Post your dream 5-pedal board

willo

I have been playing around with the idea of covering as much ground as possible from as few pedals as possible. Below is my idea of what would work for me - what would work for you, your dream 5-pedal rig?

The only conditions are there needs to be some modulation and at least one time-based effect (delay, reverb etc). It has to be something you think you could reasonably gig with. You don't need a tuner if you can gig without one!

Mine:

1. TC Electronics Mini Polytune
2. Strymon Compadre - giving me a nice couple of compression options and a clean/dirty boost
3. JHS Sweet Tea - giving me an overdrive and a distortion. Both can be stacked in different orders and boosted by the Compadre.
4. Wampler Terraform - I own this, its a lovely pedal. Other brands' modulation multi-FX get more attention but this works for me - no secret menus, its all on the dials.
5. Source Audio Collider - delay and reverb, a lovely unit and in a small footprint. Both this and the Terraform can run in stereo through my FX loop also.

So, this works for me. I think it covers a lot of ground whilst also remaining relatively simple. For example, I've picked the Terraform over other more complicated units because it is a bit more straightforward to use, with no submenus. For a similar reason I've picked the JHS Sweet Tea as a two-stage overdrive ahead of the Origin Revival Drive Custom, which is probably a better pedal overall, but I wanted to keep things at a level of relative simplicity that works for me.

RaymondLin

I did this during the pandemic.

I'll just use a clip on tuner...

markblack

Chase Bliss Automtone. 

Flint. 

Chase Bliss Blooper. 
Zoia

Ramble FX twin bender

benmurray85

Hudson Broadcast
Kingtone Mini Fuzz
MXR Timmy
Ibanez Mini Analogue Delay
JAM Harmonious Monk

Supportact

I'd go for:

Korg pitchblack tuner
Boss SD-1 
Thorpyfx Warthog 
DOD Rubberneck 
Catalinbread talisman 

I use an AC15 so I'd use the tremolo on the amp. If I can't do that I'd need to swap the talisman for a trem.  I basically just need Tuner, dirt, tremolo, delay and reverb, so should be ok with just 5 pedals. Not that this stops me wanting more pedals mind... 

chrisj1602

TC Polytune
Hudson Broadcast Dual
Browne Protein
Strymon Timeline
Strymon Flint

munckee

My 5 pedal board currently is 

Keeley compresso
SHO clone
Thorpy Peacekeeper
cheao joyo fuzz
TC Ditto looper. 

blobb

Wahoo / '78 Distortion / Super Fuzz / Beebo / Trio+

willo

Love all these!

Fishboy7

Not including the tuner its: 

Origin Cali76 Stacked Edition
Hudson Broadcast AP
Decibelics Golden Royale (Due in early May) 
Strymon Deco v2
Surfy Bear Classic Reverb unit 



 

tone1

My current 5 pedals are…
1. Thorpyfx Boneyard 
2. Lazyj cruiser 
3. Palmer solid metal
4. Lovepedal Les Lius
5. Mojo Vibe

louis_LLM

Ernie Ball Volume Tuner
Fairfield Barbershop
Strymon Deco
Keeley Eccos
Strymon Flint 

Paul_C

Beebo

Zoia

Habit

Mood

Thermae (or a second Beebo/Zoia)

soma1975

Miku

Miku

Miku

Vertex boost

Miku

TheBigDipper

God I'm boring.... 

T-Rex Soulmate, containing (in signal order)
- Moller overdrive
- Mudhoney distortion
- effects send/return (just returned a Terraform and a Mobius arrived yesterday)
- Reptile delay
- Room Mate reverb
- clean boost
and a "muting" tuner plus 10 presets for on/off combinations but not the pot settings - WYSIWYG.

Last year I did all my gigs (rock/indy originals) with just the Soulmate. That band (someone else was the main writer/bandleader) didn't need any mod sounds. My current band does, so... 

chromatuna

I am working towards a five pedal board myself…

Korg Pitch Black - the original one with Cornish buffer from FuzzDog added
Mad Prof Forest Green OR Lovepedal OD11 - depending on what’s needed
Bluesbreaker - Fuzzdog build
Swamp Vibe - Swamp Thang trem and Magnavibe in one pedal - kit builds
MXR Carbon Copy

Nuthin’ fancy but works for me

GavRichList

If I’m ignoring the need for a tuner which a lot of you have, then: 

1. Origin Cali76 CD Compressor
2. ZVEX Box of Rock
3. Digitech Whammy 5
4. Moog MF104M
5. Meris Mercury7 

I’d also want a midi controller and a looper tbh. Fuck it, I’ll stick to a more appropriately sized board 

english_bob

Probably cheating, but what the hell. I'll cut down my current pedalboard.

Boss ES-5
Elektron Analog Drive
Line 6 M5 
Sonuus Voluum 
Boss DD-500

Dirt and delay is the bread and butter. The M5 can cover modulation, reverbs, pitch shifting etc. The Voluum does compression, tremolo and various volume-related stuff, but also transmits MIDI CC data for use as an expression pedal. I'll use the extra loop on the ES-5 for 4CM connection to my amp.

Oh, and both the M5 and the Voluum have built in tuners. I'll see which one I like better.

Gassage

ThorpyFX Fat Gen
Cornish G2
Cornish CC1
Boss CE1
Cornish TES.

gatheredinsong

Fishboy7 said:

Not including the tuner its: 

Origin Cali76 Stacked Edition
Hudson Broadcast AP
Decibelics Golden Royale (Due in early May) 
Strymon Deco v2
Surfy Bear Classic Reverb unit 



 

Love this but I'm not sure you have space for the jacks in and out of the Cali 

26.2

Currently my 5 ‘core’ pedals are:

1) Duke of Tone
2) Barber Gain Changer
3) DMM
4) El Capistan
5) Boss RV6

Tremolo from the amp. There’s also a tuner on my board and 2 free slots for adding whatever I feel like - another drive, or fuzz or phaser.