Hey, thank you! Solid discussion. I've played long enough that the trail of my mistakes is long and storied, but really boils down to this: when I first started using pedals, I would get so enamored of the new sound (drive, fuzz, wah, compressor, phaser all come to mind) that I would alter my playing to try and use the new effect everywhere. EVERYWHERE (like when my brother, a drummer, got a gong...turns out every song needs a gong). That was not as bad in my rock and roll days as now in a country band, where the sounds and tones are really far ranging. Learning to stack drive pedals, the order, and being disciplined enough to use, or not use, a pedal or a group of them has taken awhile. Honestly, on the drive pedals, turning them all up to max gain - it turns out - sounds even more foolish than having a bunch of drives I am trying to get the same thing from. I run 3 on my board, all for different things and all meant as a stack set depending on the song. Finding that elusive new tone is what gets me up every day.
The biggest mistake I made was building my pedal board in my head and buying them all at once instead of one by one, and getting to know each one individually. I went from two pedals to a 9 pedal board, and trying to experiment and tweak sounds while getting to know them all at once was overwhelming. In the end, I backtracked and started out with just the compression and I'm currently working on getting my best sound out of just it and my amp and when I do, I'll add either the chorus or the drive, and keep going till I'm good with them all. Im running my eq (with built in drive), delay and chorus in the effects loop, and buffer, compression, distortion and drive in front, in that order. Still working on the best order of the pedals in the effects loop. Right now its delay > chorus > eq (with built in drive).
My biggest mistake is not using the controls on my guitar enough. I have a BOSS DS-1 and I thought it was a junk pedal because it wasn’t giving much distortion but it was just that the volume on my guitar was too low. So I turned down the volume of my amp and turned up the volume of my guitar and now I can get from mild crunchy tones to heavy distortion with that thing.
Great video and thank you for the tips. My biggest mistake in playing at my church was going overboard on delay and reverb. I completely agree that a general rule of thumb is that less is more with those types of pedals. As a guitarist, I did not fully realize how bad this can sound until there was someone else on lead electric one day doing the same thing. Made the whole mix turn to mud! Now the most important thing I do is seek feedback from the sound guy to make sure I don’t go overboard in anything!
The biggest mistake that I have made as far as pedals go is having too many effects on and having them set too high. I have learned that less is more and that the majority of your tone is to be found in your hands and fingers, not the pedals.
EXACTLY! I use a small basic multi-effects pedal with 1 distortion stomp box & the only sounds I use from my multi-effects pedal is reverb, delay & wah! Also, the amp is a MAJOR component & the heavy ass Fender Twin Reverb is an AWESOME amp for R&B, Pop & Hip-Hop!!!
The biggest mistake I've made with pedals is buying them and not spending enough time experimenting with them. Great video by the way, that Sweetwater board looks killer!!!
My Biggest mistake was using the Boss NS2 improperly. It works great if you run your compressor and drives through its loop and then run the modulation after the NS2
The biggest pedalboard fustercluck I’ve witnessed was maybe 10 years ago. We were playing an out of town club as headliners and brought a couple of bands with us to fill out the bill. The other bands were also running through our PA (the venue sound system was old, glitchy and underpowered). I was the FOH operator for the other bands’ sets as well as for their sound check. The second band was about to start their first song and the intro had a guitar solo part. Unbeknownst to anyone else in the room, 2nd band’s lead guitarist (we’ll call him CC for conceptually clueless) had parked a power amp “in a pedal enclosure” in the middle of his board after sound check and at the last minute as they were taking the stage. Imagine something like an Electro-Harmonix 44 Magnum but with a stomp switch for muting. Somewhere CC had gotten the idea that he could use the power amp pedal as a clean boost for cutting through the mix when it was time for a solo. The band started, CC was “shredding”!but his playing was not to be heard. He momentarily looked perplexed; then had an aha moment and stomped on the mute switch, hit a chord and sent around 50+ watts of output signal into the last few pedals in his chain and then into the front of his amp. There was a painfully loud noise that came out of his amp and was picked up by the SM57 hooked up to our PA. Imagine 115 dB or so of what I can only describe as a 1-2 second long, wet, semisynthetic fart. The sound ceased on its own just as I scrammed the fader for his channel to zero. Concurrently the left side of his pedalboard emitted a few sparks and a faint flash of bluish light. Then there was smoke and the (outboard from the amp-pedal side) patch cables and instrument cable that ran the few feet to his amp melted, momentarily caught fire in a few spots, self extinguished and then remained smoldering. That was the beginning & end to their set and we ended up playing an extra set to cover the time commitment. Life Hack- Always have a set or two well practiced and in reserve. FUBAR happens.
The biggest mistake I made for many years was thinking "more distortion, the better"....I was so wrong and cant believe it took me so long to realise. I always used to crank the distortion dial, but these days I rarely go past 12 - 1 o'clock, depending on the pedal or amp.
Sir, daisy chaining is not the problem for beginning pedal board builders.......it is using switching wall wart power supplies. You need linear isolated PS for minimal noise. Once you have that......you can daisy chain.....as long as you don't exceed the outlets current supply. Most analog stuff draws minimal current. It's the digital pedals that need bigger power. I'm a big fan of the Line 6 M5 stomp box molder......it's a great way to demo fx or have access to something you don't use often, without buying a dedicated unit. I have 2 one up front and one into my fx loop. I have dedicated pedals for thing I know I will use often. Also good stuff doesn't have to be silly expensive. I would stay away from the no name Chinese clones, but I have a Danelectro digital delay that is terrific. I think it was $30 new. It doesn't seem to alter tone, it makes delay.......no problem. Ya can't go wrong w/ your basic Boss/MXR/ElectroHarmonix/Ibanez stuff either. Hey I love JHS, but no one is paying me to play.
To answer the question, my biggest mistake when I got my first pedal is not realizing pedals need their own power source. I thought they got powered through the instrument cable. Lol
I have a no sell pedal rule for myself. Obviously if shit happens and I have to sell them I will, but hopefully that won't be a thing that ever happens.
Great video!! I’m 42 and I’ve been playing since I was 10 and I still have to watch myself with some of these. Too much delay is probably the thing I’m most prone to
My biggest mistake was not using a noise gate! For years I didn't realize how much it makes a difference especially when I'm playing staccato style...or strumming with large breaks, such as playing some old def leppard (high n dry) or ac/dc! Thank you for your info, you really know your gear!!
For a long time I didn't understand the headroom of an amp. Chained all these cool pedals together clicked them on and immediately woke up the power tubes, some mud and feedback. Currently running a wet dry set up using a Fender and a Vox. Found my tone and couldn't be happier.
The biggest mistake I've made is never buying one. Always look at them when I'm shopping for new gear but hesitate because I don't understand how they work.
Seemingly I've put the velcro on "the wrong way around" on my pedals and board, every used pedal I've seen since has it with the hoops on the board and the hooks on the back of the pedals, I can't see how it makes any difference either way, but the convention seems to be the other way around from how I've done it :(
I bought the JHS Ryan Adams pedal, right before he got outed as an abusive git. I also had tickets to see him at The Royal Albert Hall with a hot Italian girl from Napoli, but the gig got cancelled. Not so much a pedal mistake, but I paid for poor judgement of an artist’s character.
Biggest mistake was accidentally leaving my wha pedal on and thinking “what the heck is wrong with my tone tonight?” Took a minute to realize what I had done 🤦🏼♂️
Thanks for the video. I'm a noob and I'm going to be getting my first amp when it's in stock ( A Blackstar HT5R mii ). This video will help me to avoid common mistakes and I am always happy to learn from more experienced players. I'm a middle aged hobbyist and my wife is likely to be my only audience and my skill might never match my enthusiasm for playing and learning. Thanks for the video I look forward to experimenting and finding my own sounds and making my own mistakes 🤘
My biggest mistake with pedals has been not using the volume knob on my guitar to its fullest potential. I’ve got an Ibanez SM-7 distortion pedal that I always thought was just too much for me, but I basically got it for free so it’s never been worth it to get rid of it. However, recently, I discovered that with my guitar volume at about 7, it’s one of my favorite sounds! It becomes incredibly dynamic, and it sounds absolutely incredible under a huge wash of reverb. I’ve had this pedal for years and only just recently fell in love with it!
