I own the Brian May Red Special Pedal great :) lots of fun etc but I have a question regarding exactly what I should be doing with it.
My confusion is as follows: Does the pedal its self imitate the sound of Brian May's rig inclusive of the AC-30s etc OR does it provide the appropriate drive to push the AC-30s or other amps INTO his sound when cranked?
Does that make sense?
In other words, if i played the pedal through a clean amp or just into some PA, will I get his sound? or do I have to play it through an AC-30 cranked to the max?
Thanks guys, I hope someone here can answer my question
Kev x
Hey Kev!
Yes, it makes sence :-)
'Cranking' up the amplifier is always good for the sound.
But this pedal is SUPPOSED to be able to stand alone. As a matter of fact Digitech specifically says that you should put the amplifier to 'as clean as possible'.
The pedal SHOULD simulate Brian's guitar, effects and the ac 30 in one.
But playing a different guitar and/or a different amp certainly is NOT beneficial for the majority of the sounds.
The sounds you get with a different amp are still nice and interesting, but FAR from sounding 'like Brian'.
Yes, the idea is there - but it will never be the same.
My experience with different amps and/or guitars is for example that KYA sounds VERY good on anything - but TYMD absolutely SUCKS at anything other then BM Guitar + ac30. It doesn't even come close to the sound it is supposed to make. The others are all somewhere in between.
My advice would be to get a great keyboard amp and put it through that. Clean and brilliant for modelling stuff. Or, if you have the ability, a mini-PA of your own. It has been done! The Roland VG8 was such a big thing that people did that.
So, forget an AC30. You don't need it.
Adam.
EDIT: This forum has good info on the Digitech. This thread probably isn't the greatest example - link
Yes, you're right Adam.
The pedal is not ideal for 'live' playing (but it is not intented to eiter - hence it features Brian's STUDIO sounds) as it is for recording and playing around with in 'studio' kinda envirements.
Actually I'm already a bit bored with the pedal ;-)))
I already 'released' the pedal from my regular set-up in favour of a combination with the Vox Deacy (booster) and my own effects. (Flange, chorus, delay etc)
I get better sounds with my own stuff then from this. The only feature of the pedal that I WILL still utilise is the harmonizer/pitch-shifter, because I don't have that in a seperate pedal. (although in all honesty I am not too satisfied with that one either. Or am I doing something wrong? My individual shifted notes always get slightly distorted...?)
EDIT:
Thanks for the link, Adam.
I think they are right. All in all the pedal is a nice gimmick, something funny to fool around with. But surely not good enough to do something 'pro' with it.
(All in all it always sounds very 'digital', while Brian's sound is all about 'acoustics', warmth etc.
Also what still annoys me:
I don't get the 'stereo' option to work properly on a stereo amp. Take for instance the Brighton Rock setting.
Now, if I hook the pedal up to a stereo-amp instead of two seperate amps, It can't get the signal to divide and spread over two channels. It's still mono! Any idea?
ryanalan1 wrote: Yes you are an idiot, that's what. I'm a guitarist and the pedal is fine. Perhaps learn how to use the pedal correctly before saying it sucks.
Learn how to read properly, buy some new ears and BLOW ME!
ryanalan1 wrote: Yes you are an idiot, that's what. I'm a guitarist and the pedal is fine. Perhaps learn how to use the pedal correctly before saying it sucks.
Just because someone doesn't like the pedal is no reason to insult them. Some people don't like it and have their reasons for it. So, don't say such things cause it just makes you look bad.
I'm a guitarist, too. I personally think myself and others on this board have looked into this pedal and feel it's probably good for practicing with, but more difficult to use in a quality setup. And as demonstrated in our big Digitech (good or not) thread, it was also evident that some people sound great, while others sound nowhere near as good. And it didn't have anything to do with skill or bad recordings. It just didn't cut it with some people. Very interesting, that. Especially the Guitarist sound samples that came off worse than the sound someone posted on that RedSpecial forum. That's what I'm getting at.
And heck, we're all about informing people here. Not just saying, it's great and you're just shit with it. Why not bloody suggest how it can sound as good as you think it should.
Adam.
ryanalan1 wrote: Yes you are an idiot, that's what. I'm a guitarist and the pedal is fine. Perhaps learn how to use the pedal correctly before saying it sucks.
Why don't you offer something useful?? The "I'm a guitarist, pay attention to me" won't work in a thread like this because we *all* play guitar and we're sharing experiences.
Yes but for Jerone just to criticise brian mays pedal like that, saying it was crap is not called for. If it was crap it wouldn't have been endorsed by brian, so yes i think jerone needs to get what he says correct.
I listen to brian.
"Yes but for Jerone just to criticise brian mays pedal like that, saying it was crap is not called for."
To be fair on Jeroen (and maybe I misread him) I don't think he ever called it crap. I think that a lot of us have come across our own setups over the years that make us happy - that give us the sound we're after. It's only natural some people will be happier with their own setup than with the pedal.
"If it was crap it wouldn't have been endorsed by brian"
5ive.
"I listen to brian."
I do too! I figure I should listen to other people as well - in fact, listen to every guitarists opinion, because we've all got our own way of doing it, and much can be learned from discussing.
I personally don't find myself that excited by most of the pedals effects, but I like the Deacy sound and the orchestration one, I've heard good things done with them.