The Synthesist's Guide to Guitar Pedals 1 // Power, Stereo, & Levels
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- čas přidán 27. 07. 2024
- It's finally here, we finally made it. This first one is boring, but it needs to be here for me to reference back to.
I'm considering one every other week, or maybe every third, but they will be coming regularly, rest assured. Feedback with determine how the rest of this is filmed / edited, so let me know.
A few insightful things I wish I had mentioned, the used market on pedals is amazing, you can find stuff locally no matter where you are, and a lot of the mid-tier stuff does an excellent job for way less money.
0:00 Intro / Goals
4:32 Powering Your Pedals
11:47 What is Stereo, REALLY
16:03 Watch Your Levels
21:15 Outro
All of the sound examples in the very beginning are from my other Videos :
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Resonant Screams Chapter 2: • Resonant Screams // Ch... - Hudba
This has been a topic that I’ve been pretty disappointed with content availability on CZcams. Thank you so much for doing this. I have a hard time not playing any of my synths through at the very least a reverb pedal nowadays. Looking to expand my knowledge with drive, distortion and chorus effects. Was a drummer most of my life so I didn’t bring any knowledge of effects when I started on synths.
Cheers, I agree that there wasn't nearly enough coverage. Happy to do it, so much possibility for sound design.
same bro, nearly no content at all on youtube! 🙏
It's not CZcams's job to try things for you. You can go out and buy a pedal yourself !
@@FabioRodrigues-xs8vf Calm down bro, you’re projecting.
@@MPrint67 what am I projecting? I am sufficiently calm.
First pedal I bought was a cheap metal distortion, cause I grew up loving heavy metal, and I wanted my synth to sound mean. Then discovering concept of an octaver blew my mind. Then I picked up an amazon branded compressor to put some kind of limit on my levels. I'd love to learn lots more about using fx with synths!
You're in the right spot, all to come. Cheers
Nice intro to the series...can't wait for the rest! I would like to add that it is VERY important to double check the output of any wall wart of age or question of origin. I buy a lot of vintage gear and its always good to double check. I check mine every few years whether i need to or not. I have a dozen old wall warts that say one voltage and either put out less or in most cases more and that can wreak havoc on your equipment . I bought a really nice rack mount processor for nothing because the unit was freaking out after being used in certain environments because the wall wart read that it put out 12V.....in reality it was 18.8 v!!!!!!! Take it from an old timer, be smart and get a cheap multi meter and verify your wall warts labels,your gear will thank you!
Good tip! And probably something I should do more often, considering how often I just roll with random old power supplies. trusting the label.
Some of the older wall warts I measured show a much higher voltage when not under load. So keep that in mind. You will only measure the actual voltage when the wall wart is already connected to your pedal.
@@GotYourWallet degradation of old components under load or not under load is still internal component degradation and warrants scrutiny of said questionable components.
Congrats on starting this series. This episode was super informative, and I'll be excited for each additional episode!
Cheers thank you! I'm very excited to get the next one out
The uncontrollable excitement when you introduce the video at 2:37! This is why I love your channel. Feels genuine like a hang-out but has depth way beyond what I could ever utilize.
thanks for putting this together. was fun to watch and helped a lot! cheers 🎹🎶
Amazing content!! Already looking forward to the next video. Keep up the great work.
🙏🙏🙏always working on more, cheers
Thanks for what you do man, really appreciate the time and effort you put into this.
🙏🙏🙏Future episodes are gonna be killer can't wait
Thank you Jorb! Largest hits on my search in this department yielded very overly basic and beginner takes on the subject. You nailed the sweet spot of nuance and technical knowledge along with the wisdom of "just turn it down" much appreciated
Yes!! It dropped!! Been looking forward to this one!!
Happy to hear that. I'm happy with it, more to come!
Nice job sir, very helpful! I wasn't sure if it was normal that I had to turn one of my synths waaaaay down to keep the pedal from sounding crunchy, and you confirmed for me that I'm not crazy and turning down the synth is the right way to go. Please continue the series!
Glad it helped! That's exactly the sort of thing I wanted to clear up. I sure will!
The algorithm did right by me bringing me here! Awesome video and as someone w kids around, I appreciate the synth swell to keep the language clean. Cheers, man
Algorithm did us both right! lol
Cheers, watch out for some of the others though, I do openly swear in those, hahaaa
Just subscribed, and I haven't watched the other parts yet. Thanks for putting this together.
