Better Man 91 Pedal Tone Help

PJammer4life
PJammer4life Los Angeles Posts: 2,669
in Musicians and Gearheads
Does anyone have the dial levels for the Funny
Little Boxes 91 Pedal for Better Man?
I can’t quite get the gain and screamer levels to get the right tone. It sounds too distorted or too clean. 
What’s the right mix?
thanks in advance.
Bridge Benefit 1994, San Francisco 1995, San Diego 1995 1 & 2, Missoula 1998, Los Angeles 2000, San Diego 2000, Eddie Vedder/Beck 2/26/2002, Santa Barbara 2003, Irvine 2003, San Diego 2003, Vancouver 2005, Gorge 2005, San Diego 2006, Los Angeles 2006 1 & 2, Santa Barbara 2006, Eddie Vedder 4/10/08, Eddie Vedder 4/12/08, Eddie Vedder 4/15/08, 7/12/2008, SF 8/28/09, LA 9/30/09, LA 10/1/09, LA 10/06/09, LA 10/07/09, San Diego 10/09/09, Eddie Vedder 7/6/2011, Eddie Vedder 7/8/2011, PJ20 9/3/2011, PJ20 9/4/2011, Vancouver 9/25/2011, San Diego 11/21/13, LA 11/24/13, Ohana 9/25/21, Ohana 9/26/21, Ohana 10/1/21, EV 2/17/22, LA Forum 5/6/22, LA Forum 5/7/22, EV 10/1/22, EV 9/30/23

Comments

  • gimmesometruth27
    gimmesometruth27 St. Fuckin Louis Posts: 24,215
    PJammer4life said:
    Does anyone have the dial levels for the Funny
    Little Boxes 91 Pedal for Better Man?
    I can’t quite get the gain and screamer levels to get the right tone. It sounds too distorted or too clean. 
    What’s the right mix?
    thanks in advance.
    you just have to mess with it. the pedal is an amp simulator for a jcm 800, and it will work best with your amp set clean. it all depends on what your setup is. i have 70s marshalls, one of which is a non master volume, so i would run gain one at the edge of breakup and pick/strum lightly and then i would probably have gain 2 set about halfway to 2:00 to push gain 1 so it will overdrive when you strum hard. i would probably use some form of single coil pickups. ed always used p-90s for his parts so if you want to sound like the album rock your guitar volume back, use single coils, and have less pick attack to keep it clean and then hit it harder for the overdriven parts.

    sorry i do not have the pedal in front of me. i hope that helps some..
    "You can tell the greatness of a man by what makes him angry."  - Lincoln

    "Well, you tell him that I don't talk to suckas."
  • PJammer4life
    PJammer4life Los Angeles Posts: 2,669
    Thank you! I really appreciate you taking the time to help out a fellow guitar player. 
    Bridge Benefit 1994, San Francisco 1995, San Diego 1995 1 & 2, Missoula 1998, Los Angeles 2000, San Diego 2000, Eddie Vedder/Beck 2/26/2002, Santa Barbara 2003, Irvine 2003, San Diego 2003, Vancouver 2005, Gorge 2005, San Diego 2006, Los Angeles 2006 1 & 2, Santa Barbara 2006, Eddie Vedder 4/10/08, Eddie Vedder 4/12/08, Eddie Vedder 4/15/08, 7/12/2008, SF 8/28/09, LA 9/30/09, LA 10/1/09, LA 10/06/09, LA 10/07/09, San Diego 10/09/09, Eddie Vedder 7/6/2011, Eddie Vedder 7/8/2011, PJ20 9/3/2011, PJ20 9/4/2011, Vancouver 9/25/2011, San Diego 11/21/13, LA 11/24/13, Ohana 9/25/21, Ohana 9/26/21, Ohana 10/1/21, EV 2/17/22, LA Forum 5/6/22, LA Forum 5/7/22, EV 10/1/22, EV 9/30/23
  • gimmesometruth27
    gimmesometruth27 St. Fuckin Louis Posts: 24,215
    no worries. that's why we are here. hopefully it helps. 

    that pedal is basically stone's tone from the first 2 or 3 albums, so it is an amp simulator. ed played old hi watts when he started playing on stage with pj, so those are clean amps, which is why ed never really had a huge distorted tone. he played basically pretty clean and stone and mike did the heavy lifting with the big overdriven sounds.
    "You can tell the greatness of a man by what makes him angry."  - Lincoln

    "Well, you tell him that I don't talk to suckas."
  • gimmesometruth27
    gimmesometruth27 St. Fuckin Louis Posts: 24,215
    you can also leave the pedal on all the time and just roll back your guitar volume knob and it will clean up some. you just have to play around with that and your guitar volume knob. i used to always have my guitar knob volume on 10 and just roll it down to clean it up. i've found that if i keep my guitar volume on 7 or 8 i can then roll it up to cut through the mix to solo, and roll it down to have a cleaner tone with the pedal still on.
    "You can tell the greatness of a man by what makes him angry."  - Lincoln

