly buying used but that includes everything ,board, velco ,power, pedals ,case, extra power cables for extra 18v, 3-3 way daisies for extra out in front middle and end of power for adding pedals to try out. Each unused pwr out has a cover on it when not in use. Tucked up and out of way.
John Wyrosdick No, they are not shielded. Again of all the things I said this is the one that I think there can be an argument made against simply because the voltage in guitar pedals is fairly low and fairly low current. However, best practices are Mondays rig builders is typically that you try to use shielded cables wherever possible just to eliminate any noise. Again this is not an absolute, and typically where you’ll see issues is when you’re running AC power, then the necessity for shielding becomes much more pronounced not only in terms of your power cables, but also your audio cables and keeping those as separated as possible, or if they have to cross paths doing that in a perpendicular fashion.
Daniel Yeh No misunderstanding, unless I’m reading back my own writing incorrectly - to reiterate you could make an argument that shielded DC power cables are not necessary on low voltage devices (like most guitar pedals), hence the reason why many manufacturers do not provide is shielded DC cable with their power supplies.
@@VertexEffectsInc No, shielded power cables might be helpful if pedal power was actually low voltage, like in the guitar output mV range. 9V is big compared to interference. I mean use whatever, it doesn't matter in practice. But it seems like you're spreading fundamentally misunderstood ideas.
@@KYDY Firstly, I always advocate for shielded cables where possible, as I did in this video. However, if you have pure DC at the current levels that we're using in guitar pedals, this dialogue is irrelevant - all the supplies shown here are pure DC. In fact, the shielding on the DC power cables that are commercially available, the shielding is on the outside, not the center conductor, so it's not really shielding anything other than the ground down the middle. In other words, the shield is carrying the 9V where the noise would be.
Do buffer pedals effect the dynamics of the guitar volume rolled down tone? Will tuner pedals with buffers change the dynamics or use of the guitar volume control?
Zakk Garth If you have one that is built properly, like the one I mentioned by Mesa Boogie, the interaction between the resistance in your volume pot with your guitar pick ups and devices on your pedalboard will stay intact. There should be no difference between the sound of your guitar plugged directly into your amplifier with a 10 foot cable versus plugging into the Pedalboard, presuming you’re using quality cables and power with pedals of decent quality that won’t degrade the tone in bypass.
1) No, buffers don't increase the gain level, they just ensure that you don't loose any high end. 2) Not all buffers are created equal, some buffered tuner pedals (like boss tu2 or tu3) will suck some of your overall signal. Use your ears for best results. Hope that helps.
Daniel Hoskins They do, but it’s only an input buffer, so you would need to buy the individual bona fide buffer to go at the end to get the most fidelity of your original signal back
Howdy Scott! You may or may not be aware, but every customer and dealership that ever owned an Axis Wah was provided a full refund, rebate, or exchange according to their desired restitution back in 2014. In fact, we still leave the door open to any owner of the product that was previously unaware of refund options and keep a public record of all Axis Wah refunds on our website for anyone to view since 2014: www.vertexeffects.com/redemption . The Axis Wah is not representative of our company values and the products we make. We've worked tirelessly to make a new impression and continue to maintain a high standard of quality and customer service with transparency around each product and its origins. All we can do is release the best sounding products possible and give our customers the best possible quality and support in hopes that with time we'll earn back their trust. The intent of this video is to get out the best information possible to musicians regarding pedalboard best practices. Perhaps I'm not the best messenger for you, but the things talked about and the reasons I recommend them exist independently of me and are central tools and building blocks among rig builder. I tried to distill these concepts as best as possible for UA-cam viewers. None of my products are a part of this video, nor are they mentioned in any way. Hopefully you can find some useful tips here to improve your tone and lower the noise floor of your pedalboard rig. Kind regards, Mason
Paolo Cristofoli When you’re running several pedals in parallel through a daisy chain, it’s not necessarily a number of any particular device that creates the noise, in other words, as long as you have “X” number of pedals it won’t have any noise. It’s completely dependent on what the actual devices are that are connected to the daisychain. You may be OK if you have a majority of analog overdrive devices, but sometimes devices with clocks in them, or insufficient filtering, or digital devices shared with analog devices, can create problems. If you’re using a problem free, then you probably have a combination of devices that are workable in this condition, however this application can be limited if you wanted to expand to a greater number of devices, high current digital devices, etc.
@@VertexEffectsInc totally agree with that. with the CS6 I'm running 10 pedals analog and digital ones, even together in daisy chain (no more than 3 per chain) and works just fine. of course having each one its private power cable would be possibly better.
Really disappointed you guys affiliated your company with this known scammer and liar. Rehoused other companies pedals, covered the circuit boards and said they were his own. Then lied about it repeatedly for weeks publicly, on major platforms, until literally forced to recant. Sweetwater has always been about customer service and standing behind what you sell. I am hoping this is not a new direction you are taking.
JJ Schulz You may or may not be aware, but every customer and dealership that ever owned an Axis Wah was provided a full refund, rebate, or exchange according to their desired restitution back in 2014. In fact, we still leave the door open to any owner of the product that was previously unaware of refund options and keep a public record of all Axis Wah refunds on our website for anyone to view since 2014: www.vertexeffects.com/redemption. The Axis Wah is not representative of our company values and the products we make. We've worked tirelessly to make a new impression and continue to maintain a high standard of quality and customer service with transparency around each product and its origins. All we can do is release the best sounding products possible and give our customers the best possible quality and support in hopes that with time we'll earn back their trust.
To lock pedals down, bicycle chain links can help screw the pedals down too. For the pedal boards themselves fibreglass is stiffer and lighter than aluminium or wood.