Great knowledge. This is a whole world and you are exploring it.
Cheers, happy to share!
Great job! And that BD-2 sounds sick with the minilogue
Cheers! Unironically, the BD-2 changed my life
Your narration is soothing, educational, and I am looking forward to the rest of this series.
Cheers, really appreciate that. I'm looking forward to it as well!
@@JorbLovesGear been digging your increased content flow, but the quality is really what has brought me back the past few weeks.
@@roryjineffect 🙏🙏been putting in work, cheers thank you
I am really enjoying your content. And I give you props for how you decided to setup you camera/angle/mic . You are not only informative but fun to watch.
🙏🙏🙏Appreciate all that
Nailed it. Looking forward to the next one!
🙏🙏🙏Honestly me too lol
Very helpful video, look forward to the next one!
🙏Cheers, working on more!
A few other things in line first, but it is coming
Possibly the first video I've seen that explains what those little diagrams on power inputs mean. Thanks!
Now you have the power to know which random supplies are useful to you, weild it wisely
How I remember Volts vs Amps: Volts Very Vital. Amp Appreciate Accuracy.
Golden age of Syntheziers indeed. Pre-CZcams era, I think I would be lost cause I don't have any synth-head friends to help me learn, manuals don't teach you how to Connect a Zoom Livtrack into a HydraSynth and sync clocks between a deluge and minifreak.....
Thank you Jorb! Another great and very informative video.
🙏🙏Proud of it
Cheers, answered a few questions I’ve been struggling to find much info on. Subbed!
Happy to , cheers!
This popped up at just the right time for me. I’m in the process of “pro pedalboarding” my cased synth rig. It uses 9 pedals for 7 synths, a drum machine, a mixer, and a sequencer all going into one case 88key gator piano flight case. I was tired of the rats nest of cables. I hope you get into cable management techniques in a future episode because this can of worms gets messy.
That sounds like a hell of a setup.
Dude your videos are SUPER helpful for me, thank you!!
This is just what I was lookin' for, thanks homie
Enjoy it fam
Nice! Look forward to part 2.
Me too lmao
This is phenomenal stuff. Thanks!
Extremely useful! Than you for talking so much good/needed knowledge 💪
You are one of our the most proficient CZcamsr I subscribe to. More than that you do such a great job of explaining in a way that makes your subjects understood and approachable by a wife range of consumers. Dude! Stop apologizing for marketing yourself. The more money you make the more we get to listen to you. Hopefully. Love your channel. Thank you for the consistently interesting and useful content.
Do you Patreon? I would support your channel for sure.
No patreon yet, but soon! I want to have something to offer, thinking about it a lot.
Eventually!
This video is great and I’m only part way through!
Been playing guitar for 30 years and got deeper into pedals over the last 3 years, beginning a slippery slope into synths…
I’ve also found alternate uses for stereo pedals I never bought them for, like the EHX pulsar tremolo, can be an effective signal splitter when bypassed.
I’m also plenty psyched to see the cs9 here, I bought a vintage one as a guitarist and am now using it on synths and loving it.
Looking forward to using it to “stereo-ise” my nymphes when it arrives.
Subbed and excited to follow your videos dude!
Enjoyed this, my takeaway is that you do things by trying and listening. Which is what I do... what a relief
Really needed this! Thanks!!
🙏happy to help!
Eyyy, this is really appreciated. I was looking into pedals but have no good idea about their specificities.
Cheers, hope this was helpful!
While primarily a guitar player, I've been using pedals with my MicroFreak, including delay, ambient/octave reverbs, vibrato, etc., with good results. Great to see the Rubberneck in use and looking forward to future episodes. Subbed.
Cheers, appreciate it. Yeah, microfreak really comes alive with even just a delay or a reverb.
so good, thank you jorb!
3 minutes in and I'm all about it! I was given a Baldwin Discoverer 50 awhile back and it just screams bloody murder with the addition of my Electro Harmonix Holy Stain with an expression pedal hooked up in series. The possibilities are sick. Greetings from New Mexico!
Excelent video. Waiting for the next and tank you for your work.
Much appreciated. More to come, and i really want to be sure i get it right!
Great vid Jorb!
Ah cheers, nice to see you here!