Biggest mistake for me was buying and relying on cheapish multi effects. So plasticky and digital. Especially overdrive. A cheap overdrive pedal like the soul food was a game changer for me.
Biggest mistake I made was using distortion pedals set to zero gain, not utilizing the clipping styles of the pedals. So glad I learned! The clipping modes offer so many more options to tone!
I was once given an old Rocktron Talk box; having never used a talk box before, I thought it would be perfectly fine and “cool” to hook it up with not only a Digitech Vocal 300 processor pedal, but also to use the external speaker output with a second amp. This resulted in a hideous sound for a split second, followed by the overloading of the pedal and the smoking amp. I then had to send my pedal to Digitech and have my amp serviced by a professional. That mistake cost me over $500 in repairs and shipping for both pedal and amp! It has also given me a crippling fear of talk boxes, and a deep seeded apprehension every time I plug ANYTHING in. I have yet to get over this fear. In fact, this is the first time I have admitted it to anyone..
Excellent topic choices! ALL beginner guitarists should watch this video. My 3 cents to this would be to place a kind of booster pedal right at the beginning of the signal. Something like a Klon Centaur or the Xotic EP, it really helps to establish a good signal for you to saturate at will further along your path. This will really help your amp to shine. Great work on this video! 👏🏼
The biggest mistakes I've made was using solder-less patch cables and using a 5-spot daisy chain for power the rig. I figured the cables would be quick and easy only to find out that the leads snapped quite easy and I ended up with a hand for a cables with broken lines with $70 dollars. I also, found out that using a daisy chain, despite how much power they can offer, interjects a ton of noise into it. I had a sub n up that was almost pointless to use because of the hum being put in the line when it was on. Even with a noise gate, repositioning the pedal, or removing other pedals the noise would persist. In the end, I winded up making my own soldered cables and investing in a Voodoo Lap Power Plus two. After that, my guitar tone problems were a thing of the past. Thanks for the video and the tips, I really enjoyed watching it!
@@MusoraOfficial They seem good in theory, but in this case not at all. By the time I purchased cable and connector ends it was just about the same price, and i could reuse the items later on as I saw fit.
Similar to what you described, the biggest mistake I made and I'm trying to avoid is associating just one sound with a pedal. You always hear about Klons, Rats and Tubescreamers and you're inclined to think a pedal has just one distinctive (usable) sound - even when it's manual suggests quite a few settings! The risk here is that you settle on a sound and when you're in need of a different texture you think you need a different pedal. Or you stumble into an OK sound and then don't explore further to dial in a great sound, just because you don't twiddle the knobs! Another thing: don't decide on a pedal's settings when you're playing alone, at bedroom level. Always let the sound in the band context decide what settings are appropriate. Don't fall in love with a sound that won't work when you're playing with your band.
Been running a Godlyke Powerall daisy chain type power supply for nearly 20 years. No noise, and has never broken. Currently running 6 pedals with it but have run a maximum of 8.
The biggest mistake I’ve ever made with pedals is using them when it’s not necessary. Sometimes a clean guitar through an amp on the verge of breakup is all you need.
On a clean Fender amp, all I want is a bit of reverb (internal to the amp), and sometimes a small amount of EQ and/or compression (for finger picking) from pedals.
Love that pedal board! Nice and tidy without a bunch of BS. Pretty much everything you need...those are some fantastic “bread and butter” pedals right there.
My biggest mistake was buying a overdrive try it out in the store love it then when I order it and it came to my house and I plug it in and was so excited to hear it it wasn't working and they was a fault with it and I was really upset and put down and had to send it back off to them and they didn't have a other one to replace I was crying all day great video keep it up hopefully if I win I can get a overdrive pedal that I will be happy with and inspire me keep up with the good videos you doing great :)
I use a small basic multi-effects pedal with 1 distortion stomp box & the only sounds I use from my multi-effects pedal is reverb, delay & wah! Also, the amp is a MAJOR component & the heavy ass Fender Twin Reverb is an AWESOME amp for R&B, Pop, Light Rock & Hip-Hop!!!
Biggest mistake I've made was using a center psoitive 12V AC adaptor on a standard (9V, DC, center negative) pedal. It was went wrong instantly. I was young and didn't know much about that kind of "technical stuff". I learnd the lesson really fast. :D
My biggest mistake was building out my pedalboard starting with adding the Velcro and placing the pedals, adding the power supplies to each pedal, then connecting the pedals to one another... only to find I had a bad patch cable somewhere. I had to strip the whole board and wished I had tested the patch cables and power beforehand... “lessons learnt the hard way are rarely forgotten” as my Grandmother would say 🤦♂️
The biggest mistake I've made is not getting into electric guitar! I have 2 acoustics and an electric, however I've never gone further into the gear route because I've always had to keep things down for parents/roommates... Happily on my own now and going down the rabbit hole!
My biggest mistake is not spending enough time with new pedals. Last fall got back into playing electric guitar after a 15 year break and have gone through at least a dozen pedals but have only really bonded with half of those. I've regretted selling the ones I did sell off because they were probably great, but I didn't spend enough time twiddling the knobs. For the last few months I've been learning to take my time demoing pedals at the store and then spending hours and hours with them to learn how they work. It's been much more satisfying.
My biggest mistake was not getting into pedals sooner. Been playing for almost 15 years and only just got into using pedals this year. It's been a game changer!
Another way to clean up noise is to use a good pedal switcher. This makes the total cable run between pedals centimeters instead of feet. The Gigrig G2 is probably best at this, allowing an artist to re-order the signal chain without re-cabling, and allowing pre and post volume controls that can be set for each preset.
Ran everything into the front of my amp, instead of using effects loop! Makes a big difference! Also not using a boost or od into the front of the amp.
My biggest mistake with guitar pedals was thinking I had to have all of the pedals I owned on my board. Even if I never used them... So I had a nice impressive-looking board with lots of pedals, but I only ever used 4-5 of them. Once I took off the ones I wasn't using, my guitar tone was better. Imagine that.
Yep, and the constant faffing around moving patch cables around and wearing out the velcro fixings in the process 😂. I'm beginning to wonder why pedal manufactures adopt two different I/0 connections. The standard is sockets on the side (wastefull of space - fine for a few pedals), other have sockets on top (better use of space and easier to quickly change patch cable connections)?
My biggest mistake with pedals buying them was buying them year's before I started using them and then finding out I didn't like or needed them on my board.
