Plurality of tones at any given time . . .

[CheshireCat]

Here's an interesting question: How many different tones do you use in one song? And, along with that, how do you use them?

We talked about sideslapping, and ease of switching, not to mention the importance of not having to do midflight patching in some confusing configs during a song.

While efficiency and effectiveness in switching is a worthwhile economy to pursue, I'm curious as to how many different tones we use in one song, or in any given timeframe.

Reason that I'm asking is that if we don't need to do all sorts of involved switching during a song, then we might be able to use a few more switches that don't need to be sideslapped midflight, and that can have an impact on the practical concerns of coming up with our switching conventions.

I usually find myself using one or two sounds during a song, so I'm thinking that having even up to five switches (which I do) might be fine since most of the "patching" will be done between songs, with perhaps the occasional flick of a switch or two during a song.

IOW, when I say five switches, I don't mean that they all have to be switched to create a specific tone. Rather, I use the SuperSwitch, along with the S-1 toggle, to get the 10 sounds of the UUSS schematic I have. That's the main switching convention. The three other switches are two splitters and a phase inverter, which, tho while traditionally used as seperate switches (as I do) they are also often configured into some of the more high-end switching conventions, such as Double Barrell Switching, for instance, or PRS Switching.

Given all this, I conceived the SuperRotarySwitching convention, being a combo of SuperSwitching and the use of an 11 position Rotary Switch, all of which would incorporate splitting and phase inverting. This way I could get all my switching done with two switches and free up three switch spaces for other uses.

But the more this is debated and discussed, the more I think that I'm on the right track with my original UUSS, and it wouldn't involve things like magnetic relays and other things to pull off the 55 sounds from two switches without redundancy convention. That's the biggest issue I have with the Fat-O-Caster and Chromacaster. Excellent ideas, both, but there is so much redundancy that I think a lot of options are wasted. Just as challenging, if not more so, than trying to remember where everything is that you'll actually use, is trying to remember what you won't use, i.e. so you won't take a wrong turn at the worse possible time.

So, any thoughts? What do you guys do practically when you play?

Chesh

[UnklMickey]

within the confines of one song?


usually only 2.


on rare occasions, 3. -- quoth the raven. "never more" ..................... (well that's close to what he quoth, anyway)

[Runewalker]

Most song played live use 1 to 2 tones, with an occasional 3 tone song.

Often those transitions are managed on the floor with boxes or modelers, so there may only be one guitar setting per song. I have my modeler set on many patches to use the foot controller to roll in or out gain, with internal volume balancing to avoid overwhelming the mix when the gain is increased. In that scenario I can frequently get through songs on one guitar setting.

Your question is critical on these wiring designs, as defining the critical sounds vs the non-critical sounds conveys more playability efficiency. And arraying options to minimize toggles, slams and tweaks means getting there fast with minimal concentration on switching, and maximum concentration on playing.

I was watching a vid of SRV the other night from a recording session at Austin City Limits. Mostly he was slamming between the neck and bridge pups on the blade, then stomping his boxes and Wah. But he got an vast array of sounds and peeled back the eyelids of all in attendance. At one point he broke a string, kept sawing on 5 strings, began singing a cappella, Tommy and Chris driving in the back, the roady stripped Number one and strapped on the whitey, Stevie started sawing strings again, never missing a beat. A real lesson on the value of economy in switching motions.

I think the initial evaluational stage of this modding hobby is in the first 1 or 2 mods to strive to get every possible configuration. But after you have been there done that and seen either redundancy or tones that are only novelties, most start thinking about the next stage of obtaining, what for them are optimal tones, easily accessed. It is much harder as a design principal to refine the approach to optimal sounds, ergonomically accessed, than to get everything with attendant redundancies, useless sounds, and labyrinthine access paths.

[CheshireCat]

runewalker said:

At one point he broke a string, kept sawing on 5 strings, began singing a cappella, Tommy and Chris drving in the back, the roady stripped Number one and strapped on the whitey, Stevie started sawing strings again, never missing a beat. A real lesson on the value of economy in switching motions.

Indeed.

[JohnH]

To create a sound change during playing, I find a foot switch is the most reliable option, and recently most of my design time has gone into developing the one that I want.

But where a change on the guitar is wanted during a song, then I think it is good to have a range of possible changes that can be made with just one switch. eg, a series/parallel switch can give a volume and power boost, or starting with a single coil, then adding one in series with one flick, or just moving from bridge to neck pup.

These in-flight changes dont want rely on carefully navigating to intermediate positions on a multi-position switch. Hence, slamming from 1 to 5 on a 5-way seems credible, but to try to land on position 4, would need alot more skill. Its an advantage to have one or two simple switches in a switch array, backed up by some more complex ones for preprogramming. eg, the way I often set my LPmax would be to use the two 5 way rotaries to pre-set a neck Sc and a bridge Hb. Then the standard switchcraft 3-way can quickly change between them while playing, and the series/parallel switch will overide that and put them in series together for max punch. Both of these switches have simple movements, leaving the rotaries in a fixed position.

John

[wolf]

I'd say about 2 tones per song. Usually this involves switching from parallel to series and then back again.
Sometimes I like the biting treble of the bridge single coil pickup (or a bridge humbucker with coil cut).
On rare occasions, I'll play with an out-of-phase sound but I always like to switch to an "in phase" sound during some part of the song.