Tony M.
New Member
The Hot Wired is a truly wonderous pedal.
You should all go buy one right now.
You're welcome.
You should all go buy one right now.
You're welcome.
About getting asked on being sponsored by Wampler - NICE! Its always great when people recognize your hard earned money is going into something to the point where it may raise questions (in a positive way). Yes, I completely understand about wanting to try everything. Problem for me is that there are so many pedals out and I could never see myself as a brand loyalist.I used to get asked a ton if I was sponsored by Wampler. Sadly, I am not. It was just one of those situations where I got one pedal and had to try almost everything that was available at the time.
Most of what stayed is in the pictures except the regular sized ego which I prefer to the mini and a decibel boost/buffer that rarely gets used.
The hot wired was one of those that I was really surprised with. At home it's kind of ok but on a gig with some volume, I've been able to get that infinite feedback/sustain that none of the other pedals do easily.
Definitely on my list! I just have a few others before I get to it. I also have to do some research on the Hot Wired to see what circuits and what settings it would be used for. I know it's a tele pedal. I almost bought one at one point but bought the Paisely Deluxe instead. I used to know all about the Hot Wired but to be honest I had completely forgotten about it til I saw the pics here. The pains of an industry with thousands of pedals but the Hot Wired is a VERY cool pedal!The Hot Wired is a truly wonderous pedal.
You should all go buy one right now.
You're welcome.
1. Why do you guys use pedals, and why so many?
I needed the compression for the country chicken' picking and reverb for the amps that didn't have them. The different overdrives were because I was in a cover band playing classic rock, some Motley Crue, Journey, 90's country, and older country all on the same night.
2. What are you attempting to accomplish tonally that can't be done with a great guitar and a great amp?
Different overdrive characters and portability. And I've not played an amp that can do the compressed chicken picking thing by itself.
I'm not doing that anymore so now I can get away with just a guitar and an amp but usually take a small board with reverb, delay, and/or a rotary simulator to run in the FX loop.
3. Does mucking around with pedal boards and such get in the way of your creative time?
Nope.
4. How do you present music (live? covers? originals? bedroom player? home studio use?)?
See #1
Personally I dont use pedals or amp effects. I do own tons and always have a Wah pedal ready but for more of a tone filter then effect. I do not even use the reverb on my amp.
I am going to pose some questions here, as I never understood the need for pedals. I legitimately want to know because I never found any good use for them. Even when I played live, I only used up to three pedals (not counting my tuner - or that time I experimented with the MIDI switcher and all my pedals stored in my rack on a slide-out tray...talk about a PITA live!!)
1. Why do you guys use pedals, and why so many?
2. What are you attempting to accomplish tonally that can't be done with a great guitar and a great amp?
3. Does mucking around with pedal boards and such get in the way of your creative time?
4. How do you present music (live? covers? originals? bedroom player? home studio use?)?
I am just curious, because even when I was living in TN and would go over to Knox for the open mic, dudes would bring their boards or be stressing over the pedals provided by the host. It never mattered to me, I'd just step on a drive select which pickup I was gonna use, and use my volume control for the rest.
Even when I am writing or playing for fun, I don't add effects. I just never understood them. Please help, lol!!
Hey MarkD21,I am going to pose some questions here, as I never understood the need for pedals. I legitimately want to know because I never found any good use for them. Even when I played live, I only used up to three pedals (not counting my tuner - or that time I experimented with the MIDI switcher and all my pedals stored in my rack on a slide-out tray...talk about a PITA live!!)
1. Why do you guys use pedals, and why so many?
2. What are you attempting to accomplish tonally that can't be done with a great guitar and a great amp?
3. Does mucking around with pedal boards and such get in the way of your creative time?
4. How do you present music (live? covers? originals? bedroom player? home studio use?)?
I am just curious, because even when I was living in TN and would go over to Knox for the open mic, dudes would bring their boards or be stressing over the pedals provided by the host. It never mattered to me, I'd just step on a drive select which pickup I was gonna use, and use my volume control for the rest.
Even when I am writing or playing for fun, I don't add effects. I just never understood them. Please help, lol!!
Sure, I'll play!
1. Some of them I use to enhance the tone of guitar and amp in ways that accentuate the positives of each, or to allow for subtle changes that don't require fiddling with knobs on the amp mid-song. Some I use to get deliberately weird. Or more accurately, weirder than I already am. But I can be very happy with guitar, wah and amp. Those are the tools, the rest are the toys.
