Adding Labels to the Line 6 Helix

I've been fumbling about wiring things up on my Helix as I usually play this on a dark stage. I usually need to lean over and peek at where I need to connect cables, and I've had enough of it! Fortunately, I have a label maker, and it doesn't look too bad from afar.

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Integrating the Line 6 M5 with the Mothership

The challenge was set before me. I knew that I wanted to replace my old combo Boss DD-7/PS-6 pedal for something a lot more versatile: the Line 6 M5, which is the swiss army knife of pedals, and has the potential for some amazing MIDI integration for preset switching with my Disaster Area DMC-8D, which can control up to four devices (currently at three because of the Strymon pedals).

However, as it is with all challenges, several circumstances were not ideal:

1. My pedalboard layout was fixed for the combo pedal, which was housed in an enclosure much smaller than the M5.
2. I will probably have to re-route some of the power and cabling to accommodate the top jacks of the M5. On my combo pedal, the in/out jacks were traditionally left/right.
3. I needed an extra MIDI cable to hook it all up, and it wasn't a long cable.

Aside from orientation and layout issues, I soon discovered that the biggest problem with the M5 is that the MIDI out is not a MIDI thru--it has to be the last device in a MIDI chain as it will only accept MIDI in commands!

At first, I tried to make do with the pedal in this weird orientation and the MIDI cable being quite haphazardly placed. It looked unprofessional, and it wasn't long before my disdain for disorder kicked in. I needed the cabling to look neat!

On the issue of orientation, if I flipped the M5 about, I had to extricate a power cable from the existing cable tie run. I found a set of black zip ties from my old Pedaltrain builds, cut the old cable ties off so I could re-run the power cable to the opposite side, and re-set the cable run with new zip ties. They're black in color, so at least the differences between Goodwood's cable tie runs and mine don't look too different.

With an improvised pedal riser, I managed to elevate the M5 so that the cable runs would be hidden by its imposing size.

I then had to reset the MIDI cable jack orientation. I have some experience in this as I got a MIDI cable from Disaster Area, who use BTPA cables. A flathead screwdriver and a good twist later, I managed to get both MIDI in and out cables from my Big Sky looking right.

Remember, the MIDI out on the M5 is not a MIDI thru!

Yes, this looks much better.

Check out my original rig-rundown post on my Goodwood Audio setup here.

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Pedaltrain Nano Adventures for Christmas 2017 ("Last One", said No One Ever)

"Last Pedaltrain purchase, I promise."

"Yes, I'll change to the PT Junior, and ditch the PT Nano. I need the larger real estate."

I'm guilty of making empty promises. My wife knows me better. She knew that I wouldn't last half a month without my itchy fingers needing to tweak or change something up. Now that I've recently purchased a Canon 5D Mark II, I need to Purge some gear to fuel the camera Urge. Purge and Urge.

This iteration of the PT Nano sees a squeezing of 8 pedals, with the following signal path:

1. Hotone Soul Press
2. Hotone Komp
3. Xotic SL Drive
4. ZVEX Double Rock
5. GFI Clockwork V2
6. Hotone Tuner
7. GFI Specular V2
8. Mooer Micro DI

I built this with the following in mind:

1. I wanted a variety of drives in case the Double Rock was too limiting in any way. The SL is a bright and punchy pedal, which can shine through certain amps.
2. I wanted a dedicated DI box on my board with cabinet simulation for direct-to-board cases. For too long have I showed up at a venue only to find a sub-par DI box and no amps. With the Mooer, it's not the top of the line, but it gets the job done and I haven't had anyone come up to me after a show commenting that my "amp tone" was bad.
3. I wanted to double this as my acoustic rig. I'll obviously be avoiding the SL drive, but the Double Rock has clean boosts in it (identical SHO circuits on both sides), which may be useful to add volume to my passive acoustic pickup. With the acoustic, I'll mostly be using the Specular for those pad-like drones.
4. I wanted a lightweight solution to pack into a Mono Tick. No matter how hard I try to use a larger rig, I always come back to my Tick. It's the ideal size and weight for frequent travelling and gigging.

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Bring Me to Life: Trying NYXL on a Les Paul

The new string feeling is amazing. I took a break from essay writing by trying on a set of D'Addario NYXL strings. I had wanted to try a low tuning to play stuff from A Perfect Circle. As much as they aren't a good influence in terms of lyrical antithesis to my Christian faith, James Iha and Billy Howerdel are geniuses at crafting intricate but simple guitar lines.

My plan to play in Standard C# failed. As it turns out, the string tension when top-wrapping a Les Paul drops significantly, to the point that I didn't need to crank my tuners that much to raise the strings to pitch. At Standard C#, the strings were flappy and had very little tension, feeling like 8's and had a terrible time staying in tune.

I raised the pitch to Standard Eb, and it was a much better experience.

Oh well. Lesson learnt: I’ll try out 13 gauge and drop tune that next time!