Excited to work on the rest of the series 🙏🙏
Gosh knows why you've only just 7k subs. You're so pleasant and informative and entertaining.
KEEP AT IT!
Or don't. As long as you're happy, dude.
Oh, I will certainly be keeping at it. Cheers, glad to have ya.
Love the video! A good stereo delay/ reverb pedal I use for my Roland Alpha Juno is Earthquaker Devices Avalanche Run. Preserving that stereo chorus for me in synths is crucial.
I have and love that pedal. I also have the Dispatch Master and, yes, even though it sounds better ... the Avalanche Run has that sweet sweet expression input and yes ... stereo inputs and outputs. I gotta say that I use the Digitech Polara more for stereo reverbs however.
This comes like one month after I started buying a few of the cheap Behringer clones and trying them out on my few synths and also on the DIY modular it working on since some time....
Really eager to see more of these episodes soon.
This is exactly what I wanted to see. Thank you, looking forward to the next episodes.
Would also appreciate some personal opinions on what kind of effects you think works the best for synths, and why you would choose to do things with pedals instead of VST:s.
As I go through the individual effect types, I'll try and make recommendations for stuff at a few different price ranges.
Looking forward to watching this.
🙏🙏Hope I deliver!
Great work! This was a much needed video on the subject 🤗
🙏🙏🙏High key, I can't wait to do the next one
Another great video Jorb. Looking forward to the next episode already. My first synth was a CZ-1000 and then my next synths SH-101, MC-202 & Pro-One none of them had in built FX either, probably because they were at the budget end of the market. I guess you could say I learnt the necessity of external FX the hard way.
Guitars, drums, flutes and tubas don't have built in FX ... why are synth players so demanding? 😆
Cheers, thank you! Yeah, I think synthesizer sounds really open up with even just a bit of reverb
Very nice info. Thanks. I have started to use a patch bay for my guitar pedals on my synths.
Great video! I came at this from the angle of playing guitar first, and you said everything that I was hoping you would say! Excited for the other parts of the series, those should be more unfamiliar ground for me.
Also Big Muffs sound real good with synthesizers, I have the Tone Wicker Big Muff and the extra tone options are super useful, also sounds great on drum machines too!
get a Fuzz Factory!! xD
@@HazeAnderson For synths? Haven't thought of that before, but that would be crazy!
@@emmarossignol4445 YASS! who needs voltage SAG when you have and know how to use a Fuzz Factory!! xD
Great video awesome synth tones
Thank you sir! Proud of it, proud of em
Dig the talk about a mixer w/aux channels, this is my preferred setup. Can't wait for the rest of this series!
I'm trying to think of enough for a whole episode about stuff like that, the flexibility of a mixer.
Don't quite have enough, but think I can come up with something
@@JorbLovesGear Sounds dope my dude, looking forward to anything/everything! I think the biggest benefit for me is the ability to leave all of my synths plugged into my mixer and have that flexibility of the aux channel(s) to mix in my FX with whatever synth I want or even record the pedals separately. I also like having decent preamps too given that my interface is a bit...budget
Fantastic! Thank you!
Synthezisers are like a E guitar, what that makes a E guitar sound big, and spacious, Pedal FX 🙂
people seldom ever talk about pedals with synths, and even more so with pedals like mxr or boss. i've got a little 'effects area' with like 12 boss pedals and my god just chaining two is enough to create immense sounds, or even stacking w included chorus or distortion on hardware synths! great video dude, as always
You and I both have a minilogue And a Callisto - ergo We Rock! xD
Man I love your videos
🙏🙏🙏Cheers, appreciate that!
Man i was about to send you the longest email about all this, thank you.
🙏🙏hope it helps!
@@JorbLovesGear Im stuck on the mpc 500, trying to get it off my boys hands cuz i no monies.
Great (and super useful) video, as always. One more caveat when it comes to power supplies is DC vs AC... There are countless fried Boss CE-2 pedals because many assumed they would just take the usual DC power...
Six track represent!
Yaaaasssssssssss.
More of this! 👍👍👍
Ooo don't worry, it's coming 😅🙏🙏
cool video, well done x
🙏🙏🙏
Hello! My name's AggressiveJazzHands, and I love Jorb.
Seriously though, just found your content and I love the depth and detail in which you dive into everything. I also VERY MUCH apprecita the jam breaks. Because what is gear, if not to make music with? Excellent stuff, my guy. I am eternally grateful four your wisdom.