My biggest pedal mistake was going on a purchasing binge while laid up with a complicated ankle fracture. A large and enthusiastic person jumped in excitement during the first song at a NIN show. I encourage getting into it- I've been to a lot of Nails shows and wouldn't go if I didn't let the experience take over BUT I've also never landed on someone's ankle and then run away. [Hey, guy- I may be big but I can't chase you. Lil' help here?] They played all of Broken that night. I realized that while trying to prove to the EMT that my ankle couldn't be broken as there was no pain. Repeated falling directly to the floor upon attempted standing proved his point. Thirteen screws and three plates from a Nine Inch Nails show begs for bad jokes. Have at it. So, five days in the hospital and one surgery later, I was told, "No weight bearing for twelve weeks." Living on the top floor of a Brooklyn brownstone, just getting to my apartment was a lesson in humility. A whole lot of practice got done. Win! So did a lot of pedal review video watching... And purchasing. Top floor. Bottom buzzer. Compound fracture. Compounded misery. I knew packages were delivered but couldn't get to them. I wanted to play with the pedals but was worried the wife-lady-friend would consider the number of foot pedal purchases unreasonable for an immobile person. So then they were hidden out of embarassment and shame. Have you ever hidden pedals that you couldn't properly enjoy like you're a kid after Halloween and sugar is verboten in your house? Ferried your boredom buys in a backpack up and down the hall because you can't carry anything lest you lose your balance and need your hands. Fixing myself lunch was a Sisyphisian chore. Juggling cables, my guitar, pedal orders, and knob tweaks while keeping my dominant leg elevated OR ELSE THE PAIN COMES WITH A VENGEANCE simply wasn't doable despite the yearning and deep conviction that awesome sounds were sort of within reach.. Yeah. It was a mistake and abuse of one's good life. I kept doing it. Insert Happiness In Slavery joke, here. I won't do it for you. So misguided. So understandable. Just play! Play a stick with some wire nailed to it! Get simple! Get stripped! Nope. How many pedal reviews? How many redundant effects with barely justified nuance differences and lo- what about with (an) expression pedal(s)!? Surely, once one can express one will want that/those! Yep. Almost a year later and my best guess is that the thing isn't fixed (Ha! Not funny). I can climb mountains for hundreds of miles on my road bike but can't run to catch a subway. The hardware probably has to come out. That means more cutting and more recovery. Bing bang pow! Most annoying assertion from friends and family: "You're probably not going to any more shows, am I right?" Ding-a-lings. It was an adventure, replete with self-taunting. Don't be me. Or do and we can laugh about it over gently used, sad aura re-sales. "Hand-painted you say?"
My biggest mistake with pedals was not investing in a switch controller after my board grew to 8+ pedals. I spent more time Tap dancing than I did keeping eye contact with the audience. Awesome video btw Bro - Thx for sharing this hard earned advice - Much Appreciated. 🤘🤘🤘🎸🎼❤️👍👏👏👏
The worst mistake I've ever made was selling my analog pedals and replacing them with a Boss ME-80. Although I thought the set up was good. Easy to use, very intuitive....the dirt sounds really let it and me down. Ouch...sold it off...lost money of course and now slowly trying to build up my pedal board again. :-) Enjoyed the vid....thanks.
Great video. Man I wonder how many people entered to win part of this. At first I thought it'd be a couple hundred, but now so many UA-camrs got a piece. There has to be like thousands of entries. That is just genius! Thanks for the tips!
When I was first starting out with pedals as a kid I had them all mixed up and out of order on my pedal board. Putting my tuner at the end, putting distortion after the reverb, etc. after getting frustrated with the sound I finally did research to find the correct placement for my pedals. Second biggest mistake was selling pedals that were really good and not realizing it till they were out of my rig.
Hi, im guile from Colombia, im starting to dive in this amazing world of pedals and tone, and the biggest mistake in this moment was that i buy an overdrive pedal, and i was so excited, so i went home try to used and realize that i have no power supply to turn it on. hahaha
For anyone looking to get really good cables, I would recommending getting the 6-inch 'World's Best Cables' that are made with Mogami wire. Doing this allows you to get Mogami quality wire for like 1/6 of the price it would cost you to buy patch cables directly made by Mogami.
3 biggest mistakes I've made; 1- When I first started gigging I used compression at the end of the chain- not a big chain- but using the 'big red' Ibanez compressor at the end of the chain 'squashed' everything too much. Now I use a Keeley compressor before two stacked Ice-9 Vox and the Mosfet 2. 2nd mistake; I was one for stacking OD"s way before stacking was popular- but became a R-N-R dinosaur and kept two TS9's stacked into a Randall amp- the squeal was unbearable. Lastly, 3rd- I took for granted what others said and never put the pedals in the order that I wanted. I used to love how EVH got that overall Phase 90 sound and thought it would be a good idea to use it ahead of everything else prior to using my fx loop. It was years later that I found out that EVH himself did just that- I love a Phase sound and use it 'just a touch' prior to the chain. So, without getting too excited- PICK ME PICK ME!! thx
Using those solid medal connectors on a velcro pedal board. Seems like a great way to save space, but it makes it impossible to get the pedals off the board. They get bent and I've even had one break off into a pedal.
My biggest mistake was not trying pedals in the store or at a friends place with an amp similar to my own. Amp type can make a big difference. Second biggest mistake was not getting an amp with an effects loop. Thanks for this video!!
For years I would stack 2 gain pedals and I would wonder why when I hit the second one for the lead all the definition would just disappear. Started dialing the gain knobs back in the last couple years and I’m getting the tone and definition I’ve been longing for.
The biggest mistake I ever made with a pedal board was being to reliant on it for tone. I never focused on my amp settings and using the pedals to add color. Thankfully someone kindly led me down the right path.
buying a boss me'20 was my worst mistake in the pedal world. lol i started my analog journey a couple of moths ago but money and wife permission only let me reach 3 pedals to date lol (before i only played through a spider iii 125w) i'm buying the forth pedal this month. because i play in church it's easy to make do with a small amount of pedals because we are only a few playing instruments so i have to keep it almost clean and help with rythm... but i'll gradually make the pedalboard grow lol my setup consists of 1 overdrive (TS clone), a "Joyo American" and a reverb which i usually keep in spring mode. the pedal im buying at the end of the month is a danelectro fab1 distortion. not sure what to expect, but, hey, i gotta try things out, right?! anyway, nice video, thanks for the info and help and keep rockin
For sure, the biggest mistake was expecting a fuzz face and echo through a small combo amp at home to sound like David Gilmour's setup in Live at Pompeii! 😅 But, that frustration sparked my mixing and matching, to craft tones that eventually work for my own music! Trial and error is the only way, to understand how things work. Cheers!
Biggest mistake was; accidentally putting a 18v power supply into a 9v pedal. Heard a squeal and smelled smoke, the pedal was DOA. Luckily it was a fairly inexpensive pedal.
Wait, what? I was under the impression that the pedal just takes the amount of power it needs and that's it. Where one could theoretically hook up a 12V or 18V to a 9V pedal and it would work. Unless there was a MaH issue or something.
@@AnthonySforza you're thinking about current. If you stick 500ma into a 100ma pedal, it'll be fine (as long as the circuitry in the pedals can take the amount of power, so silly amounts aren't meant for pedals). Voltage is a different force, you're best matching that to whatever the pedals says it needs.
@@AnthonySforza Correct, it draws the current it needs, at the correct voltage (power is current X volts in a DC circuit). Pedals are designed for a specific voltage, apply too high voltage, it may consume too much current (= excessive power = heat). Some pedals are rated for anything between 9V to 18V DC (e.g. Fulltone OCD); they are designed to accept EITHER (they incorporate voltage detection/protection). Some pedals are designed to accept 9V OR 18V via an internal selector switch (e.g. the EHX Glove), BUT you must first select 18V on the selector switch inside the pedal 😉.
@@scottodesperado8013 Guess you are in good company with others that have fallen for that trap 😂. Unfortunately pedal manufactures have not used different size sockets to guard against connecting the wrong supply (further compounded when it is selectable within the pedal).
Hello everyone I'm 37 years old and started my sonic experience with 29 my biggest mistake clearly translates my inexperience in this field but thanks to my preservation I learned the little I know the sum of errors increase my focus it is part of my path and goes hand in hand with solutions and decisions that define my sonic path but my biggest mistake was not starting this exciting sonic journey earlier I love to make mistakes because it challenges me to hit the sounds I want Big hug from Portugal
I only have vst plugin pedals, biggest mistake was turning the overdrive gain up. I use it after a distortion with minimal gain, and then the overdrive at minimal gain with the boost on.
Great video! Don't own any individual pedals pedals yet but biggest mistake I made with my boss M70 multi effects pedal was exactly as you said, not spending enough time experimenting with it.
I have about 70 pedals - I keep them all. If you sell one you may find you need it in a few months for a very specific sound and have to buy another one the same. 👍
Lots of useful tips there, so thank you. Probably my biggest mistake was thinking a noise suppressor pedal would make a drastic change in the hum coming from my Marshall practice amp. I was looking to achieve the ultimate clean sound...not so much.