Vincent Bakker the fibreglass sheet I used was 3mm thick and 2’ wide. The frame was made of wood. I could stand on it and it would flex a little but did not break.
Hey Mason, I really appreciate you sharing your vast knowledge on pedal board setups... I never gave it much thought in the past but over time I've learned there are better solutions than just plugging everything in and playing. Throughout my journey of upgrading my board my tone has drastically improved !
A battery is the "MOST" isolated supply technically, although the power requirements of today's pedals don't always allow for it to be possible to use a 9V battery inside them. In essence, an isolated power supply is like have a limitless current batter behind each output from the supply (my attempt to help you visualize what an isolated supply is versus your reference).
Ryan, thanks for watching. I think the only reason we were able to survive the Axis Wah and push forward since 2014 was that we did what we said we were going to do - people were made whole again financially, or on the terms they requested as restitution (some wanted to exchange for other products not in question, or keep the product and get a rebate for the difference they paid between the Axis Wah and BBE). I was prepared to close the doors upon completion of refunds, however there were many that were able to see past my shortcomings and continue to support me in spite of that, and allowed me a second chance at earning their business. Kind regards, Mason
People don't have to live their whole lives under the shadow of a mistake. Every good story has an element of redemption. I for one am happy to see people get another chance.
Your pedalboard will thank you! What other pedalboard upgrades would you recommend? Like and subscribe for more tips and tricks for a great rig 🎶
Hey sweetwater why are supporting/employing a con artist? Is it part of sweetwaters company policy to lie and cheat customers? That's what employing Mason says to me. But hey maybe sweetwater might never get caught pulling a con on their customers and be force to apologize and refund. You have lost a customer.
@@be5792 How's that glass house you live in doing?
@@be5792 Hi there! You may or may not be aware, but every customer and dealership that ever owned an Axis Wah was provided a full refund, rebate, or exchange according to their desired restitution back in 2014. In fact, we still leave the door open to any owner of the product that was previously unaware of refund options and keep a public record of all Axis Wah refunds on our website for anyone to view since 2014: www.vertexeffects.com/redemption . The Axis Wah is not representative of our company values and the products we make. We've worked tirelessly to make a new impression and continue to maintain a high standard of quality and customer service with transparency around each product and its origins. All we can do is release the best sounding products possible and give our customers the best possible quality and support in hopes that with time we'll earn back their trust. The intent of this video is to get out the best information possible to musicians regarding pedalboard best practices. Perhaps I'm not the best messenger for you, but the things talked about and the reasons I recommend them exist independently of me and are central tools and building blocks among rig builder. I tried to distill these concepts as best as possible for UA-cam viewers. None of my products are a part of this video, nor are they mentioned in any way. Hopefully you can find some useful tips here to improve your tone and lower the noise floor of your pedalboard rig. Kind regards, Mason
The upgrade I would like developed is an extension board that can be placed on a table or stand with a snake down to a loop selector stomper unit on the floor board that also has the power supply and maybe tuner/buffer stuff. I would also like some kind of digital standard that permits one A/D conversion into the first digital pedal, then digital I/O through all the rest of the digital pedals, then one D/A conversion at the end. This is how you stay really silent and also skip a ton of redundant D/A->A/D conversions and the analog signal cable between each one. They could use those mini USB connectors especially because 1/4" jacks really do suck.
@@VertexEffectsInc You only mention the Axis Wah in all your public responses, but MOST of your products/services at the time went through the same sort of controversy. You since then lied about even the Axis Wah in interviews to minimize and further deceive. I honestly don't understand how you're back in business after all the relationships you've ruined, speaks to your business acumen I guess.
Well, I think we have very different definitions of the word “need”.
Hey Joel! Obviously, a guitarist could get by with less than this! However, these are some good things to have if you're trying to build a rock solid board! If you're not into it, do what what sounds good too! :)
@@VertexEffectsInc AGREED YOU MAKE PERFECT SENSE. CHEERS.
"it uses high frequency to isolate all the outputs" - that sentence has no meaning, frequency is a physical property, not a method or a construction used to make/do something.
"brighter sounding cable" - can you explain how a conductor can sound brighter? because average cable has a capacitance od 39pF/ft so the high frequency rolloff isnt in guitar's range even up to 30ft.
next, 100k ohms is 1000x 100 ohms, not hundred or ten times higher, besides that any buffer will drive enourmous lenghts of cable so output buffer is not needed.
I hope that someday this industry will start learning about physics and electronics and not try to just sell snakeoil... stay safe.
This is marketting dude. Im pretty sure all these are the most expensive examples available on their respectable website.
Although a power supply does remove a bit of hum from the pedals.
And ive gotten by pretty wellwith cheap donner PC's
@@alexandertorrente198 i know what it is. im saying they should focus on facts, and not some band practice fairy tales.
On the other hand, yes, a quality power supply could help someone's pedalboard, but im not getting at that, my focus is their selling ethics and non-scientific background.
Well, a 20-30 foot cable COULD have a noticeable effect on what you hear depending not only on the capacitance of the cable, but the inductance value of the pickups you are using. It is very possible that a slightly higher capacitance cable could be just enough to push into affecting the resonant peak of HIS pickups.