Cheers, all of that is very kind. Welcome aboard!
was just kidding, you had me at Jorb.
Lmao.
Took that long huh? lo
Considering how much I talk, I think I need to start incorporating jam breaks. It might confuse my colleagues and children, but they will probably appreciate the absurdity. I guess I'll have to walk around with my Deluge. It's battery-powered and has its own speaker.
Great job as always, good sir!
😂😅Just pull out the deluge mid-sentence, that would be an excellent way to communicate with people
This one time, in the 90's i ran a 909 kick through a boss Metalzone for a whole track and tweaked the shit out of the eq settings on it. Aaah good old hardcore. "Pedals and synths is like peas and carrots." Am i becoming the quirky comment guy? Lol. Cheers bro. Look forward to the rest of the series.
Sounds...heavy. lol
Cheers, IM really excited to work on the next ones.
I have a sequential pro 3 and some pedals, I will watch and try everything you share with us - the examples were nice! I work with simple methods right now, I mean I quit ableton with its thousands possibilities and just use some analog hardware. Just the synth with its midi from a digitakt. There is so much to do with multiple Envelopes, Panning, detuning, pwm, waveshaping, filter stuff, reverbs before and after distortion, delays.. There is so much to discover. I even love my cheap eq pedal because it sounds crappy but can tickle crazy sounds out of the chain...
Well said, there is a ton of depth even in the things that seem simple, relatively speaking.
Nice one! Thanks 🙌
Cheers, thank you! Hope the rest of the series is well received as well.
Got here from Bobeats video.
This is great 👍.
Subscribed.
Hes been great, happy to have you here.
@@JorbLovesGear Thanks from Ireland 🇮🇪
Recently got my first real set of synths (Korg Volcas notwithstanding) an Arturia Microfreak and a Rolamd Ax Edge (keytar) the later of which i run through an Orange Micro Dark Terror Amp and cabinet (because hey i love Sleep/High on Fire and have a small 2 room appartment with thin walls and old ass neighbors). It has an FX loop ive been dying to use and add some pedals to. This episode has been enlightening. Thanks for the great content.
Cheers, appreciate that. AX edge seems cool, I played one briefly at Namm 2018
tight! thanks for sharing.
This is really great information Jorb! Very helpful for new people just getting into pedals. It is indeed very confusing. Center tap polarity, barrel size, voltage, current, etc. requirements are often all over the place from one unit to the next. A dedicated PSU like your voodoo is a very worthy investment. I look forward to part two!
Just remember that the Voodoo is not a PSU and is a power distribution unit that requires its own PSU. It is still your responsibility to ensure the correct polarity, voltage and current requirements are met when using them. Is it really that much more confusing than using your synthesizers? Guitars players have no problem understanding this stuff ... and I am just a drummer! xD
@@HazeAnderson Never owned a voodoo so don't trust me! ...still think it was a great video
@@SacSynths_Jack_Z I wish Jorb would do more research ... there is a lot he left out.
@@HazeAnderson Pedantic much? There's a ton of great info in this video... He also said it is a series (i.e. there's more info to come), so relax.
@@SacSynths_Jack_Z No he is moving on from this specific topic (Power, Stereo, & Levels). You don't know what you don't know ... if you want to dismiss that as simply being pedantic then ask yourself this --- what DID Jorb leave out?
You have great taste in guitars!
Thank you! Those are all iterations on the same core hardware, every element is taken from other guitars I had and enjoyed.
Jazz master body, Tele neck and bridge, 3 pickups like a strat.
Funnily enough, I was looking into getting an effects pedal over this last month (prior to this video). I never used one before, and I was mainly looking for something with a decent enough reverb and looper for jamming, and ended up getting a Zoom G1X Four. I think it's a nice little tool to jam on, sounds decent, has USB power, is easy to use and also pretty good bang for the buck!
I'm looking forward to your next episode on pedals 👍
The Zoom G1 and B1 lines are GREAT starter pedals. I have been trying to get synth jammers turned on to the B1on and G1on for 4 years now! xD They are cheaper than the more desired MS-70CDR.
Good place to start! I'm considering an episode on multi effects, but want to have a good collection of them to demonstrate...Maybe I'll seek some out!