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Pedalboard Adventures November 2017: Building with the JPS

Alas, I have fallen into the trap of building/tearing-down/rebuilding pedalboards. I put together the following builds with the spare "big format" pedals that I had.

This one with an improved outboard application: as my DD-7 rehouse has dual mono outputs, I placed this last in the chain, with one output split to the Joyo AC Tone for direct-to-board, and a dedicated mono output to amp.

The LS-2 was functioning as a tuner split and a buffered input.

Here was a trial of Mark I. The Timmy sounded too shrill into our sanctuary's PA system, regardless of how low I set the treble.

I still wanted more control over the pedals and wanted to avoid the tap dancing. Enter the  build with the Disaster Area DPC-8EZ, which has a buffered input, a tuner mute, and most importantly, preset capability.

Complete with the Palmer DI for direct-to-board applications and a pick tin, I think I'm set! Now to try this rig out at the next rehearsal.

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How to Get Great Sounding Volume Swells (Electro-harmonix Freeze)

The Electro-harmonix (EHX) Freeze is one of those pedals that's really quirky. I didn't know how to use it in the context of my music, until I saw one on Jon Carolino's board and wondered how he could achieve epic-sounding volume swells.

Part of the secret, I believe, is to use the Freeze as an infinite sustainer so that the chord to be processed by the delay and reverb effects has much more volume than just a normal swell. I've recorded a video detailing how I've used the Freeze, including its placement above the volume pedal (in which case, you'll also need a small volume pedal, like the AMT Little Loud Mouth).


Check out the Amazon link above to get yourself a Freeze!

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Ministry Musings: Adapting Your Tone for a School Hall Environment

I was asked to serve at this year's youth camp, which led to the building of this Pedaltrain Junior board to ensure maximum compatibility with any sound system I was going to plug into. I gladly took it up considering my dosage of vitamin M (for music) has been quite low for the year. I know, what with my worship leading commitments, I should have a healthy dosage of vitamin M since I serve twice a month at Contemporary Service.

It's different. As a musician, I get to focus on my guitar parts, the tone from the effects, and the expression of emotion as I play. My task as a worship leader forces me to push all that musical awareness to the back. I have to worry about how the songs gel with the rest of the service, liturgically and musically. I have to make sure I'm directing the band to play in a certain way, that my vocals aren't distracting (as I'm not much of a singer), and that the scripture I read and prayers I lead point the congregation in a particular direction.

That aside, this post is primarily about adapting to various sound environments. Specifically, let's address the issue of serving in a school hall.

I served with Jeremy and his worship team for their first morning session, and I was immediately greeted with a technical problem: the sound system made everything sound muffled, especially when amplified through a school hall. A school hall, with tall ceilings, sonorous floors and glass doors, will have some crazy long reverberation that will colour your guitar tone. The goal is to make everything crips, clear, and clean, allowing the hall environment to accentuate your tone, rather than muffle it.

I did a few things on the board to try and be as clear and articulate as possible:

1. Cut out all short reverb effects, including long background delays. I usually have a mild reverb coupled with a long delay with a low mix to cushion my tone in the background. In our usual worship space, which is a cinema hall, instruments tend to sound too dry (think of a studio environment).
2. Tweak the EQ on pedals to cut out the low end and boost the mids. I did this on my "pre-drive" pedal, a CMATmods Signa Drive, and the tone controls on the Hotone Komp compressor, which has a sparkle switch and a tone knob.
3. Use digital delays instead of analog-style delays. I have a DD-7 which has a crispy clean digital mode, a much more desirable sound over the rest of my analog delays on the board (a Strymon Brigadier, and an Earthquaker Devices Dispatch Master). The natural reverb of the hall will colour the repeats of my digital delay anyway.

In the end, I was only using at most 5 of the 15 pedals on my board, but that is precisely the point--I designed the board to have maximum compatibility with any sound situation I was placed in. If I only had 5 pedals, I'd have to make do with the tone that I have, and won't have any leeway to tweak.

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Recommended Gear for Beginner Electric Guitarists (TC Electronic/December 2016)

This page is written primarily for my guitar students who want to get themselves some gear but have no idea where to start, but if you're here browsing, do feel free to check out the links below!

Some things to let you know before you peruse these links:

1. I tried to make it as simple as possible for you by compiling all the links together from one shop. I love Amazon and it's the simplest way to shop online.
2. The total cost of this rig will be under $500, which may sound like a lot of money, but I assure you the tone is 100% more satisfying than getting a multi-effects unit that you may spend hundreds of hours on to get one workable tone out of.
3. You don't necessarily have to buy everything at once. If cash is an issue, build your rig piece-wise. That's the great thing about analog--your rig is as small or as big as your needs are.

Pedaltrain Nano


OneSpot Power Supply


Hosa Patch Cables


TC Electronic Spark Mini Booster


TC Electronic MojoMojo Overdrive


TC Electronic Dark Matter Distortion


TC Electronic Flashback Mini Delay


TC Electronic Hall of Fame Mini Reverb


TC Electronic Ditto Looper



Some videos to show you what you can do with these:

I hope this helps!

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