My biggest mistake was assuming the power supply requirements instead of explicitly checking them. Sometimes a 9V 300mA center negative supply just won’t do...
@@Rob-qr2kn hahaha I take it you haven't yet then. You get a lot of: -Do you really need that many? -Do they reeeally sound different? -Ya but you're not a professional musician. -Didn't you already have that one?
My worse nightmare with pedals was when I placed my Wahwah in my amplifier's effects loop. It sounded great when I practiced at home at lower volume levels. However, at higher volume levels at the gig, as soon as I clicked the Wahwah "ON," it blew out one of my tubes in my amplifier's clean channel. Thus, I was forced to play the entire Latin Jazz gig using only my amplifier's overdrive channel (I know, I should have had a backup amplifier).
I recently discovered the most awesome pedal order I've ever tried! Usually I give detailed info about how I do things, BUT not this time, this setup is too good. I can never show the first half of my board again. Haven't made new video with this arrangement yet, BUT when I do, it won't be shown in the video. Have a nice day.
A little beside the point perhaps, but Vorg Phase shifter is now going for 267 USD on Reverb. I had one of those many years ago, picked up from a bargain bin in a music store for a small amount of cash. Somewhere along the way it got lost regrettably.
I have two. The first worst mistake was when I first started learning guitar as a teenager. I didn’t know how guitar players were getting that cool distortion sound that I couldn’t seem to get to happen on my beginner acoustic. So I just slammed the strings as hard as possible. Luckily, an older kid musician set me straight ;-) And then there was the Boss Heavy Metal pedal into a Crate G60 combo amp - need I say more?
Putting my Morley Volume/Wah at the very end of my signal chain and my Echo Park delay at the front while completely ignoring my effects loop. I toured like this for years and constantly battled with why my tone wasn't ever consistent or I couldn't get similar delay sounds even without messing with the settings before finally having a conversation with another bands tech who pointed out the major faults in my rig.
My biggest pedal mistake was not to check if my board works. So right at the beginning of my solo (my big moment on stage), I kicked on my Treble Booster. But there was just silence. It wasn't working at all. And so there I stood, without any signal, everybody's staring at me... I still don't know what went wrong with that thing. Now I make sure I always double check EVERYTHING before shows.
Biggest pedal mistakes I've made: 1. Using George L's pedal cable kits without understanding how they had to be made. 2. Building boards that were WAY too big.(I used a door once to build a board years ago) 3. Thinking that buying vintage pedals was better. The tolerance in the components is so wide that out of 5 vintage Big Muffs, only 1 may sound great. A pricey crap shoot. 4. Selling pedals I loved to finance pedals that were 'meh'. I have regretted selling my Klon Centaurs & Mesa V-Twin when prices were getting insane. 5. Thinking that pedals could make a bad amp sound good. Just cut bait & get a better amp. In my almost 40 years of playing, I've made A LOT of mistakes but I've made a lot of cool music with some amazing people too.
we all go through this issues .... :) ahahah ... and we never listen these good advices from people with more experience .... we just realize that after awhile when we have spent (tons) of money ... on cables, power supplies, pedals .. .. .. then we say ... oh GOD they were so right, why didnt i listen to it ... ahahah ... i've done it ... who didn't ... but it's always so go good to have this kind os lists of advices ... .... to everyone watching ths video ... i just have to say ... LISTEN to IT ... it's all so so TRUE ... (great vid)
My biggest mistake, was putting a buffered pedal in front of the ehx germanium big muff pi. Took a while to figure out that it prefers to be the first one in the signal chain and untouched.
The biggest mistake I have made, I have 3 that come to mind: 1. The power on some pedals have reverse polarity power connectors I plug the wrong power cable in. 2. Left a very expensive compressor (Cali76) on for 48 hours straight, now the pedal introduces random transient noise bursts. 3. Bought an expensive pedal based on internet hype (I hated it ;(
My biggest mistake was selling my entire pedal board back in the early 90's and getting a multi-effects unit (a Yamaha FX500) in its place. The effects unit has been gathering dust for a couple decades because it sounds dated, whereas the old pedals would have still sounded fresh and usable today.
The biggest mistake I made was getting rid of my peadls and amp after achieving a tone that I was happy with and going with what was popular, digital modeling. Big mistake, but now I’m getting back to pedals and an amp!
I put my tuner and my boost pedal too close together, it was alright during rehearsals, but when I went to take the first solo at the gig I stomped both and cut my signal.
I play P&W. I was coming out of a lead line into a big chorus that was not sounding very good. I was confused until I saw I left my POG on for all these open chords
Biggest mistake: spending too much time tweaking tone through pedals and gear and less time working on chops and technique! Basically the last one Nate said but still the biggest for me for sure
Biggest mistake with pedals for me was not getting to know my guitars capability BEFORE buying pedals to change my sound. There are a huge range of sounds and tones available from any guitar depending upon how you play it. That said, adding time or drive based pedals does save constant fiddling with amp settings.
Aw man! I missed the giveaway by 1 day! :/ Oh well. One of my (many) mistakes was that I used a Boss Blues Driver as a clean boost for several years before exploring the other epic aspects of the pedal.
I think the biggest mistake I've made is the whole bigger=better aspect, be it cost or how many I need. Honestly, I kept going for the "More is better" aspect, but I've been scaling down lately. I wouldn't say I regret it though, as I went where I wanted to and realized that it wasn't for me, better to do that than to sit and wonder.
I wanted to buy a new Amp cause I it sounded muddy until I found out the fx loop... I put all my modulation pedals in it and everything totally changed.. My sound is more defined and clear.
Right before a gig, was experimenting with stacked gain thru my EHX Stereo Mistress.. max rate, flange and chorus... heard a fizzle then silence!!! Thought I blew the amp. Whew. Just the first preamp tube.
Biggest mistake I've made on a pedal board was daisy chaining with a power supply that was too low for the load. That was before I knew that PSUs existed and why, so now I use a joyo rechargeable power supply.
My biggest pedal mistake was chasing tone by buying different pedals/multifx without ever upgrading my amp. I either used a cheap modeling amp, or went direct into a PA. When I finally upgraded my amp, it was a BIG aha moment for me.
i was in a rowdy band, i taped a tubescreamer to the floor and needless to say it got kicked and i lost signal, had to scramble it back together.. it was pretty hectic
Biggest mistake I ever did was misusing the delay pedal. Either I would use too much delay when you couldn't hear what I was playing, having it in inappropriate spots in a song, or having it to low where what was the point of having it on in the first place.
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Hey, thank you! Solid discussion. I've played long enough that the trail of my mistakes is long and storied, but really boils down to this: when I first started using pedals, I would get so enamored of the new sound (drive, fuzz, wah, compressor, phaser all come to mind) that I would alter my playing to try and use the new effect everywhere. EVERYWHERE (like when my brother, a drummer, got a gong...turns out every song needs a gong). That was not as bad in my rock and roll days as now in a country band, where the sounds and tones are really far ranging. Learning to stack drive pedals, the order, and being disciplined enough to use, or not use, a pedal or a group of them has taken awhile. Honestly, on the drive pedals, turning them all up to max gain - it turns out - sounds even more foolish than having a bunch of drives I am trying to get the same thing from. I run 3 on my board, all for different things and all meant as a stack set depending on the song. Finding that elusive new tone is what gets me up every day.
The biggest mistake I made was building my pedal board in my head and buying them all at once instead of one by one, and getting to know each one individually. I went from two pedals to a 9 pedal board, and trying to experiment and tweak sounds while getting to know them all at once was overwhelming. In the end, I backtracked and started out with just the compression and I'm currently working on getting my best sound out of just it and my amp and when I do, I'll add either the chorus or the drive, and keep going till I'm good with them all.
Im running my eq (with built in drive), delay and chorus in the effects loop, and buffer, compression, distortion and drive in front, in that order. Still working on the best order of the pedals in the effects loop. Right now its delay > chorus > eq (with built in drive).
