Pedals Again

**Mandobart** · May-29-2012, 2:36pm

Ok this maybe belongs on the equipment forum, but here goes. Remember I'm a novice on pedals. I don't own any. I have a couple playing situations:

1. Playing my Mandobird VIII thru my Peavey 130 or thru a PA in a band with electric guitar, bass, mic'ed drums, horns, near deaf singer with blasting stage monitor.

2. Playing my acoustic mando(s) equipped with pickups, thru my K&K Pure pre-amp into a PA.

PA varies in each case, depending on who I play with and where we play.

In both cases, but mostly the 2nd (acoustic) I've come to the conclusion that I need a boost stomp-switch type pedal for taking leads. The Peavey has a foot switch to swap from lead to main channel. I set the distortion differently so the lead channel has the crunch I want for rock/blues and the normal is pretty clean. I set up the gain so I get the boost I want on leads. I'd like to be able to do the same thing with my acoustic without using my Peavey (not an ideal amp for acoustic instruments). I'm wondering on the pedal combo that might let me do this when playing acoustic thru a PA; that is have a clean signal for backup, a boosted clean signal for leads and also a boosted distorted signal. Looking for something fairly easy to use; preset the gains/distortion on the pedal(s), footswitch to swap between bypass, clean boost and distorted boost. Other features are nice, but not at the risk of too much added complexity or price.

**Pipeous** · May-29-2012, 2:49pm

why not just add a volume pedal and back off for main stuff and bring it up for leads? with the mandobird I use the mustang 3 and the 4 button footswitch. use 2 clean channels side by side and one has a higher overall level. 3rd is overdriven.

lots of options for volume control. or just use the volume on the instrument itself but the acoustic might not have that option

**Markus** · May-29-2012, 3:21pm

A month or so ago I saw the band Head for the Hills open for the Stringdusters, and noticed the mandolin player using a MXR eq pedal for lead boosts [assuming tone might also be modified]. Sounded good in a loud club, no idea how transparent it sounds in a more demanding listening environment - but seemed like a good piece of equipment, just hit the toggle to start and end solos.

It made me consider going that route for my boost needs. I had originally thought about a volume pedal, but setting up/down every song to the right settings seems tricky and a good volume pedal doesn't seem the cheapest solution for my situation. With multiple instrument - it may be.

To be honest, I am more tempted to run the MXR eq `on' with a slight volume reduction for the majority of playing and turn the eq off for solos [remove the rhythm volume reduction eq]. I am also quite tempted by a cheap EQ pedal just for use during solos. For my uses, a slightly dirtier acoustic sound wouldn't be bad during solos and saving cash is necessary. Going to have to take my instrument in to try them out ...

I also am trying to solve this problem [acoustic end only], hopefully in the next few weeks - I'm no expert, I've just been watching and mulling over it for a while now.

**Soundfarmer Pete** · May-29-2012, 3:43pm

Cheap ways...and simple...
Acoustic - Behringer boost pedal....simple...2 level controls...one for on and one for off.
Mandobird - swap out the pickup for a 4 wire humbucker or coil tapped single coil and fit a selector switch for rhythm / soloing.

I`ve seen too many people come unstuck by overcomplication over the years (sometimes with hilarious results :-)

**Ben Milne** · May-29-2012, 9:23pm

LR Baggs Venue DI has the boost (adjustable 0-9db) feature you're looking for as well as some handy EQ to help dial in the mandolin tone you're after, and a muting tuner.

My only real beef with this one is that it can't power using the 48v phantom, and requires a 9v battery or its own walwart power supply. The battery however seems to last for a long time, I just thought it was a bit of a ball drop since Baggs make other products that do power off phantom.

**Mandobart** · Jun-01-2012, 2:44pm

So here is what I got: Electro-harmonix LPB-1 boost pedal and a DigiTech Tone Driver X-Series Overdrive Pedal (scroll down the page a little to see it; its not the bad monkey shown at the top). Test drove them both last night at a bar and today at an outdoor gig. Very happy with both. They are both metal case, not plastic, and provide just what I wanted. I tried a few out at my local music shop. The LPB-1 is a simple clean boost with adjustable pot. The DigiTech Overdrive gives me variable crunch/distortion, with a separate amp and mixer output. The mixer output gives decent amp modeling to give a good overdrive sound when playing thru a PA, which I did on the test run at the store and both gigs. Best part may be that I got both for a total just slightly over $100 USD. Need to see how well they hold up to determine how good a buy they really were.

**rico mando** · Jun-03-2012, 7:09pm

I have a small gain pedal that I use . works great in all situations electric or acoustic .on/off and the gain level knob . a volume pedal would be good except you may need to be careful if it is to sensitive and you end up concentrating on not being to loud or to quite at the start of your solo .

**JonK331** · Jun-04-2012, 5:02pm

I play electric guitar as well as mando and have been experimenting with pedals for about 20 years now. The best overdrive and distortion pedals I have ever used are the Fulltones. The Fulltone Fulldrive would suit you very nicely as would the OCD. Definitely give them a listen before you make up your mind.