Post and share about your pedal boards you use with your ukulele's.

@GF2 - Yes, I'm still a fan of the Smolder and still have it on my board. But really, it's the only overdrive I've tried with my ukes. Why mess with it if it works. mjh42 has listed above the reasons why I bought it and why I like it. I'll add that the Pickup Comp knob seems to do a great job of eliminating any nasty feedback - overdrive pedals for electric instruments don't have that feature.
 
Been there, done that as far as the pedal rabbit hole goes. This is all I use anymore:

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Line 6 HX Stomp (with a 3M wrap and screen protector). Does anything you could want as long as you don't need to turn a bunch of effects on and off.

I did a full write up here: https://liveukulele.com/reviews/line-6-hx-stomp/.
 
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Brad I appreciate you bringing up the Line 6HX and the link. Read your review. Your final points at the end is spot on for what I've read about the Line 6 elsewhere. People like the Line 6 for all the reasons you state and don't like it for all the same reasons. I first tried a ZOOM multi effects unit to see if I would like affects and the programable aspects. I did not and as shown I've been doing the buy, try, sometimes sell/trade in, for other pedals and so on. Just glad I have the internet to do so much research before choosing. Think of the money spent if one didn't have access to reviews, online sites, conversations with people using the tools. And of course.......work on improving one's playing.....will never be time and energy not well spent. ;)
 
Board 10.4.21.jpg

Todays configuration. Still looking for light gain transparent overdrive. Perhaps a J Rocket Audio Designs Blue Note or a Mythos Mjolnir (Wildwood Edition Preferred) No super rush. The carbon copy mini went on the board today. Just a simple quality analogue delay that should last a long time.
 
Been there, done that as far as the pedal rabbit hole goes. This is all I use anymore:

View attachment 135968

Line 6 HX Stomp (with a 3M wrap and screen protector). Does anything you could want as long as you don't need to turn a bunch of effects on and off.

I did a full write up here: https://liveukulele.com/reviews/line-6-hx-stomp/.
Thanks for posting this - I read your great review and then disappeared down a research rabbit hole about IR. Now I want to get an IR loader!

Have you seen this endeavour?


There's a long thread about here:-


Essentially these guys have made their own algorithms and if you send them the 2 recordings they'll generate IRs for you (and, if you let them, they'll add the IRs they made using your recordings to their publicly accessible database).

It'd be good if you did that since I think they only have one ukulele IR at the moment.
 
Thanks for posting this - I read your great review and then disappeared down a research rabbit hole about IR. Now I want to get an IR loader!

Have you seen this endeavour?


There's a long thread about here:-


Essentially these guys have made their own algorithms and if you send them the 2 recordings they'll generate IRs for you (and, if you let them, they'll add the IRs they made using your recordings to their publicly accessible database).

It'd be good if you did that since I think they only have one ukulele IR at the moment.
Did you find this? https://liveukulele.com/lessons/plug-in/impulse-response-tutorial/ I've got some files on there.
 
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Niiice!

I saw that article and read half of it (presumably before getting distracted by the brats - that's what usually happens) and didn't see those at the end - awesome!

Have a look at that project I linked to - it looks interesting and might give you some good/different/interesting results - one of the authors has created something completely open-source you can download and use yourself, and the other has paid for some proprietory stuff he's added into the mix.
 
View attachment 136146

Todays configuration. Still looking for light gain transparent overdrive. Perhaps a J Rocket Audio Designs Blue Note or a Mythos Mjolnir (Wildwood Edition Preferred) No super rush. The carbon copy mini went on the board today. Just a simple quality analogue delay that should last a long time.
Looks great! Am I right in thinking that the Smolder and the Soul Food both do similar things? Could you help me understand why you have both?
 
ikimiki, yes the Smolder and Soul Food both are overdrives. I'm no expert but if one looks on line one can watch all kinds of video on all kinds of overdrives. One can increase the sound, thicken the sound, send the amp speaker into distortion and likely more than I can explain. Depending upon your overdrive and settings you dial in the sound/tone you are looking for. Why have two and why have two one right after the other.
Well I first tried the Soul Food I was looking for a darker more blues type sound. It sure has it and can go into distortion. I don't like to do distortion all that much but the Soul Food does sound good a lower gain settings. I was looking for something a little more maybe "cleaner" still with some "smokey bluesness" and something that might work well with my Godin Mulituke--nylon strings. I tried a few more traditional guitar blues oriented pedals and they were too strong with gain and distortion, lacked a clear sound.
With both of the pedals together the Soul Food "stacked" into the Smolder, I get some of the tone I'm looking for and when I want to make a little more distortion I get that as well. The Smolder pedal looks busy with all the dial's and it kind of is but that's part of why I like using it. Multiple but not too many adjustments can be made to find the sound, tone, and balance one is looking for. I play alot with the Smolder and a Reverb pedal on for the music I am playing. A little Soul Food now and then for some grit and dirt, and a little delay on some songs.

