This made my mind free of clutter during practice and live gigs as a guitarist: programmable pedal switcher for pedal boards

Ever heard of a pedal switcher? The programmable device that makes you engage or disengage a certain combination of pedals on your pedal board without having to tap dance during practice or performance?

I encountered challenges in arranging my pedal board to achieve a visually appealing and user-friendly setup with excellent tone qualities that match the style of songs I perform. This is a common aspiration for every guitarist. Even though I soon understood the types of effects pedals required for specific tone qualities, I still struggled to quickly activate the right combination of pedals, particularly during live performances.

As the guitarist in the cover band, my main role is to create the ambience, melodies, and lead guitar solos for the songs. The guitar is played at lower volume levels to ensure it doesn't overpower the singer or other instruments, which is essential for maintaining the dynamics of the songs. In this context, using pedals like chorus, reverb, flanger, and delay can be useful to replicate the ambient tones. Naturally, when the song builds up to the chorus and the guitar lead solo, pedals such as overdrive, distortion, and fuzz can be activated to make the guitar stand out and reach the audience.

Challenges in Handling Multiple Effects on a Pedal Board

The main challenge is to manage the combination of pedals during a song to achieve various tones on a short notice. For instance, when our band covers "Melissa Etheridge - Like the Way I Do," I activate the Chorus pedal on my pedal board at the song's start. The reverb comes from the amplifier, which is set to a medium crunch gain. I adjust the guitar's dynamics using the volume knob on the guitar itself. When it's time for the guitar solo, I switch on the Overdrive and Delay pedals. This requires turning off the Chorus pedal and activating both the Overdrive and Delay pedals, needing three quick taps. The pedals are spaced apart on my pedal board, making it easy to miss a tap due to their small switches. While this might not seem overly complicated and one might become proficient with their pedal board over time, it takes a great deal of concentration in a live situation. Us guitarists, also often change our pedal boards to experiment with new tones and new pedals, which motivate us to develop our sound and the way we play. Eventually, it becomes hard to remember the specific effects needed for each song in the setlist, especially if one covers songs from different genres. Additionally, unwanted noise artifacts can occur when switching pedals on and off, depending on the "level" or "mix" settings on the pedals.

A simple way to alternate between effects pedals

This leads me to one of the most crucial devices on my pedal board: the programmable pedal switcher I mentioned earlier. I use the One Control Agamidae Tail Loop pedal switcher. The choice to purchase this pedal switcher was straightforward. Its size fits perfectly on my pedal board, and it offers more than enough presets that I can program for my music requirements. Additionally, I find the price reasonable. Although there are variations from other manufacturers with different features, this blog post isn't about comparing pedal switchers but rather explaining how I use mine. I aim to give you an idea on how to program the pedal switcher and the practical benefits it offers, helping you make an informed purchase decision from my experiences with it.

Figure 1: One Control Agamidae Tail Loop pedal switcher overview image. The send/return loops (6x) to the pedals are color coded and numbered for accessibility. The button pointed by the white arrow toggles the direct "d" and program "P" modes. The (red) box to the right side of this button is the 9V power supply input for the Tail Loop. The white boxes (6x) are the 9V power supply outputs to power the effects pedals. (source image: https://one-control.com/products/one-control-agamidae-tail-loop-english)

The pedal switcher can be operated in two modes: the direct "d" mode and the program "P" mode. The direct "d" mode allows the user to turn on/off the individual pedals connected to the different loops of the pedal switcher. If all the 6 send/return loops are connected to the effects pedals, then the user can basically turn on multiple pedals or individual pedals during the song or between different songs. In the program "P" mode, the user can program each switch to a combination of certain pedals. I will explain how to do this in the later sections of this blog. To change between these two modes, toggle the switch pointed by the white arrow in Figure 1 and hold down the blue switch (the switch to the far right side of the pedal switcher) for 4 seconds. You will see the display change between "d" and "P" as shown in Figure 2.

Figure 2: (A) Toggle switch in the direct "d" position on the pedal switcher. (B) Toggle switch in the program "P" position on the pedal switcher. The illuminated blue LED's indicate which send/return loops of the pedal switcher are active.