2. See above. My amp doesn't have delay, or a looper, or modulation of any sort beyond reverb. And I like have multiple gain stages, again, mostly so I can access a variety of settings without knob turning. I play a lot of improvisational stuff, and I want to be able to punch sounds in on the fly. The TONE I'm after is in the guitar and amp and my hands, but the SOUNDS I might desire in any given moment require the toys.
3. Once my effects are set up and balance the way I like, I would say it enhances my creative time. What pops into my head is accessible at my feet.
4. This changes all the time, but a combination of home studio and live for the most part. Home studio tends to be toy heavy, but if I'm playing with others the rig and what gets used becomes situational.
That all said, I don't NEED the pedals (OK, maybe that wah ) and can't imagine bringing my board to an open mic unless I was doing a bunch of looping stuff...but I'm not that talented.
YIKES!!! LOL, thanks! Very informative.Hey MarkD21,
Thanks for this and these are all very valid questions. I'm going to answer your questions as best as I can but in hopes of you bareing in mind that not all guitarists are the same.
1.) I use pedals to layer overdrives, add boosts, add modulation effects, add some delays, add sustain, push the amp without pushing volume, layer multiple delays, add reverb, layer reverbs, have a spare amp sim pedal in case my amp breaks down (enabling me to go direct on the fly if needed, without touching any cables). Pedalboards can be very important and advantageous, it can allow a musician to transform their rigs on the fly. My travel board let's me go from Fender tones to Marshall tones with one button....
2.) By layering effects, you can accomplish alot that you could never do alone with a great amp and a great guitar. You can also be inspired to jump out the box, beautiful mistakes to be had, it will get you out of your comfort zone and unleash more creativity!
If you're still unsure what I'm talking about, or want to actually hear what I'm talking about, here is just a couple examples...
The sounds of a galloping horse along the beach as waves crash nearby and whales come to greet them:
^This was all live and the beginning in which you don't think was a guitar (because it sounds like a synth loop) was actually me playing on that guitar with the tone knob all the way down. As I turn up the tone knob, you will hear the galloping effect.
Here we have bell like tones layered onto the guitar's own, adda whisp of air and forest or space vibes:
3.) Point A.) I don't believe pedals/pedalboards get in the way of creativity, I think it's generally the opposite BUT I do think too many pedals CAN take away from overall fundamental skills if one abuses pedals and attempts to use them to cover up mistakes or lack of music theory in general. Guitarists should remain skillful and not try to make pedals do all the work for them. However, I really do recommend any beginner guitarists to try modulation and time based effects to see what kind of guitarist they want to be.
3 Point B.) They can also take away from important practice time, it's easy to get obsessed and you'll fiddle with pedal knobs more than you practice if you get REALLY into pedalboards. It's easy to forget that you need to practice PLAYING to get better and that you don't get better by pedals but pedals CAN make you sound better if you know both playing music theory and pedals.
3 Point C.) It takes money.... You can spend hundreds on one good pedal and if you're spending hundreds on one good pedal, chances are you're likely buying other pedals and then you need a pedalboard to put those pedals on, angled jumper cables, a decent power supply. My big travel board that I have used at arenas costed quite a penny. I'm not even sure how much but I'm thinking upwards of $2,000 And I have no regrets, I really do love my pedals... as much as my amps and guitars!
4.) I play praise and worship mainly, if you're unfamiliar, thats essentially fancy phrasing for "Church music". Modern praise and worship is very U2 inspired, meaning that it's very echo/delay based and now, today, it's pretty inarguable that Praise and Worship has the best delay based guitarists. You can hear The Edge's influence, as well as alot of shoegaze and classic rock influence.
Here's a couple example:
You may think that alot of what you hear there is a synth/key routed progression or some ambient backing track but it's the guitar with the pedals. The pedals act in real time.
Hope this helped!
-Steve
Makes all of your cycling achievements that much more impressive.I rarely use a pedal.
Angry Fuzz by old-skool pedal company Visual Sound, nice!!! Wish their pedals still looked like thatPretty much covers anything I ever want....
Bob Weil & his crew still have a fantastic operation with great products... but, this Angry Fuzz is awesome!!! I emailed them a while back with my ideas to re-launch Angry Fuzz as a 2 button Fuzz/Boost in their new housings. There's a good chance I'll end up putting the H2O back on here somewhere, it's currently wired up on my bass board.Angry Fuzz by old-skool pedal company Visual Sound, nice!!! Wish their pedals still looked like that
I Love The Rubberneck!Pretty much covers anything I ever want....