Digital Delay Tone Clarity

A

Astrodude55

Dec 7, 2009
27
0
4,531
Coldwater
#1
What's up, TB? It's been a hot minute I'd say.
I got a quick question for you guys and gals regarding my tone with a Boss DD-3 digital delay pedal.
With the effects portion of my rig, the delay comes through all muddled and gross sounding. I'm trying to nail that awesome effects sound of Pete Steele's rig and I have exactly all the effects-related pedals he used and they're all dialed in as close as I could get them from the various pictures I've seen of his pedalboard. Short of going out and buying an EQ pedal (or header, but I don't know much about those other than they're pricey), anyone got any suggestions for me not related to dropping X amount of G's on a semi-replica rig? I have a feeling it has to do with my settings on the bass and amp end.
Just for the sake of helping, I'm running the effects to a Fender Rumble 100 (gain is at 5 o' clock, bass is at 5 'o clock, low mid and high mid are at 3 o' clock and treble is at treble is between 12 and 1 o' clock), from my ESP LTD F-414 FM with all the bass knobs maxed out, tuned to E standard.
Thanks in advance, guys and gals.

PS- Didn't know where to categorize this question. Feel free to move to appropriate place if I placed this wrong.
 
#4
knumbskull said:
What other pedals and what order?
Click to expand...
F-414 -> DS-1 Distortion-> CH-1 Super Chorus -> DD-3 Delay -> Rumble 100. The settings are exactly like his, according to pictures I could find of his pedalboard.
qersty said:
too much mids for steele. also try setting the onboard pre flat or at least less bass, anything will sound muddy with onboard bass cranked
Click to expand...
What would suggest I dial my knobs back to? Bass, maybe 3 or 2 o' clock, mids at... 12, maybe 11? I've also got the onboard tone shapers turned on to brighten it up and give my clean some character- vintage, contour, and bright are turned on.
 
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#6
qersty said:
start out with low mids scooped out and boost the treble a bit
Click to expand...
Dialed back the bass to 3 o' clock, mids are at 12 'o clock, treble went to 2 o' clock. It sounds better than it did before, which is awesome, but when I kick on the delay it still sounds like a gargled mess. I guess thatst because it's delay and it's supposed to do that? (Still pretty new at this pedals thing)
 
#7
Ok, chain order sounds fine :)

It’s hard to say without hearing an example, but delay on bass is a bit of an odd thing and you WILL get muddy sounds when notes run on top of each other if you just click it on and wail away as normal - you need to play the effect, either long and slow or short and percussive are often the ways to go.

A good place to start is to reduce the repeats/feedback, to minimise the amount of “wash” with clashing notes hanging on top of each other... if that makes sense.

Wouldn’t hurt to dial back a bit on the bass frequencies, too.
 
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#8
Depending on the amp it may be worth trying it in the FX loop if possible.

Also rolling your instrument volume back a bit can help sometimes for clearer delay, as well as just playing a tad softer for parts.

One last tip, for recording if possible delay sounds great in a parallel mix with a clean signal. That way you can balance out the clean/delay volumes more efficiently and even EQ them separately. This can be done on a mixer or in post on a PC using plugins/software. The latter is easier but will restrict you to digital/plugin effects, while a mixer will let you run pedals easily in parallel chains but takes up more space and cost more. Though decent mixers can be found pretty cheap.
 
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