B Ctrl Without spending a lot of time in passing on distinguishing the difference between a linear analog supply and a switching supply, I agree that I could’ve gone into more specifics, the challenge is how to synthesize the stuff quickly when it’s not really about the anatomy of a power supply, but rather just making the distinction of an isolated supply versus a non-isolated. I mentioned in an earlier comment about this, that it probably would’ve been a better explanation to say that it does what an analog linear supply does, however it takes a high frequency oscillator and runs it into miniature transformers compared to something like a toroid, and is able to do it in a much smaller package with a lot less heat generated. The difficulty is how to synthesize this in a passing sentence, and I agree that I could have done a better job. With regards to cables, they are all filters, and I think that something that most of us can understand. Just like a capacitor value you choose for say a guitar volume pot, the value that you choose will have an impact on the overall tone. In particular, on your input cable going from the guitar into your Pedalboard, assuming that there’s some signal conditioning on the input, that cable is going to be the most susceptible to leaving a sonic imprint on the overall sound. Different cables are going to produce different sounds, some exaggerate low end, some exaggerate high end. This is not necessarily correlated with expense, George L cables are not particularly expensive, but every extremely bright compared to say a 10 foot equivalent of Mogami. Conversely, a Belden 9778 is going to be much darker, compared to the more mid range heavy Mogami. This is something that exists independent of me, however I’m working with in the confines of the cables that are carried at Sweetwater and recommending accordingly.
Neo Zeed
Exactly.
“Some of you may know me from my UA-cam channel” and some of us know you from rehousing bbe products without permission, saying you had player endorsements with people who cut ties with you and then later putting the jack Orman boost out as an original design.
Exactly! Im glad u hold the same grudge I do
i need some more information about this. have any links to videos or articles i can watch/read up on?
@@FriendlyNeighborhoodBallsack search thegearpage for any vertex topic they might be intolerable boomers over there but theyve detailed the man's escapades thoroughly.
@@TCMx3 thank you!
@@TCMx3 erm - this guy’s videos keep popping up in my feed. It’s obvious that he’s selling constantly; however, I had no idea about the faux bootik wah pedal, stolen booster, etc. What a POS. Makes Bill and Becky Lawrence look like honest business people - and that takes talent!
“This is a really great sounding cable”
I had to laugh at that lol
It’s called “noise floor” and a quality cable can certainly make all of the difference...................
Especially for unbalanced/instrument cables. Open your mind Mark, you might end up sounding better.
ShittyMcPoopyBalls I’m aware that there are different qualities of cables - conductor size, amount of shielding, quality of connectors/ terminations and strain relief. These are the elements that ensure that the signal passes correctly and reliably. As long as you aren’t using some cheap Chinese cable you won’t have any problems. The concept of “this cable sounds better” is absolute snake oil.
Mark Hammermeister
Considering you do acknowledge that there is indeed a difference in how cables can color sound, then you should also be very much aware of what was implied by “this is a really great sounding cable”.
What you’re missing though is cable impedance relative to signal chain length. Not to mention if you’re running all true-bypass circuits in your pedals. AND, not to mention the genre of music you’re playing. You may want a super sterile signal for cleans but if you’re looking for nose-bleed high gain, all of that sterility is going to be converted into harsh, bright, fizzy bullshit. Same goes the other way around and a properly matched cable can be the difference in securing your tone and thinking your rig is broken. Also, are you playing live on stage or in a studio? All of those things matter when selecting a cable. How much does it matter? I guess that’s up to how one wants their end product to sound. I want mine to sound the best and sometimes a better cable, or a proper cable for the task at hand, can do that.
A butter knife makes for a halfway decent flat-head but I bet you still use a screwdriver instead.
Thought this video was actually going to be useful... Here's an actual upgrade you should get: get a nice Altoids tin and put it on your board for picks, slides and batteries.
I remember when I had fewer pedals I had an Altoids tin in the center but got rid of it when I got a Big Sky
Good news, I already have most of the above except the shielded DC cable. Will check that out for sure!
Noak Westerberg And it’s not something that you necessarily need to address immediately, the difference between a shielded and non-shield it is going to be minimal, especially if you’re using a cleaner amplifier platform, but all things being equal if you can help it it’s better to go shielded than not. Where are you will notice a difference if you have any pedals that are AC powered, or have hardwired AC cables, and it’s always best to dress those away from audio, or if they have to cross doing it perpendicular to reject noise.
ive come to really respect you and you do a great job in the videos explaining things , good work my guy.@@VertexEffectsInc
Hmm, I don’t know him from UA-cam or as the RigDoctor, just the guy who rehoused other manufacturer’s pedals as his own. How is he still in business?
William Puth exactly
Every board needs a BBE Wah.
and some rebranded cables to go along with it :)
And more vertex stickers
as a person who plays house shows and tours basements, i promise, i do not need a high quality mesa dual buffer. what i do need is a way to keep opening bands from putting drinks on my fender twin. when sweetwater has something like that, let me know
The Walrus Audio power supplies are great too!
Also another alternative to the linear analog power supply like the Voodoo Lab. I really like the switching ones however like the Strymon and the Truetone because they can accept any input voltage and work anywhere in the world.
I have a walrus audio aetos and I love it. Fits perfectly under my temple audio board. I like that it has a standard wall type socket on it. Makes powering the hx stomp with it’s included power supply easy.
If you make your own patch cables, I highly recommend using “Square Plugs” connectors. Both square and standard connectors are excellent.
Ryan Wilson yes these are great and if you watch our rig build videos on our channel you’ll see them used heavily
Vertex Effects I’ll have to check out your channel
Ryan Wilson 🥳🥳🥳
I already have a pedal board and now i need 5 more things... time to start building one out of a 4x8 sheet of plywood!
moog man Hopefully you don’t need to add too much, perhaps the power supply would be a drop in replacement? And if you have a boost already, you could always substitute the Mesa Boogie in there and get your buffer at the same time!
Lmao when he started talking about the "tone" of certain cables and talking nonsense about frequencies... What a bunch of snake oil.
That criminal shouldn't be allowed on UA-cam or have a business.
MrWolf5150 who is he?
