Help with signal chain

Bill McCloskey · Post by **Bill McCloskey** » 2 Sep 2023 5:12 pm

Right now I'm going from a Williams D10 > Goodrich VP > Peterson tuner > Tone block 202 with TT 15. On order is a Boss DD-500 delay pedal.

What else will improve my signal:

1. Reverb. Thinking of the Eventide h9

2. Baby bloomer? Are they still available?

3. Black box?

4. EQ?

5. compression?

Dave Grafe · Post by **Dave Grafe** » 3 Sep 2023 3:55 am

Decent reverb is essential if your amp doesn't have it

Delay is a nice add but not necessary

SGBB will help only if your amp sounds sterile, which is not likely with the Tone Block. Still the variable impedance and buffered tuner output are handy features

Compression has its uses but is entirely unnecessary and can impede development of picking and VP technique

ALL EQ filters introduce phase distortion so keeping these to a minimum is best practice. Why you have a Tone Block and TT15

It is good to experiment and learn but in general too many toys in line will degrade the guitar signal and possibly your practice time, just saying

Bill McCloskey · Post by **Bill McCloskey** » 3 Sep 2023 10:12 am

Thanks Dave.

The quilter doesn't have a delay, so maybe I'll just stick to that for a while and see how I like it.

Sorry I dropped the ball the other week. Let's get together soon.

Bobby D. Jones · Post by **Bobby D. Jones** » 3 Sep 2023 11:15 am

If you could borrow a delay to try would be good.
When I got my Tone Block 202 I took a Budda Delay out of my chain.
If you play with the settings and switches on a TB 202 you may find all you want.
Happy Steelin.

Chris Harwood · Post by **Chris Harwood** » 3 Sep 2023 12:31 pm

You might consider the newer H90 over the H9, if the budget will allow. Basically two H9, but the power of having a pair linked together. You could then probably skip the delay unit, but keep an "escape hatch" open with the Eventide, as you may fall down a rabbit hole with it, if you even tolerate minimal tweaking. IMO, the FX are not to be outdone in quality.

That said, I use plugins since my playing is in the studio 100% of the time and I have the Eventide "suite" that basically contains all their FX as a bundle. The "black hole" is aptly named!!

Bill McCloskey · Post by **Bill McCloskey** » 3 Sep 2023 1:40 pm

Thanks Bobby and Chris.

Travis Toy uses both the Boss DD-500 and H9 with his tone block 202. I'll look into the H90.

Thanks for the suggestions. Bobby: can you share your settings?

Bobby D. Jones · Post by **Bobby D. Jones** » 4 Sep 2023 9:42 pm

Here is a picture of my settings. The toggle switch is set on FULLQ.
I started with Travis Toy's settings and just a a couple tweeks.

Donny Hinson · Post by **Donny Hinson** » 6 Sep 2023 2:29 pm

Bill, since your tone block has reverb, the only other thing you need right now is maybe a delay pedal. All the other stuff could be acquired later on, if you really feel it's necessary. (Personally, I don't.)