Video Guitar Lesson 18: Which pedals are most useful and what do they all do?
- Thinking of starting out with guitar pedals and not sure where to begin?
- What concepts might help you to maintain a big picture regarding guitar pedals?
- How do you avoid buying things which may not have the most practical uses?
- What is Dan’s thinking behind his pedalboard and how does he dial in tones?
- What do some of the types (and brands) of guitar pedal do and how might they benefit you in a performance or practical scenario?
If these questions interest you then keep reading and be sure to check our video and audio out for this lesson.
We divided this lesson into two parts:
- A quick rundown and overview of both our boards which will be 13mins and 31secs
- The lesson proper for which there are timings and our standard lesson setup (1hour 29mins including start and end)
Rundown and overview of our pedalboards:
Our video on our YouTube channel (my lesson with Dan):
(see below for timings)
In this lesson, Dan talks pedals and pedalboards. We take a tour round his board and a small tour round mine too. Then we examine the question (from the perspective of a beginner) of what pedal someone could start out with. Dan also gives his wisdom on some ways which you can keep in mind the big picture (perhaps of a pedalboard) and get the pedals which are the most useful.
There’s a really big section in which Dan walks me through what the different uses of the Strymon Timeline are and also regularly demonstrates a wide range of pedals with examples.
Our audio podcast on SoundCloud (my lesson with Dan)
Rundown / overview
Lesson proper
Some things which I am really going to take away from this lesson are that:
- I will use my delay and reverb pedal more frequently
- I may consider adding a phaser and a tremolo to the arsenal
- I still may purchase a Timeline to replace my DSD3
- Dan cemented the idea of keeping pedals categorised by their era
- It is essential to have a good power supply and think about your cables for ease of setup
- The importance of buffers and clean boosts
All the best, Gary and Dan
https://soundcloud.com/tunein-toneup/
Timings for Video Guitar Lesson 18 – on pedals:
| 00:00:33 | Start of main lesson |
| 00:02:11 | Using the Timeline – set to Pink Floyd Run Like Hell |
| 00:03:19 | Timeline setting – Reverse Delay |
| 00:04:30 | Timeline setting for Purple Rain |
| 00:05:12 | With a lighter chorus sound |
| 00:05:29 | Ducking delay |
| 00:05:50 | Clean boost |
| 00:06:27 | Different boosts |
| 00:06:52 | Wah wah pedal on |
| 00:07:19 | Sweep Filter |
| 00:07:43 | With compression |
| 00:08:00 | Octave pedal effect |
| 00:08:28 | Delay for Pink Floyd’s – Another Brick in the Wall |
| 00:13:15 | Dan playing through my pedalboard |
| 00:13:30 | Corona TC Electronic Chorus |
| 00:14:11 | Increasing the depth |
| 00:14:26 | Delay Boss DSD3 |
| 00:15:21 | Sampler? |
| 00:15:34 | Boss compressor CS3 |
| 00:16:34 | Using a compressor pedal as a clean boost |
| 00:17:05 | Boss Overdrive OD3 |
| 00:17:32 | A little trick is to leave the drive down and use the level as a boost |
| 00:18:11 | Reverb HOF mini |
| 00:18:47 | Boss GE7 Equaliser |
| 00:20:06 | Stripping it back to beginner level |
| 00:20:29 | Running with the question – what pedal ought I buy? |
| 00:20:40 | The ‘ice’ delay setting – pitch shifted delay |
| 00:24:09 | Srtymon – Timeline |
| 00:25:22 | Timeline: The Wall |
| 00:25:54 | Timeline: Always |
| 00:26:43 | Timeline: Ice |
| 00:26:49 | Timeline: Duck |
| 00:27:14 | Timeline: Purple Rain |
| 00:28:09 | Timeline: Streets have no name |
| 00:28:52 | Timeline: Reverse delay |
| 00:29:34 | Timeline: Tape delay (slapback rock and roll) |
| 00:30:10 | Timeline: multi-tap (run like hell) |
| 00:30:55 | Dan’s tips on what pedals to buy |
| 00:31:18 | Tremolo – slapback delay (50s) |
| 00:31:30 | Less delay, wah wah and fuzz (60s) |
| 00:31:56 | Analog delays and chorus (70s) |
| 00:32:52 | Chorus and big delay (80s) |
| 00:34:50 | Into the Great Wide Open through the looper as a basis for a jam track |
| 00:37:54 | First pedal for Dan would be an overdrive |
| 00:41:01 | Explanation of overdrive |
| 00:44:27 | A good idea for a second pedal – a clean boost |
| 00:44:49 | On a clean channel – take into a solo |
| 00:47:37 | On a drive setting – a similar application shows the difference in lift |
| 00:50:15 | Buffered vs true bypass |
| 00:55:37 | Another great pedal is a wah wah |
| 01:01:18 | Next suggestion is a compressor |
| 01:03:07 | Good for Country music |
| 01:03:46 | Using a slight driven sound the compressor sustains the notes |
| 01:06:11 | Next type of pedal we discuss is a phaser |
| 01:07:18 | Using a phaser on Money (Pink Floyd) |
| 01:08:05 | You do something to me – Paul Weller |
| 01:10:12 | Another pedal to consider is a flanger |
| 01:11:44 | Next pedal is a chorus |
| 01:13:02 | Demo – chorus |
| 01:14:18 | Tremolo effect |
| 01:17:27 | Dan explains how he practically uses his board live |
| 01:20:01 | What is delay? Quick rundown |
| 01:26:30 | Tying your cables together and prepping your board for a quick setup |
Pedals on our boards:
Dan’s Board (although his wah wah is a mini)
Dan also has a long loop pedal (the QuarterMaster6 bottom right) for controlling his other pedals and he has the multiswitch for the Timeline too. He also has his purpose-built amp channel switch on there too.
Gary’s board:
Last nine lessons for new arrivals or those who want to brush up on this contentCurt Mangan Strings Website: https://www.curtmangan.com/
Keep watching listening and getting in touch. We really want to hear from you!
You may want to check Dan Davies out in action. You can find a video I made of Dan and his band Full House on this YouTube channel: Full House Brighton Band (more to come with improved video and some different approaches to the audio).
Enjoy your musical journey 🙂
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