Jazz-Sax, all things Jazz and Sax
There is a huge need for a simple, yet effective pedal that every sax player needs on their pedal board. That is a microphone preamp with FX loop. There are several out there, but saxophonists really need something more. What if they also play a wind synth but want to use their pedals with it?…
During COVID lockdown in 2020, I bought some music gear. Hey, it was “the end of the world” or whatever. I figured I had some time to learn some things and play with some stuff. One of the things I bought was a Line6 HX Stomp. I can’t say enough things about this pedal. It…
Read More “The Best Multi-Effects Pedal For Sax – Line6 HX Stomp” »
HornFX has started a series of Youtube tutorials about using pedals with saxophone. His debut video is using the Boss PS-6. I like this idea and this content was sorely missing on the internet. I hope the volume levels get sorted out on the next video.
Continued refinement has lead to Pedalboard 5.0. Lets recap a little first… Pedalboard 1.0 attempted to address this by using the Eventide MixingLink. However, I could never get the volumes of the two inputs to be close to the same. Generally, the sax mic was a lot louder than the EWI. Even with the MXR MicroAmp…
The Woodwind & Brasswind posted a video of Ben Wendel showing his pedal board. One of my “quarantine” projects has been figuring out a good performance pedal board for if/when it is safe to go out and perform again. Let’s dive a little deeper and figure out what exactly his setup is. First off, it…
Covid-19 lockdown has lead to some experimentation. And some rethinking of what I wanted the pedal board to be able to do. First, when doing gigs, sometimes you get a venue where they insist on doing their own sound. Fine. But then they have a “board” which has 16 inputs. And the keyboard player needs…
I describe my previous pedal board setup here. A couple of months ago, I replaced the Nano POG with a TC Electronic HOF Mini. I found with the Eventide H9, having the Nano POG was sort of redundant. Plus, I have the Eventide H9 on bluetooth midi, allowing me to easily configure it to change patches when I…
I’ve had a few pedalboard layouts now. The big issue I have had with the other setups is size, and transporting it. I started off with a Q-Tron on the board. But that got dropped off due to it feeding back a lot. Plus I could never tell if it was engaged or not. The…
Basically, the idea of a dual EWI/Sax pedal board has died. Too many issues trying to get the EWI volume stable. Basically, the level, even with a boost and a volume pedal, never was right. It’s just easier to run it through a board. At some point, I’ll get something like a Radial Keylargo for…
Pedal Board 1.1 This is a dual input, one output rig. Basically, I wanted a rig where I could do both Saxophone and EWI and run it through effects. Lets look at the signal flow. EWI – The input starts by going into the MX Micro Amp. Then goes into the volume pedal. Why? In…
This is my current pedal board, minus the Q-Tron (which was in the upper left corner of the board). This board was designed for using an EWI and a Microphone input at the same time. One issue I have found performing is that sound people are usually very inconsistent. They are either the set it…
The Woodwind and the Brasswind has some lightly educational videos about playing saxophone with effects pedals. They seems a little more geared towards them selling stuff. Not the greatest videos or examples, but it is a thing that saxophone players are using in performance. One of the best examples of someone who uses pedals is…
A lot of saxophone players are using pedals to change their sounds and stuff. I found the video below where they guy is going through equipment setup of Dennis Chambers and Victor Wooten for an upcoming gig of Victor Wooten’s Trio (which is most excellent by the way). Anyhow, they focus for a few seconds…
Pedals and Effects has a good article and videos about how saxophonist Adrián Terrazas-González uses pedals and effects. Check it out.
Lots of saxophonists use or have used effects boxes with their saxophone. Some my favorite recordings of the Brecker Brothers from the 70s where he uses and octavider and an envelope filter for those sounds hear on the recordings. More modern saxophonists, like Jeff Coffin, are using a Q-Tron and a Line 6 M Series…