General question about effects pedals!

Jam10

Let's use the Boss BD 2 as an example......when people say set the gain at 3, do they mean 3 o'clock or level 3? Same with the level and tone? Thanks, sorry for the silly question I just got my first 2 pedals.

ianvomsaal

Depends on the person giving the setting advice.
Typically when I say 3, I mean number 3.
When I 3:00, I mean 3-o'clock.
I wish some people would be more specific myself.

- Ian

Jam10

Thanks! That seems to be the same problem for me too. Sometimes in the same setting people will say set your level at 1 o'clock, your tone at 12 o'clock and your gain at 3. Do they mean set the gain at 3 o'clock as well or at level 3. That's where I get confused.

westsidepie

Jam10 wrote:

Let's use the Boss BD 2 as an example......when people say set the gain at 3, do they mean 3 o'clock or level 3? Same with the level and tone? Thanks, sorry for the silly question I just got my first 2 pedals.

With effects pedals, when I say 3 I mean a level of 3. The confusion probably comes up with some amps that use clockface for settings. For example, all my recent Mesa amps do not have number settings on any of the dials. All the manuals use clockface settings, such as "set the gain somewhere between 2:30 and 3:00 o'clock. This always confuses me, because you have to remember they mean the little hand of the clock.

Novawind

If the effect has knobs, I usually imply "o'clock" with it. Noon would mean straight up. Seems like most pedals have a range of about 7 o'clock to 5 o'clock, with 9, noon, and 3 being common settings for "low, medium, and high" of whatever effect/parameter you're talking about.

Jam10

Thanks, that clears things up for me!