@@brayansolis2214 www.thegearpage.net/board/index.php?threads/michael-landaus-open-letter-regarding-vertex.1477017/
Just to get you started, but be ready for a lot of disappointment. A real tragedy in the pedal making business. Not only was Landau, Ford, Bonamassa hurt by his fraudulent activities, regular musicians have been scammed.
I definitely need a Zuma
Fantastic supply for sure!
Love mine. Whisper quiet.
Cioks DC7 for the win...
That's a wonderful supply too! I own one of those as well!
just got one. love it!
@@guitarnoodles7576 This falls into that Switching Supply category like the Truetone and the Zuma. Good stuff! I like getting the shielded DC cables however from Sweetwater, the Voodoo Lab branded ones and then just solder on the RCA connectors that got to the CIOKS.
I have Cioks DC10, is great, but includes lack of power cables centre negative
Jou Vaju - what? The cables don't matter for polarity. The output of the supply/input of the pedal matter.
Thank you for putting this all in one place Sweetwater & Mason.
Lost Smoke 🥳🥳🥳
I’m using an Ampeg SCR DI as the last pedal in the chain of my ampless bass rig. I have an Empress Buffer + as my input buffer but will the Ampeg serve as an adequate output buffer? Thank you🙏🏻
Killer tips! Definitely all necessary for maintaining the best tone and reliability on stage, tour and studio.
🙏🙏🙏
Are they really tips if they’re so obvious though?
As a worship guitarist, wonderful how this information is so informative. It's like reading the bible for me. I live it and find it very very interesting. Love every detail, thanks a lot Rig doctor! Peace from South Africa.💯👌🥇🎸
"This is brighter sounding cable." GMAFB. If I blindfolded you and held a gun to your head, you couldn't tell the difference. People get suckered into buying premium gear they don't need so easily.
FACTS!!!!!!!!
If your paddleboard stereo out do you need to purchase two buffers?
Hi, Jonathan. Yes, if you're wanting to do an end-of-chain buffer and are running in stereo, then you would need two channels of buffer. Sometimes this happens at the end of a chain anyway as many delay and reverb pedals are buffered and have stereo outputs. The other option would be to buffer the signal before splitting to stereo so that you could just use one buffer.
Thanks for your interest!
Charlie Davis, Sweetwater Sales Engineer, (800) 222-4700 ext. 1320, charlie_davis@sweetwater.com
I've NEVER used an isolated power supply in 25+ years of gigging - I've used one of those cheap daisy chained un-isolated ones. Never had a noisy rig. Ever. Just bought an isolated power supply for my studio rig and I'm going to do some a/b testing to see if there is any benefit. My instinct is that you only need isolated power to prevent a particularly old or poorly wired pedal interfering with other old or poorly wired pedals. I don't have either, my oldest pedals being a 30 year old Rat and an equally aged JD Wah. Am I missing the point?
There are several pedal combinations that work just fine that way. In my experience problems begin when you combine analog and digital pedals. I can use a daisy chain with an Ego compressor, RC Boost, Zendrive and Vertex Boost without any hum or noise but when I add a Flashback delay and a Hall of fame I can hear a dramatically increased noise floor and hiss. If I power the two digital pedals with a seperate power supply it´s fine again.
Joe, there are conditions where an isolated power supply may not make an appreciable difference, but will depend greatly on the pedals you're powering and how well they are filtered, whether there is an internal clock in the, whether they are analog vs. digital, as well as other factors. If you were powering, for example, 10 overdrive pedals, a Boss tuner, and a wah, you might be OK. However, if you introduced something with higher current and digital into that mix, say a Strymon Timeline, it won't play well with those other pedals if it's paralleled off the same power and can introduce noise into everything since each output of the power supply is tied to one-another. I hope that clarifies.
@@guitarelaxed Yeah, I can appreciate that scenario. My point is that buying gear BEFORE you need it is the driving force behind a lot of musical accessoriy sales. I certainly don't consider an isolated power supply as a must-have and it certainly isn't an upgrade - it's a solution to a specific and relatively rare problem, that probably wouldn't occur if the offending digital pedals were properly designed in the first place.
@@joelonsdale It's pretty common now that pedals are so pervasive - I would agree with you if it were the year 2005, but now there are too many voltages, too high current, and irregularities among pedals to make a non-ISO'd supply workable the way it was. I would argue that the conditions for not having an ISO'd supply are actually more fringe now than ever before.
Joe Lonsdale I disagree with this comment. My pedalboard (cali76, KOT, HX stomp, BigSky) with my onespot is unbelievably noisy and almost unplayable. I hooked up a Truetone CS12, dead quiet. It is most certainly an upgrade DEPENDING on the combination of pedals.
Question 🙋🏽♂️ .. do I still need buffers if boss pedals already are buffered ?
Hi, eroddddd. You don’t necessarily need a buffer, especially if you have a Boss pedal towards the front of your signal chain. That said, not all buffers are created equal so adding a high quality one could give you some improvement to your tone. I would check out the Bonafide Buffer from TC Electronic, the Mesa Boogie Stowaway, or Empress Buffer I/O.
Thanks for your interest!
Charlie Davis, Sweetwater Sales Engineer, (800) 222-4700 ext. 1320, charlie_davis@sweetwater.com
Is the puretone buffer a 1meg in and 80-150ohm out?
As a truetone booster owner (which has the visual sound buffer in it, as do all of their pedals) I am VERY curious about this exact thing. I have the Polytune3 at the front and truly wonder if the buffer you mentioned is a good line driver at the end of my board. Mason?
kosmicwizard I have been using it at the beginning of my board for a few years. Sounds great but never found specs on it.
Chris Allarie don’t see it published, so it’s hard to say. An alternative is the TC Bonafide buffer but you’d need two of them to get the dual buffer function of the Mesa Boogie.
