They're all sounding alike to me

[birv2]

Am I having a problem with my hearing?

I'm trying to pick a pedal to use at the King of the Blues contest in a couple of weeks. You can see my gear in my sig. I played my JV strat through my PJ, and lined up the following pedals and switched between them:

TS9DX (modded by Mark Humphrey) -- 4 separate modes.
Boss OD-3 with Monte Allums mod
Jekyll and Hyde V1, stock (red version)
FBM-1 -- Boss Fender Bassman pedal

I tap-danced through all 8 sounds with volume, tone and gain set approximately the same. Amp volume was on 4, tone on 12. Guitar volume around 7 or 8. They all sounded more or less the same. I thought I could just close my eyes before going to the contest and pick one at random.

OK, those of you who know more about pedals than me -- is there something wrong with my hearing? I know I"m getting TS-tones with the Jekyll and the TS9DX. But what about the others?

Oh, and I'm not completely thrilled with any of them right now.

Looking for some help from my fellow fretters. Thanks!

 

[otaypanky]

I'm not really a pedal user, although I have gotten a few recently. I'm starting to practice with a few fellows and if we end up with a band I thought the added sounds would help change things up a bit.
But about your question ~~~
I did the King of the Blues thing a few years ago and was rather surprised to see the amps they had for you to play through. Our local GC has the amps that will be used up on display. You might get way different results at home if you're using a different amp than you'll be using in the competition. Why not see if they have the amps there for you to try and bring your pedals?
And best of luck! :dude:

 

[markb]

TS9 = tweed amp emulator, so does the FBM-1. The J&H OD side is a TS808, also a tweed emulator. The OD-3 should have more bottom end and less mid hump but...

They're all really from the same family of drive sounds. There's your problem. I'd leave them alone for a few days. and try again. Or just keep the gains down and use them to push the PJ harder, that should show up some differences if there are any.

 

[birv2]

Thanks for the replies.

otay -- I actually took 2 of the pedals into GC this week and tried them out through the Twin, which is one of the amps available for the KOTB contest. I kind of settled on the OD-3 as the better of the 2. Now I'll have to go back with a couple more, though.

markb -- all from the same family? That makes sense. I didn't think of the FBM and the OD-3 as "related" to the TS, but I can see that now. Also, good advice on waiting a few days and also pushing the amp. I'll try both.

Though I'm pretty new at this, I have learned that what sounds pretty amazing at home can sound ordinary or worse in a live situation. And vice versa. Like that "honkiness" we were talking about in another thread. The other thought I've had is, since they all sound about the same, maybe it's time to just focus on improving my playing and stop obsessing over chasing tone....:thwap:

Bob

 

[deeaa]

Dude,

I've had dozens and dozens of pedals and owned and played a lot of amps...

What it all comes down to....when I listen to my stuff I recorded over the years with VERY diverse amps and setups...I always sound more or less the same.

The differences are VERY subtle really, mostly only discernible to the player in the playing situation, not on tape. People who don't play guitar hear no significant differences, even if I've used a Fender 2x12 open back and a Les Paul on one recording and a Marshall and a 4x12" closed and a Strat on another.

So no wonder very similar type pedals sound much alike. They should.
With things like pedals, it's not really as much about differences in how they sound, it's more about what some pedal DOESN't have - like an annoying overtone or interference or a clipping knee - not the basic sound, just these little details that only matter to the player.

I mean, I have no doubt a good boutique pedal IS better than stock etc...but I really doubt they sound any different on tape. Just to the player, and perhaps only good to any number of individual players. Some other player might have a preference of slightly higher frequency clip start or whatever.

It's MUCH more about how you play than the gear. It's basically all down to how you set your volumes all thru the chain plus how do you use your fingers to get the sound.

You can get the best huge chords ever from a 80 buck Behringer 10W SS amp if everything is just right. Or a $5000 boutique amp as well. It don't matter.

Some of the best sounds I ever heard a guitarist get out of their gear was from really ****** amps and gear. BUT some of the worst too.

Still, when YOU are playing various amps LOUD and LIVE...you usually hear HUGE differences. (Maybe not similar pedals; that doesn't surprise me at all.)

