The journey to the best home practice pedalboard (for me)

RaymondLin

I don't have any pedals at the moment, not even a tube amp but I have found my amp, its on pre-order but not in stock.  I figure I'll start researching to some pedals, probably treat myself to one pedal month or something and slowly build it up.  (The amp doesn't have built in reverb, but has FX loop)

There really is no glass ceiling to the price (within reason), just want something that I am not going to throw out and upgrade after a week.  There is a limit in terms of size though, I do not want a giant board, so i am going to limit myself to the Pedaltrain One and whatever that fits on there, I think it can fit about 8-9 pedals max, so these pedals should be as flexible as possible yet handle most things.  Below is my shortlist and welcome any suggestions of your favourite pedals in each catagory that you guys may have and will demo those too.

p.s. a Wah pedal doesn't need to be on the board, I plan to have that on the side, if I ever find the need for one.

First, Tuner - to save size and costs, I think best bang for buck and to save space on the board is the TC electronics Polytune Noir.  I prefer the black one. 

Second pedal - Delay - funnily enough this will be the last one in the chain - Current favourite is Strymon Timeline.  Others - MX Carbon Copy, Belle Epoch, El Cap, Flashback.

Other pedals planned are

Compressor - Mad Professer Forest Green, Wampler Ego

Fuzz - Wampler Velvet Fuzz, Musket, Blunderbuss, AnalogMan Sunface NK275,

Favouring the sound of the Velvet Fuzz at the moment from online demo

Overdrive/Distortion - Wampler Hot Wired, Fulltone 69 Mk2

I am thinking of the Hot Wired, 2 pedals in one.

Reverb - Strymon Bigsky, Neunaber Stereo Wet, Hall of Fame

Bigsky is the standout here.

Noise supressor - ISP Decimator, Mooer Noise Killer

Mooer Noise probably for size.

Powers Supply - Voodoo Power Plus 2

Modulation - undecided but Mobius looks good and can do everything, as opposed to having a pedal for Flanger, Chorus and Tremolo.  Although the downside to the Mobius is that I don't think you can do all the effects into each other.  Would need a lot more pedals and probably more expensive if I get separate flanger, chorus, phaser and temolo pedals.

Again, thoughts?

That's it, have I missed anything? I plan to slowly build it up so this list is never final. I haven't bought anything yet, still research stage.  You guys probably think I am jumping the gun but hence this thread, gathering some opinions before spending a penny.

 

 

frankus

69 Mk2 as a drive pedal?

not_the_dj

Consider the Xotic SP Compressor

DannyP

Consider the lilies...

DannyP

seriously though, if you currently own no pedals at all, you could do worse than ordering both the Nux Timecore and the Nux Modcore. They cost peanuts, give you loads of options for very little board real estate and if you find you really love, say, tape delay or phase, you can then seek out a nice expensive boutique version.

monquixote

My observations would be:

Unless you are intending to play chuggy metal or buy a load of retro pedals that are super noisey you really don't need a noise gate. 

Regarding the Bigsky, Timeline and Mobius though they are undoubtedly great pedals they are extremely complex ultra tweakable pieces of kit and if you just want to play and learn about the effect I would suggest buying things that are much simpler otherwise you are going to end up pissing about with settings rather than learning to understand what the effect does. Also if you really do want to tweak and you are going to buy all three big Strymons why not just go the whole hog and buy an AxeFX which will do a whole lot more and is job done, the best of everything.

For a compressor I would try an SP Comp. It's simple and brilliant. 

Drive is extremely dependent on what amp you buy, but I've had dozens of drive pedals and my all time favorite low gain is the Liquid Sunshine and all time favorite high gain is the Riot.

RaymondLin

I had thought about the 3 Strymon pedals, about how whilst they can do everything, they can be very overwhelming, so part of me thinking of getting say the belle epoch for delay, wet for reverb and some modulation later. I'm sure those will do 90% of what I need and once set, it's on or off and leave it be.

monquixote

RaymondLin said:

I had thought about the 3 Strymon pedals, about how whilst they can do everything, they can be very overwhelming, so part of me thinking of getting say the belle epoch for delay, wet for reverb and some modulation later. I'm sure those will do 90% of what I need and once set, it's on or off and leave it be.

That's it exactly. 

When it comes to delay you can have all the settings in the world, but what it really comes down to is either a high fidelity digital delay, or an analogue/tape type delay which is really just a bit of low pass filtering. People tend to go for one or the other.

On top of that people either do or don't like modulation on their repeats. 

It's all very well to be seduced by delays with 4 second delay times and reverse ping pong shimmer delays, but no one outside of ambient shoegaze types ever actually use them after the first day they have the delay pedal in my experience.

