Effect settings and products for church

Hi guys this is my first post on this site so hopefully it turns out good :)
I am currently setting up my pedal board which I use at home, church and school. At the moment my setup is Fender Tele HW1> TC Electronics Polytune> Crowther Hotcake (Bluesberry, light overdrive)> Marshall JH-1( heavy overdrive)> Boss DD-5> Fender Deluxe 85.
I'm playing around with the pedals trying to find the right sound and was hoping to get some feedback on how you guys like to use each pedal also what pedals would you recommend I get next? (i do plan to eventually sell the JH-1 as it was an impulsive purchase and don't think it suits me)
Thanks in advance :)

You seem to have a pretty good selection there. I would consider saving up for a tube amp instead of a bunch of pedals. IMO of course.

And welcome to the forum!

M

Welcome to the forum.

The DD5s dotted 8th note setting will be your best friend at church. Hillsong & others have made this sound a stay of most modern worship music. The great thing about the DD5 is it sounds good w/ dirt added.

I'd agree that your next purchase should really be a decent tube amp. As you've talked about church use I'd recommend something between 1-15 watts so it doesn't get too loud. This may seem low if you're used to solid state amps but trust me, 15 watts is more then enough for most church gigs.

The reason I say a tube amp should be the next purchase is that you'll get the most out off all your other gear.

I'd agree that your next purchase should really be a decent tube amp. As you've talked about church use I'd recommend something between 1-15 watts so it doesn't get too loud. This may seem low if you're used to solid state amps but trust me, 15 watts is more then enough for most church gigs.

The reason I say a tube amp should be the next purchase is that you'll get the most out off all your other gear.

A tube amp is definitely what I would suggest as well, you'll be amazed how much it makes your pedals sound different.

As far as the wattage, I have a Dr. Z Prescription Jr (18w) that I barely push past 3 if there's no singing involved. Go check out some different brands and find the one that fits you and your playing style. There are countless members on here that can point you in the right direction.

Welcome to the forum, it's full of great folks and a TON of gear knowledge.

I'm liking the speed at which people comment on posts here :)
Thanks for the feedback guys. Ive considered buying a tube amp but my parents are going to New York this year and pedals are so much cheaper over there then they are in New Zealand so i wanted to take the opportunity to purchase pedals.
As far as using tube amps go at school i use my friends AC30 as he leads the worship on acoustic, so i do have tube amps available for me to use without having to purchase one.

I'd also +1 for a good tube amp. The guitar and amp are your biggest components: if you're not happy with the basic sound no pedal will help. If you don't want to get a tube amp, then I'd suggest the Tech 21 Trademark 30: it can get some pretty tube-y sounds (especially if you use the hot Fender setting), and it has an XLR out if your music director wants to start running everybody direct through the PA - that's happened to me before.

A Vox AC30 is way overpowered for a church gig. You have to turn that sucker up to past 2 o'clock to get any real tone out of it.

Not sure what you're playing so I don't know if you need a heavy distortion sound. I'd try to get a semi-gritty tone from your amp and then use your guitar's volume knob to dial in the amount of gain you use. The Hotcake could then be used to take your sound over the top.

If you have a good sound tech and reasonable church sound system, let me take another direction - try a Tech21 British box direct into the PA. That will give you plenty of AC30 goodness without splitting your head open. You will be best served, IMHO, if you can have your own discrete mix. Might want to score a compressor, too.

One thing I would suggest, at least it works for me, add a good volume pedal at the end of the pedal train. Getting a balance of volume and OD in a church gig can be difficult, especially since you aren't allowed to bang around between songs getting your levels set. The volume pedal at the end lets you wind up the guitar and pedals for some drive and sustain and then keep the level under control.

My .02:

1. Low wattage tube amp Vox AC4, Night train, Pro or Blues Jr. Actually, anything over 10w can be too loud. I'd suggest NOT getting an AC15, AC30 or any amp that has "bright" channel/setting that can't be switched off (deluxe reverb RIs have this too). Makes ODs very fizzy, and probably worse than your SS Fender. The new AC15C1 has a normal channel that is more pedal friendly than the previous AC15CC1. Still damn loud though.
2. A second OD pedal (maybe even a dual function unit eg Fulldrive) that can stack with the hotcake - or maybe the double hotcake :cool:
3. Vol pedal for swells - Ernie Ball Jr has been serving me well for 4 years.
4. Maybe some sort of modulation. Trem is them most subtle, and my preference... Love my Danelectro Tuna Melt

One thing I would suggest, at least it works for me, add a good volume pedal at the end of the pedal train. Getting a balance of volume and OD in a church gig can be difficult, especially since you aren't allowed to bang around between songs getting your levels set. The volume pedal at the end lets you wind up the guitar and pedals for some drive and sustain and then keep the level under control.

