LIVE: Synth Pedals For Guitar / Q&A (with Nick!)

Today, Nick is taking over while Josh hikes the mountains of South Dakota. We show off some funky tones that can be created by synth pedals on guitar and answer some questions from our friends over on Patreon. Let us know in the comments what some of your favorite synth effects are!
www.thejhsshow.com/
www.jhspedals.info/
/ thejhsshow
Check out Nick's channel - Nix Tapes!
/ @nixtapes7867
Check out the gear in this and past episodes here:
reverb.com/c/jhs-pedal-picks?...
GUITAR
Black Fender Masterbuilt Strat
reverb.com/p/fender-custom-sh...
AMP
Milkman/JHS Loud is More Good
www.sweetwater.com/store/deta...
STRAP
Jayko - Shiba! Shiba! Shiba!
www.jaykco.com/shiba-shiba-shiba/
PEDALS
Seymour Duncan Fooz
reverb.com/p/seymour-duncan-f...
Boss TU2
reverb.com/p/boss-tu-2-chroma...
Meris Ottobit
reverb.com/p/meris-ottobit-jr...
DeadBeat Audio Echolation Station
DeadBeat Audio Modulation Station
Line 6 FM4
reverb.com/p/line-6-fm4-filte...
Digitech Space Station XP300
reverb.com/p/digitech-space-s...
Boss Synthesizer SY-1
reverb.com/p/boss-sy-1-synthe...
Electro-Harmonix Synth 9
reverb.com/p/electro-harmonix...
CABLES
D'addario Pedalboard Cable Kit
reverb.com/p/daddario-pw-pwrk...
D'addario XLR's
amzn.to/3hbDWyB
Ernie Ball Flat Ribbon Patch Cables Pedalboard - Multi Pack
amzn.to/3h3iBXU
MICROPHONES
Shure SM57
reverb.com/p/shure-sm57?_aid=...
Shure SM7B
reverb.com/p/shure-sm7b?_aid=...
Aston Stealth
reverb.com/p/aston-microphone...
Cloud Microphones Cloud Lifter
reverb.com/item/993349-cloud-...
CAMERAS & LENSES
Sony A7 iii
amzn.to/32pABHK
Sony 55mmSony Sonnar T* FE 55mm f/1.8 ZA Lens
amzn.to/3jcI0jA
Sony Sonnar T* FE 35mm f/2.8 ZA Lens
amzn.to/3eyQK09
Sony Vario-Tessar T* FE 24-70mm f/4 ZA OSS Lens
amzn.to/2OwKw6w
LIGHTING
Ikan Lyra LB5
amzn.to/3j3KHUR
Ikan Lyra 1x1
amzn.to/3h6gouR
GVM 800D-RGB
amzn.to/2C7Lzap
MISC
Shure SRH440
reverb.com/p/shure-srh440
Epiphan Video AV.IO 4K
amzn.to/3j6izjQ
Benro Tripods
amzn.to/2WsaXhR
Stream Deck
amzn.to/2DONgtK
Focusrite Scarlett 2i2
amzn.to/3h4WzUB
Macbook Pro 15"
Record Time:
Tennis - Swimmer
amzn.to/30c2nG8
#jhs #thejhsshow #jhsLIVE

[@chrismillett]

Crushed it as always, Nick!

[@younglobo]

Nick's an excellent, knowledgeable host for this stuff. Looking forward to more of these.

[@PendelSteven]

A synthesizer is a complicated instrument. Some of these pedals basicly make you signal an oscillator, which is the founding block of sound in a synthesizers. Others filter the sound, like we already do with wah & auto-wah. The complicated thing is that you can modulate a lot of parameters in a synth either by lfo - as you get in an auto-wah, going up an down automaticly, or a phaser/flanger - or an envelope, which most people know by the "sweeping" filtersound. Sometimes you do find synthesizer things like arpeggiated phaser in the Boss PH-3 "Step" mode, that's named for step sequencer, which sort of is the same / goes hand in hand with it at least. I could go on, but this gives an idea how "synth pedal" is a broad term, even broader than "modulation pedal".

[@brianmoffet7237]

Thank God they got rid of that Josh guy. *Team Nick*

[@hensfear]

About signal chain for Sy-1, Boss made the wise choice to put a signal loop in which you can manage an entire pedalbord dedicated to the guitar sound, without affecting the synth sounds. Using the output of the same loop you can also split the signal and send it to two different amps. I use it this way and I solved a brunch of problem I faced in the past.

