I play in a couple of bands (hopefully gigging again soon!) and I would like to try and find the most versatile, yet slimmed down pedalboard I can - I keep finding myself getting too lost with ideas and want to go as basic as I can in an attempt to concentrate on playing better, but also trying to sound as good as possible without going mad with pedals.
I have a Greer Lightspeed that will always be on the board, but I'm after the 2 (or 3 at a push?) most versatile drive pedals that will cover all bases, from light overdrive to full on AC/DC style rock.
Also I think one delay pedal should go on there, and I have a Strymon Flint for any reverb/trem needs.
Hit me!
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Comments
I'd prefer "real" pedals, and fewer of them.
Depends how much variety you really need I guess and how picky you are over the sounds. There's other stuff out there that possibly sounds better but depends how much tweaking you want to do on the fly or between songs. Personally I hate it, think it looks naff on stage and like to set and forget. Or, if you want, get midi involved which is a whole new world of complexity.
Something like a Marshall Guv'nor will do that.
If you want two pedals, Tube Screamer and DS-1 - that will do everything from SRV to Vai. Or TS and Guv'nor if the DS-1 sounds too extreme.
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If I really needed it I'd think about a compressor as well, but only if it's unavoidable.
I always have a wah in my bag, so i'll pop that on the floor before the pedalboard just in case.
Barber Gain Changer is good and I'm also enjoying the Nobels ODR mini.
Eqd Speaker Cranker clone
Monte Allums TR-2 Plus mod kit
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Compressor .. always used on clean tone to make it sit in mix better
Soul food for light overdrive, RHCP, Kings of Leon, Killers etc
BS HT overdrive for stuff like Bon Jovi, Van Halen, GnR
Delay pedal .. essential for U2, Police, Catfish and the Bottlemen . Walk the moon etc
Chorus pedal ... useful for Crowed house, Prince and other eighties stuff
Reverb pedal ... used on loads of stuff fro light to drenched
There's not really been a situation where I've really needed anything else I don't think.
I'd just go tuner > wah > TS > Amp then a delay and an EQ lead boost in the FX loop. Pretty much what I use for everything anyway. If I played songs that needed it I would have stuck a mod pedal of some kind in front of the amp. Amp wise I had a single channel, set it to the highest gain I'd need then clean up with the guitar volume. Nice and easy setup and doesn't require multiple pedals for different levels of dirt.
If you still need pristine cleans as a base tone I'd probably be looking for an "amp in a box" style pedal which cleans up well and not bother with multiple drive pedals.
For FX these days I'd probably just get a HX Stomp, I've seen a lot of session guys using these as a do it all "other" effects unit where you might not want to buy individual pedals for one-off sounds.
Either of them sound good as a core tone, and I can run the ODR-1 into the Drivemaster as a boost or vary the whole lot in any combination with the guitar's volume knob.
But the crucial part is that I need gain levels to be totally independent of volume level to be truly versatile, so the last thing in the chain is a volume pedal, or more specifically a volume pot in a box with a bypass switch. That allows me to have loads of gain quietly (say on an outro chorus), a loud clean tone for soloing or any combination in between.
The one I built allows me to roll it up and down with my foot as well as switch it in and out, but crucially compared to a rocker volume pedal I can see where it's set before I play a note.
It's simple, requires no programming and is totally intuitive to use on the fly, enabling me to react to how the band is playing or how the venue sounds. The brand names of the pedals are unimportant, it's the working principle which matters.