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Pedal Questions
Posted: Wed May 16, 2012 7:46 pm
by Ashahalasin
Going to Noob shit up in here, so you're forewarned.
1. Tuners. Front or back? Basically, where do you place your tuners in the board? I read somewhere on here (I think) about putting the tuner at the end, can act as a noise gate? Would it be a moronic idea to have one at the front to make sure the clean signal is right, then one at the end, to gate it?
2. Powering pedal boards. I want to run, a EQD Bit Commander, MI Audio Tube Zone, Dwarfcraft Power Struggle and Zhago all through one board. However, all are negative centered except the Tube Zone, which i don't believe is. How should I power/run this board?
Confused as shit. Any idea's would be great.
Re: Pedal Questions
Posted: Wed May 16, 2012 8:01 pm
by Toonster
1 I always ran it upfront, now I have it in the tuner-out of a pedal, still tunes good with fuzz on..
Re: Pedal Questions
Posted: Wed May 16, 2012 8:05 pm
by coldbrightsunlight
1. Some people use tuners at the end for the ability to mute the entire signal (if you have oscillating pedals or something) but I like mine at the front so no matter what pedals I have engaged, the tuner is just getting the guitar signal, so it can track the tuning better. No point in having 2, if you really wanted a 'killswitch' at the end of your chain you could just make a box which switches between passing the signal and grounding it.
2. Is the tube zone not negative centre? Quick check of their website doesn't say. For just a few pedals like that, a simple daisy chain power supply like a onespot should do fine, just pick any 9V supply which has a high enough current rating to power all those pedals and get a 'daisy chain' connector. If the tube zone is positive centre power, then you'll need a polarity converter cable as well, which are also pretty easy to get.
Re: Pedal Questions
Posted: Wed May 16, 2012 8:55 pm
by madmax1012
it depends on the tuner. The Boss is a buffered bypass, so a lot of people (myself included) put it at the end of the chain. the korg pitch-black is true bypass so I've seen a hell of a lot more of them up front. as for powering, I get by with a onespot
Re: Pedal Questions
Posted: Wed May 16, 2012 9:00 pm
by coldbrightsunlight
madmax1012 wrote:it depends on the tuner. The Boss is a buffered bypass, so a lot of people (myself included) put it at the end of the chain. the korg pitch-black is true bypass so I've seen a hell of a lot more of them up front. as for powering, I get by with a onespot
That's true, I have a pitchblack, if I had a boss I'd put it after my fuzz pedals because they don't sound as good after a buffer, but still probably nearer the front of the chain? Maybe not, if the front wasn't an option, why not put it at the end to use as a killswitch?
Re: Pedal Questions
Posted: Wed May 16, 2012 9:31 pm
by madmax1012
monkeydancer wrote:madmax1012 wrote:it depends on the tuner. The Boss is a buffered bypass, so a lot of people (myself included) put it at the end of the chain. the korg pitch-black is true bypass so I've seen a hell of a lot more of them up front. as for powering, I get by with a onespot
That's true, I have a pitchblack, if I had a boss I'd put it after my fuzz pedals because they don't sound as good after a buffer, but still probably nearer the front of the chain? Maybe not, if the front wasn't an option, why not put it at the end to use as a killswitch?
either way, tuners are disgustingly overpriced

Re: Pedal Questions
Posted: Wed May 16, 2012 9:34 pm
by Ashahalasin
I use a PitchBlack, so up front it stays.
The Tube Zone is negative, so I won't need a polarity converter. Cheers for clearing that up though.

Re: Pedal Questions
Posted: Wed May 16, 2012 11:03 pm
by MannequinRaces
I also use a onespot. Works fine for me. Tuner is also in front (TC Electronic Polytune).
Re: Pedal Questions
Posted: Wed May 16, 2012 11:08 pm
by snipelfritz
It's been said, but get a 1spot and the daisy chain, that will be perfect for what you're trying to do.
As for a tuner, I have a Fender tuner that has two outputs, one that mutes when the tuner is on and what that doesn't. I'm just guessing it's buffered, but I'm really not sure. I put it at the end as a makeshift splitter that can mute one of the outputs, but I haven't actually run any kind of stereo rig for a while.
Re: Pedal Questions
Posted: Wed May 16, 2012 11:35 pm
by dubkitty
i'm using the motherfuck out of a OneSpot. i really need to get a self-contained isolated power supply, but i'm too broke. my tuner is also a PolyTune; it's currently living on the upper right hand corner of my board, after the fuzz array/RV-3/trem but before the rest of the main board's signal path. it can't go at the front because the Phantom Ring needs to see guitar-level input signal to operate properly, and it can't go at the end because it pops when you turn it off when placed after the buffer on my flanger.
Re: Pedal Questions
Posted: Wed May 16, 2012 11:42 pm
by snipelfritz
Yeah, I run the onespot daisy chain into my cheapo board which basically has it's own daisy chain in it. I'm able to run 11 pedals on one outlet and the amp draw is more than enough to handle it.
Re: Pedal Questions
Posted: Wed May 16, 2012 11:43 pm
by Ashahalasin
Cheers for all the advice. Had previously heard mention of the one spot, but forgot all about it.
Seems extremely useful, and well suited.

Re: Pedal Questions
Posted: Wed May 16, 2012 11:45 pm
by madmax1012
and it's cheap.
Re: Pedal Questions
Posted: Thu May 17, 2012 3:36 pm
by rfurtkamp
I may be mega-old school, but I still use a standalone non-pedal tuner (with a real needle in it for tuning, no less) for the non-synth guitars. Synth guitars I just use the polytune-ish thing in the synth.
Re: Pedal Questions
Posted: Thu May 17, 2012 3:42 pm
by Seedy
I also used to keep a TU2 at the front of the chain but my ABSynth wouldn't work directly after it. I then put all my fuzzes (3 of them) before the tuner and everything else after. This let my ABsynth and Phantom Octave work to their full extent, and if the ABSynth was going crazy (which it usually is) I hit the tuner to silence it. With my delays and loopers after the tuner, I can cut the feedback but still have delays and/or loop going.
All that said, I have an M9 last in my chain and use the tuner on that now.