My biggest mistake is not using the controls on my guitar enough. I have a BOSS DS-1 and I thought it was a junk pedal because it wasn’t giving much distortion but it was just that the volume on my guitar was too low. So I turned down the volume of my amp and turned up the volume of my guitar and now I can get from mild crunchy tones to heavy distortion with that thing.
When I was 17 I gigged with 8 Behringer pedals all connected to a daisy chain. I have no regrets 😅(kept the Tube clone, still love the thing)
So, it's true what they say... not all hero's wear capes! You are a hero sir
Great video and thank you for the tips. My biggest mistake in playing at my church was going overboard on delay and reverb. I completely agree that a general rule of thumb is that less is more with those types of pedals. As a guitarist, I did not fully realize how bad this can sound until there was someone else on lead electric one day doing the same thing. Made the whole mix turn to mud! Now the most important thing I do is seek feedback from the sound guy to make sure I don’t go overboard in anything!
The biggest mistake that I have made as far as pedals go is having too many effects on and having them set too high. I have learned that less is more and that the majority of your tone is to be found in your hands and fingers, not the pedals.
EXACTLY! I use a small basic multi-effects pedal with 1 distortion stomp box & the only sounds I use from my multi-effects pedal is reverb, delay & wah! Also, the amp is a MAJOR component & the heavy ass Fender Twin Reverb is an AWESOME amp for R&B, Pop & Hip-Hop!!!
i just found out how little gain jimmy page use xd
The biggest mistake I've made with pedals is buying them and not spending enough time experimenting with them. Great video by the way, that Sweetwater board looks killer!!!
My Biggest mistake was using the Boss NS2 improperly. It works great if you run your compressor and drives through its loop and then run the modulation after the NS2
The biggest pedalboard fustercluck I’ve witnessed was maybe 10 years ago. We were playing an out of town club as headliners and brought a couple of bands with us to fill out the bill. The other bands were also running through our PA (the venue sound system was old, glitchy and underpowered). I was the FOH operator for the other bands’ sets as well as for their sound check.
The second band was about to start their first song and the intro had a guitar solo part. Unbeknownst to anyone else in the room, 2nd band’s lead guitarist (we’ll call him CC for conceptually clueless) had parked a power amp “in a pedal enclosure” in the middle of his board after sound check and at the last minute as they were taking the stage. Imagine something like an Electro-Harmonix 44 Magnum but with a stomp switch for muting. Somewhere CC had gotten the idea that he could use the power amp pedal as a clean boost for cutting through the mix when it was time for a solo.
The band started, CC was “shredding”!but his playing was not to be heard. He momentarily looked perplexed; then had an aha moment and stomped on the mute switch, hit a chord and sent around 50+ watts of output signal into the last few pedals in his chain and then into the front of his amp.
There was a painfully loud noise that came out of his amp and was picked up by the SM57 hooked up to our PA. Imagine 115 dB or so of what I can only describe as a 1-2 second long, wet, semisynthetic fart. The sound ceased on its own just as I scrammed the fader for his channel to zero.
Concurrently the left side of his pedalboard emitted a few sparks and a faint flash of bluish light. Then there was smoke and the (outboard from the amp-pedal side) patch cables and instrument cable that ran the few feet to his amp melted, momentarily caught fire in a few spots, self extinguished and then remained smoldering.
That was the beginning & end to their set and we ended up playing an extra set to cover the time commitment. Life Hack- Always have a set or two well practiced and in reserve. FUBAR happens.
This comment has made my day! Thank you for sharing and thank god people like CC exist to give us all a good laugh! ✌🤟
The biggest mistake I made for many years was thinking "more distortion, the better"....I was so wrong and cant believe it took me so long to realise. I always used to crank the distortion dial, but these days I rarely go past 12 - 1 o'clock, depending on the pedal or amp.
Sir, daisy chaining is not the problem for beginning pedal board builders.......it is using switching wall wart power supplies. You need linear isolated PS for minimal noise. Once you have that......you can daisy chain.....as long as you don't exceed the outlets current supply. Most analog stuff draws minimal current. It's the digital pedals that need bigger power. I'm a big fan of the Line 6 M5 stomp box molder......it's a great way to demo fx or have access to something you don't use often, without buying a dedicated unit. I have 2 one up front and one into my fx loop. I have dedicated pedals for thing I know I will use often. Also good stuff doesn't have to be silly expensive. I would stay away from the no name Chinese clones, but I have a Danelectro digital delay that is terrific. I think it was $30 new. It doesn't seem to alter tone, it makes delay.......no problem. Ya can't go wrong w/ your basic Boss/MXR/ElectroHarmonix/Ibanez stuff either. Hey I love JHS, but no one is paying me to play.
To answer the question, my biggest mistake when I got my first pedal is not realizing pedals need their own power source. I thought they got powered through the instrument cable. Lol
My biggest pedal mistake is selling them. Every time I sell one I wish I didn't some time in the future.
so true :/
I hate that I sold my "Bad Monkey"! Peace.
I have a no sell pedal rule for myself. Obviously if shit happens and I have to sell them I will, but hopefully that won't be a thing that ever happens.
Great video!! I’m 42 and I’ve been playing since I was 10 and I still have to watch myself with some of these. Too much delay is probably the thing I’m most prone to
My biggest mistake was not using a noise gate! For years I didn't realize how much it makes a difference especially when I'm playing staccato style...or strumming with large breaks, such as playing some old def leppard (high n dry) or ac/dc! Thank you for your info, you really know your gear!!
For a long time I didn't understand the headroom of an amp. Chained all these cool pedals together clicked them on and immediately woke up the power tubes, some mud and feedback. Currently running a wet dry set up using a Fender and a Vox. Found my tone and couldn't be happier.
Update: Winners are Spencer Madsen and Anonym Anonym!
The biggest mistake I've made is never buying one 😭
The biggest mistake I've made is never buying one. Always look at them when I'm shopping for new gear but hesitate because I don't understand how they work.
Seemingly I've put the velcro on "the wrong way around" on my pedals and board, every used pedal I've seen since has it with the hoops on the board and the hooks on the back of the pedals, I can't see how it makes any difference either way, but the convention seems to be the other way around from how I've done it :(
I bought the JHS Ryan Adams pedal, right before he got outed as an abusive git. I also had tickets to see him at The Royal Albert Hall with a hot Italian girl from Napoli, but the gig got cancelled. Not so much a pedal mistake, but I paid for poor judgement of an artist’s character.
I grilled my friend's phase 90 from the 80's by being a little careless and uneducated about daisy chain...!
Biggest mistake was accidentally leaving my wha pedal on and thinking “what the heck is wrong with my tone tonight?” Took a minute to realize what I had done 🤦🏼♂️
Same brother 😂🏆
Thanks for the video. I'm a noob and I'm going to be getting my first amp when it's in stock ( A Blackstar HT5R mii ). This video will help me to avoid common mistakes and I am always happy to learn from more experienced players. I'm a middle aged hobbyist and my wife is likely to be my only audience and my skill might never match my enthusiasm for playing and learning. Thanks for the video I look forward to experimenting and finding my own sounds and making my own mistakes 🤘
My biggest mistake with pedals has been not using the volume knob on my guitar to its fullest potential.
I’ve got an Ibanez SM-7 distortion pedal that I always thought was just too much for me, but I basically got it for free so it’s never been worth it to get rid of it. However, recently, I discovered that with my guitar volume at about 7, it’s one of my favorite sounds! It becomes incredibly dynamic, and it sounds absolutely incredible under a huge wash of reverb.
I’ve had this pedal for years and only just recently fell in love with it!
Biggest mistake for me was buying and relying on cheapish multi effects. So plasticky and digital. Especially overdrive. A cheap overdrive pedal like the soul food was a game changer for me.
Biggest mistake I made was using distortion pedals set to zero gain, not utilizing the clipping styles of the pedals. So glad I learned! The clipping modes offer so many more options to tone!