YES!!! A volume pedal is your best friend in churches! I'd put it inbetween your dirt and delay tho. This let's you fade your leads in and out & gives a more "polished" feel to everything. It may take some practice but using a volume pedal to "fade" can really add a level of professionalism to a church set.

Also if you set your delay to have a generous amount of repeats you can get nice violin like "swells" that are very useful on slower songs. Like this:
HUfZNaUNCAE
You can do the same thing with single notes or try using a slide like this:
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James Duke (the electric guitar player from ^this video) is probably one of the best users of volume>delay players I've EVER heard!

Don't worry about if you see tubes or not when you look at the back of an amp. Worry about if the sound coming out of the speaker is pleasing to you or not.

Volume pedal is a great addition for the church stuff, and possibly a compressor.

I think that Delirious? and then Hillsongs were there at the origin of the contemporary worship genre. Both of them relied heavily on the U2 rhythm sound coming from The Edge. Learning the early U2 albums would go a long way in helping you develop your technique with those pedals... specifically the delay pedal. The dotted 8th note setting is your friend.

When I'm playing at church, instead of playing things that stand out and call attention to the electric guitar, I concentrate on trying to create a landscape of rhythm behind the vocals and acoustic guitar. That's where the volume pedal and delays come in.. and a splash of chorus sometimes too. If you're playing a Tele, the tone control is vital as well.

When I do get a lead, if it's in a major key, I'm thinking Eric Johnson in my head. If its in a minor key (which is rare).. I'm thinking David Gilmour. Basically... stay as melodic as I can.

Ive been looking at getting the Ernie Ball VP JR but haven't quite decided on it yet(it is a bit more on the expensive side as well :( ). I should probably add that i do have a cheap volume pedal that i bought off a site called TradeMe (similar to eBay but New Zealand only) for $30. Its served me well for the past year but is getting a bit dodgy now (you can see it in the 3rd picture left of the guitar sitting on top of some guitar leads)
For a second overdrive I've been looking at the Fulltone OCD which my friend has and says is very versatile, although i have not tried it myself. I wont be buying another hotcake anytime soon even though i absolutely love it, it still cost me $220(with discount from old music teacher) and i live in New Zealand and its produced here so is alot cheaper then anywhere else.
What type of compresser would you reccomend?? You walk into stores in New Zealand and they only have around 2 different compressors so alot of my purchasing will be done without trying them and then if i dont like them sell them.

Thanks for the tips TheGoodTexan i might try some of them out this sunday as im playing lead :) although i did have to research who Eric Johnson and David Gilmour were :P (your probably thinking "stupid naive youth" now :) )

The VPjr is a very sturdy volume pedal. I owned one for a while and I have no complaints about it at all. Built to last a very long time... unless you have HUGE feet, you'd should certainly be satisfied with it.

Compressor pedals are almost as personal as a drive pedal. Most of them can sound different in the hands of different players, simply due to the way your picking hand attacks the strings.

I've had great success with most of the basic compressors, and I like the MXR Dyna Comp a lot, as well as the Boss CS-1, CS-2 and CS-3 compressors. Right now I'm using a Marshal ED-1, which to my ears sounds similar to the Boss CS-3, but the controls seem to allow for more extreme settings.

Compressors can be sort of tricky, depending on what you're trying to do. I use mine for busy rhythm work, when I'm using delay... to sort of round out the "spikes" in volume and give me a bit of "puh" at the onset of the string attack.

I would never think anything negative about a young person trying to learn! If you care to do a little research on U2, check out The Edge's guitar work on the first 5 or 6 albums. In my opinion, this is the origin of the modern worship electric guitar tone...specifically War, The Unforgettable Fire, and The Joshua Tree. It's very easy for me to move from U2 to Eric Johnson in the middle of a song, with the pedals that we've talked about here.

How hard do you run your friend's ac30 at church? Mine never goes past 9 o'clock. haha. Nice set up you have there and welcome to the forum. Try checking out an australian pedal maker called mi audio.

http://www.mieffects.com/

They make a killer low-mid gain overdrive called the blue boy deluxe, among other great products. They also make a compressor which i've heard good reviews of. I'm thinking they would be more available and probably cheaper than other brands over there in N.Z.
As far as amps go for a church setting, i would also recommend the vox ac4. The other guitarist in my church band uses one and it works great.

Good luck