If I was starting out with pedals and synths, instead of already deep down that rabbit hole, this video would be a HUGE help. As it stands, there’s still info that was new for me or that reinforced concepts I’ve learned! The portion about stereo-that alone is overflowing with important and too-little-known info (e.g., stereo pedals’ effect is often mono summed to stereo; mono-especially when mixing-can be great; and stereo can just be looked at as two mono outputs-so, why not go ahead and have two completely separate mono pedal chains?! That last one is very reminiscent of tips from the book Pedal Crush).
Ahh cheers, appreciate all that. I haven't read pedal crush! I asked about it at a barnes and noble a while back, but no dice.
@@JorbLovesGear It only seem to be available from music instrument retailers like Sweetwater and Perfect Circuit (sometimes on sale at the latter). Also, there’s Reverb, of course.
Really great.
Mono definitely isn’t worse!
People seem a bit obsessed with everything being stereo at the moment.
He spends a hilarious percentage of the time talking about power but I get it. I've got a ton of pedals, and the biggest frustration was always the mess of cables. I eventually got three Strymon Zumas and one expander, and I plug everything I can into those. And since they can switch to 12V/18V, I can plug my Zen Delay, Minitaur, 727, and even a Fostex X-18 into the pedal power. And most of the things that don't plug into pedal power can plug into multi-way USB chargers. Except a couple obnoxious things like my TR-6S that buzz when they're not on their own separate PSU. It's pretty crazy. Instead of 30+ power supplies, I've just got the 3 Zumas, 3 USB chargers, and the power bricks for my Model 1 mixer and RD-9. It's very exciting from an organizational standpoint LOL.
after toying around with pedals for quite some time, the level problem made me invest some money in a Eurorack FX rack to have/maintain 'hot' levels. Realize that too low levels take a lot energy out of the sound. However quite a few pedals like strymons can handle line signals.
Pretty much all pedals can handle line level signals. I think you are mistaken in the belief that you have to have or maintain "hot" levels. When you actually measure their values with tools, you find that Eurorack is actually TOO hot. You have to ATTENUATE your Eurorack output DOWN to line level.
Great vid, loads of useful info 👍 Re. matching synth output levels to FX pedals - I used to drop the output level like you suggest & it works okay. Now use a re-amper, makes a noticeable difference (I reckon 😅)
What re-amp do you use?
@@JorbLovesGear The ART Dual RDB (Re-Amping Direct Box). It handles dual/stereo signals, has decent transformers, and it's affordable.
Good rec! I've been trying to snatch and ART reverb for a minute
I think that's just about the right level of coverage and density. It's easy to go and put somthing out there with any old bit of stubble but this beard really balances out the face without being overbearing or taking on more than it can handle.
Need a part 2!
There is, there are 3 parts 😭😂😭😂😂😭
I bet coming out of the pedal going into the DI of a 1073 would be cool.
I’ve subscribed thanks .
I've been searching for that Morley box for a couple of weeks. Thank you. I'm running my TB-03 into a GT-1 and things are not quite right.
Excellent video! New sub! Long time guitar/keys player here, but recording noob. Wanting to make a small pedal setup that can be used for both instruments, but a bit lost really.
Thanks! Still really love this series, wish it did better
Great job on this video. And, very glad I ran into your channel (just sub'd) since I recently got into Synths and really want to enjoy these with additional effects. I've been looking at several options for Reverb/Delay/etc..., thus, hoping you get into some recommendations in the videos to come. BTW, would the Voodoo Pedal Power support a Empress Zoia rated for 300ma? Again, thank you!
Empress has a compatiblity chart that mentions it with a caveat ; assets.empresseffects.com/power.html#ref-r50c58
@@JorbLovesGear Thank you, much appreciated!
Wooo!
A simple EQ can make notable tonal changes used with a synth.
YEESSSSSSS!!!🤘🏻
YYEEAAAAHHhh
I just got a boss gt-1000 core. I was never really a fan of the gt series before. This one is a beast. I’m able to record any instrument wet/dry. I can take the dry tracks and run it through the pedal if I want a different effect later on. The best part is, I can run any of my stomp boxes through it, it’s got 2 fx loops. All this is possible only using one usb cable.
Ahh, the dry through for re-amping is really slick.
I haven't used a lot of those multi-effects, but the utility is undeniable.
@@JorbLovesGear I’m not a big fan of multi effects either. But this one sold me.