I was once given an old Rocktron Talk box; having never used a talk box before, I thought it would be perfectly fine and “cool” to hook it up with not only a Digitech Vocal 300 processor pedal, but also to use the external speaker output with a second amp. This resulted in a hideous sound for a split second, followed by the overloading of the pedal and the smoking amp. I then had to send my pedal to Digitech and have my amp serviced by a professional. That mistake cost me over $500 in repairs and shipping for both pedal and amp! It has also given me a crippling fear of talk boxes, and a deep seeded apprehension every time I plug ANYTHING in. I have yet to get over this fear. In fact, this is the first time I have admitted it to anyone..
Excellent topic choices! ALL beginner guitarists should watch this video. My 3 cents to this would be to place a kind of booster pedal right at the beginning of the signal. Something like a Klon Centaur or the Xotic EP, it really helps to establish a good signal for you to saturate at will further along your path. This will really help your amp to shine. Great work on this video! 👏🏼
The biggest mistakes I've made was using solder-less patch cables and using a 5-spot daisy chain for power the rig. I figured the cables would be quick and easy only to find out that the leads snapped quite easy and I ended up with a hand for a cables with broken lines with $70 dollars. I also, found out that using a daisy chain, despite how much power they can offer, interjects a ton of noise into it. I had a sub n up that was almost pointless to use because of the hum being put in the line when it was on. Even with a noise gate, repositioning the pedal, or removing other pedals the noise would persist. In the end, I winded up making my own soldered cables and investing in a Voodoo Lap Power Plus two. After that, my guitar tone problems were a thing of the past.
Thanks for the video and the tips, I really enjoyed watching it!
Yeah, I haven't heard too many positive stories about solderless cables.
@@MusoraOfficial They seem good in theory, but in this case not at all. By the time I purchased cable and connector ends it was just about the same price, and i could reuse the items later on as I saw fit.
Similar to what you described, the biggest mistake I made and I'm trying to avoid is associating just one sound with a pedal. You always hear about Klons, Rats and Tubescreamers and you're inclined to think a pedal has just one distinctive (usable) sound - even when it's manual suggests quite a few settings! The risk here is that you settle on a sound and when you're in need of a different texture you think you need a different pedal. Or you stumble into an OK sound and then don't explore further to dial in a great sound, just because you don't twiddle the knobs!
Another thing: don't decide on a pedal's settings when you're playing alone, at bedroom level. Always let the sound in the band context decide what settings are appropriate. Don't fall in love with a sound that won't work when you're playing with your band.
Been running a Godlyke Powerall daisy chain type power supply for nearly 20 years. No noise, and has never broken. Currently running 6 pedals with it but have run a maximum of 8.
The biggest mistake I’ve ever made with pedals is using them when it’s not necessary. Sometimes a clean guitar through an amp on the verge of breakup is all you need.
Preach!
On a clean Fender amp, all I want is a bit of reverb (internal to the amp), and sometimes a small amount of EQ and/or compression (for finger picking) from pedals.
I must say that is good advice!
The biggest mistake I have ever done is tune to drop C# through a miku pedal and play chop suey by S.O.A.D.
Pleaae tell me you recordwd that!
@@chitarrafaidate believe me man you don't want hear it
It was nice but it sounded like something came out from hell....
Love that pedal board!
Nice and tidy without a bunch of BS.
Pretty much everything you need...those are some fantastic “bread and butter” pedals right there.
My biggest mistake was buying a overdrive try it out in the store love it then when I order it and it came to my house and I plug it in and was so excited to hear it it wasn't working and they was a fault with it and I was really upset and put down and had to send it back off to them and they didn't have a other one to replace I was crying all day great video keep it up hopefully if I win I can get a overdrive pedal that I will be happy with and inspire me keep up with the good videos you doing great :)
I use a small basic multi-effects pedal with 1 distortion stomp box & the only sounds I use from my multi-effects pedal is reverb, delay & wah! Also, the amp is a MAJOR component & the heavy ass Fender Twin Reverb is an AWESOME amp for R&B, Pop, Light Rock & Hip-Hop!!!
Biggest mistake I've made was using a center psoitive 12V AC adaptor on a standard (9V, DC, center negative) pedal. It was went wrong instantly. I was young and didn't know much about that kind of "technical stuff". I learnd the lesson really fast. :D
My biggest mistake was building out my pedalboard starting with adding the Velcro and placing the pedals, adding the power supplies to each pedal, then connecting the pedals to one another... only to find I had a bad patch cable somewhere. I had to strip the whole board and wished I had tested the patch cables and power beforehand... “lessons learnt the hard way are rarely forgotten” as my Grandmother would say 🤦♂️
Agreed, I learned that the hard way. The magic is in the fingers not a box of tricks. They can add colour and interest, but can't replace skill.
The biggest mistake I've made is not getting into electric guitar! I have 2 acoustics and an electric, however I've never gone further into the gear route because I've always had to keep things down for parents/roommates... Happily on my own now and going down the rabbit hole!
My biggest mistake is not spending enough time with new pedals. Last fall got back into playing electric guitar after a 15 year break and have gone through at least a dozen pedals but have only really bonded with half of those. I've regretted selling the ones I did sell off because they were probably great, but I didn't spend enough time twiddling the knobs. For the last few months I've been learning to take my time demoing pedals at the store and then spending hours and hours with them to learn how they work. It's been much more satisfying.
My biggest mistake was not getting into pedals sooner. Been playing for almost 15 years and only just got into using pedals this year. It's been a game changer!
Another way to clean up noise is to use a good pedal switcher. This makes the total cable run between pedals centimeters instead of feet. The Gigrig G2 is probably best at this, allowing an artist to re-order the signal chain without re-cabling, and allowing pre and post volume controls that can be set for each preset.
Ran everything into the front of my amp, instead of using effects loop! Makes a big difference! Also not using a boost or od into the front of the amp.
Haven’t made any mistakes with pedals yet because the only one I own so far is a looper! Looking forward to trying some out soon!
My biggest mistake with guitar pedals was thinking I had to have all of the pedals I owned on my board. Even if I never used them... So I had a nice impressive-looking board with lots of pedals, but I only ever used 4-5 of them. Once I took off the ones I wasn't using, my guitar tone was better. Imagine that.
Yep, and the constant faffing around moving patch cables around and wearing out the velcro fixings in the process 😂. I'm beginning to wonder why pedal manufactures adopt two different I/0 connections. The standard is sockets on the side (wastefull of space - fine for a few pedals), other have sockets on top (better use of space and easier to quickly change patch cable connections)?
My biggest mistake with pedals buying them was buying them year's before I started using them and then finding out I didn't like or needed them on my board.
One Oftheonez ...true with tools and hardware also.....
My biggest pedal mistake was going on a purchasing binge while laid up with a complicated ankle fracture. A large and enthusiastic person jumped in excitement during the first song at a NIN show. I encourage getting into it- I've been to a lot of Nails shows and wouldn't go if I didn't let the experience take over BUT I've also never landed on someone's ankle and then run away. [Hey, guy- I may be big but I can't chase you. Lil' help here?] They played all of Broken that night. I realized that while trying to prove to the EMT that my ankle couldn't be broken as there was no pain. Repeated falling directly to the floor upon attempted standing proved his point.
Thirteen screws and three plates from a Nine Inch Nails show begs for bad jokes. Have at it.
So, five days in the hospital and one surgery later, I was told, "No weight bearing for twelve weeks." Living on the top floor of a Brooklyn brownstone, just getting to my apartment was a lesson in humility.
