Pedals that work with Uke.

[SurferJay]

Hi All,

Im looking to upgrade my setup and wanted to get some decent pedals that work with the Uke.

Ideally I would like something which keeps the original sound of the Uke but enhances it. I’m interested in reverb, delay and compression pedals that people use with the Uke..

 

[Luke Plays Uke]

I come from the guitar world and will use any chance to plug in any pedal and see what it will do with an ukulele. They’re fun to experiment with.

I have thought in the past that I should put together a pedal board for potential gigs, but then thought against it because I (and this is just me) want to keep gig stuff as light as possible. Because of this, I’d just go with a multi-effects unit and call it a day. You could also get an interface for an iPhone/iPad and split it to the house system, should one be in place. I’ve seen guitarists do this with great success and it makes a lot of sense because your phone is the most portable effects-box in the world and could be a real live changer.

If you go that route, I definitely recommend an iRigHD (NOT the cheapest iRig), BIAS, and JamUp Pro.

But if I wanted to get legit pedals, I’d look at MXR’s mini/micro pedals and look specifically for a reverb, a chorus, and a compressor. I know they have a compressor, but they probably have the others, too. These are going to be the ones that enhance the natural sound (the compressor keeps the spikes under control) and everyone loves chorus pedals.

But I’m not a half-measure kind of guy and would inevitably get an overdrive (NOT a distortion - very different types of pedals), a fuzz, and an echo with a long potential timeline for when I want to get weird.

Jake used to use a signal with a lot of add-ons and I think this was because he was focusing on the potential of the instrument in a world that considers it quite limited. But as he’s gotten older, the extra stuff has been pared way down and his focus for the last… at least ten years has been letting the instrument speak for itself.

Personally, I like the more raw sound for anything outside of my house because hooking up pedals and finding outlets/power sources is a huge hassle. And I can lean on the fact that the instrument sounds good anyway. But at home, I can’t deny that it’s FUN to mess around with it and different amps and pedals.

 

[SurferJay]

Thanks for the detailed response. Lots to think about,

I think I’m going to take my Uke to a shop and try out the pedals as it’s the only real way to see how it effects the sound.

I have a cheap a reverb pedal but it just sounds to muddy with the Uke. If I just use the Chorus/Reverb on my Fishman it enhances the natural sound.

thanks for all the input

 

[Luke Plays Uke]

Happy to help however I can. If you want to get more boutique pedals at a reasonable price, check out JHS Pedals. Their 3 series is all about giving musicians the staple boxes at a good price but made by a small shop and they’re pretty cool.

 

[SurferJay]

Happy to help however I can. If you want to get more boutique pedals at a reasonable price, check out JHS Pedals. Their 3 series is all about giving musicians the staple boxes at a good price but made by a small shop and they’re pretty cool.

Those JHS pedals look very interesting!

 

[hollisdwyer]

Thanks for the detailed response. Lots to think about,

I think I’m going to take my Uke to a shop and try out the pedals as it’s the only real way to see how it effects the sound.

I have a cheap a reverb pedal but it just sounds to muddy with the Uke. If I just use the Chorus/Reverb on my Fishman it enhances the natural sound.

thanks for all the input

You’ve heard of UAS? Well there’s also PAS (Pedal Acquisition Syndrome) and you should be warned to abandon all hope if you start that journey.
It seems that you already have an acoustic amp. That will have some effects (reverb, chorus) maybe even a looper. Those on the amp won’t give you much control of those effects. You’ll have to get some pedals to do that. The problem is that just about all the reviews that you’ll find online will talk about guitars. The only one I’ve ever found that discussed pedals from a Uke perspective was one by Jake ( I took his advice on some and was happy with the result). If what you’re most interested in is the natural acoustic sound of Uke, I’d start with a good pre-amp/DI. I have a couple of the LR Baggs ones ( the Sessions and the Venue). There are other good ones, notably from Fishman. These will allow you to amplify your signal from your Uke, tweek it’s sound and interface with a mixing desk. The second pedal I’d recommend is a compressor ( I have the one from Keeley Electronics). After that I suggest that you look at reverb, chorus, delay. If some of your repertoire requires it you may also consider an overdrive/distortion pedal. Here’s an image of the larger of my pedalboards.

