Three Guitars / One Pedalboard

[JONFROMJERSEY]

Hi, I am sure this has come up before, and maybe there is an obvious solution, but anyway...

Like many of us I have several guitars, all a little different. Right now I have a Marrguar, and old Mustang, and an SG with P90s. The problem is that when I run them through my pedalboard, the pedals, of course, react differently. Especially the drives. Is there a simple way to avoid having to readjust my pedals when I switch guitars? I am not using digital drive pedals or multi-effect units with programmable presets. Old-fashioned analog pedals with knobs.

What do people do in these cases?

Thanks.

[thisisnickpaige]

I got rid of guitars that didn't work too well. Or i just made new setting that work for all. Then lately i've just been coming okay with the fact that not all things have to be the same and that there is variation for glorious reasons.

So what i've done is set my pedals to my medium output guitar, and then when i play the other two i know that one will be a little more weak and need more pedals on to equal out, and the higher output needing less. I have seen some people keep a clean boost pedal before their chain for this reason.

What's your set up now? Do you stack pedals or just have key flavours?

[JONFROMJERSEY]

My signal chain is Guitar-TU2-Compressor-EHX Guitar Microsynth-MF Boost-MF Drive-MFChorus-Timefactor-Immerse Reverb-Looper-Cabsim

The main issues are with the boost and drive...

Thanks!

[thisisnickpaige]

Yeah for sure, that is where the problem will lie. It could be a case of getting a boost pedal for the lower output ones or puttin' in new pickups, or living with the differences and playing them to your advantage.

[clef051]

You could use a eq pedal at the beginning of the pedals to adjust a guitar more how you want it to sound.

[JONFROMJERSEY]

Eq... Hmmm... I think the problem is that the pickup outputs are so different. It's not enough to work with the volumes on the guitars. I have tried. Maybe I should just make some marks on the pedals... I thought there might be a modern solution I wasn't aware of.

[marqueemoon]

You could use a eq pedal at the beginning of the pedals to adjust a guitar more how you want it to sound.

Yep. I’ve always thought a programmable eq would be good for this as you could dedicate a preset to each guitar.

[somanytoys]

You have a few options that you could do, one or 2 with what you already have, unless you like them dedicated/always on.

You could use the compressor as a boost, only with the lower output guitars, unless you like your compressor always on.

Another option would be to use the boost that you have, as a boost only for the lower output guitars, unless you like that boost specifically for a certain constant purpose/sound, just like the compressor.

Source Audio makes a programmable EQ with 4 presets, including boost, so you could get a boost and change the signal makeup by changing the preset. It's midi controllable and about $120.

Other options are that you could get another dedicated boost, just to use with the other guitars, or use a pedal that shapes tone but has its own boost, something similar to a Throback Overdrive/Boost, or something like a Blackstone that has 2 separate channels (drive & volume).

With the Throback OD/B, you could dial a sound in with it (it's very versatile but expensive), and then when you use a thinner guitar, kick on the boost switch and it should be the same sound, just more of it to make up for the loss in signal. The Blackstone would be more of a setting each channel for each type of guitar, and just switch the channel when you switch guitars.

It seems like there was another pedal that was supposed to be good specifically for that kind of thing (making up signal differences when using different guitars/pickups) - kind of like a channel switcher, but in reverse (switch 2 guitars instead of switching 2 amps). I can't remember who made it right now, but I think it was something from Radial Engineering or Lehle. They both make cool stuff, but I'm thinking it was Radial for some reason.

[somanytoys]

I found it - it's the Radial BigShot I/O. It seems like exactly what you're looking for

Here's the webpage on it:

https://www.radialeng.com/product/bigshot-io

[leokula]

If you are using different guitars that sound different, why do you want them to sound the same with the effects? Isn't it just part of the variety of using different guitars?

[fuzzjunkie]

If you are using different guitars that sound different, why do you want them to sound the same with the effects? Isn't it just part of the variety of using different guitars?

I think he wants the levels to match across all guitars, like having a constant unity gain, so the pedals react similarly, not necessarily sounding the same. If you have 3 guitars with disparate output levels on the pickups, say a Gretsch, a Gibson and a Fender, the levels hitting the fuzz and drive pedals will affect the pedal dynamics differently.

I used a Super Duper 2-in1 pedal for this. I used one side as the boost and the other side as an always on leveler. I marked where unity gain was for each guitar, so I only had to change the one setting when switching guitars.

Now I use a Throbak OD/B as somanytoys describes above. Instead of a boost, an always on compressor or leveler would work, or a programmable EQ if you want to tweak the signal so the guitars actually do sound similar instead of just matching output. I tried a passive volume pedal, and that just loaded the weak pickups down more, I don’t know if an active volume pedal would work any better because the buffer might compromise a dynamic fuzz if you use one.

[JONFROMJERSEY]

I found it - it's the Radial BigShot I/O. It seems like exactly what you're looking for

Here's the webpage on it:

https://www.radialeng.com/product/bigshot-io

THANKS! I AM GOING TO SERIOUSLY CONSIDER THIS ONE!

[somanytoys]

I hope it helps.

It seems like it should, unless there's a really huge difference between the levels of all 3 of your guitars. But even then, it will at least give you the ability to even up 2 at a time.

Radial makes good stuff, I have their Switchbone and Headlight amp switchers, and I like them a lot.

[Embenny]

I used to use an Artec clean boost that had two separate sides that could be combined. That way, I could match 3-4 guitars in output by using one side, the other, or both. But they all had single coils and relatively similar characteristics.

The suggestion of an EQ pedal (especially a programmable one) is the best, I think. EQ pedals also usually have global boost/cut, so you could match everything pretty well.

For the record, this is why I switched to a digital setup (Kemper/AX8). Each guitar gets its own versions of each pedal/amp tweaked to work with it. It dramatically simplified my setup and made instrument changes a breeze.

[JONFROMJERSEY]

All your tips got me looking around. This seems ideal: https://shop.thegigrig.com/three2one/ Thanks for the advice guys.