    "Well, you tell him that I don't talk to suckas."
  • PJammer4life
    PJammer4life Los Angeles Posts: 2,669
    gimmesometruth27 said:
    you can also leave the pedal on all the time and just roll back your guitar volume knob and it will clean up some. you just have to play around with that and your guitar volume knob. i used to always have my guitar knob volume on 10 and just roll it down to clean it up. i've found that if i keep my guitar volume on 7 or 8 i can then roll it up to cut through the mix to solo, and roll it down to have a cleaner tone with the pedal still on.
    Awesome. I definitely will play around with this. Then the volume knob can act as a booster.
    Bridge Benefit 1994, San Francisco 1995, San Diego 1995 1 & 2, Missoula 1998, Los Angeles 2000, San Diego 2000, Eddie Vedder/Beck 2/26/2002, Santa Barbara 2003, Irvine 2003, San Diego 2003, Vancouver 2005, Gorge 2005, San Diego 2006, Los Angeles 2006 1 & 2, Santa Barbara 2006, Eddie Vedder 4/10/08, Eddie Vedder 4/12/08, Eddie Vedder 4/15/08, 7/12/2008, SF 8/28/09, LA 9/30/09, LA 10/1/09, LA 10/06/09, LA 10/07/09, San Diego 10/09/09, Eddie Vedder 7/6/2011, Eddie Vedder 7/8/2011, PJ20 9/3/2011, PJ20 9/4/2011, Vancouver 9/25/2011, San Diego 11/21/13, LA 11/24/13, Ohana 9/25/21, Ohana 9/26/21, Ohana 10/1/21, EV 2/17/22, LA Forum 5/6/22, LA Forum 5/7/22, EV 10/1/22, EV 9/30/23
  • gimmesometruth27
    gimmesometruth27 St. Fuckin Louis Posts: 24,215
    PJammer4life said:
    gimmesometruth27 said:
    you can also leave the pedal on all the time and just roll back your guitar volume knob and it will clean up some. you just have to play around with that and your guitar volume knob. i used to always have my guitar knob volume on 10 and just roll it down to clean it up. i've found that if i keep my guitar volume on 7 or 8 i can then roll it up to cut through the mix to solo, and roll it down to have a cleaner tone with the pedal still on.
    Awesome. I definitely will play around with this. Then the volume knob can act as a booster.
    exactly. it took me a long time to figure that out, but someone showed me that he plays his les paul with guitar volume on 7 and then he can go up to get more drive and volume instead of only being able to rock it back to clean it up. if you like the way that works and dial in your pedal to account for that i think you might end up pretty happy with the pedal. it took me a long time to understand that the volume knob can be a very powerful tool in your arsenal.

    the thing about pedals is if you are going for a specific sound you have to sit down and spend some time trying to dial it in. then once you get in the ballpark you can remember how you set it up if you want to start tweaking knobs again.
    "You can tell the greatness of a man by what makes him angry."  - Lincoln

    "Well, you tell him that I don't talk to suckas."
  • SVRDhand13
    SVRDhand13 Posts: 27,007
    gimmesometruth27 said:
    you can also leave the pedal on all the time and just roll back your guitar volume knob and it will clean up some. you just have to play around with that and your guitar volume knob. i used to always have my guitar knob volume on 10 and just roll it down to clean it up. i've found that if i keep my guitar volume on 7 or 8 i can then roll it up to cut through the mix to solo, and roll it down to have a cleaner tone with the pedal still on.
    Good advice with volume level. I do the same!
    severed hand thirteen
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  • gimmesometruth27
    gimmesometruth27 St. Fuckin Louis Posts: 24,215
    SVRDhand13 said:
    gimmesometruth27 said:
    you can also leave the pedal on all the time and just roll back your guitar volume knob and it will clean up some. you just have to play around with that and your guitar volume knob. i used to always have my guitar knob volume on 10 and just roll it down to clean it up. i've found that if i keep my guitar volume on 7 or 8 i can then roll it up to cut through the mix to solo, and roll it down to have a cleaner tone with the pedal still on.
    Good advice with volume level. I do the same!
    yeah it took me years to figure that out. i like my les pauls opened all the way up on 10 so it was a bit of an adjustment, but that is how you can get some dynamics without having to constantly switch pedals on and off. i installed thumbbleeders on my les paul standard so i know what my knobs are set on, but will probably not do it on my lp custom since it has speed knobs on it and i don't think the thumb bleeders will accommodate speed knobs.
    "You can tell the greatness of a man by what makes him angry."  - Lincoln

    "Well, you tell him that I don't talk to suckas."
  • lexicondevil
    lexicondevil Posts: 2,249
    gimmesometruth27 said:
    SVRDhand13 said:
    gimmesometruth27 said:
    you can also leave the pedal on all the time and just roll back your guitar volume knob and it will clean up some. you just have to play around with that and your guitar volume knob. i used to always have my guitar knob volume on 10 and just roll it down to clean it up. i've found that if i keep my guitar volume on 7 or 8 i can then roll it up to cut through the mix to solo, and roll it down to have a cleaner tone with the pedal still on.
    Good advice with volume level. I do the same!
    yeah it took me years to figure that out. i like my les pauls opened all the way up on 10 so it was a bit of an adjustment, but that is how you can get some dynamics without having to constantly switch pedals on and off. i installed thumbbleeders on my les paul standard so i know what my knobs are set on, but will probably not do it on my lp custom since it has speed knobs on it and i don't think the thumb bleeders will accommodate speed knobs.
    I really need to start experimenting more with the volume knob. I was always on 10 for my Custom, but now that I am playing my Strat a lot, I fiddle with the volume knob a little more. It seems that it is one of those underutilized tools, at least for me.
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  • Jason P
    Jason P Posts: 19,315
    I was checking out Funny Little Boxes site and the have an AIC "Dirt" pedal that looks tempting as well.  

    Ohh, and a QOTSA pedal! 


    Be Excellent To Each Other
    Party On, Dudes!
  • StardogChamp79
    StardogChamp79 Posts: 1,190
    Here is a link for describing the pedal. He does a pretty good job dialing in sounds that you can go off of. Hope this helps: https://youtu.be/AeH6kQmNeOA
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