I think the part of the pedal rabbit hole is very apt. Without trying out the equipment all hooked up together how is one going to figure out if they like it and for people who perform live for a living is the equipment going to be useful on stage?

I've traded in some pedal for new ones, sold a few, sent a few to friends, gave a few to my son who plays guitar. I'm getting to the point of finding what I like. Would like to try a clear low to med gain overdrive and have two or three I'm looking at but in no hurry to buy.

I could likely run just my preamp equalizer--smolder--reverb for a stage performance and be happy.....maybe add the delay---it's small.
 
Well I replaced the Soul Food with a Wampler Tumnus Deluxe.

IMG_3331.jpg

Both of these pedals are considered to Klon clones. I've had the Soul Food for some time. My first overdrive pedal. I've been on the search for a better Klon clone. I like what the SF pedal does to the sound of the ukulele but I wanted something cleaner--more clear sounding--smoother. Cost was also a consideration. A Klon KTR can go for around $1000 and a used Klon Centaur can go for 3K plus---crazy. Something about $200 or less would be more in my price range.

Also to consider is what is the pedal really going to sound like with my ukulele and the amp I am using?? One really never knows. There just are not a lot of resources out there. Sure there are tons of guitar pedal YouTube videos but it's not exactly the same. So I spent a lot of time on those video's that are available both ukulele and guitar pedal usage.

I narrowed by choices down to a Mythos Mjolnir (including the Wildwood edition-which is a little different and more in the $279 price range. Desirable but a little pricey and not currently available) and a Wampler Tumnus. The regular Mjolnir and the Tumnus Deluxe are both priced at $199.99. I had not really been moving to buy either of these just yet as I have been pretty happy with my set up and continue to explore it's possibilities. Well Stillwater Music was have it's extended Black Friday sale starting last week so I went on the website to see what they had. SW had the Tumnus Deluxe for $30 off their regular price. Time to buy.

So after being gone for a couple of days doing family and Thanksgiving things I got home yesterday and the Tumnus was on the bench in the kitchen. My son came home a day early to do some things with friends on Friday. I told him to keep an eye out for a box from SW.

After unpacking and cleaning up making sure turkey leftovers were in the fridge and everything I was able to get the two pedals together for some A/B testing. The Tumnus is clearly the winner to my listening ears. The SF I have to have the buffer on. The SF has some "noise" "muddyness", particularly as the gain is turned up. I found the Tumnus stays clear as the gain is turned up and even at 3 oclock the distortion is clear and open. Pushing the SF gain to distortion is a muddy noisy mess. It's not that I push the sound that direction but it's nice to know what the pedal can do and how is sounds. Regardless of the gain position I found the Tumnus sound just to be plain better.

Wampler makes the Tumnus and the Tumnus Deluxe. The TD is a little higher in cost, but with that one gets the three way equalizer knobs. I think with ukulele this will be a plus. There is also a switch for Normal and Hot. Played with this a little but will need more experimenting to see if there is a significant difference. Being able to fine tune the signal will help with the output of the final sound. I'm likely to find the sweet spot for most of my playing and then set it and forget it for the most part with gain adjustments as wanted.

The TD should play well with my Fender Smolder. I tested these together just a little. I might find I don't need the Fender Smolder as well. I'll keep playing both for a while and test out how I like things. I don't know though. Removing the Smolder would open up room for some kind of modulation pedal that I don't yet have??? So goes the rabbit whole.......
 
Well I replaced the Soul Food with a Wampler Tumnus Deluxe.

View attachment 137273

Both of these pedals are considered to Klon clones. I've had the Soul Food for some time. My first overdrive pedal. I've been on the search for a better Klon clone. I like what the SF pedal does to the sound of the ukulele but I wanted something cleaner--more clear sounding--smoother. Cost was also a consideration. A Klon KTR can go for around $1000 and a used Klon Centaur can go for 3K plus---crazy. Something about $200 or less would be more in my price range.

Also to consider is what is the pedal really going to sound like with my ukulele and the amp I am using?? One really never knows. There just are not a lot of resources out there. Sure there are tons of guitar pedal YouTube videos but it's not exactly the same. So I spent a lot of time on those video's that are available both ukulele and guitar pedal usage.