A whole lot of practice got done. Win! So did a lot of pedal review video watching... And purchasing. Top floor. Bottom buzzer. Compound fracture. Compounded misery. I knew packages were delivered but couldn't get to them. I wanted to play with the pedals but was worried the wife-lady-friend would consider the number of foot pedal purchases unreasonable for an immobile person. So then they were hidden out of embarassment and shame. Have you ever hidden pedals that you couldn't properly enjoy like you're a kid after Halloween and sugar is verboten in your house? Ferried your boredom buys in a backpack up and down the hall because you can't carry anything lest you lose your balance and need your hands. Fixing myself lunch was a Sisyphisian chore. Juggling cables, my guitar, pedal orders, and knob tweaks while keeping my dominant leg elevated OR ELSE THE PAIN COMES WITH A VENGEANCE simply wasn't doable despite the yearning and deep conviction that awesome sounds were sort of within reach.. Yeah. It was a mistake and abuse of one's good life. I kept doing it. Insert Happiness In Slavery joke, here. I won't do it for you.
So misguided. So understandable. Just play! Play a stick with some wire nailed to it! Get simple! Get stripped!
Nope.
How many pedal reviews? How many redundant effects with barely justified nuance differences and lo- what about with (an) expression pedal(s)!? Surely, once one can express one will want that/those!
Yep. Almost a year later and my best guess is that the thing isn't fixed (Ha! Not funny). I can climb mountains for hundreds of miles on my road bike but can't run to catch a subway. The hardware probably has to come out. That means more cutting and more recovery. Bing bang pow!
Most annoying assertion from friends and family: "You're probably not going to any more shows, am I right?"
Ding-a-lings.
It was an adventure, replete with self-taunting. Don't be me. Or do and we can laugh about it over gently used, sad aura re-sales.
"Hand-painted you say?"
My biggest mistake with pedals was not investing in a switch controller after my board grew to 8+ pedals.
I spent more time Tap dancing than I did keeping eye contact with the audience.
Awesome video btw Bro - Thx for sharing this hard earned advice - Much Appreciated. 🤘🤘🤘🎸🎼❤️👍👏👏👏
I am pretty new to using effects pedals. So far I have not run into any mistakes. Thanks for the opportunity!
The worst mistake I've ever made was selling my analog pedals and replacing them with a Boss ME-80. Although I thought the set up was good. Easy to use, very intuitive....the dirt sounds really let it and me down. Ouch...sold it off...lost money of course and now slowly trying to build up my pedal board again. :-) Enjoyed the vid....thanks.
Great video. Man I wonder how many people entered to win part of this. At first I thought it'd be a couple hundred, but now so many UA-camrs got a piece. There has to be like thousands of entries. That is just genius!
Thanks for the tips!
When I was first starting out with pedals as a kid I had them all mixed up and out of order on my pedal board. Putting my tuner at the end, putting distortion after the reverb, etc. after getting frustrated with the sound I finally did research to find the correct placement for my pedals. Second biggest mistake was selling pedals that were really good and not realizing it till they were out of my rig.
My biggest mistake was not reading the manual thoroughly :). Lots of tricks and sounds in my pedals I found out later than I needed to :P. Great vid!
Hi, im guile from Colombia, im starting to dive in this amazing world of pedals and tone, and the biggest mistake in this moment was that i buy an overdrive pedal, and i was so excited, so i went home try to used and realize that i have no power supply to turn it on. hahaha
For anyone looking to get really good cables, I would recommending getting the 6-inch 'World's Best Cables' that are made with Mogami wire. Doing this allows you to get Mogami quality wire for like 1/6 of the price it would cost you to buy patch cables directly made by Mogami.
3 biggest mistakes I've made; 1- When I first started gigging I used compression at the end of the chain- not a big chain- but using the 'big red' Ibanez compressor at the end of the chain 'squashed' everything too much. Now I use a Keeley compressor before two stacked Ice-9 Vox and the Mosfet 2. 2nd mistake; I was one for stacking OD"s way before stacking was popular- but became a R-N-R dinosaur and kept two TS9's stacked into a Randall amp- the squeal was unbearable. Lastly, 3rd- I took for granted what others said and never put the pedals in the order that I wanted. I used to love how EVH got that overall Phase 90 sound and thought it would be a good idea to use it ahead of everything else prior to using my fx loop. It was years later that I found out that EVH himself did just that- I love a Phase sound and use it 'just a touch' prior to the chain. So, without getting too excited- PICK ME PICK ME!! thx
Using those solid medal connectors on a velcro pedal board. Seems like a great way to save space, but it makes it impossible to get the pedals off the board. They get bent and I've even had one break off into a pedal.
My biggest mistake was not trying pedals in the store or at a friends place with an amp similar to my own. Amp type can make a big difference. Second biggest mistake was not getting an amp with an effects loop. Thanks for this video!!
For years I would stack 2 gain pedals and I would wonder why when I hit the second one for the lead all the definition would just disappear. Started dialing the gain knobs back in the last couple years and I’m getting the tone and definition I’ve been longing for.
The biggest mistake I ever made with a pedal board was being to reliant on it for tone. I never focused on my amp settings and using the pedals to add color. Thankfully someone kindly led me down the right path.
buying a boss me'20 was my worst mistake in the pedal world. lol i started my analog journey a couple of moths ago but money and wife permission only let me reach 3 pedals to date lol (before i only played through a spider iii 125w) i'm buying the forth pedal this month. because i play in church it's easy to make do with a small amount of pedals because we are only a few playing instruments so i have to keep it almost clean and help with rythm... but i'll gradually make the pedalboard grow lol my setup consists of 1 overdrive (TS clone), a "Joyo American" and a reverb which i usually keep in spring mode. the pedal im buying at the end of the month is a danelectro fab1 distortion. not sure what to expect, but, hey, i gotta try things out, right?! anyway, nice video, thanks for the info and help and keep rockin
For sure, the biggest mistake was expecting a fuzz face and echo through a small combo amp at home to sound like David Gilmour's setup in Live at Pompeii! 😅
But, that frustration sparked my mixing and matching, to craft tones that eventually work for my own music!
Trial and error is the only way, to understand how things work.
Cheers!
Biggest mistake was; accidentally putting a 18v power supply into a 9v pedal. Heard a squeal and smelled smoke, the pedal was DOA. Luckily it was a fairly inexpensive pedal.
Wait, what? I was under the impression that the pedal just takes the amount of power it needs and that's it. Where one could theoretically hook up a 12V or 18V to a 9V pedal and it would work. Unless there was a MaH issue or something.
@@AnthonySforza you're thinking about current. If you stick 500ma into a 100ma pedal, it'll be fine (as long as the circuitry in the pedals can take the amount of power, so silly amounts aren't meant for pedals). Voltage is a different force, you're best matching that to whatever the pedals says it needs.
@@AnthonySforza Correct, it draws the current it needs, at the correct voltage (power is current X volts in a DC circuit). Pedals are designed for a specific voltage, apply too high voltage, it may consume too much current (= excessive power = heat). Some pedals are rated for anything between 9V to 18V DC (e.g. Fulltone OCD); they are designed to accept EITHER (they incorporate voltage detection/protection). Some pedals are designed to accept 9V OR 18V via an internal selector switch (e.g. the EHX Glove), BUT you must first select 18V on the selector switch inside the pedal 😉.
Agree with Sax and Attakai, RIP used Electro-Harmonix Holy Grail Neo Reverb (1/21/2019 to 1/26/2019).
@@scottodesperado8013 Guess you are in good company with others that have fallen for that trap 😂. Unfortunately pedal manufactures have not used different size sockets to guard against connecting the wrong supply (further compounded when it is selectable within the pedal).
Hello everyone
I'm 37 years old and started my sonic experience with 29
my biggest mistake clearly translates my inexperience in this field
but thanks to my preservation I learned the little I know
the sum of errors increase my focus
it is part of my path and goes hand in hand with solutions and decisions
that define my sonic path
but my biggest mistake was not starting this exciting sonic journey earlier
I love to make mistakes because it challenges me to hit the sounds I want
Big hug from Portugal
I only have vst plugin pedals, biggest mistake was turning the overdrive gain up. I use it after a distortion with minimal gain, and then the overdrive at minimal gain with the boost on.
