Attenuator for Effects Box?

[pbrycem]

I would like to hook up at least one guitar effects box to my rig - a phaser for my EP patch. At its simplest, I could add the box right from the out of my EMU module. Preferrably, I would like to have the option of adding the box AFTER my little mixer but before the big mixer of the main PA.

 

If you had 2 keyboards and/or modules, a mixer, some DI boxes, and one or more guitar effect pedals, in what order would you hook it up, and would you use an attenuator to change the signal at any point?

 

Specifics: Kurzweil SP88, EMU Proteus 2000, Roland KC100 as mixer/monitor, DI boxes w/o attenuator switch, MXR Phase 90 pedal, and maybe a tube distortion pedal

 

Thanks for any input you may offer. I'm trying to put together my Christmas list, cuz I don't get to just spend a whole lot on gear other times.

[Kayvon]

You might want to investigate re-amping products which change your module's line level signal to the right impedance to plug into guitar effects.

 

You can get this type of thing on some DI boxes, the one that i'm aware of which is quite expensive is the little labs red eye.

[Erik Norlander]

Hi Pbrycem,

 

I use the venerable Mutron Phasor II and Mutron Bi-Phase, both of which have very high voltage rails (they run off of an AC supply and not DC like most pedals). In addition to being the world's best sounding phase shifters (IMHO), you don't need to attenuate before going into them, and you won't see a signal loss coming out of them.

 

While the Mutrons are not exactly cheap, consider the other route ... by the time you buy a good attenuator, a cheaper phaser and perhaps even some kind preamp to boost the level back up again after the pedal), you will definitely have paid what a Phasor II costs (my guess is $200 - 300, depending on condition -- the Bi-Phase (2 channel version, serial, parallel, etc.) will be considerably more). eBay is a great place to find them.

 

For a pedal like the Phase 90, you're going to need to drop your level way down before going into the pedal, and then of course the output of the pedal is going to be low, so you'll need to boost it up again. You'll add noise doing this.

 

For the signal chain, go out of your keyboard or module straight into the phase shifter, out of the phase shifter into your mixer. If you mixer has balanced outputs, you won't need a direct box to go to the house. If not, go out of your mixer into the direct box(es). I don't know about the Roland KC100, but the KC500 does have XLR balanced outs, so you won't need direct boxes with that one.

 

Hope that helps.

 

Best regards,

Erik

[Moog_Man]

I recomend (if you haven't bought the pedals already) looking at electro harmonix for your guitar effect pedal needs. If you are buying a new MXR phas er i would reconsider. The old MXRs are great pedals, but the ones of today are produced by a different company and do not stay true to the sound. on my opinion a much better phaser would be the small stone, and it is now even available in nano size. ehx.com has some demos so you can hear this sucker. don't be fooled by the price either. as for the overdrive i would look into the ehx english muff'n. this bad boy has some sick tube overdrive(it uses two 12ax7s). wasn't sure if considered ehx, but i just thought you might wanna check it out before settling on dunlop.

[Byrdman]

One possibility is to run the effects out of your aux send. Its a bit finiky given that the send/return levels are down about 24db but it can be made to work.

 

Ideally you want a prefader aux send. Otherwise if you need to crank the channel, the effects unit will overload.

[pbrycem]

What about the Moog phaser? Anyone have an opinion on that?