But on tape...pfft...really doesn't matter if you use a POD or a JCM800 - either can yield great sounds or utter sh*t.

I think most players feel and imagine 90% of the sound they hear, rather than there being real differences. It's that subtle.

But that's how companies can sell you 40 different humbuckers and claim they sound any different...make you spend $$ for that other humbucker that sounds SO much better...when in reality they sound exactly the same...well, it's kinda like those Hi-Fi fanatics who claim they can hear great differences between a $10 and a $1000 speaker cable or something. It's just BULL-SH*T. Show that in a blind test? I thought as much.

But hey, people believe also in very diverse religions which simply can't all be right, etc. so no wonder, I guess...people are just wired that way, they must find differences and preferences where there is none to be found. There is no room for real 'making sense' there.

Just try it; get a bottle of cola and divide it into 3 glasses and have people taste them...say they are all different, ask which is best, and I bet they will detect differences. Wine, better yet. Been done many a times; psychology 101 stuff.

Copy the same sound clip under a different name and say it's a different amp, ask which is better and people will have opinions, even strong ones about which is better.

Record a clip on a $5000 amp and a $100 amp and claim the cheap one's recording is of the pricey one and 95% of people will say yeah, it sounds MUCH better.

It's just the way it is.

Used to be I posted and did all kinds of tests like this to people; always pissed them off when I told them what actually was the case...but few things are as fun as getting a Hi-Fi fiend trapped into claiming a 3-pass mp3 conversion back into WAV sounds way better than direct CD rip...just because you claim it was digitized from vinyl via a terrific system, not CD...I guess it's mean, but I like what the sceptics society does...provide blind test proof of whatever it is you claim to be able to to or prove to exist and get millions...and nobody can.

Enough ranting...sorry...

 

[rev156]

No I like it, keep it up!:beer:

 

[birv2]

Dee, thanks for your post. It makes a lot of sense. In fact, I've decided to devote the time I spent chasing pedals to actually practicing the guitar. Bet I'll improve faster!

 

[markb]

Dee, thanks for your post. It makes a lot of sense. In fact, I've decided to devote the time I spent chasing pedals to actually practicing the guitar. Bet I'll improve faster!

Less eBay, more Mel Bay :AOK: (I wish I could say I thought of that myself!).

 

[Rampant]

HaHa

Good post Deeaa
Agree with almost everything you said...

...except for 1 tiny little thing (sorry)... try listening to a decent CD player, hi-fi amp and speaker combo firstly with the free cheapo inter-connect (phono leads) between the CD and amp and then secondly with any circa £20-30 interconnect. There is very definitely a difference in clarity, seperation and detail. True enough, the differences between other circa £20-30 phono leads will be nigh-on imperceptible, even though they are probably there. Same goes for difference between a £20 interconnect and a £120 interconnect - imperceptible, but probably there. But between the freebie and the cost option there will be an audible difference, especially for someone who practices in music!

I think the moral here is if you have a choice of pedals, and there are no "obvious" tonal variations, just go with any of them and stop worrying about the gear and your ears - just go and play. Wow yourself. Wow your audience, too. But most of all satisfy your own desire to play and make great sounds :-D :-D

Rock on!

Rampant

 

[deeaa]

Yeah I agree ramp, there isa difference with those super-cheap super thin connector leads and quality ones. Also on speaker cables. The power that moves along them is so weak it needs proper leads of pure copper to go thru.

I dunno zbout 20-30 quid though, at least here quite good cables are more like 5-10€, but yeah clearly better than those 50 cent apiece cheapos.

 

[Rampant]

Yeah I agree ramp, there isa difference with those super-cheap super thin connector leads and quality ones. Also on speaker cables. The power that moves along them is so weak it needs proper leads of pure copper to go thru.

I dunno zbout 20-30 quid though, at least here quite good cables are more like 5-10€, but yeah clearly better than those 50 cent apiece cheapos.

:bravo:

Wasn't going to mention speaker cable, as the differences are more subtle, even to a musical ear, and you could've dug your heels in with your point of view about blind tests...