I narrowed by choices down to a Mythos Mjolnir (including the Wildwood edition-which is a little different and more in the $279 price range. Desirable but a little pricey and not currently available) and a Wampler Tumnus. The regular Mjolnir and the Tumnus Deluxe are both priced at $199.99. I had not really been moving to buy either of these just yet as I have been pretty happy with my set up and continue to explore it's possibilities. Well Stillwater Music was have it's extended Black Friday sale starting last week so I went on the website to see what they had. SW had the Tumnus Deluxe for $30 off their regular price. Time to buy.

So after being gone for a couple of days doing family and Thanksgiving things I got home yesterday and the Tumnus was on the bench in the kitchen. My son came home a day early to do some things with friends on Friday. I told him to keep an eye out for a box from SW.

After unpacking and cleaning up making sure turkey leftovers were in the fridge and everything I was able to get the two pedals together for some A/B testing. The Tumnus is clearly the winner to my listening ears. The SF I have to have the buffer on. The SF has some "noise" "muddyness", particularly as the gain is turned up. I found the Tumnus stays clear as the gain is turned up and even at 3 oclock the distortion is clear and open. Pushing the SF gain to distortion is a muddy noisy mess. It's not that I push the sound that direction but it's nice to know what the pedal can do and how is sounds. Regardless of the gain position I found the Tumnus sound just to be plain better.

Wampler makes the Tumnus and the Tumnus Deluxe. The TD is a little higher in cost, but with that one gets the three way equalizer knobs. I think with ukulele this will be a plus. There is also a switch for Normal and Hot. Played with this a little but will need more experimenting to see if there is a significant difference. Being able to fine tune the signal will help with the output of the final sound. I'm likely to find the sweet spot for most of my playing and then set it and forget it for the most part with gain adjustments as wanted.

The TD should play well with my Fender Smolder. I tested these together just a little. I might find I don't need the Fender Smolder as well. I'll keep playing both for a while and test out how I like things. I don't know though. Removing the Smolder would open up room for some kind of modulation pedal that I don't yet have??? So goes the rabbit whole.......
Looking forward to your review
 
IMG_3392.jpgWell, I think that I am all set for the rest of 2022. Plenty of musical territory to investigate with this set up. The only other thing I have considered is breaking this all up into two boards. I'd likely need another pedal or two to round either set up though.
Running this board into these two instruments and amps.

IMG_3394.jpg
 
Well the two new EHX pedals are going to go away. The DMMnano is a fine pedal. Highly adjustable. Does Chorus and Vibrato. Just doesn't do delay any better than my Carbon Copy---at least for my wants and needs. The Mod 11 just is not playing well with either ukulele/amp set up. Perhaps I could spend more time adjusting the nobs but in all my testing these last few days I haven't found any sweet spots. I think the DMM actually sounded better with Chorus and Vibrato than the Mod 11. I should be able to return both.

I think I'll get an MXR 6 band equalizer for the Tele uke and call it good for a while. I'm finding with both set ups I like to keep it pretty simple. A little equalizing of the incoming signal. A little mild overdrive now and then, a little delay now and then, some reverb, and when I want to turn up the gain on the Teleuke I've got the Blues Mood.

Never to be done.......now to start my research into Octave pedals ;)
 
Board 02.13.22.jpg

Well the Donner Harmonic Square showed up this AM so I put it on the board and gave it a whirl with both instruments/amps. Some possibilities here?? I'll try to keep this a while and let it sink in a bit. The Donner pedals are an inexpensive way to explore and see what one likes. Not as easy to sell if one want to upgrade but the last Donner pedal I used for several years then passed it on to a young guitar player that I know. Good to encourage youth to play music.
 
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Well a Fuzz arrived and well it's a Fuzz. Satisfaction or not, I'll keep it a while. It takes up some space. Traded out the Moore Blues Mood (Boss BD2 clone) and put on a OD 3 that I had in a box. While they are close in sound....the OD 3 is a little cleaner to my ear. I'm kind of set with what I like on the B side of things but I'm still working out the A side.
 
3.31.2023  PB.jpg

The latest configuration.

I think I'm more of a Blues Breaker than a Blues Driver kinda guy. A/B into a Fishman Loudbox mini for the Godin Uke and I do run the Godin into a Supro Delta King as well as the Riza. Still figuring out how to play the Risa.....electric is a related but different kind of beast....
 
Grace Bix into a Pitchfork into a Strymon Flint into a Strymon Timeline. Through a Fishman LoudX Performer. Nothing too crazy. Yet.
 
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