Tone, Effects, Pedals, ect.

[Oregon41]

First of all, I just finally borrowed an electric guitar and have been getting really into finding my own tone and experimenting with pedals, and I figured other people might feel the same so I made this thread.

Second, and more urgently, I need help. I'm playing with my friend's band on Thursday and we're covering Yellow by Coldplay, and for the life of me, I can't figure out how the lead guitarist gets that sound during the bending part (0:11 - 0:33 on the CD). I'm using a crappy Les Paul-style Epiphone through a speaker (not an amp). I can tell he's using a delay pedal, but I can't get that dirty/distorted sound he gets. Does anyone have a good ear and a good pedal knowledge that wouldn't mind checking it out?

[Pickles]

I'll give it a shot... Give me a couple minutes.

[Pickles]

Ok wait - you're playing through a speaker? Are you wanting a distortion pedal recommendation?

[Oregon41]

I tried distortion pedals, but they didn't match the sound; then again, I didn't play around with the levels that much. My sister's friends, who are all in bands, say it's an acoustic guitar behind an electric, with a shitload of reverb and some delay. I'm still looking into it.

I also looked at the Coldplay rig. Looks like he uses a RAT distortion pedal. Is that what he's using on Yellow?

[Pickles]

It's hard for me to hear - I'm playing the song on Youtube so it's not great quality. Delay is pretty standard on any pop-ish song with electric guitar. It's not always prevalent, but it fills it up. I wouldn't say that there's a ridiculous amount of reverb. The distortion is really a matter of the gear that you're using. You're using a speaker, not a tube amp. You're using an Epiphone, not whatever the dude from Coldplay uses. If you're looking for an exact match, you're not going to find it.

I would say if you need a good pedal to add some nice overdrive to your tone, check out these 3:
1) Boss BD-2: The cheapest of the 3. For a Boss distortion pedal, it's the best one you can get. I bought mine for $40 (later got it modded for $70 more and now it's amazing). It beefs it up, which is kind of what that tone is going for.
2) Visual Sound Jekyl & Hyde: Very good sounding pedal. It has independent overdrive and distortion settings/switches. It's over $100.
3) Fulltone Fulldrive 2: Similar to the Jekyl & Hyde, but probably a little nicer for overdrive. Not as much of a bite as the Jekyl and Hyde, though. Maybe more expensive.

I can't recommend a reverb pedal because I've never needed one. My amps have always had reverb.

Delay pedals.... I would say you should either get a Boss DD-5/DD-6/DD-7 or a Line 6 DL-4. Those are all going to run you over $120, or the DL-4 will go $200.

Again, I would say try to make it your own instead of an exact mimic.

[Oregon41]

Thanks, Shane, that helps a lot. I have a DL-4 from back in the day that I just got working again, so that'll solve my delay problem. I'll check out the distortion pedals and see which one fits me best. Man, I would love to just buy my own sweet electric and amp.

[Teego Time]

If you want the best pedal in the world- get a Boss RC-20XL Loop Station. My playing has gotten worlds better because I can create my own jam tracks and solo over them for hours. Its also great if you don't have anyone at your level to jam with.

Case in point: I have no guitar friends that can play anything for more than 5 minutes without their hands hurting. Whereas I go for hours and hours without stopping.

My next pedal will likely be a blues overdrive. Boss has a good one from what I hear.

[RunsWithBuffalo]

Thanks, Shane, that helps a lot. I have a DL-4 from back in the day that I just got working again, so that'll solve my delay problem. I'll check out the distortion pedals and see which one fits me best. Man, I would love to just buy my own sweet electric and amp.

My DL-4 died on me a couple weeks ago. It acting very weird leading up to it's apparent suicide.

How did you get yours working again?

[Oregon41]

I don't know, it was weird. I stopped using it about two years ago when my electric acoustic got busted, and stored it for way too long with batteries in it, which is my best guess as to why it stopped working. When I brought it back out again, it wouldn't work anymore, even with fresh batteries. I stored it again for a few weeks without batteries in it and tried again on a whim, and it worked again. I'm chalking it up as miraculous.

However, if waiting a bit doesn't work, you can probably send it in and have Line6 fix it at a cost, or if you google "DL-4 troubleshooting" or "DL-4 repair" there are a few forums that describe how to open it up and fix it yourself. Too lazy to look again right now, but if you can't find it let me know and I'll look for the site again. Apparently some batches of the DL-4 are prone to malfunction, especially the newer ones.

Hope that helps!

[RunsWithBuffalo]

I don't know, it was weird. I stopped using it about two years ago when my electric acoustic got busted, and stored it for way too long with batteries in it, which is my best guess as to why it stopped working. When I brought it back out again, it wouldn't work anymore, even with fresh batteries. I stored it again for a few weeks without batteries in it and tried again on a whim, and it worked again. I'm chalking it up as miraculous.

However, if waiting a bit doesn't work, you can probably send it in and have Line6 fix it at a cost, or if you google "DL-4 troubleshooting" or "DL-4 repair" there are a few forums that describe how to open it up and fix it yourself. Too lazy to look again right now, but if you can't find it let me know and I'll look for the site again. Apparently some batches of the DL-4 are prone to malfunction, especially the newer ones.

Hope that helps!

Thanks!

That makes sense. Even though I bought the AC adapter, I realized when i was taking it apart that it had the original factory batteries still in it...not good. I'll probably just send it to line 6 and see what they say.