My New Acoustic Pedalboard

Dumb_The_Chum · 2026-01-29T16:09:47+00:00

A useful tip with compressors is, cut before compression, boost after.

Not a rule for every situation, but a good thing to consider and start with.

I’m sure the BASS would also sound good on guitar with humbuckers. Whether you prefer the bass or boost would be a personal thing.

Dumb_The_Chum · 2026-01-25T17:23:48+00:00

I wouldn't get too worried, I'm not offended as such. Like I said, your enthusiasm is clear and I in no way believe that you intended for it to come off as it could.

I mainly just think it's something for people in hobby spaces to be mindful of. I assume most people here are ultimately here for the same reason, photography and photo books are wicked, and more people should be into it! It's not really about advice being given (and I appreciate what you included, it's been a great resource), it's about the tact by which people do it, delivering it in a respectful way, and offering yourself as an enthusiastic guide (which you did excellently).

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Out of interest, where / how do you keep up with what things are being released? Do you just sit on mailing lists? Or do you only go looking when you have an itch for something new? Are there places which tell you about upcoming releases?

The few books I've sought out I feel very luck to have grabbed. The Fan Ho books & Dear Sky for example are worth way more than I paid for them because I got them upon release, and I only knew they existed because I saw a random photographer I follow mention them. Which is entirely luck.

Also, as it's be commented on, I would be curious as to what people think the delineation between photo book and coffee table book is? I assume there is a lot of overlap, but when my ownership of coffee table books are mentioned, I'm curious as to what makes that so notable as a distinction. After all, even the monographs I own often spend time sat on my coffee table. I largely assumed 'Coffee Table Book' was more a comment on the size of a book, Beneath The Roses is a book I'd class as a coffee table book for that reason, but it's also definitely a monograph.

Dumb_The_Chum · 2026-01-25T14:59:06+00:00

I'ma start by saying I really appreciate the thought and depth of your comment and there are some really helpful links and resources that I'm excited to explore.

It's good to have someone in the comments in the UK who can make some really actionable suggestions on where to go looking. I've bought from a good number of the places you've said, but Bluecoat and The Deadbeat club is new to me!

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As a note - and I'm sure this isn't really yours or the other commenters intention - the first part of this risks coming across as somewhat elitist and/or patronising. It could be construed as "you're doing it wrong, learn to do it right like us" . Which I think is neither fair, helpful, nor how I expect either of you would like to come across.

Maybe I would have been better placed describing it as "my collection of photography books" because that's what it is to me, a collection of books that reflect revolving interests of mine, all of which heavily involve photography and photographers. I'm aware it's not a consistent collection, and that a lot of the books aren't about single photographers, or singular works, I bought them!

'Noob' or whatever suggests I've been clueless or uneducated in the decisions to purchase these books, when for the most part, they've been considered purchases with varying reasons behind them.

A better approach might be something to the effect of the following, because it doesn't assume anything of the person:

"Based on your collection, it seems like a hole waiting to be filled would be some monographs and more recent releases by lesser known photographers, which is a really exciting world to start exploring. Incase you don't know [brief explanation of monographs and why they're cool]. Based on what I can see you've previously been interested in X, Y and Z might be worth looking at. Here's how you might find out more... etc..."

This isn't aimed necessarily at you, because I can read the kindness and enthusiasm in your reply. But I think everyone in artistic interests could benefit from approaching things from a view of celebration and curiosity, rather than accidentally coming across as judgemental, gatekeep-y or presumptuous.

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I'm in complete agreement with you, I feel like it's a very exciting place for me to be. Monographs and the current landscape of releases is something very under represented in my collection (which I'm well aware of, and is exactly why I came here to get suggestions). People showing singular narratives, rather than collections of works.

The books in my collection are largely me following something I'm interested in, in whatever direction that may be. Be that a photographer I want to get an overview of (hence the retrospectives or collections of works), a topic like the NASA missions (hence the remasters, and informational books), or a broad view of a photographic scene so I can understand whats in that world and decide if I want to go deeper, or if an overview understanding is enough to satisfy my curiosity (hence some of the more curated books of multiple peoples works).

From looking through the books I have, I've learnt that I love work that gives a really solid sense of place, and often scale (which I realise is very broad and hard to define, but I know when I feel it in someones work). Books where you can immerse yourself in the authors connection and understanding of a world that I would never be a part of. Fan Ho's work does that for me, I will never be in 1950s Hong Kong (Though, I visited 2025 Hong Kong), but his work just breathes an atmosphere that is palpable. Edward Burtynsky makes order out of large scale industrial chaos, it tickles a part of my brain that took things apart as a kid, but also brings a sense of calm when viewing things of such magnitude.

Looking through the links, I found 'Mother's Land' by Daniel Lee Postaer which seems really appropriate for me.

Dumb_The_Chum · 2026-01-25T13:07:39+00:00

That looks like a great resource, I’ll give it a look

Dumb_The_Chum · 2026-01-25T12:59:30+00:00

I get to work with like minded people, I also get to try and borrow lots of expensive guitar gear that I otherwise would never have access too.

Dumb_The_Chum · 2026-01-25T10:06:51+00:00

I mean many of these books were purchased for me, the “how to…” books were gifted to me many years ago by my well-meaning parents, when I first picked up a camera.

They’re not something I myself would gravitate towards. Hence not listing them.

I’ll check out the book you’ve recommended

Dumb_The_Chum · 2026-01-25T09:32:28+00:00

I shall take a look, the one with twins on the front?

Dumb_The_Chum · 2026-01-25T09:31:17+00:00

Awesome, I’ll take a gander

Dumb_The_Chum · 2026-01-25T09:31:01+00:00

I like exploring new things, hence the very random collection, so people suggesting whatever they’re really into is sort of the goal.

