STOMP SCHOOL
ToM HuGHEs
Doing Your Homework, Part 2
Hey, tone tweakers! Welcome back to
“Stomp School.” This month we’re going to
pick up where we left off last time, so let’s
dig in and get started. In Part 1 of “Doing
Your Homework,” I described how to “quick
test” an average guitar pedal. I might add
that it’s sometimes more efficient to do
this test without actually playing, but rather
by hitting the strings with one hand while
the guitar sits in its stand, and turning the
knobs of the pedal being tested with the
other hand. This helps to reduce distraction
by focusing your attention strictly on the
functionality of the pedal you’re testing. It
also eliminates the temptation to fall into
noodling rather than listening to the specific
features of the pedal.
with them. I recently picked up an Ibanez
AD- 80. I remember the first time using one
I didn’t like it at all, until I took the time to
understand how the controls interacted.”
conditions. So when dealing with tone, I find
it’s best to use your ears rather than your eyes.
Set It, but Don’t Forget It
Okay, let’s talk about Settings. One of the
questions most frequently asked by guitarists
is, “What’s the best setting?” for a particular
pedal. It’s a recurring topic on most of the
online guitar forums that I visit, and no mat-
ter how many times the question comes up,
Acquiring the skill and mastery to take full
command of your gear is an ongoing pro-
cess that will take some time, as well as
persistent practice. For some players, this
process seems to come naturally (especially
the unabashed gearmongers among us), so
the ideas we’ve been discussing may just
seem like common sense. Yet there are just
as many highly accomplished players who
Ideally, you should be able to dial in your
sound blindfolded under any conditions.
Even more helpful, try having a pedal-testing
session with a friend and let them do the
playing. You’ll likely be surprised at how differently you listen when you’re not the one
who’s playing. There may also be aspects
of another player’s technique that will bring
out certain qualities of a pedal you may
not have noticed when testing it yourself.
Whenever I get a chance to visit the Analog
Man workshop, Mike always has a new pedal
or a prototype that he wants me to try. He
rarely demos the pedal himself; rather he’ll
plug it in and hand the guitar to me. He then
puts his full attention to tweaking knobs and
getting tones. Sometimes he’ll even dial in a
setting and walk around different parts of the
room, just listening. So before dumping that
boutique overdrive that’s been sitting on the
sidelines, try listening to it while someone
else is playing. It shouldn’t be too hard to
find a volunteer to help you!
A pedal can be doing everything it’s supposed
to, and you still may not like it. But you should
probably know everything it can do before
you make that decision. The above suggestions will insure that you’re completely familiar
with the entire range of that pedal’s capabilities. Black Cat Pedals builder Greg Radawich
told me, “A lot of pedals just aren’t plug and
play and take some experimenting to find ‘the
sound.’ People often dismiss these as ‘not for
me,’ because they don’t spend enough time
it never seems to get old. I’ve always had
a problem with the idea of blindly copying
someone else’s recommended pedal settings,
for a number of reasons. For one thing, it fails
to account for personal preference, which
is entirely subjective. My preferred settings
may not be your ideal sound, and vice versa.
Another problem with copying settings is that
it doesn’t always account for the other components of the rig being used, which will have
a huge impact on how a particular pedal will
react. For example, are you using humbuckers, or single-coils? Are you playing through a
22-watt Fender combo or a 100-watt Marshall
stack? I’d have a hard time recommending
any settings without considering this first.
As a rule, I’m not an advocate of “marking”
your settings either. Although it may be help-
ful in some instances, such as finding the
perfect speed to simulate a Leslie sound on
a modulation pedal, I find the concept as a
whole to be somewhat flawed. There is an
assumption that sound is static, rather than
dynamic, and nothing will ever change or
affect your tone. In reality, we may find that
the same marked settings sound one way in
your practice room, another way with a full
band at the rehearsal space, yet another way
during a club gig, and still another way at an
outdoor festival. Ideally, you should be able
to dial in your sound blindfolded under any
are easily challenged, even intimidated, by
the complexities of an average pedalboard
setup. Regardless of your level of skill, the
most important thing to remember is that
this should be fun. It’s about the joy of dis-
covery, turning the knobs, finding the sweet
spots, and getting the tone you want, just
the way you want it.
Next month we’ll discuss matching the right
pedals to the right amp, among other things.
Until then, KEEP ON STOMPIN’!
Tom Hughes
(a.k.a. Analog Tom) is the owner and proprietor of For
Musicians Only ( formusiciansonly.com) and author of
Analog Man’s Guide To Vintage Effects. Questions or
comments about this article can be sent to:
stompschool@formusiciansonly.com.
Analog Man
( analogman.com) is one of the largest boutique
effects manufacturers and retailers in the business,
established by “Analog” Mike Piera in 1993.
Mike can be reached at AnalogMike@aol.com.
