lidl e Posted January 11, 2023 Share Posted January 11, 2023 (edited) Bass->compressor->A/B/Y pedal A->effects chain -> blend pedal B -> Blend pedal. The idea being able to always blend a clean tone into a dirty signal. I assume this is a thing? Is this what people are using DI pedals for? I stepped away from buying gear for a few years and now everyone is crazy for DIs and preamps on their boards. I figure something like an ehx switchblade up front and i found this pedal which is a blend pedal with expression pedal control of the blend. https://www.thomann.de/ie/one_control_mosquito_wet_dry_fx_blender.htm (edit:actually this pedal looks like it can act as a/b/y and blend since it has an effects loop. This seems like a perfect solution. Is this something obvious that everyone is doing? Are there any drawbacks? Edited January 11, 2023 by lidl e Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lidl e Posted January 11, 2023 Author Share Posted January 11, 2023 I dont think I can justify a whole switching solution, but that would be able to do this I'd guess. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lidl e Posted January 12, 2023 Author Share Posted January 12, 2023 oooh, something like this would be perfect, but it's pricey https://www.woundedpawaudio.ca/fx/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=2&products_id=14&zenid=k2kir0ohrlu6c12voj2phhbe50 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BreadBin Posted January 12, 2023 Share Posted January 12, 2023 I do something similar, although I have effects options on both loops. I use one of these instead of a blend, it lives underneath my board. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Downunderwonder Posted January 12, 2023 Share Posted January 12, 2023 The trouble with blending fx DIY is the fact that some fx return their signal distinctly out of phase from the clean input. An out of phase effected signal blended with the clean sounds like the backside of Satan himself served up with a side of week old offal. There are multi channel blenders that account for this with a 180 switch on the return. Have at it. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fmb Posted January 12, 2023 Share Posted January 12, 2023 I'd go with an Electro Harmonix Switchblade Pro DLX. It's got blendable clean, return A and return B, can do serial chain if wanted and even has phase shift switches (need to open the pedal). 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lidl e Posted January 12, 2023 Author Share Posted January 12, 2023 10 hours ago, Downunderwonder said: The trouble with blending fx DIY is the fact that some fx return their signal distinctly out of phase from the clean input. An out of phase effected signal blended with the clean sounds like the backside of Satan himself served up with a side of week old offal. There are multi channel blenders that account for this with a 180 switch on the return. Have at it. See, now these are the details i dont really understand. Ive been playing a long time and using effects almost as long, but i still dont understand what this means. This isnt an electonic term, right? Does this refer to a micro delay between clean and dirty outputs that causes the phased effect? And what is a 180 switch? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Downunderwonder Posted January 12, 2023 Share Posted January 12, 2023 2 hours ago, lidl e said: See, now these are the details i dont really understand. Ive been playing a long time and using effects almost as long, but i still dont understand what this means. This isnt an electonic term, right? Does this refer to a micro delay between clean and dirty outputs that causes the phased effect? And what is a 180 switch? 180 switch is a phase reversal option that fully corrects a 180° phase inversion, keeping in mind some pedals are odd amount shifting. Phase is indeed an electronic phenomenon. If I understood it properly I might have become an electrical engineer. If you throw a tennis ball against the ground so it bounces against a wall and loops back to drop into your hand and threw another as it was hitting the wall then the two balls are out of phase with respect to their altitude 'signals' by crudely 180°. Ignoring the crudeness we could look at ideally thrown and bouncing balls... Now if your mate stands further back and throws his ball harder so it bounces higher but comes back to his hand at the same time as yours you are in phase and the sound of your ball has a higher pitch added on top of the original. But if instead your mate throws his up against the wall and it bounces back to him off the ground you get a cacophony of bounces. Importantly, unlike tennis balls bouncing the brain does not notice small discrepancies of phase when summing audio. Nor does it notice differences in phase reproduction across the spectrum. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fretmeister Posted January 12, 2023 Share Posted January 12, 2023 I used a Boss LS-2 for this for years. Works great. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lidl e Posted January 12, 2023 Author Share Posted January 12, 2023 20 minutes ago, fretmeister said: I used a Boss LS-2 for this for years. Works great. How did you blend the signal? Did tou need 2 or did you use it like an effects loop? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lidl e Posted January 12, 2023 Author Share Posted January 12, 2023 (edited) 15 hours ago, fmb said: I'd go with an Electro Harmonix Switchblade Pro DLX. It's got blendable clean, return A and return B, can do serial chain if wanted and even has phase shift switches (need to open the pedal). reading more about it, i think this is exactly what i need! . i'm trying to figure out if the series/parallel switch would help with the phase issue cheers. Edited January 12, 2023 by lidl e Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Baloney Balderdash Posted January 12, 2023 Share Posted January 12, 2023 (edited) EHX Tri Parallel Mixer : Edited January 12, 2023 by Baloney Balderdash 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lidl e Posted January 12, 2023 Author Share Posted January 12, 2023 2 minutes ago, Baloney Balderdash said: EHX Tri Parallel Mixer : i just saw that. it seems this is a viable idea since there seem to be dozens fo solutions for just what i'm looking for. i'm gonna check out how this is different than the switchblade Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fretmeister Posted January 12, 2023 Share Posted January 12, 2023 1 hour ago, lidl e said: How did you blend the signal? Did tou need 2 or did you use it like an effects loop? pedal in loop A, nothing in B. Instant blend. Or different ones in different loops. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fmb Posted January 13, 2023 Share Posted January 13, 2023 7 hours ago, lidl e said: reading more about it, i think this is exactly what i need! . i'm trying to figure out if the series/parallel switch would help with the phase issue cheers. The phase isssue is managed with internal switches (you need to open the pedal). The series/parallel switch is used to determine how the input signal is routed through the A and B FX loops: in SERIES the FX loops are cascaded into one another, in PARALLEL mode the input signal is routed to the A and B FX loops simultaneously and you can mix them at the output. https://www.ehx.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/Switchblade-Pro-Manual-2021-03-19.pdf 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pete.young Posted January 13, 2023 Share Posted January 13, 2023 11 hours ago, fretmeister said: pedal in loop A, nothing in B. Instant blend. Or different ones in different loops. Me too. Each loop has a gain control so you can adjust that against the clean signal. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GremlinAndy Posted January 16, 2023 Share Posted January 16, 2023 Although a bit pricey, I use the Gig Rig ‘Wetter Box’ with an expression pedal. There’s a phase invert switch on the side, and each channel has a volume for matching the output to the input. Nice bit of kit. 👍 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lidl e Posted January 17, 2023 Author Share Posted January 17, 2023 10 hours ago, GremlinAndy said: Although a bit pricey, I use the Gig Rig ‘Wetter Box’ with an expression pedal. There’s a phase invert switch on the side, and each channel has a volume for matching the output to the input. Nice bit of kit. 👍 Yeah, that looks perfect, but as far as I can see the only difference between the LS2 or the switchblade pro is the expression pedal input which admittedly is an excellent useful feature, but is it worth the extra 200 quid? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GremlinAndy Posted January 17, 2023 Share Posted January 17, 2023 (edited) 4 hours ago, lidl e said: Yeah, that looks perfect, but as far as I can see the only difference between the LS2 or the switchblade pro is the expression pedal input which admittedly is an excellent useful feature, but is it worth the extra 200 quid? I doubt it is for everyone. I tend to be the singer and bassist, (when I’m in a band) so I tend to have to do the talking too. I really needed the ability to just change the balance on the fly without all the bending down. Plus, I’m too old these days for all the bending down. LOL! Definitely worth it for me. (Plus, you can get an LS2 for peanuts from eBay. They come around pretty often.) Edited January 17, 2023 by GremlinAndy 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GremlinAndy Posted January 17, 2023 Share Posted January 17, 2023 (edited) I dunno if anyone here is interested, but I thought it might be worth mentioning that there’s a nice Xotic X Blender pedal for sale in the forums atm. what I like about this is that it has EQ pots on it. Not cheap, compared to a Boss, but the EQ functionality might be what someone is looking for. https://www.basschat.co.uk/topic/473741-tech-21-xotic-line-6-mxr-keeley-way-huge-tc-electronic/ I have no personal experience of these, but it was something I was looking at until I decided the functionality of the Wetter Box better suited my needs. Edited January 17, 2023 by GremlinAndy 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lidl e Posted January 30, 2023 Author Share Posted January 30, 2023 On 13/01/2023 at 05:51, fmb said: The phase isssue is managed with internal switches (you need to open the pedal). The series/parallel switch is used to determine how the input signal is routed through the A and B FX loops: in SERIES the FX loops are cascaded into one another, in PARALLEL mode the input signal is routed to the A and B FX loops simultaneously and you can mix them at the output. https://www.ehx.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/Switchblade-Pro-Manual-2021-03-19.pdf Received my switchblade pro today. Thanks for the suggestion. It's exactly what i was looking for! 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GremlinAndy Posted January 30, 2023 Share Posted January 30, 2023 Glad you’re sorted buddy! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fabbabass Posted March 31, 2023 Share Posted March 31, 2023 Lehle have a bunch of switching solutions. Good gear, but reflected in the price. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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