What's on my pedal board

For my setup, I have the following pedals on my pedal board (Pedal train Classic Jr.), which is powered by a Truetone 1Spot CS12 isolated power supply mounted on the back of the board:

• Boss CH-1 Chorus pedal

• Boss SD-1 Overdrive pedal

• Marshall Gov'nor Overdrive pedal

• Harley Benton Digital delay pedal

• Harley Benton Classic flanger pedal

• Mooer Baby tuner pedal

• Cry Baby Wah Wah pedal

The signal chain is arranged as follows: The guitar connects to the Tuner pedal, followed by the Wah Wah pedal, Chorus pedal, Marshall overdrive, Boss overdrive, Flanger, and finally the Delay pedal. As noted earlier, the reverb comes directly from the amplifier. You can view my pedal board in Figure 3. You may have noticed that I did not adhere to the conventional pedal board arrangement, which typically places modulation pedals like Chorus and Flanger at the end of the signal chain. Setting up a pedal board is a matter of personal preference and how one combines the pedals and uses them. Personally, I am satisfied with the variety of tones my pedal board provides. I might change my setup in the future, and I will make sure to cover that in a different blog post.

Figure 3: The pedal board configuration that I use on a regular basis. The Tail Loop pedal switcher is positioned at the lower deck of the board to enable easy switching access. I color coded the switches using circles and arrows along with numbers for accessibility.

How I configured the pedal switcher to my effects pedals

Starting from the right to the left in Figure 3, I connected the Chorus (blue arrow switch, position 1), Overdrives (two units; orange for Marshall Gov'nor in position 2 and red for Boss SD-1 in position 3), Flanger (green arrow switch, position 4), and Delay (purple arrow switch, position 5) pedals to the five send/return loops of the Tail Loop pedal switcher. The Wah Wah and the Tuner pedals are at the beginning of the signal chain i.e. before the pedal switcher and, therefore, work independently to the pedal switcher in my case. Knowing which effects pedal is connected to each send/return loop of the pedal switcher is always beneficial. Therefore, I manually labeled the connected pedals with their respective send/return positions on the Tail Loop pedal switcher as shown in Figure 4. The send/return loop on the very left (white arrow switch, position 6 in Figure 4) is vacant for future experimentation with new pedals.

Figure 4: Side view of the Tail Loop pedal switcher showing the labels (in positions from 1 till 5) for effects pedals connected to each send/return loop in the direct "d" mode. The white switch (position 6) has no label because I did not connect any pedal to that send/return loop in my pedal board configuration.

In the direct "d" mode (toggle the switch pointed by the white arrow in Figure 1), the individual pedals connected to the send/return loops of the pedal switcher can be activated or deactivated. This setup is essentially similar to the standard pedal board without a pedal switcher. Thus, in "d" mode, if I activate only the red (position 3) and purple (position 5) switches (Figure 4), the Boss SD-1 Overdrive and Delay pedals are active in that sequence. If I want to then deactivate the Boss SD-1 and activate the Marshall Overdrive pedal, I can do this by first pressing the red (position 3) switch (to deactivate the Boss SD-1) and then pressing the orange (position 2) switch (to activate the Marshall Overdrive). I can turn on all switches (to use all effects simultaneously) or turn off all switches (to transfer the direct signal from the guitar to the amplifier). For example, in Figure 2A, all blue LED's are turned on in the "d" mode. This means I have all the send/return loops (or pedals) active and, therefore, my guitar signal will be manipulated by passing through all these pedals. The tone I believe might be pretty bad, however, this example is only to give you an idea.

In the "P" mode of the program, the pedal switcher functions differently. This setting will be commonly used if you purchase a pedal switcher. In the "P" mode, one can program the color-coded switches (from positions 2 till 6) shown in Figure 5 to a combination of different effects pedals. Firstly, the blue (position 1) switch to the far right in Figure 5 now cycles through the 5 programs (where multiple presets can be programmed and stored). This blue (position 1) switch always cycles through the 5 programs per tap in "P" mode. Long pressing the blue (position 1) switch for 4 seconds will allow the user to configure or program the rest of the switches (from positions 2 till 6). In Figure 5, for example, the program 1 is active. When a program, such as program 1 is selected, the other switches (orange 2, red 3, green 4, purple 5, and white 6 in Figure 5) can be assigned or programmed to different combinations of effects pedals. In Figure 5, the white (position 6) switch is active (red LED is on). To determine which pedals are activated when the white switch is engaged in program 1, I can long press the blue (position 1) switch for about 4 seconds. This action reveals the active pedals with blue LED. The inactive pedals do not display blue LED. In the current example, the blue LEDs on the blue (position 1) switch and purple (position 5) switch light up, indicating that both the Chorus and the delay pedals are active. This is because I initially connected and labelled these pedals to these send/return loops of the pedal switcher in the "d" direct mode, remember from Figure 4? That's how I know which pedals are active. I can exit the editing mode by long pressing the blue switch for 4 seconds.

