detuning pedals...

[Hypnotoad696]

Not exactly MV question, but since we all use a V I figure. L this is a good spot to ask. I play all lockibg rtems, so the occasioning drop D or a full step down just to riffthe **** out isn't really an option. So, any attachments fyou use a pedal that detunes for ya? Good, bad, brands.. Any advice orlr oersbal exoeriebxw would be greatly aoorw iated thanks!!!

 

[Agustín Collia]

It wasn't easy to make out what you were trying to say. However, I've been searching for the same thing for (more or less) 2 years now, and I think I've found the solution. The alternatives I once considered were the Morpheus Droptune and the Behringer US600. Still I never got to buy either of them because the Morpheus was a bit too big for my needs (and also had a bit of latency and some chords didn't sound right once you started using 9ths, 11ths, etc) and I felt the US600 was the right size, but just wasn't good enough.
However, I found out about the Digitech Drop about a month ago, and after seeing many reviews I finally ordered one, which should be here next week. I for one am not a fan of Digitech effects as I find them to be too sterile compared to other brands, but I do think the one thing where they excell and are better than any other brand is pitch shifting. The tracking, the quality, the immediacy. I'll just stop blabbering and let you look at a few videos on youtube. Go to a store and try it if you can, you won't be disappointed.

 

[LesPaul70]

I have a Boss PS-6. It is a miniature treasure trove of pitch shifting, and it will do virtually anything related to pitch shifting, including harmonies, octave effects, detuning, dive bombs (with or even without the optional expression pedal).

I'm using it mostly for dive bombs, with an expression pedal (I currently play only fixed bridge Gibsons), plus harmonies in a couple of songs (I'm the only guitarist). It can do the detuning effects you want, although it is a bit limited in which detuning options it provides - IIRC, a semitone, a full tone, a third, a fourth, a fifth, or an octave up or down. (Not sure about the semitone and the third, actually.)

A couple of things you should be aware of though, and these don't apply just to the Boss pedal:
1) A detuning pedal will not sound the same as a downtuned guitar. The main reason is that it detunes your whole signal, including your pick attack. Downtuned pick attacks sound...weird. Muffled and sluggish.
2) You can place it in front or in the loop, but they will sound different. I found that the Boss pedal sounds better when it's near the signal origin, i.e., your guitar. In the loop, it was softer and too muddy.

 

[MusicManJP6]

It wasn't easy to make out what you were trying to say. However, I've been searching for the same thing for (more or less) 2 years now, and I think I've found the solution. The alternatives I once considered were the Morpheus Droptune and the Behringer US600. Still I never got to buy either of them because the Morpheus was a bit too big for my needs (and also had a bit of latency and some chords didn't sound right once you started using 9ths, 11ths, etc) and I felt the US600 was the right size, but just wasn't good enough.
However, I found out about the Digitech Drop about a month ago, and after seeing many reviews I finally ordered one, which should be here next week. I for one am not a fan of Digitech effects as I find them to be too sterile compared to other brands, but I do think the one thing where they excell and are better than any other brand is pitch shifting. The tracking, the quality, the immediacy. I'll just stop blabbering and let you look at a few videos on youtube. Go to a store and try it if you can, you won't be disappointed.

Let us know how you like the Digitech Drop! I've been looking at that one as well...

 

[Agustín Collia]

Let us know how you like the Digitech Drop! I've been looking at that one as well...

Will do!!


Regarding the placement, I've found that (for me) the placement really depends on what you are trying to achieve: if you intend to use a pitch shifter to downtune your guitar, it should be the first pedal in the signal chain (even before a wah pedal), so that it receives the purest, most unaffected possible signal. On the other hand, if single line harmonies is what you're after, I've found that (for me) the pitch shifter works best when placed in the effects loop (but before delays and reverbs). The Digitech Drop is not a harmonizer, so it'll only do the downtuning.
Hope it helps!

 

[LesPaul70]

Oh, I totally agree. If I only used my PS-6 for harmonizing single-note lines, I would definitely place it in the loop. Sweeter and more melodic-sounding harmonies that way.

As it happens, I only need harmonies in maybe 2 or 3 songs, max, and only 1 that we regularly play. For other purposes, such as dive-bombing or downtuning riffs/chords, it's just too muffled and muddy in the loop. Total blanket-over-the-speaker effect.
Harmonies are still acceptable when the pedal is placed in front, and in the fast runs I mostly do, you don't really even hear the difference (vs placement in the loop).

 

[MusicManJP6]

Let us know how you like the Digitech Drop! I've been looking at that one as well...

Will do!!

What's the scoop on that pedal?

 

[Agustín Collia]

Let us know how you like the Digitech Drop! I've been looking at that one as well...

Will do!!

What's the scoop on that pedal?

Hey! Unfortunately I haven't pulled the trigger yet, been quite busy with med school the last couple of weeks. I think I'll get it around the end of April, and if everything goes fine I should be posting some audio clips the first week of May for all of you to hear my horrible playing and the magic this pedal is supposed to do

 

[cherbst]

I'm using the pitch glide effect on a Line6 M9 in the loop of a Mk V as a detune. It works well even getting the overdriven signal from the preamp. It tracks well down low, some latency up high so I just turn it off and transpose.

Simple and cheap since I already had the M9 for delays and other effects!

 

[OldTelecasterMan]

Well, when I was doing more metal I used this. Got the extra string so I didn't have to detune.


Many many many.... years ago I was doing a house gig 3 nights a week and on one Saturday night the drummer, a PIT Grad, said something about Looney Tunes. He was referencing working very hard on the craft of entertaining and being a proficient musician and how it was sad. Sad that with all the work we as musicians put in and we end up playing for a bunch of people that usually, were inebriated. So that Sunday morning I ripped the guitar apart, painted yellow and painted the Looney Tunes characters on it. Used it for years. My father loved the guitar.

 

[Hollis]

I play guitar and sing in a cover band and I use the Drop Tune pedal. It's an integral part of my rig. Abouthhalf of our songs area half step down and half are standard. I used to have to use two guitars, but this pedal takes care of everything.
It isn't perfect, but it works very well. There is some latency and some weirdness with pick attack if I play really fast. The thing is though, when mic'd up and running through my in-ear-monitors, I can't tell the difference.