# Pedal board for acoustic



## Kerry Brown (Mar 31, 2014)

I'm playing acoustic almost exclusively lately. I'm thinking of putting together a small pedal board for live use. I'd like to keep it as small as possible. I play through a LR Baggs Venue DI which I really like. I never used pedals much when playing electric. My tone always relied on power tube breakup for a nice blues crunch with electrics. I play in a trio where I'm the rhythm guy, mostly just strumming chords. What pedals should I get and where should I place them in the chain? The Venue DI has a serial loop so should the pedals be in the loop or before or after the DI. I'm thinking a chorus and reverb pedal. Is there anything else I should be thinking about?


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## jimsz (Apr 17, 2009)

I found this helpful in remembering the order of pedals, read it from top to bottom...

Which - Wah
Chain - Compression
Of - Overdrive
Effects - Equalizers
Pedals - Pitch
Makes - Modulation
Life - Level
Relatively - Reverb
Easy - Echo


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## vadsy (Dec 2, 2010)

Reverb and a tuner if your DI doesn't already have that. I used to run a compressor and delay occasionally but not anymore ..unless the set calls for some, I'll throw it on. I also put together a board for someone else that included a BodyRez acoustic pickup enhancer. It does a nice job, sometimes, of mating the guitar/pickup/PA to each other.


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## 12 stringer (Jan 5, 2019)

If you sing too, seriously consider a TC Helicon Play Acoustic. The built in reverb, chorus, delay and - especially- the Body Rez give any acoustic one heck of a nice treatment. To boost, you can add harmonies to your voice. Note that your lead singer can plug into it if you don’t sing yourself while you play thru it. It’s a really great unit and would work fine with your DI in front of it. Worth considering imho.


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## marcos (Jan 13, 2009)

I would consider a good chorus pedal. Just adds a lot of colour to your sound for specific songs. Other than that, some reverb is nice in the mix.


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## JBFairthorne (Oct 11, 2014)

A 12 string simulator might be useful.


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## Kerry Brown (Mar 31, 2014)

JBFairthorne said:


> A 12 string simulator might be useful.


I play a six string and a twelve string. Don’t always bring the twelve string though.


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## Chito (Feb 17, 2006)

This was the acoustic pedalboard I had before. It goes, Para DI into a Sonic Research Turbo Tuner into a Mòoer Yellow Compressor into an EP Booster into a TC Electronic Corona Chorus into a TC Electronic Hall of Fame Reverb.


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## vadsy (Dec 2, 2010)

Chito brings up a good point with the boost. I use a Red Eye preamp pedal with a built-in boost that can be set and engaged when needed. good for the single note stuff to stand out or cut through the mix


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## Chito (Feb 17, 2006)

I actually ditched that pedalboard when I got a Fishman Mini Loudbox. Didn't need any of it except for the boost maybe.


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## Kerry Brown (Mar 31, 2014)

vadsy said:


> Chito brings up a good point with the boost. I use a Red Eye preamp pedal with a built-in boost that can be set and engaged when needed. good for the single note stuff to stand out or cut through the mix


The venue di has a boost which I can setup up to 9 dB.


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## Kerry Brown (Mar 31, 2014)

Chito said:


> I actually ditched that pedalboard when I got a Fishman Mini Loudbox. Didn't need any of it except for the boost maybe.


There is a Fender Acoustasonic 150 on the local CL. It has all sorts of effects. I’ve been seriously considering it. The bonus is it has some modelling built in for electric guitar amps as well. I like to play slide on “Where Did You Sleep Last Night” and it sounds way better on an electric. Don’t know if I want to lug that much gear though. My Venue DI has a built in tuner so I’m thinking a small pedal board with a chorus, delay, reverb, and possibly a mild distortion pedal. Has anyone used the SKB 8 port powered pedal board.


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## Steadfastly (Nov 14, 2008)

Kerry, here is one I like. You can also do some neat things with your voice if you sing. It's all in one unit which make it easier to control and set up.

TC Helicon Play Acoustic Voice Processor for Acoustic Guitarists


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## Jim9guitars (Feb 15, 2016)

I was just in a similar situation, acoustic guitar in a small band. I used chorus and reverb and also found a volume pedal to be very useful for adjusting levels on the fly, cutting off feedback quickly, boosting volume for the odd solo or signature part. I had a bit of reverb always and used the chorus about half the time.


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## laristotle (Aug 29, 2019)

I have a zoom A3.
Just a touch of reverb and chorus here as well.


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## Ship of fools (Nov 17, 2007)

You shouldn't think about it Kerry just go and buy the Fender it will give you a really broad range.


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## Dorian2 (Jun 9, 2015)

JBFairthorne said:


> A 12 string simulator might be useful.


I think a Chorus with a blend might also get you into that territory as well. 

@Kerry Brown, those fishman's that Chito mentioned are pretty nice but a bit more than the Fenders. If you have a L&M around test them side by side if possible. Good luck finding your tones.


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## bw66 (Dec 17, 2009)

Yup. Reverb and chorus are where I would start. I have an EQ pedal that really only serves as a boost and I currently have a delay on there to have some fun with. A compressor is worth considering.


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## Greg Ellis (Oct 1, 2007)

I use a Tech 21 Acoustic Fly Rig these days; very happy with that.

I don't us the compressor, but the notch filter is really handy, and I use the boost quite often. 

The Reverb, Chorus and Delay are useful too. Not sure I would call them awesome when compared to some of the pedals I have used in the past, but the convenience factor of an all-in-one unit is a big plus for me when I'm traveling.