 

[SurferJay]

You’ve heard of UAS? Well there’s also PAS (Pedal Acquisition Syndrome) and you should be warned to abandon all hope if you start that journey.
It seems that you already have an acoustic amp. That will have some effects (reverb, chorus) maybe even a looper. Those on the amp won’t give you much control of those effects. You’ll have to get some pedals to do that. The problem is that just about all the reviews that you’ll find online will talk about guitars. The only one I’ve ever found that discussed pedals from a Uke perspective was one by Jake ( I took his advice on some and was happy with the result). If what you’re most interested in is the natural acoustic sound of Uke, I’d start with a good pre-amp/DI. I have a couple of the LR Baggs ones ( the Sessions and the Venue). There are other good ones, notably from Fishman. These will allow you to amplify your signal from your Uke, tweek it’s sound and interface with a mixing desk. The second pedal I’d recommend is a compressor ( I have the one from Keeley Electronics). After that I suggest that you look at reverb, chorus, delay. If some of your repertoire requires it you may also consider an overdrive/distortion pedal. Here’s an image of the larger of my pedalboards.

Wow.. I want all of those! I can see what you mean in regards to slippery slope.
I started off this morning just looking for a reverb pedal and now my shopping list include pre-amp, compressor, reverb, delay and a looper with two separate loopers (ditto x4). It’s getting expensive

 

[hollisdwyer]

Wow.. I want all of those! I can see what you mean in regards to slippery slope.
I started off this morning just looking for a reverb pedal and now my shopping list include pre-amp, compressor, reverb, delay and a looper with two separate loopers (ditto x4). It’s getting expensive

Go slow. You don’t have to buy expensive brand’s but I’d stay away from the cheap ones. The brands I like are:
Keeley Electronics, TC Electronics, Electro Harmonix, LR Baggs. I’ve cycled through a number of different pedals and amps. A side note. I play every Saturday at a Farmer’s Market where I have no access to power. I have been running my pedalboards on a Volto rechargeable battery pack and my Roland AC33 amp on AA batteries. You may not need this but beware of cheap pedalboard power supplies. They can introduce a lot of noise.

 

[ukudancer]

^ Keeley is awesome. I have their Seafoam Plus (Automatic double tracker) and the Monterey (Jimi Hendrix in a box, basically). At some point, I'll get one of their 4 knob compressors. But that's pretty low on my list atm.

Strymon is another one I would highly recommend.

 

[ripock]

I am not the expert that these other contributors are, but here's what I found out as an electronics dilettante: if you get a solid state amp, many of these pedals are already on board and you'll save a lot of money because you won't have to buy the pedal.

Here are my favorite two pedals: 1. my cry baby pedal and 2. my fuzz pedal: fat fuzz factory. The fuzz pedal, when cranked up, makes it so that you're just turning out pure static. That's cool, but also you can use the pedal minimally so that it just tweaks the edge of your clean sound rendering your sound normal but with something a little distinctive.

 

[SurferJay]

Go slow. You don’t have to buy expensive brand’s but I’d stay away from the cheap ones. The brands I like are:
Keeley Electronics, TC Electronics, Electro Harmonix, LR Baggs. I’ve cycled through a number of different pedals and amps. A side note. I play every Saturday at a Farmer’s Market where I have no access to power. I have been running my pedalboards on a Volto rechargeable battery pack and my Roland AC33 amp on AA batteries. You may not need this but beware of cheap pedalboard power supplies. They can introduce a lot of noise.

The TC electronics seem reasonably priced I’ll give them a test drive at my local guitar store with my Uke.

I have two really cheap pedals and like you said there is a lot of noise.
Have you used the TC electronics with a Uke?

 

[SurferJay]

^ Keeley is awesome. I have their Seafoam Plus (Automatic double tracker) and the Monterey (Jimi Hendrix in a box, basically). At some point, I'll get one of their 4 knob compressors. But that's pretty low on my list atm.

Strymon is another one I would highly recommend.

I’ll have a look at these I’m not familiar with them but they seem to be highly recommended

 

[SurferJay]

I am not the expert that these other contributors are, but here's what I found out as an electronics dilettante: if you get a solid state amp, many of these pedals are already on board and you'll save a lot of money because you won't have to buy the pedal.