[@jeffroalson1915]

Love you, Nick

[@Creed_fan_69]

I just scored a sy-1 and I couldn’t be happier with it. The sequencer sounds alone make it worth it. It has a mode for guitar and bass too ( I use it for bass) but some of the settings are different between guitar and bass settings, giving you even more sounds to fuck with. This thing rules.

[@JasonM96]

I had a Meris Enzo for a while. It is an outstanding pedal. I ended up selling it because I couldn't find a place for it in the context of our band (we have actual keyboard/synth when we need it), but it was a lot of fun to play. My one quibble with the pedal is that it gives a significant volume boost the more you turn the mix toward the synth sound, and the pedal doesn't have a volume knob.

[@Reprodestruxion]

Get the philosopher king, boss sy-1 and a sonuus g2m

[@DanielShrider]

I like the Synth 9 based on what I heard from this video. Thanks for showing us these.

[@sharpphilip]

Nice! I requested a “pedals for synth” (in all seriousness!) some time ago, and I’m excited I finally see one coming.

[@MikeNascimbeni]

Call Boss (or Gtr Center) and tell them they owe you a commission my friend! I already owned the Deadbeat Modulation Station (probably the best $100 [new] pedal I've ever bought) and after watching this video I decided that the SY-1 was an absolute necessity. Man, was it worth the money!!! I sat there and played with this thing last night for about 4 straight hours

[@OtherTheDave]

Starts at 3:10

[@michaeltan_]

cool you guys made a guitar fx for synths episode. I remember suggesting that on the fxs for drums episode. thats something to look forward to...

[@bajoypedales8992]

the cool thing about this pedals is that almost everyone have an expresion pedal input so your probabilities and limits are infinite.!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[@guiom77]

super live video !!!!! thanks

[@johnvcougar]

THANK YOU, Nick! I've been trying to track down that episode of Fame forever, because since I saw it in early 80s, that passionate speech by Bruno always stuck in my mind. Good to hear I wasn't the only one, and it started a life long passion for synthesis that remains with me today. Nice one! Can you recall which episode it actually was ... pretty PLEASE!?

[@johnvcougar]

6:54 Bruno Martelli talking Dinosaur Tracks with Mr Shorofsky, the music director.

[@markhammer643]

I have a Casio MG-510, which is a pretty standard '80s H-S-S "Superstrat", but also has what I assume is a Roland GK-1 or 2 pickup and puts out MIDI directly, in addition to normal guitar sounds. That lets me plug it directly into any MIDI tone generator and wail away. One of the things I have been eager to try is the recent Korg NTS-1 synth kit that has some great sounds and some great effects as well. It's mono, but that never stopped Jan Hammer. I also have mono MIDI-to-CV unit that I can use with the Casio, and have been building analog modules for a modular synth to use with it. An underappreciated pedal that does not pitch itself as a synth pedal, but can easily be used as one is the EHX Attack Decay. It lets you modify the swell/attack and fade/decay times of the guitar polyphonically, such that each string has its own envelope. It doesn't track pitch like a *true* synth pedal would but once you've mapped an envelope onto the notes, you're pretty much halfway to synthesis. Classic guitar synthesis would always require a special pickup, usually divided. Apart from the additional bulkiness of the extra cable, the chief complaint about guitar synths was the latency. The circuitry took a few milliseconds to register the pitch of the note/s being picked, as well as demanding clear clean picking, and that tended to impose a certain approach to picking. Contemporary synth pedals have managed to overcome both of these hurdles, by allowing the player to use a normal guitar with normal pickups and a normal cable, with digital circuitry doing the pitch encoding, often polyphonically, and doing so with negligible latency. Part of that no-latency is that nothing has to be converted to MIDI code and then converted from MIDI code to tones. Finally, I own an obscure pedal from the late '60s or early '70s - a Guild Tri-Oct - that is kind of the missing link between fuzzboxes and the first guitar synths. It uses a proprietary divided pickup that feeds 6 independent octave dividers. Three sliders let you blend in the amount of octave-down, fuzz, and normal signal you want. Unfortunately, the hex pickup was about the size of a P90, which meant it couldn't be snuggled up against the bridge like later Roland GK-1/2/3 pickups. This led to a lot of bleedthrough from adjacent strings and poor tracking. To be fair, given the era, the units probably anticipated medium heavy gauge strings that wouldn't be bent.

[@supermonkeycollider]

GAHHHHH got in first - curse my typo on Pierre !! grats to the winner!