Should I still use a High-Wire dual buffer if I’m using a Boss ES-8 switching system?
Really good info and a great video! Thanks
Truetone power supplies are such good value.
Great video! I was really tempted to save a few bucks by buying a really cheap set of ammoon patch cables but i think I'll get something more premium
I’ve know I’ve heard you say to use 2 different kinds of dual lock. What ones were they and what one goes on the pedal and what one goes on the board?
Put some glasses on this guy and he could pivot from pedal board wiz to yelling at kids about living in a van down by the river.
Talking about isolated power supplies, do you know the Brazilian brand Landscape? Look for they website, seems like a great power supply, it would be great if you could get one of those for testing... they have the models ISO power 4, 7 and 12. Cheers from Brazil!
Awesome video! Really gave me some ideas :)
Mason , I saw your videos about a year ago and I tore my board apart and hand soldered every cable. I couldn't find a place to purchase an in/out box so I bought a Friedman buffer bay to act as the main hub. Buffer bay has an input buffer on it. I go from the buffer to a voodoo labs px switcher. The out of that switcher runs back to the buffer bay, then from there to my Mesa roadster. The px has an output buffer. Is this a good enough buffer setup or should I look into the Mesa?
An easy test to to AB your board versus plugging the guitar right into the amp and see if you hear a difference. If you have an AB box to do the test in real time, even better.
Do the power cables that are supplied with a Truetone product (I own CS12) have shielded cable like the Voodoo Labs ones that you mention in the video are shielded? Amazing video as usual. thanks
Hi, Anthony. Yes, the Truetone cables are shielded as well so they will perform equally well to the Truetone. I've used both cables in my own rig and have found them to perform the same.
Thanks for your interest!
Charlie Davis, Sweetwater Sales Engineer, (800) 222-4700 ext. 1320, charlie_davis@sweetwater.com
@@sweetwater thank you I appreciate your help
Fantastic video!! Thanks Uncle Mason and Sweetwater!!
Thanks for watching Josh!
I use six pedals on a pedal board. I use a 1 Spot power supply. I'm not in a band, so the 1 Spot is perfect. I feel frustration playing alone, but I'm 67 and would not be dedicated to a band, so mixed feelings! Enough venting. What is your situation?
John A it might be ok with certain combos of pedals. If you introduce more high current and digital devices or devices with clocks, you’ll hear the difference. It’s more Pedal specific than anything.
Hi John ,Me too,i'm 67 & i live in Les Paul's home town. I have been playing for about 40 years & even got out of jury duty once for a gig down in IL . Now i play for myself & the grand kids, i found little Noah a short scale, nice quality 20 yr old Archer w/gig bag & amp for $75.00 - delivered on FB Marketplace., Every kid needs an electric guitar for a 3 rd B-day present. I rigged up a low to the ground mic amp stand w/an M-Brace from E-Bay for $56.00 & he can stand behind it now & strum instead of head on.Oh... yes sir & for little ones (2 yrs-5) bike needs,please check-out Kid's Ride Shotgun a new product from New Zealand that had 3 people come up to us & ask "where did u get that ? " also Noah approved ! :-) lol Respectfully, Kim -pres. Fox River Sports
What if I’m running stereo out of the board? How do I run it through the buffer out to the amps?
Josh Guzman You would need to get either, something like the TC electronic bona fide Buffer for the right output, OR you can look at something like the Empress Stereo Buffer, or you may need to get an output buffer with an isolated output and polarity switch depending on whether your stereo amps are on the same ground, you may need this feature. If so, look at the Suhr buffer.
You need the Radial - Shotgun. Indispensable piece of gear for running multiple amps.
Everything in this video should have been linked in the description!! That’s like basic UA-cam 101!!
gtrslinger Is it not? I see a page link
It's the third link. Enjoy your upgrades!
Fantastic, but what about a sliding rack shelf?!
Mogami put a switch on an instrument cable for all of those without a tuner in the chain?! 🤦🏽♂️
EQD SwissThings is what everyone needs for the buffer portion... it’s godsend!
E RAM I don’t know what the input or output impedance is on that, it’s not published as far as I can see. Have you been able to find specs on it?
Unless you want to run a stereo rig.
Don't support scammers like Mason. 🤮🤮🤮🤮
He's atoned for his past, man. Give him the chance he deserves. It was a long time ago
@@patrickcarroll1754 The thing is, it wasn't a long time ago, that's what he wants you to believe, he hasn't changed he keeps lying, up to this day, the axis wah is like 10% of his lies. add the lie with the belden cables, lies of his "original" designs, the fake dumble amp, the wrong mod of amps video, the lies on his boost pedal, the lies of his EE "studies", the insults to other pedalbuilders, the stealing of other people's work to make believe it's his, the landau letter warning people of him, the bonamassa letter warning people of him, the list only keeps growing and growing. Don't believe me, read the forums, look at the screenshots, the videos, the posts of him lying, dude is pure trash.
Hey @Sweetwater, this stuff makes no sense:
1:15 "this is a switching power supply and it uses something called high frequency to isolate all these outputs..."
Daniel Yeh Switch mode power supplies use high frequency as the way to isolate, differently than the linear supply would use for example a toroidal transformer and regulators, etc. The important thing, and what differentiates a high-quality switching supply from a low quality switch in supply is the frequency chosen, hopefully outside of the audio range.
More info on switching power supplies here and the use of high frequency as a component of that: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Switched-mode_power_supply#Isolated_topologies
@@VertexEffectsInc Power supplies do NOT "use high frequency as the way to isolate." Switch Mode is used to REGULATE power, not ISOLATE. Isolation circuits like opto-couplers or flyback transformers isolate and are used in pedalboard power supplies.