I'd get something like a Carbon Copy, Deep Blue (I have a clone in the classifieds if you fancy something to tinker with), Aqua Puss etc. 

Again with modulation I don't think anyone really needs a flanger, phaser, chorus and vibe. I have a Strymon Flint on my board it does the 3 types of reverb you will actually use in a band situation, a nice tremolo and a phasey vibe sound. I might get a chorus at some point, but with that a delay and a couple of drives, you don't really lack anything.

JohnPerry

Consider an Xotic RC Booster at the start of the chain and never turn it off. Totally clean boost that makes everything sound better

midiglitch

Why don't you get something like a boss me-50, which has all the common pedal types in it so you can see which ones you like the sound of and will use, and which ones you don't need, and then in a few months time you will be a lot better equipped to choose the best individual pedals in each category.

As has been said above you only really need a noise gate if you are playing very heavy metal.  Equally a compressor is often more suited to certain styles (chicken picking and funk) than others.  Fuzz is often a marmite pedal and are very amp and guitar specific.  What amp have you ordered?

What type of music are you playing? What sort of venues are you playing at?  What other instruments in the band?

Roland

Building a pedal board is a life long learning experience. My advice would be not to try to buy everything in a short space of time. Rather, get a multi FX unit so that you can experience the different effects. Internet demos are very different to having the real hing in your hands (and ears)

midiglitch said:

Why don't you get something like a boss me-50, which has all the common pedal types in it so you can see which ones you like the sound of and will use, and which ones you don't need, and then in a few months time you will be a lot better equipped to choose the best individual pedals in each category.

... or any other of the mid range multi FX units which get mentioned here. My personal choice (well, the one I have most experience of) would be a second hand GT-8.

capo4th

I would reconsider your choice of a pedal train one cause your gonna struggle to fit all that kit on it

xwolf5150

This guy can't play !!!!
See his other thread where he shows off his incredible guitars.
Mate, you obviously have a bucket full of money so instead of impressing everyone with your spending prowess, buy yourself a Pod and spend your money on lessons !!!
Trust me when I say that most of us, when we started to learn , went through a phase where we thought we'd be better players if we could just own this or that piece of gear.
Until you get a reasonable grasp of your instrument you'll sound shit no matter what you play on and through.
Make sure the guitar is something you'll genuinely dedicate yourself to learning
before you stockpile gear.

I seem to be Mr Negative again here and for that I apologise but go to any music shop today and stand there for an hour listening to the idiots hacking away tunelessly.... is that how you want to see yourself ??

Much better to try a pedal or amp when you have the ability to demo and use it properly.

Lessons.
you'll thank me someday.

capo4th

In all seriousness do you really need all that kit? What amp have you ordered? That's where I would spend your money. Turbo tuner. Hot wired drive will have lots of sounds. Wampler Velvet Fuzz. Diamond Quantum Leap has lots of nice modulation options in one pedal and cheap. Stereo wet for some verb. Nice small simple board. I would put your money into your amp.

JohnPerry

^What a nasty little jealousy-packed post that is. He admits he's only been learning five months. If he wants to become a gearhead while he's about it, who are you to discourage him? Is there a level of expertise at which you deem it acceptable for people to spend their money on whatever gear they like?

JohnPerry

My post relates to Mr Negative btw

xwolf5150

If you think I'm jealous. . You're the idiot.
I'm giving good advice.

Do you work for a music shop by any chance ??


If the op lived near me I'd gladly give him some free lessons to grow his love of playing and learning instead of his love for spending money.
Then I'd help him find a better teacher.

boogieman

A Line6 M13 will cover everything you've mentioned (and more) in one box. It's superbly tweakable, easy to set up and get decent sounds out of. Once you've found things you like you can save up to 12 of them for instant recall. It also sounds great. You can add a couple of expression pedals to control parameters on the fly (for wah sounds etc).

JohnPerry

wolf5150 said:

If you think I'm jealous. . You're the idiot.
I'm giving good advice.

Do you work for a music shop by any chance ??


If the op lived near me I'd gladly give him some free lessons to grow his love of playing and learning instead of his love for spending money.
Then I'd help him find a better teacher.

a man who begins a post "this guy can't play!!" about another forumite is an unlikely prospect as a guitar teacher.

xwolf5150

Am I lying ????

The guy can't play.... YET !!

There's a thread on the guitar section where everyone is moaning about online demos where people can't play ( YouTube is full of them ) and in here, you're encouraging that very same idea.

Help him, encourage him to learn and everything else will fall into place.

Buy a nice little amp with some built in effects, like a Line 6, and focus on learning.

A good teacher can also give advice on choosing and using effects.

JohnPerry

Well there you have it, Mr Lin. Buy yourself a little Line 6, knuckle down to some serious study and stop dreaming your silly dreams.