[@jasoneskridge6453]

have long wanted to see JHS do guitar pedals for synths plz!

[@shoseinen]

I love the Line6 FM4!

[@jimmoulton9878]

nice job Nick, Jim

[@gaboquintana3628]

...actually today i put a synth sound from Ableton live trough the SY-1 and it sounded great !!

[@ardiris2715]

A synth pedal has an oscillator that is pitched according to the note played on the guitar. The better synth pedals can track the pitch through string bends and vibratos, as well as follow the volume dynamics.

[@levijessegonzalez3629]

What Audio interface / mic pres do you use to record your stuff???

[@Slava_Burl]

Yeah! Synth thing in line6 the best!

[@julientrez]

In the band Deadsy there's a guy who's doubling the guitar lines using a midi guitar controller (a Ztar) into a synth (Roland JP-8080) in sawtooth mode with stereo out going to two Boss FZ-2. Is there a way to simulate something like that by splitting a single guitar signal into a synth pedal? I mean the distorted guitar in a amp on one side and the guitar through a synth pedal on the other side. And what would be the best synth pedal (and also the cheapest... Yeah, I'm broke) to do that trick? Thanks!

[@yohnsvain9651]

Understood. My apologies if I came across as a “hater” or overly critical. Keep up the great work y’all do!

[@peterwelsh1932]

Wanted that Purple for years. I think because I got to see several shows up close to Buckethead and he was just killing it. From the Purple to the nunchucks to the Robot. now that I’m old, maybe I’m more of a green? WhoTF knows?

[@jonbarwick5946]

Where’s the new Boss MD-500/200?! 😱 they have great organic sounding organ sounds as well as synthy sub bass sounds that will get you in the Pog territory as well. I think aside from the Pog, was the only ones I felt were left out! All in all interesting episode!!

[@mgscheue]

And now Korg has a reissue of the ARP 2600. Just saw a video of someone putting his guitar signal into a Buchla 208c, too.

[@jimthecraftyguitarist878]

Nick have you tried the Pigtronix Mothership 2? I think you could make some amazing tones with it.

[@tone1798]

Yes, I have and need the box❤️🤟🏼 it is the .... ..

[@Reprodestruxion]

I do guitar parts via Ableton through guitar rig when I want to sound like the edge or Robin Guthrie

[@markwilliams142]

Pierre! I wish I had seen this live!

[@Reprodestruxion]

Also check out the gristleliser as improved by Chris Carter for Throbbkng Gristle

[@Karlol100]

Nate Mercereau’s album Joy Techniques is a wicked example of delicious guitar synth tones!! Pretty sure he uses a Roland GR300 à la Pat Metheny

[@drloqutis2492]

Ok synth novices 1- chorus all ways good 2- delay yes 3- additional modulation - yes 4 - overdrive distortion - optional 5- compare sound to actual synth sounds 6- run stereo if possible 7- Does the pedal respond like an analog synth or a digital synth? very important it will change the way you attack the strings 8- You also may want to try the GR-20 great entry level guitar synth used prices rock 9- The VG series also has synth sounds 10 - Get weird while jamming

[@Reprodestruxion]

Dr Loqutis *volume pedal and a sonuus g2m and the new Roland Ju-20 module

[@drloqutis2492]

@@Reprodestruxion i like it

[@Reprodestruxion]

Manzanera through Eno’s VCS EMS

[@KunchangLeeMusic]

Love that ottobit

[@funkyfurballs1078]

It's actually a secret fuzz pedal!

[@hoagyguitarmichael]

Source Audio C4

[@MadelnMachines]

Damn it. I misread this as guitar pedals for synths

[@fraknoise8523]

I like the JHS video's a lot, most of the time. Because there is a lot of solid knowledge behind whatever is presented. Sorry to see this time that was a bit less, since this is a subject dear to my heart. I have some synth pedals and synth guitars, amongst those the Digitech Space Station, and I think it was not done justice. I know that sounds geeky, but it is a geeky pedal. First of all, it was not played dry, so for the newbees, it was not clear what was the Space station and what not. The constant crunch and wahwah is not the Digitech. Second: the pedal is crucial for playing it, without using it it doesn't do much you can't do with anything else. And last, it would be nice if the effects would have been explained for what they are, not how Digitech choose to call them. So that would be pitchshifting and chorus, delay, ringmodulation and autoswell. For every preset the expression pedal does something. For example with the delay settings at some presets it changes the delaytime over a wide range, and at some (zero) point it reverses the delay and speeds it up again. A mindblowing effect to hear. The statement about the Digitech it was designed with guitar in mind: yes it was. But you can put everything through it, with succes depending on your aim. But I like the channel very much (that's why I bother to react) so keep up the good work!!! Allard (the Netherlands)