@@KYDY, you're right, I guess I could have said something as simple as, switching power supplies takes the line coming in and feeds it into a high frequency oscillator that feeds tiny little transformers that can produce the same power that a linear analog supply could (i.e. Voodoo Lab in this video) in a much smaller package that won't produce the same amount of heat as it's linear counterparts. But, in one sentence, in passing, what showed up on the video was the best I could do. Believe it or not, the video was one take, with one punch in when I mumbled a word to start a sentence. Kind regards, Mason
Vertex Effects Hey Mason, whenever I come across your videos, I'm impressed by your ability to recall a lot of info quickly off the top of your head, like all the cable part numbers lol. You've got a good head on your shoulders. But even that last reply is kind of nonsensical, perhaps leave the electrical engineering stuff alone?
Hope it’s a useful feedback data point from an internet stranger, cheers.
My top 3.... 1. get rid of solderless cables they suck 2.Power Supply 3.3 pedals you don't need but you want ..and for fun....LED light strip remotely controlled with multi lights for fun just because you can
No Cover Charge I like option 3
By muting the audio, and scrolling through the comments, this video was almost tolerable.
Gross...
Beware, the Asterope cable is BRIGHT! I like a bit of resistance lol.
Great advice
Michael Natrin 🙏🙏🙏
This is really well done. He's a great presenter =)
Thanks for watching! Glad you enjoyed!
Uncle Mason spitting the Knowledge. I am always Learning from your channel. Appreciate you sharing Pro-tips. Peace my brother.
Michael Caz 🙏🙏🙏
Rock solid content from sweetwater as always
Lucas Wilkinson 🥳🥳🥳
This guy is GOLD!! If you haven’t, you need to check out his channel!! Always the best content & tips!
Dusty Starr awww shucks 🥰 thanks Dusty!
150k is 1000 times greater than 150.
I caught that on the watch back, need to work on my mental math
Zen Of which word?
Math and speech… 3 things to work on doing more gooder. 👍
Zen The trouble is, as a young student studying phonics, I always felt that the silent “E” was given too much attention. To combat that, I decided that I would pivot to the silent “L” in protest.
@Zen in America we pronounce it "saw- durr" , not "Bollocks! I can't sol-dare this bloody aluMINIUM" heh
Walrus Phoenix is without a doubt the best power supply on the market today. Not even a mention here, crazy
$280, and while it has 15 outputs, it's huge. Not many people in the market for them when you look at the entire community.
blue i fit it right under the pedalboard. Set it and forget it. Nobody can offer as many ports in that size and at that price, to me a no brainer
@@the92project THANK YOU!
It’s the best power supply for a massive pedalboard. But if you have a Classic 1 or smaller, the three power supplies here (add the Aetos if you don’t need 18v) are more than enough.
Hi I'm curious about what types of fuzz pedals you would recommend against buffering before. I know a buffer isn't recommend before a fuzzface but are there any other fuzzes this applies to?
Anthony Ciccarello most vintage style fuzzes or high impedance circuits (some vintage wahs as well) can be sensitive to buffers before them. Things like Fuzz Faces, Tone Benders, would be examples of fuzzes that will react poorly to buffers. In this case you’d place the input buffer after the fuzz and the output buffer before you leave the board going back to the amp (or last in the chain).
nice video! Thanks for posting.
that 3m tape makes your pedals a pain in the butt to remove them I'll tell you, if that's what you want... a standard velcro tape would be just fine.
Paolo Cristofoli It makes it harder, but one thing that I found really useful is an upholstery crowbar, since it’s plastic it allows you to remove devices without damaging the paint.
Put painters tape down first.
It's not so bad if you use the dual lock conservatively. Small squares.
Awesome to see vertex on the channel!
Thanks guys!!!
Nobody ever mentions buffers .... very helpful tip. Good video. Thanks for posting.
Hope to do more on this subject when I'm at Sweetwater next. Give a few options at different price points.
💰
Mason Marinara
😂😂😂😂
Grande c ha bom
Awesome stuff! Mason is King! I will say from personal experience, and seen it demoed on a well known German UA-cam channel. The Voodoo labs power supply type picks up noise something terrible. My experience playing in environments with big power runs directly under the stage spelled disaster for that type of power supply.
SMSuperstrat You do have to be careful with linear analog power supplies, because the transformer does have a magnetic field, and although that is mitigated to a degree with the steel enclosure, a lot of this is completely circumvented when you move to a switching power supply like those I mentioned from Strymon and Truetone.
King of the frauds
Literally a crook and liar.
I don't understand why the good ones are expensive. It's not a delay, overdrive, modulation, or something just amazing. Its a dang box that runs electricity to your pedals. They should all be atleast 30-80$. Another part of the guitar marketing to just get a bunch of money from you.
Hi young Jack Black :)
hahahah! I need the beard and get a few inches shorter!
You obviously aren’t familiar with Gearmandude.
@@jonlohrenz5446 does GMan look like Jack? I only know him by his boots?
Vertex Effects all I know is his voice is the same as Jack Black’s. And I can’t see anyone but Jack Black’s face when imagine what GMD’s face might look like.
@@jonlohrenz5446 ha!
Jack blacks younger brother is right
😂😂😂
Some nice tips! But before you guys spend hundreds of dollars on expensive cables remember SRV insisted upon using cheap Radio Shack curly cord to get the sound he wanted... and I guess he didn't sound too shabby!
Indeed, however his tone was so bright that this was a way from him to attenuate high end from his rig. As he got into the late 80's and 90's he definitely trimmed the fat and was using better stuff that early on. Once Rene and Cesar Diaz got him dialed in, I think he was using Belden 8410 at the end.
Vertex Effects, truthful!
Why should I believe anything you say if your voice recording sounds horrible? Seriously, what kind of mic did you use for this video? It sounds atrocious!