Figure 5: Program "P" mode demonstration of the pedal switcher. (A) Program 1 is active with the white switch (6) selected (red LED turned on). (B) Blue LED's illuminated for the purple (5) and blue (1) switches indicating that the Delay and Chorus pedals are active for the white switch in program 1, respectively.

Figure 6: Program "P" mode demonstration of the pedal switcher. (A) Program 1 is active with the purple (5) switch selected (red LED turned on). (B) Blue LED is illuminated for the green (4) arrow switch indicating that only the Flanger pedal is active for the purple switch in program 1.

Lets look at another example. I chose program 1 and purple (position 5) switch of the pedal switcher as shown in Figure 6. When the purple (position 5) switch is active (red LED turned on) as shown in Figure 6A, I can long press the blue (position 1) switch for 4 seconds to enter the editing mode and reveal which send/return loops (in other words, pedals) are programmed to turn on with this purple (position 5) switch. In this example, the green (position 4) switch is showing the blue LED, meaning only the Flanger pedal is active as shown in Figure 6B. I can now tap on the any of the other switches (send/return pedal loops), let's say, on the orange (position 2) switch to make the Marshall Overdrive pedal active as well. Once I decide which pedals should be active for this purple (position 5) switch, I can save it by exiting the editing mode by long pressing the blue (position 1) switch for 4 seconds.

Now comes the best part

Imagine there's a song that requires both an ambient guitar tone and a rock lead tone. I first toggle the white arrow in Figure 1 to program "P" mode (this is the default setting in my case) and then tap on the blue (position 1) switch until "1" shows up on the display. This means I am now in program 1. I will then tap the white (position 6) switch to activate the two pedals (chorus and delay) at the song's start. When it's time for the guitar solo, I simply press the purple (position 5) switch once to activate the Marshall Overdrive and Flanger pedals for my lead guitar tone. This single click automatically deactivates the two pedals previously engaged by the white (position 6) switch. Thus, with just one click on the Tail Loop pedal switcher, I can seamlessly change my guitar tone between different sections of the same song, which would otherwise require at least three taps on different pedals.

How many programmed presets I use?

For my setup, I have 25 presets stored in my Tail Loop, organized into 5 programs with 5 programmable switches each: orange 2, red 3, green 4, purple 5, and white 6. I presume more presets can be stored according to the Agamidae Tail Loop's manual. However, this setup more than meets my requirements. I use the "Good notes" app on my Android tablet to keep a set list of songs, including a brief note about which program preset each song requires. Through experience in my band practice sessions, I can recall the required tone for each song often without having to check my tablet. But for the sake of safety, I labelled also briefly which combination of pedals are programmed to different switches in different programs. You can see this in Figure 5 and Figure 6, where you see writings, for example, "REV+CHO+DEL=P1", meaning if I tap that switch when I am in program 1, I will have the reverb (always active from the amplifier), chorus and delay pedals active.

To be honest, programs 4 and 5 are set up the same as program 1. I don't really need or use programs 4 and 5 during practice or live performances, but to prevent any chance of getting an undesirable guitar tone by accident, I've re-programmed them to match program 1, which I'm most comfortable and familiar with.

Extra 9V power supply ports on the device

One can also power additional pedals on the pedal board using the 9V power outputs on the Tail Loop pedal switcher. Personally, I haven't used it because I have a Truetone CS12 power supply unit mounted on the back of my pedal board, which can power up to 12 pedals. I use this to power also my Tail Loop pedal switcher. However, it's convenient to have a few extra 9V power supplies on the Agamidae Tail Loop for emergencies. I don't anticipate these 9V outputs on the Tail Loop to be isolated power outputs, considering the unit's price range. Please check this before your purchase if you require isolated power for your pedals. My pedal switcher weighs about 450g, but since I transport my pedal board in a trolley bag, the extra weight isn't an issue.

My Final Thoughts

In my opinion, pedal switchers such as the Agamidae Tail Loop are an excellent choice for optimizing the pedal board usage. While there may be an initial investment of time in connecting the effects pedals to the send/return loops and programming the pedal switcher, once this setup is complete, you can focus on playing and enjoying yourself without worrying about freezing up on stage or in practice sessions.

Thank you for reading

I hope I provided a clear understanding of the pedal switcher with practical examples from my own pedal board. I also hope you found this information helpful, and I appreciate you taking the time to visit and read my blog post.

Keep rocking!