[@Ottophil]

I wanna hear a song with synthisized guitars and guitarized synths

[@wolfofthecave75]

As a guitarist and Synth player, I feel I would have brought peace and knowledge though out the galaxy in the 80s. 🌌👨‍🎤🎸🎹

[@mcbrodz1663]

New Order did tbf

[@wolfofthecave75]

MC Brodz yeah but lets be honest Summer ain’t no Robert Smith or Johnny Marr on guitar

[@Reprodestruxion]

Then there’s interfacing guitar through eurorack with an audio input and patched through clouds

[@zippy-zappa-zeppo-zorba-etc]

Josh: he has the box

[@s.w.matteo6679]

The Enzo rules.

[@tonezone111]

The Keyboard players had their rise in the 80's, but, when it came to looking cool, the best they could do was the Keytar. So naturally, just like the dinosaurs... Doesn't matter what sounds keys can make, they will never be truly rock 'n roll. So it makes sense to bring the sounds to the cool Instrument. C'mon, fight me, keyboard players 😉

[@Reprodestruxion]

Gr300 and analogue cv control /pcm through guitar pedals.Plus the fairlight. Shit changed with the dx7 and emulator , music got a bit dead till shoegaze and noise

[@creamydistortion]

Billy Joel looked pretty awesome spazzing out on the piano...

[@Reprodestruxion]

Apparently never seen the haken continuum , Laurie Anderson or a Buchla

[@valvenator]

It's always funny to see a keyboard player holding down a note with a pained look on his face like he's Stevie Ray Vaughn bending a 13 gauge E string up 2 steps :)

[@creamydistortion]

@@valvenator HAHAHA!!! Dude, when I used to do 5-hour shows on acoustic piano, I'd wake up the next day and I couldn't make a fist, my hands were sore. Piano is a full-contact sport... It's an 800lb instrument. Smoke weed.

[@redcomn]

Idk man all I've used for synth is roland. Currently running sy1000

[@mykhedelic6471]

Truth be told, it would be cool if someone at that level was "overdubbing" something gonzo and beautiful with synthesizer instrumentation. There were some great scores out there and all that, don't get me wrong, but I don't feel like we ever got our Bach or Tchaikovsky out of synthworld-- a highly tuneful, full, lushly, thoroughly and carefully arranged series of works.

[@alanthompson3493]

Good show, but Nick needs to speak up!. He sometimes seems to drift off almost to whispering, and then I can't understand what he's saying, when watching on my phone with the volume up all the way. Other than that, an interesting video.

[@michaelbreach5862]

the synth settings on the space station are meant to be swelled in with the volume pedal.. it sounds a bit wonky when you just play notes with the pedal all the way down... took me a while to figure that out. Thanks for showing this pedal off to the world.. the resale value just went up ;)

[@Reprodestruxion]

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart would have worked for Spitfire Audio >.>

[@michaeltan_]

Synths gotta be first? via Don Buchla and Bob Moog. At least in a musical context?

[@zippy-zappa-zeppo-zorba-etc]

They did OD and fuzz first. I would never do that because they compress the sound, and a lot of the synth pedals depend on an uncompressed signal to get the most from them. That said I'm going to be looking for a Boss synth now

[@xebio6]

There was a time when rock fundamentalists thought it was a good idea to stamp a "No keyboards were used in the making of this album" sticker on the cover... Go figure.

[@stephenv6054]

You have a trem or auto wah on during the XP 300. You have not given this pedal true justice.

[@sweettoof9002]

That Boss synth pedal is the cat’s pj’s.

[@Palefirecreative]

Excitebike - some of you heard it.

[@pyramydseven]

KCMO!!

[@jeffb5798]

You should checkout the Adrenalinn

[@jamiegustkey2573]

Talk about the mic you're using... I saw the last one Josh did and was thinking about the mic then- what is that? Looks and sounds great! 👍🏻 PS- wasn't EMF using the keys like rocking out? I guess so was reznor and then Depeche mode... Not that they were 'rocking' with them but as far as playing the keys like Jerry Lee Lewis goes EMF and NIN walloped on the keys-😂 And of course there's this- which counts: kzbin.info/www/bejne/Z3PGkqGbicZ3pZY

[@Biffinnbridge]

Love your perfectly spherical head and at least you’re ok in the eyebrows department, unlike someone we know. Those pedals are the shit, in the oldest meaning of that phrase. Ye get me Skip? Hope Josh is alright after his operation.