Freddy Desposorio might just be my voice, it was Shure lav mic
Oops, sorry
Honestly too many digital plugin sounds too good today. For less than $200, you can rock an entire set of pedalboard + amps
@ Chill, for the live situation I'd just use whatever the venue has to offer, at most bring in one or two life saving pedal.
Uncle Mason!!! it's always great to hear all your advices!!! Greetings from Argentina
Muchas gracias por su apoyo!
Mason is so knowledgable 🤩
Thanks for watching!!! Hope it helps!
definition of "ghetto 1-spot" = wall-wart farm.
The best
Nick Wilson 🥳🥳🥳
I love vertex I always meaaagw him on IG and he replies 🔥👍
TeeVeee 🥳🥳🥳
Why??!!
for the tone!
Con man
Hey Mason! I never hear you mention the gigrig power supply? I've used it for 5 years flawlessly and it powers everything
Those can also work! We find that having one of the power supplies mentioned in this video can be a bit more reliable, because you only have to worry about one piece of gear instead of several pieces strung together!
I would love to see something about pedal and board maintenance and cleaning. Lord knows most band rooms and gigs are less than perfectly clean. Dos and don’ts.
Ricardo Rodriguez Do keep them clean, don’t listen to anything Vertex choad says without verifying through a better source.
@@dewiecox3533 He likes to depend big bucks not doing the common sense stuff. Like wireless. You can get a cheap 5.8 rechargeable wireless set for the same price as those fancy Dan cables. I got my EBS Gold flat cables in bulk sales and use a Caline P-1 power unit that not isolated but has been working fine for pretty much 4 yrs. Only pedal out of 12 on board that's noisy is my Butler Tube driver and that's noisy sitting on the floor by itself. Sometimes my spare 5 knob makes a noise just to remind me to use that 1 also. If someone can figure out a way to get the rowdy pedals to not be noisy I like to see that. I just have to remember to turn it off at end of use. Everything else is quiet on my board. He's always talking buffers and other expensive items for boards that just with common sense you don't need. I run a AKG wireless bug into board and a 5.8 wireless out to amp. I can move my board anywhere a electric plug can reach. Also something they never tell you, wireless can boost your signal enough to eliminate a buffer need. I got a Wampler dB-1 on my board and don't even use the buffer side of it. In other words the buffer switch is not on. No difference on or off. 12 pedals, no fancy expensive pwr unit, no fancy have to solder homemade cables, no expensive buffers on either end. Now I spent easily a grand building my board mostly buying used but that includes everything ,board, velco ,power, pedals ,case, extra power cables for extra 18v, 3-3 way daisies for extra out in front middle and end of power for adding pedals to try out. Each unused pwr out has a cover on it when not in use. Tucked up and out of way.
Crocs DC7
Is Bob Bradshaw irrelevant these days?
frostedhead he’s still the king in my mind!
frostedhead Relevant enough for some ass bag to steal his moniker
Mason, what do you think about the power cables that are included with the Strymon Zuma? Are they shielded like you suggest?
John Wyrosdick No, they are not shielded. Again of all the things I said this is the one that I think there can be an argument made against simply because the voltage in guitar pedals is fairly low and fairly low current. However, best practices are Mondays rig builders is typically that you try to use shielded cables wherever possible just to eliminate any noise. Again this is not an absolute, and typically where you’ll see issues is when you’re running AC power, then the necessity for shielding becomes much more pronounced not only in terms of your power cables, but also your audio cables and keeping those as separated as possible, or if they have to cross paths doing that in a perpendicular fashion.
@@VertexEffectsInc Seems a faulty understanding there. An argument can be made against shielding if the pedal voltage is fairly HIGH, not low.
Daniel Yeh No misunderstanding, unless I’m reading back my own writing incorrectly - to reiterate you could make an argument that shielded DC power cables are not necessary on low voltage devices (like most guitar pedals), hence the reason why many manufacturers do not provide is shielded DC cable with their power supplies.
@@VertexEffectsInc No, shielded power cables might be helpful if pedal power was actually low voltage, like in the guitar output mV range. 9V is big compared to interference.
I mean use whatever, it doesn't matter in practice. But it seems like you're spreading fundamentally misunderstood ideas.
@@KYDY Firstly, I always advocate for shielded cables where possible, as I did in this video. However, if you have pure DC at the current levels that we're using in guitar pedals, this dialogue is irrelevant - all the supplies shown here are pure DC. In fact, the shielding on the DC power cables that are commercially available, the shielding is on the outside, not the center conductor, so it's not really shielding anything other than the ground down the middle. In other words, the shield is carrying the 9V where the noise would be.
I told myself I wouldn’t need no pedals and here I am now with 7 pedals in need of a board and power supply. 😑
Do buffer pedals effect the dynamics of the guitar volume rolled down tone? Will tuner pedals with buffers change the dynamics or use of the guitar volume control?
Zakk Garth If you have one that is built properly, like the one I mentioned by Mesa Boogie, the interaction between the resistance in your volume pot with your guitar pick ups and devices on your pedalboard will stay intact. There should be no difference between the sound of your guitar plugged directly into your amplifier with a 10 foot cable versus plugging into the Pedalboard, presuming you’re using quality cables and power with pedals of decent quality that won’t degrade the tone in bypass.
1) No, buffers don't increase the gain level, they just ensure that you don't loose any high end. 2) Not all buffers are created equal, some buffered tuner pedals (like boss tu2 or tu3) will suck some of your overall signal. Use your ears for best results. Hope that helps.