Oh man. That smallsound/ bigsound mini with the bias all the way down! BD-2 sounds better than I thought i would. Might have to pick one of those up...
The blues driver changed my life, I wish I was joking. Ss/bs mini, the bias control is why I keep it, so much flexibility
@@JorbLovesGear Agreed about the SS/BS Mini. I liked it so much I bought a SS/BS Fuck Overdrive. Really fun putting either of those after a delay to get the repeats breaking up.
Looking forward to the rest of the series!
Mu-tron 3 popped up and insta liked and subbed
Hell yeah, classic pedals
Jorb with the heat
😤😤Nothing but it
Thanks that was very useful Jorb - wish i had seen this before but i can now understand how a collection of single function dedicated pedals can be chained and then switched on/off at will to modify the synth output - rather than a single,all singing,all dancing multi fx pedal that costs a fortune.A lot of this equipment ( not just pedals ) requires quite a steep learning curve and practise and the more you acquire - the more to learn !
Quick question if i may ? I bought the Eventide H9 CORE around 2 years ago,used, and discovered recently that they have discontinued the Core and the Standard - leaving just the Max. Eventide are now offering the H9 Plugin bundle at a good price and i have contacted them twice to find out if i can purchase the bundle and install it to my Core as i believe that may no longer be possible ? I registered it with them when i bought it but i find the lack of both information and feedback frustrating and maybe i'm better spending the £174 for the bundle elsewhere - the H9 bundle was originally priced at around £499 . Thanks for the very informative and well presented video.
Thank you!!!!!!!! 1000 stars***************
"How To Blow Up All Your Gear Pt. 1" coming soon by Jorb! lol
Lmaoo thats part 3
Genius.
🙏I'm blushing, smh
Big problem with just turning down a synth is, often there’s background noise/hum that gets amplified (especially if overdrive is used). I really like my Eventide Mixing Link. Mixing Link can do anything you need with gain. Step down, step up, and very clean. It’s a gain swiss army knife. I bought 2 to have stereo stepdown/up, but most people aren’t obsessive like that.
This is so useful! I just got my first effect, and I'm not having a lot of luck figuring out how to best connect it to my mixer, so I'm hoping you get to that in this series. Can't wait for the next episode!
If you have only the one pedal the old trick was to use a mic attenuator to bring the level down. It keeps the cost down and does the job.
If you have an aux send & return, send to the in, out to the return. Or, just run the synths right through it
@@JorbLovesGear Yep, I figured it out, exactly as you describe, run it out of an Aux and back into a different channel. (Tascam model 12 + Hologram Microcosm)
@@thisfred yes, no return channels!
I run my analog mono synths through a TC Nova delay and a Oceans 11 reverb. Having messed around with synths and pedals for a good few years this is my favourite combo to add lushness. I would like a to add a chorus in the near future but not sure what to go for yet. Used a boss chorus pedal belonging to a friend in the past but wasn't sold on it.
I have the Oceans 12 dual reverb ... it's really lush! I recommend the Digitech Nautila for a stereo in/out chorus, it also has a flanger.
Chorus can be tricky, I think stereo is a big part of chorus, the relationship of the 2 channels is a big part of the vibe. But honestly, hard to go wrong with most chorus pedals, past a certain threshold.
Hey! Thanks for your great content. My Nymphes arrives tomorrow and was wondering if you could recommend me a mono to stereo chorus pedal which won’t give me phase issues when listening in mono. Keep up the good work and thanks in advance!
Question: can you run balanced cables from a synthesizer into stereo inputs and outputs on pedals.. etcetera.. I guess what I'm asking is when using a synth with pedals can balanced cables be used for everything?
I’m purely a synth player but love watching demos on the Andy (Martin) Demos/Reverb, That Pedal Show, JHS Pedals, Don Carr @ Sweetwater, etc. UTube channels to get new effects ideas. It’s pretty much ruined any chance of me staying under budget for the year because of the volume of new gear that gets glued on to my want list. I use the Radial Labs “Key Largo” to bring levels down for pedals that aren’t built to handle line level.
Andy is a patron saint of gear-fluencers, I owe him a lot
Josh at JHS is a wise sage that can unveil the mystery of electronics for audio. I have a lot of guitar pedals and they can all handle line level -- the problem is impedance, not volume. My EQD Avalanche Run does not like my Lyra-8 for example. Throw a buffer in between and things "magically" work. :)