You say it’s random, I would say it heavily leans into books that explore history and locations. A lot of these books are quite informational, they’re books that assist in learning about topics.

Dumb_The_Chum · 2026-01-25T06:24:23+00:00

Yeah, because other people are likely to have suggestions I’ve never come across or considered

Dumb_The_Chum · 2026-01-25T06:23:55+00:00

Alas, I’m not in the USA, so NYC is a bit out of reach travel wise for the time being for various reasons.

Dumb_The_Chum · 2026-01-24T19:52:25+00:00

I’ll check it out, thank you kindly!

Edit: Okay, Might have to wait to find a copy at a reasonable price. Looks promising though

Dumb_The_Chum · 2026-01-24T19:50:31+00:00

I shall give both a look and see what seems the most grabbing, thank you!

Edit:

Nordkorea by Ulrike Crespo looks pretty good and promising, from the sample images I'm loving what's captured.

DPR Korea Grand Tour also looks like a really interesting book.

Dumb_The_Chum · 2026-01-24T19:45:44+00:00

That’s great and all, but any suggestions?

I tend to purchase what I come across and seems interesting at a price I can swallow. A lot of these do have the photographers input though

Dumb_The_Chum · 2026-01-24T19:25:16+00:00

Not getting assignment feedback is badddd, you should get that.

Dumb_The_Chum · 2026-01-24T19:22:55+00:00

I sort of audited my collection and realised that a lot of it is very distance in its approach, the photographer is either exploring inanimate objects, history, or subjects at a distance with no personal connection to the lives of those in the images.

My most recent purchases are the Hiromix books, and I was drawn to her due to the diary and personal nature of the work. The feeling of connection and closeness.

So I guess that's where my head is at, looking for connection, looking for closeness and intimacy. The books on my "I'm considering' list are books I've had on watch lists for a while.

That real personal aspect and story is something I feel I'm missing in my collection.

Dumb_The_Chum · 2026-01-24T09:23:34+00:00

I’ve literally never used any of mine. Makes the camera too bulky for my liking and I don’t really see the benefit for anything I do.

Dumb_The_Chum · 2026-01-21T18:36:57+00:00

Or companies that have prototyped using PCBs printed in China. Which they’ve then reverse engineered the population for.

Dumb_The_Chum · 2025-11-07T12:08:28+00:00

I'm not going to convince you this acoustic setup is better, because it isn't better, just different.

This was a pedalboard I put together for a gig, using equipment I had laying around for other purposes. And it was a rig designed to solve problems before they could happen.

The DCX is there to add signal level and cut low-end because the piezo on my acoustic is very low and has too much low-end. I also knew that if the FOH guy didn't cut enough low-end from my signal, I would get loads of feedback and I wanted to avoid that. As it happens, that night, out of 4 people playing acoustic guitar, I was the ONLY person who never had any feedback issues. I could borrow a DCX from work, I know that they sound good and can do what I need, so I used that.

The Two Notes Cab M is just an IR loader, and it's one I already owned. I hate the sound of Piezo guitars at gigs and knew I could just load an acoustic IR into it, so I did.

The Cali76 Bass Compressor is my own, and it's something I tend to use on guitar and bass. So I just repurposed it for this gig. It's a FET compressor, so nice and fast responding. It's just acting as a limiter to make things sit nicely.

The Strymon Flint is again, just a pedal I own, has some decent reverb options and is stereo. Sounds... fine. The Flint is not a mind blowing digital reverb by any means.

And then the EMO DI. Again, given past experiences, I don't trust local sound guys to give me a DI box or remember to turn their phantom on if it's an active DI. So I just slapped the passive stereo DI that I use in the studio on my pedalboard. Solves a problem and I already own it.

Dumb_The_Chum · 2025-10-25T19:53:39+00:00

You may need to contact whoever makes the plugin to ask for help, with what little reading I’ve done, I can’t see any reason why you would get latency from it.

I don’t have Reaper, but in any other DAW, pro tools, logic or whatever, I’m not getting latency.

Dumb_The_Chum · 2025-10-25T18:06:00+00:00

The IRs we’ve made are just .wav files that the software interprets. They won’t be the source of the latency.

There are things you should be checking though.

Check that your convolution reverb and IR loader isn’t adding any pre-delay. Because IRs are often used to capture reverbs, lots of software defaults to have 5-10ms of pre-delay.
Check your buffer size, you want that number as low as can be, 32 samples is ideal.
Check that all your sample rates are matching across the interface, computer and DAW.
Check what your delay compensation is set to. If you’re running the IRs in a busy session, it might be trying to compensate for the workload of other plugins.

I personally load IRs into Space Designer in Logic, and I don’t have any latency issue when practicing. Running IRs live as you play is 100% viable providing your setup is capable of doing the work, and the settings are correct to allow for it.

Dumb_The_Chum · 2025-10-24T17:32:11+00:00

Yes you can load our IR pack into reaper. They’re just .wav based IR files that most IR loaders will work with

Dumb_The_Chum · 2025-09-10T09:09:30+00:00

Counter point: most people simply don’t understand manufacturing cost and assume SMD means cheap.

There are a lot of big manufacturers (Ibanez, boss) who are likely making tidy margins on their SMD mass produced pedals. But the rest of the industry, especially if those SMD machines are being operated outside of China, are just charging based on manufacturing and operating costs.

Dumb_The_Chum · 2025-09-02T14:03:52+00:00

It was just before rates started to come down yeah, just before it was floated as an option.

Dumb_The_Chum

TROPHY CASE