Modulate Everything
Modulation layers create extra function and space.
If you spend any time at all with pedals, you start to see certain trends in how manufacturers spice up their designs to keep things interesting and innovative. A few years ago, the trend was to create multi-fx units that placed frequently-paired effects into one housing: a boost with an overdrive, for example. We’re still seeing this now, of course, especially in the latest gain stage releases: the Revv Northern Mauler (Revv gain + HM2), the All-Pedal Devil’s Triad (boost + reverb/delay + overdrive), or the ferocious new Heavy Menace from Empress (distortion + noise gate).
One trend that’s really stood out to me in building the Great Canadian Pedalboard has been the addition of modulation layers to both modulation and time-based effects. In fact, this addition has been so pronounced that I considered writing on just how much modulation a pedalboard needs, but reconsidered as I was playing with the pedals themselves. What I realized is that adding a modulation layer doesn’t mean you need to lay it on thick; rather, it’s a piece of the pedal’s individual character that can be brought into play when you want to scale down and create smaller, more intimate spaces in your music.
Remember: the effects have to serve the music you’re making.
In the Modulation Section
On the main pedalboard, our modulation section consists of:
Fairfield Circuitry Randy’s Revenge Ring Modulator
MayFly Audio Sketchy Zebra Phase Shifter
Fairfield Circuitry: Randy’s Revenge
The Ring Modulator is in a class all its own. I can’t even say that it has an added modulation layer, because it’s ALL modulation layers.
More on Fairfield Circuitry
Mayfly Audio: Sketchy Zebra
MayFly’s Sketchy Zebra Phase Shifter is, of course, a phaser with a truly magnificent sweep. But it also has a vibrato function that can be pretty intense if you let it loose on your tone. The key thing with vibrato is not to mistake it for a tremolo; the latter maintains the pitch but repeats the note, while the former varies the note by subtly wavering the pitch up and down around the fundamental. The Sketchy Zebra also has a hold filter function, which sustains the phase effect at a set point in the curve.
More on Mayfly Audio
As an honourable mention, the new MayFly Audio Goddess Dual Chorus offers up an incredibly rich chorus experience on its main channel (marked A Side), while providing a blendable second chorus channel (B Side) that’s faster and more intense, creating a completely unique sonic experience.
In the Time Section
The time section of the Great Canadian Pedalboard is made up of two pedals:
Dr. Scientist Sounds Sunny Day Delay
Coffee Shop Pedals Cortado Reverb
Time-based effects do things a little differently when it comes to modulation layers. Instead of altering the tone of the guitar going through the signal chain, they alter the sound of the echoes coming back. This enables them to produce much more subtle and ambient effects that can range from the aetherial to the downright alien, while maintaining the full integrity of the principal note meeting the amp.
Dr. Scientist: Sunny Day Delay
The Sunny Day from Dr. Scientist Sounds is a modulated delay that uses its modulation section to create “ambient, modulated washes of repeats.” The modulation is triggered with a separate footswitch, and has both depth and rate controls for contouring.
More on Dr. Scientist
Coffee Shop Pedals: Cortado Reverb
The Cortado Reverb from Coffee Shop is brand new this year, and has a control knob that tweaks the different levels of colouring applied to each of its four reverb types. In Hall mode, the control increases the depth of a modulation effect on the repeats, giving a sense of otherworldly depth to the trails. In Tremoloverb mode, it produces an amazing tremolo effect – but only on the trails, which means it’s not on the main note’s layer but in the background where it acts almost like a soft filter on a photograph.
More on Coffee Shop Pedals
Combining the modulation on the delay with the tremolo on the reverb is a cool way to create a rich backdrop with your echo effects. Running both into the Wounded Paw Audio Blender V4 means you can also choose whether these effects run in parallel or series, and select just how much blend you want between them.
Honourable mention here goes to both the Bea-Verb from GUP Tech, which houses several modulated reverb options in the Berry-Verb multi reverb section, and the My Evil Twin modulated delay from MayFly, which functions similarly to the Sunny Day on the surface, but has a much wilder and weirder flavour to its modulation, lending credence to its name (and the “Evil” marking on the switchable mod).
Is all of this necessary?
Again, this is where my thoughts on the subject started when I began looking at all of these modulated options and extra layers.
Is it necessary? Is it necessary to have a modulated reverb, when you can just have a reverb that does one thing really well, and other options to fill in all those sweeps and swoops when you need them?
I think it is. I think it’s helpful specifically because of the variation, but also in terms of budget. If you don’t need a Van Halen-style ‘78 flanger, but would like some waves to add depth and character to your sound, why not place it just on the repeats of your delay?
And yes, while you may not use all of these modulation effects at the same time on one big pedalboard, the very fact that you can go into a gig or a studio session with it and call up just what you need in reserve to either be in-your-face phasery goodness, or a light clean wash in the backdrop of your tone picture is an absolute game changer.
So what the hell…modulate everything!
Guest Article by Steve Baric
With over 35 years of professional guitar playing and pro-level guitar tech experience, Steve Baric Custom has evolved into a one-stop luthiery with services ranging from restringing to pickup installation, kit customization to fully customized builds from scratch. Rig Hacker Pedalboards, the pedalboard arm of Steve Baric Custom, provides boutique pedalboards, custom boards, and custom cases from locally-sourced Canadian native, felled, and reclaimed lumber. Tone consultations, custom hard rigging and wiring, and more are available to guitarists ranging from new players looking for their first pedals to seasoned professional touring artists.