The latest tc electronics tuners have their bonafide buffer circuit in it, which I think work well
Daniel Hoskins They do, but it’s only an input buffer, so you would need to buy the individual bona fide buffer to go at the end to get the most fidelity of your original signal back
Vertex Effects thanks for clarifying
Thanks, Uncle Mason, great info for sure!
Brutal, I went here thinking I would like to see the video and then Vertex pops up. Stop supporting this guy, please.
Let he who hath not sinned cast the first stone! Jesus is that you? Didn't think so!
Howdy Scott! You may or may not be aware, but every customer and dealership that ever owned an Axis Wah was provided a full refund, rebate, or exchange according to their desired restitution back in 2014. In fact, we still leave the door open to any owner of the product that was previously unaware of refund options and keep a public record of all Axis Wah refunds on our website for anyone to view since 2014: www.vertexeffects.com/redemption . The Axis Wah is not representative of our company values and the products we make. We've worked tirelessly to make a new impression and continue to maintain a high standard of quality and customer service with transparency around each product and its origins. All we can do is release the best sounding products possible and give our customers the best possible quality and support in hopes that with time we'll earn back their trust. The intent of this video is to get out the best information possible to musicians regarding pedalboard best practices. Perhaps I'm not the best messenger for you, but the things talked about and the reasons I recommend them exist independently of me and are central tools and building blocks among rig builder. I tried to distill these concepts as best as possible for UA-cam viewers. None of my products are a part of this video, nor are they mentioned in any way. Hopefully you can find some useful tips here to improve your tone and lower the noise floor of your pedalboard rig. Kind regards, Mason
I have the 1spot and it works just fine and it's dead quiet. you can daisy chain if you have more than 6 pedals.
Paolo Cristofoli When you’re running several pedals in parallel through a daisy chain, it’s not necessarily a number of any particular device that creates the noise, in other words, as long as you have “X” number of pedals it won’t have any noise. It’s completely dependent on what the actual devices are that are connected to the daisychain. You may be OK if you have a majority of analog overdrive devices, but sometimes devices with clocks in them, or insufficient filtering, or digital devices shared with analog devices, can create problems. If you’re using a problem free, then you probably have a combination of devices that are workable in this condition, however this application can be limited if you wanted to expand to a greater number of devices, high current digital devices, etc.
@@VertexEffectsInc totally agree with that. with the CS6 I'm running 10 pedals analog and digital ones, even together in daisy chain (no more than 3 per chain) and works just fine. of course having each one its private power cable would be possibly better.
What a load of buffers 🤣
Really disappointed you guys affiliated your company with this known scammer and liar. Rehoused other companies pedals, covered the circuit boards and said they were his own. Then lied about it repeatedly for weeks publicly, on major platforms, until literally forced to recant. Sweetwater has always been about customer service and standing behind what you sell. I am hoping this is not a new direction you are taking.
JJ Schulz You may or may not be aware, but every customer and dealership that ever owned an Axis Wah was provided a full refund, rebate, or exchange according to their desired restitution back in 2014. In fact, we still leave the door open to any owner of the product that was previously unaware of refund options and keep a public record of all Axis Wah refunds on our website for anyone to view since 2014:
www.vertexeffects.com/redemption. The Axis Wah is not representative of our company values and the products we make. We've worked tirelessly to make a new impression and continue to maintain a high standard of quality and customer service with transparency around each product and its origins. All we can do is release the best sounding products possible and give our customers the best possible quality and support in hopes that with time we'll earn back their trust.
He look like aja styles
😂😂😂😂
To lock pedals down, bicycle chain links can help screw the pedals down too. For the pedal boards themselves fibreglass is stiffer and lighter than aluminium or wood.
won't fibreglass break?
Vincent Bakker the fibreglass sheet I used was 3mm thick and 2’ wide. The frame was made of wood. I could stand on it and it would flex a little but did not break.
Strymon. Trash the rest. 500mA per outlet.
It's a great supply, no doubt!
But also stupid expensive for some.
Truetones isolated supplies have varying outputs. My CS12 runs my HX Stomp off a single 9V output.
Phillip Southard also a great supply
Hey Mason, I really appreciate you sharing your vast knowledge on pedal board setups... I never gave it much thought in the past but over time I've learned there are better solutions than just plugging everything in and playing. Throughout my journey of upgrading my board my tone has drastically improved !
Joe Levine I hope you found some things helpful here, and can implement into your rig in the future!
I use single DOD fx80b compressor with 9V Eveready battery inside and never had a noise problem
A battery is the "MOST" isolated supply technically, although the power requirements of today's pedals don't always allow for it to be possible to use a 9V battery inside them. In essence, an isolated power supply is like have a limitless current batter behind each output from the supply (my attempt to help you visualize what an isolated supply is versus your reference).
I like Mason a lot I’m really surprised he survived that scam he orchestrated a few years ago thoigh
Ryan, thanks for watching. I think the only reason we were able to survive the Axis Wah and push forward since 2014 was that we did what we said we were going to do - people were made whole again financially, or on the terms they requested as restitution (some wanted to exchange for other products not in question, or keep the product and get a rebate for the difference they paid between the Axis Wah and BBE). I was prepared to close the doors upon completion of refunds, however there were many that were able to see past my shortcomings and continue to support me in spite of that, and allowed me a second chance at earning their business. Kind regards, Mason
@@VertexEffectsInc Pretty folish people if you ask me. You should have done the right thing from the beginning and not been a scam artist.
People don't have to live their whole lives under the shadow of a mistake. Every good story has an element of redemption. I for one am happy to see people get another chance.
@@imyourmutter Well as long as youre okay getting scammed twice, all the power to you. "Uncle Mason" is a crook
Nice one Mason, cheers :)
Matthew Elvis Brown 🥳🥳🥳
Uncle Mason!
Arthur Atkins hey man!!!!!