Here are my favorite two pedals: 1. my cry baby pedal and 2. my fuzz pedal: fat fuzz factory. The fuzz pedal, when cranked up, makes it so that you're just turning out pure static. That's cool, but also you can use the pedal minimally so that it just tweaks the edge of your clean sound rendering your sound normal but with something a little distinctive.

Sounds interesting I’ll check out some YT videos..

 

[hollisdwyer]

^ Keeley is awesome. I have their Seafoam Plus (Automatic double tracker) and the Monterey (Jimi Hendrix in a box, basically). At some point, I'll get one of their 4 knob compressors. But that's pretty low on my list atm.

Strymon is another one I would highly recommend.

Strymon is a very high quality but a bit expensive brand. I’ve had a few but sold them as they took up too much room on my small pedalboards.

 

[hollisdwyer]

The TC electronics seem reasonably priced I’ll give them a test drive at my local guitar store with my Uke.

I have two really cheap pedals and like you said there is a lot of noise.
Have you used the TC electronics with a Uke?

Yes, have and had some TC electronics pedals. I have a trichorus, a Ditto looper and a poly tune. All very good. I had a subup octaver but traded it for an Electro Harmonix mini POG octaver, which, IMO, tracks the Uke strings better.

 

[hollisdwyer]

I am not the expert that these other contributors are, but here's what I found out as an electronics dilettante: if you get a solid state amp, many of these pedals are already on board and you'll save a lot of money because you won't have to buy the pedal.

Here are my favorite two pedals: 1. my cry baby pedal and 2. my fuzz pedal: fat fuzz factory. The fuzz pedal, when cranked up, makes it so that you're just turning out pure static. That's cool, but also you can use the pedal minimally so that it just tweaks the edge of your clean sound rendering your sound normal but with something a little distinctive.

Yes, common to find a reverb and a chorus effect on an amp but they won’t have as much variation as if you have on an external pedal. For those that don’t need that the EFX circuits on your amp will do the trick and save you some money.

 

[Wiggy]

For ukes with a pre-amp, I use an Ernie ball for volume and sometimes a delay for fun. The Rogue is cheap and dead quiet - does slapback and repeats perfectly well.

The Rumble 40 is a clean amp with a 4-band EQ. Excellent for uke bass and baritone through GDAE (mandolin tuned) sopranos. Even the high E string at the 12th fret (E3 - 1318hz) comes through in balance with all the rest. A bit bulky, but it's only 18 lbs.

<edit> I should add that all I have are acoustic-electric nylon string ukes. None have steel strings or a solid body.

 

[bacchettadavid]

You might want to peruse the “Pedalboard Reflections” thread. I started it a while back specifically to help electro-acoustic ukers.

In no particular, these are my personal recommendations:

“Fun” effects:

• Fuzz
• Flanger or Phaser
• Compressor
• Attack/decay envelope generator
• Octave down
• Looper

“Utility” effects:

• Tuner
• Preamp
• Boost
• Volume
• EQ
• Delay
• Reverb

If you want specific effects unit recommendations, please state your overall starting budget and current rig (uke/pickup and amp, as well as the power supply and pedalboard if you have already gone that far).

Edit: If your budget allows for it and you want the KISS, then just get a HX Stomp and call it a day.

 

[SurferJay]

You might want to peruse the “Pedalboard Reflections” thread. I started it a while back specifically to help electro-acoustic ukers.

In no particular, these are my personal recommendations:

“Fun” effects:

• Fuzz
• Flanger or Phaser
• Compressor
• Attack/decay envelope generator
• Octave down
• Looper

“Utility” effects:

• Tuner
• Preamp
• Boost
• Volume
• EQ
• Delay
• Reverb

If you want specific effects unit recommendations, please state your overall starting budget and current rig (uke/pickup and amp, as well as the power supply and pedalboard if you have already gone that far).

Edit: If your budget allows for it and you want the KISS, then just get a HX Stomp and call it a day.

That’s just what I needed.. I’ll have a read through!

 

[Leongdad]

I just got a T Rex Soulmate acoustic pedal. I has everything you need in one pedal board. Nice compressor, reverb, chorus and delay. I like the xlr stero outs that run straight into my QSC powered speaker, so i have no need for a mixer (one less thing to bring to a gig) the other great features are the input and output gain knobs so you can really dial in your sound levels. Even has a phase switch and a feed back switch. The looper is nice too and when used with the the boast switch makes for great solos over your loop.