[@brianmoffet7237]

My new band: Bionic Space Frogs

[@ArtyShat]

Should have used Meris Enzo instead.

[@Wildman9]

Pierre. Where's my pedal.Lol.?👍

[@Creed_fan_69]

Also how did fm-4’s become rarer than hens teeth?

[@RealGingerTea]

I feel like the sovtek episode is taking so long because he doesn't have the box.

[@handicappedhoods]

I wish the audio wasn’t like 10 seconds out of sync😗

[@austinrx2014]

Bionic space frogs, all day. 🙂

[@bramabull111]

Does Josh know you broke into his home

[@daerganguy7504]

Bismark

[@Wildman9]

Pierre.

[@veerchasm1]

I loved you in Stand By Me and Star Trek: Next Generation!

[@mtlbstrd]

LOL! Thank you, I was thinking he looked like Wil Wheaton too. Almost identical to him as Sheldon’s nemesis in Big Bang Theory

[@markhammer643]

Anyone who thinks there was animosity between guitar and synth players over anyone cutting in to the other's territory clearly doesn't know the wonderful rapport between John McLaughlin and Jan Hammer in the Mahavishnu Orchestra (that I had the pleasure of seeing twice in the early '70s), or between Steve Howe and Rick Wakeman in Yes, or any of a number of bands that had both guitar virtuosos and synth players. More recently, we see many guitar virtuosos like Pat Metheny and Allan Holdsworth moving to guitar synths as a complement to keyboard players.

[@danielpirone8028]

While I love Nick - I was hoping for for history and background. This was very focused on surface level impressions - which is fine for folks getting started. Perhaps a guest to do a v2 ?

[@bobstar76]

🎸🎛🎛🎚🎛🎛🎚🎛🎚🎚🎛🎛🎚 🎚🎚🎛🎚🎛🎛🎚🎚🎚🎛🎛🎚 🎹🎹🎹🎹🎹🎹🎹🎹🎹🎹🎹🎹

[@Wildman9]

In the case of the Ottobit, it's probably best to read the instructions. LOL.😱

[@MatthewSahlgren]

Still pretty low volume output...

[@videomove]

😴

[@Wildman9]

That Keeley Syth1 sounds like a rockingchair rocking on not just a catstail but also a dogstail with a little chicken cackle. Good Lord help us.Please Josh never make a pedal like that.Lol.🎸✌😎

[@peatbogfaierie]

Nick ! bin Josh ! he's a waste of time! lol!

[@TheDeadStretch]

I guess you guys didn't hear that Deadbeat Sound has stopped making pedals and is willing to Sell the brand? instagram.com/p/CCqvCAun3Fj/ "My names Doug and it’s been my absolute pleasure supplying you guys with cheap pedals. I’ve completely lost my passion for pedals and music so I’ve moved on to focus just on marketing. I’d love for this to go into good hands. If you are interested at all please DM or email me at [e-mail] and send me an offer."

[@yohnsvain9651]

Nick is obviously a nice fellow, but when I saw the vidi title I was excited to watch something that was a bit more informative. Dialing up three or four sounds on the Space Station (and to not include the Meris Enzo) What?! The lack of any in depth knowledge or history of these pedals made this a thumbs down. And did Josh take the production values with him? My apologies if all these seems a bit harsh, it’s just that I’ve so immensely enjoyed the JHS videos that I hoped this one would deliver on a genre of pedals that are near and dear.

[@darrendewolfe3947]

I consider these live videos adjunct to the”regular” ones so I’m not too concerned with the overall production. I had given up hope there was ever going to be anything on synth pedals until I came across this so I was happy to view it for what it is. I agree an Enzo would’ve been a nice addition. Here’s hoping a formal episode will be coming some day in the near future.

[@MxTape77]

He kind of looks like Dr. Strange

[@guitargodkelly]

Nick does not do his job very well; he demos these synth pedals with an annoying modulation engaged. Modulation/chorus is fine but why is mod speed cranked up? It has a tremolo effect, masking the pedal he is demoing, good grief. Please do this video again, and do it right next time.

[@gameguy01]

Starts at 3:09