Great video! Don't own any individual pedals pedals yet but biggest mistake I made with my boss M70 multi effects pedal was exactly as you said, not spending enough time experimenting with it.
The first pedal in my chain is a Vox wah and the input jack was loose causing the signal to the amp to fade in and out while playing.
I have about 70 pedals - I keep them all. If you sell one you may find you need it in a few months for a very specific sound and have to buy another one the same. 👍
Lots of useful tips there, so thank you. Probably my biggest mistake was thinking a noise suppressor pedal would make a drastic change in the hum coming from my Marshall practice amp. I was looking to achieve the ultimate clean sound...not so much.
Telecaster, guitar cord, tweed amp...heaven.
My biggest mistake was assuming the power supply requirements instead of explicitly checking them. Sometimes a 9V 300mA center negative supply just won’t do...
Gain stacking. It took a while to see which pedal worked well together. I like the way my gain pedals are set on the board now.
The worst mistake I've ever made was telling my friends and family how many guitar pedals I have...
@Chhristian why was that a mistake ?
@@Rob-qr2kn hahaha I take it you haven't yet then. You get a lot of:
-Do you really need that many?
-Do they reeeally sound different?
-Ya but you're not a professional musician.
-Didn't you already have that one?
@@ChristianPaulDelage Yeah your right.
Watching pedal videos instead of practicing was the biggest pedal mistake I've made so far. Thanks for the good advice.
My worse nightmare with pedals was when I placed my Wahwah in my amplifier's effects loop. It sounded great when I practiced at home at lower volume levels. However, at higher volume levels at the gig, as soon as I clicked the Wahwah "ON," it blew out one of my tubes in my amplifier's clean channel. Thus, I was forced to play the entire Latin Jazz gig using only my amplifier's overdrive channel (I know, I should have had a backup amplifier).
I recently discovered the most awesome pedal order I've ever tried! Usually I give detailed info about how I do things, BUT not this time, this setup is too good. I can never show the first half of my board again. Haven't made new video with this arrangement yet, BUT when I do, it won't be shown in the video. Have a nice day.
A little beside the point perhaps, but Vorg Phase shifter is now going for 267 USD on Reverb. I had one of those many years ago, picked up from a bargain bin in a music store for a small amount of cash. Somewhere along the way it got lost regrettably.
I have two. The first worst mistake was when I first started learning guitar as a teenager. I didn’t know how guitar players were getting that cool distortion sound that I couldn’t seem to get to happen on my beginner acoustic. So I just slammed the strings as hard as possible. Luckily, an older kid musician set me straight ;-) And then there was the Boss Heavy Metal pedal into a Crate G60 combo amp - need I say more?
Putting my Morley Volume/Wah at the very end of my signal chain and my Echo Park delay at the front while completely ignoring my effects loop. I toured like this for years and constantly battled with why my tone wasn't ever consistent or I couldn't get similar delay sounds even without messing with the settings before finally having a conversation with another bands tech who pointed out the major faults in my rig.
My biggest pedal mistake was not to check if my board works. So right at the beginning of my solo (my big moment on stage), I kicked on my Treble Booster. But there was just silence. It wasn't working at all. And so there I stood, without any signal, everybody's staring at me... I still don't know what went wrong with that thing.
Now I make sure I always double check EVERYTHING before shows.
Biggest pedal mistakes I've made:
1. Using George L's pedal cable kits without understanding how they had to be made.
2. Building boards that were WAY too big.(I used a door once to build a board years ago)
3. Thinking that buying vintage pedals was better. The tolerance in the components is so wide that out of 5 vintage Big Muffs, only 1 may sound great. A pricey crap shoot.
4. Selling pedals I loved to finance pedals that were 'meh'. I have regretted selling my Klon Centaurs & Mesa V-Twin when prices were getting insane.
5. Thinking that pedals could make a bad amp sound good. Just cut bait & get a better amp.
In my almost 40 years of playing, I've made A LOT of mistakes but I've made a lot of cool music with some amazing people too.
we all go through this issues .... :) ahahah ... and we never listen these good advices from people with more experience .... we just realize that after awhile when we have spent (tons) of money ... on cables, power supplies, pedals .. .. .. then we say ... oh GOD they were so right, why didnt i listen to it ... ahahah ... i've done it ... who didn't ... but it's always so go good to have this kind os lists of advices ... .... to everyone watching ths video ... i just have to say ... LISTEN to IT ... it's all so so TRUE ... (great vid)
My biggest mistake, was putting a buffered pedal in front of the ehx germanium big muff pi. Took a while to figure out that it prefers to be the first one in the signal chain and untouched.
The biggest mistake I have made, I have 3 that come to mind: 1. The power on some pedals have reverse polarity power connectors I plug the wrong power cable in. 2. Left a very expensive compressor (Cali76) on for 48 hours straight, now the pedal introduces random transient noise bursts. 3. Bought an expensive pedal based on internet hype (I hated it ;(
My biggest mistake was selling my entire pedal board back in the early 90's and getting a multi-effects unit (a Yamaha FX500) in its place. The effects unit has been gathering dust for a couple decades because it sounds dated, whereas the old pedals would have still sounded fresh and usable today.
The biggest mistake I made was getting rid of my peadls and amp after achieving a tone that I was happy with and going with what was popular, digital modeling. Big mistake, but now I’m getting back to pedals and an amp!
I put my tuner and my boost pedal too close together, it was alright during rehearsals, but when I went to take the first solo at the gig I stomped both and cut my signal.
My biggest mistake is too much gain and I appreciate the advice about the daisy chain and too much cable, thanks Nate
My biggest mistake was to play a whole show with my wha turned on and I couldn't figure out why it sounded to bad lol
Biggest I’ve made was not checking the settings before starting a gig! It’s so easy for knobs to be moved in your bag .
I play P&W. I was coming out of a lead line into a big chorus that was not sounding very good. I was confused until I saw I left my POG on for all these open chords
Biggest mistake: spending too much time tweaking tone through pedals and gear and less time working on chops and technique!
Basically the last one Nate said but still the biggest for me for sure
Biggest mistake with pedals for me was not getting to know my guitars capability BEFORE buying pedals to change my sound.
There are a huge range of sounds and tones available from any guitar depending upon how you play it. That said, adding time or drive based pedals does save constant fiddling with amp settings.
Aw man! I missed the giveaway by 1 day! :/ Oh well. One of my (many) mistakes was that I used a Boss Blues Driver as a clean boost for several years before exploring the other epic aspects of the pedal.
I think the biggest mistake I've made is the whole bigger=better aspect, be it cost or how many I need. Honestly, I kept going for the "More is better" aspect, but I've been scaling down lately. I wouldn't say I regret it though, as I went where I wanted to and realized that it wasn't for me, better to do that than to sit and wonder.
Biggest guitar pedal mistake I ever did was to exchange them for a multi effects processor! :(
I wanted to buy a new Amp cause I it sounded muddy until I found out the fx loop... I put all my modulation pedals in it and everything totally changed.. My sound is more defined and clear.
Right before a gig, was experimenting with stacked gain thru my EHX Stereo Mistress.. max rate, flange and chorus... heard a fizzle then silence!!! Thought I blew the amp. Whew. Just the first preamp tube.
Biggest mistake I've made on a pedal board was daisy chaining with a power supply that was too low for the load. That was before I knew that PSUs existed and why, so now I use a joyo rechargeable power supply.
My biggest pedal mistake was chasing tone by buying different pedals/multifx without ever upgrading my amp. I either used a cheap modeling amp, or went direct into a PA. When I finally upgraded my amp, it was a BIG aha moment for me.
i was in a rowdy band, i taped a tubescreamer to the floor and needless to say it got kicked and i lost signal, had to scramble it back together.. it was pretty hectic
Biggest mistake I ever did was misusing the delay pedal. Either I would use too much delay when you couldn't hear what I was playing, having it in inappropriate spots in a song, or having it to low where what was the point of having it on in the first place.