Using pedals not for their "main thing" (?)

[Dowi]

We all know there's no wrong way to use a pedal as long as the result is good for the player, so: is there a pedal you use for totally different things than its "main" purpose? a delay used for chorus, a fuzz used as eq, i don't know, a looper used as reverb or else..

I think it's an interesting thing to discuss, as through the years I found myself using pedals for specific tasks even if they're not really what they are known for.

For example 90% of the time I use the Count to 5 just as a standard pitch shifter, with no delay or randomization or whatever, as it reaches a unique sort of fast-trem+shifting effect perfect for my needs that makes it sound better than any standard pitch shifter I ever tried.

I'm just curious, maybe this thread is not goin anywhere or maybe it can reveal some tricks and not-so-obvious settings other ILFers never discovered on the same pedals.

[backwardsvoyager]

Flangers are great for this. Boss BF-2 with the resonance trimpot maxed is a fantastic noise generator cos it'll oscillate the second you switch it on. Was a mainstay on my board for a few years, just for adding wobbly blasts of noise here and there, or like a dub siren.

[manymanyhaha]

I use the CT-5 in the same way actually. Sometimes when I'm improving over something, I will hit the CT-5 and it sounds like a cute insect flying around and playing with the listener.

And the BF-2: I had a love affair with that pedal for a few years. It could get quite synthy sounding at times. Its best sounds to me were definitely not the standard flange sounds we are all familiar with.

I use the Enzo sometimes without any of the synth sounds, but the ring mod can sound quite nice when improvising over things. This is what I'm talking about: https://soundcloud.com/manymanyhaha/enzo-lead-sound

The Ottobit - Was in love with that pedal for awhile too but the only thing I really used it for was random stutter. Didn't use the bit crusher, the filter, sample reduction, the sequencing. Didn't really find any of that useful. For a long time, I started every piece with that thing stuttering on the left, loop that, twist the knobs, loop a different stutter on the right.

I like reading about techniques folks use ............ indeed

[alexsga]

viewtopic.php?f=149&t=38862&hilit=unintended

[repoman]

I like using the DBA reverberation machine as a weirdo overdrive, it makes this strange lo-fi ish unique OD.
MXR Dynacomp makes a really nice OD with the volume up and the compression all the way down.

[tremolo3]

A boss delay is my fuzz for synths.

[lordgalvar]

I run an LFO in the low Hz range into the keyboard input of the Boss RPS-10 for some weirdo shifting/bit crushing.

Feedback loop pedals (like a stereo flanger patched to itself or that Digitech wah factory) to use as trigger generators into things with lower thresholds for triggers (like the boss dsd-2). Or just run a trigger into the boss dsd-2 for a glitch delay.

Ran audio rate CV into a starved LPG to create a slow gear-a-like. The Lo Pass Gate was a euro rack module ran off two 9-Volt batteries.

I built a Buchla 100 preamp to run as a boost pedal.

Tons of parallel setups with ring modulation for different carriers and stuff. Like two graphic eqs into a ring mod to shape the octave effect.

I used a relay that could be triggered to control the tap tempo on a boss DD-5 to make it a weird flanger or mod delay. I also would hit the tap tempo with parallel fuzzes and stuff (I think it was just to retrigger based on envelopes). Also used that relay with two LFOs from a MF ring mod and Broadcast running through a ring mod for a kind of dumb rhythm generator.

Taped LDRs to blinking lights on one pedal to an LDR connected to another pedal's EXP input for easy LFOs like controlling the ESP on a cyber psychic with the blinking light on the misty cave (or to itself for some wave shape control or whatever...did that with misty cave). It's an easy way to get an envelope follower too (or weird LFO/Env...like rat with LED diodes with LDRs to the input of a delay).

I sold my boss DD-20 to somebody on here, but I used to just use it to cycle presets with an lfo or trigger or something just for the glitch.

[MechaGodzilla]

a bandmate is currently using my sho as a splitter

[goroth]

This is not really ground breaking, but the Randy’s Revenge is a lovely tremolo. Easily worth purchasing just as a trem.

Also bought a Boss MT-2 again to use as a relatively clean lofi filter. Brandsmannen discovered the perfect setting and it’s really in the same ballpark as the Ibanez LF-7 or Dunn Pvrifier.

[univalve]

I remember reading an Interview with King X in the 90ies and the guitarplayer used a rackunit that was connected but not turned on. He stated that this is a main part of his sound with the unique mid pronounciation generated by the rack unit.
I don‘t remember what brand nor effect this thing was. I was not into, and still are not, rack Stuff. But that story keeps ne still curious what the technical background generated this effect? Maybe buffer, impendance variation or caps in the signal chain…

[Gone Fission]

I remember reading an Interview with King X in the 90ies and the guitarplayer used a rackunit that was connected but not turned on. He stated that this is a main part of his sound with the unique mid pronounciation generated by the rack unit.
I don‘t remember what brand nor effect this thing was. I was not into, and still are not, rack Stuff. But that story keeps ne still curious what the technical background generated this effect? Maybe buffer, impendance variation or caps in the signal chain…

So using just the buffer of a racked active preamp out of a Fender Elite Strat? It was a circuit designed by James Demeter (now of Demeter Amps) that later evolved into the active mid boost circuit of Clapton Strats (among other models). When he stopped using Elite Strats and Lab Series amps for Dogman, the preamps were the only major piece of the old sound that he kept.

[univalve]

Thanks for the Information! Highly appreciated.

[friendship]

In high school I would store cash in my wah pedal because otherwise my mom would steal my money.

[dubkitty]

back in the 70s i used to use an MXR Dyna Comp with the compression turned all the way down as a volume boost for solos.

[retinal orbita]

This is not really ground breaking, but the Randy’s Revenge is a lovely tremolo. Easily worth purchasing just as a trem.

I bought for the ring mod and I hardly use a trem effect ever but when I do it’s this one! Every time I think about buying a tremolo I remember the Randy.

I use my DOD Envelope for everything BUT a funky bass filter, I use it almost exclusively for trippy space rock sounds with delay and fuzz. I guess that’s a totally normal function of an envelope filter though.

I use my DOD Death Metal collection (all 12 of them) as actual bass fuzz rather than as a harsh noise tool (I do that too of course!) and when I was playing in a noisecore band I’d use two or three, one for treble maxed for weird solos, one as a standard “knobs at noon” distortion and o e with the lows cranked and the mids and highs turned off for watch shaking sub bass sounds. Obviously it was designed as a distortion for guitars but it’s so commonly used as a noise tool it’s less common to see them used for their intended purpose any more.