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E ects masterclass with Pete Cornish

By MusicRadar December 10, 2007 Guitars  

Pete Cornish has been making pedalboards, switching systems and e ects for the stars for over 30 years...
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Pete Cornish's client list is a veritable who's who of professional guitarists, including Pink Floyd, Muse, Paul
McCartney and The Police. Trained by the MOD, Cornish's pedalboards and switching systems are serious works
of art designed to simply be the most reliable and electrically transparent available.

We've all experienced the tone-sucking e ects of a chain of pedals, so we wondered what advice we could glean
from the master...

What's the basic problem with any e ects set-up?

"If the guitar is loaded by the pedals, and/or cables, then it's not the same as plugging straight into your amp. The
rule of thumb is that when you feed one signal into something else then the input impedance of the receiving end
should be 10 times higher than the output impedance. With a guitar this virtually never happens because the
output impedance varies - that's the rst problem. If you've got the volume control down a bit, the output
impedance could be as high as 200,000 ohms (0.2meg), so that should feed into two meg ohms to keep to the rule.
Most amps are one meg ohm, which is only ve times higher, but that's good enough.

"However, if you then put a pedal in line... that's going to interfere even further. That's where the true bypass idea
comes from; to disconnect that input impedance and go straight through. What that ignores is that now you've
doubled the cable run, and when you kick the pedal in you still have the problem. How could you EQ your sound?
For which position: in or out?

"The best thing is a line driver input stage - something that's always constant and is the same input impedance as
your amp - because that isolates everything that comes after it. The e ects pedals made by BOSS have a
permanent bu er built in, even when they're o , and make great line drivers."

What's the problem with using a long run of guitar cable?

"The guitar cable is a small tone circuit. In your guitar there's a tone capacitor that's connected to a variable
resistance (the pot). So you can isolate the capacitor (the tone full up) or put it across the pickup as you turn the
control down. A capacitor has a low impedance at high frequencies, so the higher the frequency goes the more
loading e ect you get from the capacitor. Now, all cable has capacitance so the lower that capacitance - the shorter
the cable, in other words - the less detrimental e ect it will then have on the guitar."

What's the Cornish rule of thumb in regard to FX order?

"A compressor rst, because that will even out the guitar's output. Any high-gain distortions come after that, then
dropping down in gain as you go along. If you put higher-gain e ects afterwards you don't get any di erence in
sound. If you have a low-gain distortion in front of a high-gain one you just get more gain, you don't get any
di erence in tone. Do it the other way around and the low-gain pedal acts as a tone boost - you can get the same
volume but suddenly it sounds massive.

"Put a level boost right at the end of your chain. That way it brings up any echo or chorus - or anything else - by the
same amount. If you put a level boost halfway, or at the front, all you do is get more distortion basically."

Many of us will run a level boost and maybe a distortion into the front end of the amp and then chorus and delay
in the amp's FX loop.

"It can be the best way, but only if you can get the levels matched. A lot of amps have an FX loop but there's no level
adjustment. That's what you need to look for: some way of matching the gains, both at the send and the return
point.

How about leads?

"I wouldn't use anything that wasn't soldered. I used to do all the repairs for Ronnie Scott's because my rst shop
was in Long Acre in Covent Garden. Joe Pass came in with his 'broken' amp but I couldn't nd a problem. Eventually
we went down to the club, he plugged in with an unsoldered cable and that was the problem. I made him a new
cable, soldered, and he was happy. Until then it was cutting out. I guess it was corrosion.

"You need to clean the plugs to free the tone! Micro- bre cloth is good to clean plugs with. If it's really bad, metal
polish or Duraglit - but don't use it too often or you'll wear o the plating."

What about power distribution blocks?

"It is essential to use a separate power supply for each pedal, or you must use a power supply with isolated DC
supplies. If you're using a common supply you're immediately putting in ground loops that will hum. If all your
earths are joined, in the power supply, to each pedal and all the signal earths are joined by the jacks - you'll get
ground loops."

If we are having problems with hum, what should we do?

"To test pedals, go back to using batteries because batteries cannot hum. Say you've got 10 pedals and you don't
know where the problem is - get your guitar, plug it straight into your amp and check that's okay. Then add one
 pedal - the last one usually - get that right then add another and get that right. If there's a problem don't add any
more: it'll only get worse. Fix it."

Would you suggest using loop selectors to introduce one or more e ects into the signal chain?

"Yes, that's a good idea, so long as it has an input bu er so it doesn't change the sound when you kick in the loop.
On that big Pink Floyd set-up we've got 24 loops, but when they're o it's as if the pedals aren't there."

Why is it that sometimes a guitar buzzes until you touch it, and then it goes away?

"That's because your body is acting like a screen. Find out where your hum is coming from. Plug in your guitar and
turn the volume o . If the hum goes away it's radio frequency (RF) getting into the pickups. If it doesn't, it may be
how your cables are laying, never have your AC power and audio leads running parallel. There could be something
under the stage that has a eld. You might not be able to do anything about it at the time.

"What is really important is to use a separate AC line for each member of the band; don't share plug strips because
it causes dreadful problems. Use the same feed for all your equipment. Don't suddenly decide to use another
outlet for something else because you'll get problems."

For more info on Pete, check the Pete Cornish website.

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