I think you're definitely on the right track. I bet a nice reverb pedal and a nice chorus in the loop of your preamp would work really well. And like you said, there's already a boost available in the preamp.


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## Mooh (Mar 7, 2007)

Surprisingly, and somewhat anti pedal elitist, the Boss ME-80 covers all the bases for me. Reverb, chorus, preamp, volume, compression, EQ. Takes a bit of tweaking, less with a soundhole pickup than the K&K, but it works.


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## KapnKrunch (Jul 13, 2016)

Not to be contrary, but I have the TC Helicon Voice Live 3 (their most elaborate unit), and I wouldn't defile the acoustic with any of that. Sounds fake even with electric. I practise with the looper and tuner (out of my usual signal path).

K&K Pure Mini installed on the acoustic. The tech thought I might need some EQ, but my simple no-EQ mixer has Burr-Brown preamps and I don't need any help other than a full-range speaker. I have couple of good compressors and some rack EQ, but they are not improvements to the sound.

Best possible preamp is the best possible start. And possibly the best possible end. 

The stimulation of bells and whistles has always been short-lived for me. Our singer has a bunch of effects built into his acoustic preamp and the first thing I did was turn them ALL off. Yuck.

YMMV. 

Anyway it's always fun trying new stuff, and I don't know what YOUR music requires. Best of luck with your experiments, Kerry.


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## jimsz (Apr 17, 2009)

Kerry Brown said:


> I play a six string and a twelve string. Don’t always bring the twelve string though.


Hey Kerry, thanks for starting this thread, I've got a Martin acoustic that's been hanging on the wall for years which I rarely play simply because I'm always picking up one of my electrics. I'm learning a lot here.


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## Swervin55 (Oct 30, 2009)

Sorry this took so long Kerry but I was cleaning my cave and had to pull it out. You asked about the SKB board and I find it quite good since it is powered and a manageable size. Of everything on the board, the only thing totally useless (to me) is the overdrive. I think I was drinking a bit too much internet koolaid when I bought that. The EQ is nice when changing guitars (and hence potentially different pick-ups). I agree with those above that chorus and reverb are essentials.


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## Kerry Brown (Mar 31, 2014)

Swervin55 said:


> Sorry this took so long Kerry but I was cleaning my cave and had to pull it out. You asked about the SKB board and I find it quite good since it is powered and a manageable size. Of everything on the board, the only thing totally useless (to me) is the overdrive. I think I was drinking a bit too much internet koolaid when I bought that. The EQ is nice when changing guitars (and hence potentially different pick-ups). I agree with those above that chorus and reverb are essentials.
> View attachment 280282
> View attachment 280284


Thanks. I have ordered one from L&M.


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## Ship of fools (Nov 17, 2007)

Great choice Kerry you have a really good set up with one of those, it should give you a really broad range for different set ups with different guitars.


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## John Vere (Nov 12, 2019)

I agree with the comment about the TC live acoustic. I also he one and my guitar has to run through it for the harmony to work. I used the effects briefly but because they are static and you cannot change them I ended up shutting them off. You really don’t want the same effects on every song. That sucks. 
The body Rez is interesting but will not improve a bad sounding system and then trashed a good sounding system. Might actually work for some but not me 
Even though it’s cheesy I now use a $80 Zoom multi box. I created 10 presets and boosts plus the tuner works fine. I think any multi box or pedal board will do the job if you dial it in right. 
As said by others I’m mostly using chorus, reverb, delay and a little compression. Oh I also use tremolo on a few songs.


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## Kerry Brown (Mar 31, 2014)

Here is what I ended up with. May add a delay at some point but going to see what this sounds like live. It sounds great with my practice PA which has really crappy old Fender speakers. Just a touch of chorus and reverb. The BD2 sounds surprisingly OK with the acoustic but no chorus or reverb. It will be good for funky blues and a bit of slide. I ended up not using the loop. With my home system it sounds better with the 1/4” out. The bonus is I can use the same setup with my electrics and an amp.


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## 12 stringer (Jan 5, 2019)

John Vere said:


> I agree with the comment about the TC live acoustic. I also he one and my guitar has to run through it for the harmony to work. I used the effects briefly but because they are static and you cannot change them I ended up shutting them off. You really don’t want the same effects on every song. That sucks....


Not to hijack the OP's thread but this needs clarification. First, I assume you meant the TC _Play _Acoustic? Either you have an old firmware version or you are unaware of a (very) important new-ish feature. The old versions had global guitar FX only (which sucked all right). The new version has an ON/OFF option for FX. Go to SETUP>Page 6>GLOBAL GUITAR FX>On or OFF. That means that each preset can have its own set of FX.

You may also want to check your firmware version: You want 1.3.00 B48. You can check under SETUP>Page 10. Download from the TC Helicon site if need be.

PS None of this is in the current factory manual.... which is quite outdated.


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## SWLABR (Nov 7, 2017)

It appears I'll be getting an acoustic duo going before I find a new 4 or 5 piece with drums & bass. So, I am stitching together an acoustic board from the spare parts and electric-board rejects.

I plug straight into a channel on my Mackie board which I add Hall Reverb

TC-Tuner
Ernie Ball Volume
Boss Chorus
Boss DD-1
into a K&K Sound "EQ Breakout Box" 
XLR into a channel. 

I want to keep it small, which is hard with the Ernie, but any suggestions to add to these?


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