Amp And Pedal Combinations We Like...

[Bogner]

I use my KokoBoost fairly often. I forgot to mention that one. I also like that it can be switched into becoming a midrange boost.

Great pedal IMO.

 

[Wyzard]

Then there's the TC Electronic M5000. Very expensive at the time, but unbelievably good for echo and delay in a rack system. The reverbs are among the best I've ever heard. An unsung hero box.

Practically forever ago, I used to run a pair of those with the Mastering package, plus the final upgrade converter set.

When it went, along with the studio, I missed it so much that I got a 4000 Reverb to try and replace it. I should get the 4000 out again, and maybe try running up a mini-Mayer wet rig with my little ATC 20s.

Or maybe just buy a Bricasti and a pair of 100ASLs: though on second thoughts, probably better not.

 

[László]

Or maybe just buy a Bricasti and a pair of 100ASLs: though on second thoughts, probably better not.

Both are fantastic. The 100 ASLs are incredible, IMHO.

 

[Wyzard]

I agree: I used to have a gorgeous rosewood pair of 100ASLs in my old studio, which we sold off lock, stock and ...er, two smoking Neumann mics (Decca-FET 47s), some ten years or so ago. My 20SLs, on the end of some decent power amps and accompanied by a big REL sub, can still do very well, but all the same.........

I'm having my Crimson amps rebuilt from the ground up - they'll "out-Naim" a newer Naim at this point, hopefully - to drive the small passives. However, the breadth of ability that the 100s possess isn't that easily conjured up by smaller chassis, and in a box a fifth of the size.

I'm also having my big old Chord amps re-built, and may well have a go at building a pair of passive 100s (non-SL) from the 100ASL's original drivers and passive crossover. Those were removed when we upgraded our original mains, and I kept all the passive bits except the mid-domes - those I'll have to buy, and they'll be veeeeeeery expensive I expect. Like a new PRS-expensive, probably.

Hard choices........

 

[Johnny Rigs]

I have a few pedals in the drawer. Many more in a box that don’t see the light of day much anymore. The ones that have stayed wired in are:
- J Rocket Blue Note that I use as a bright boost. Works especially well livening up the clean mode of the Electra Dyne.
- J Rocket Archer when mids are called for.
- Friedman Buxom Boost just for the Racktifier.

I have also been using a Friedman Smallbox and BE-OD for crunch and high-gain into the Electra Dyne. The best straight distortion pedals I’ve owned, at least into my amps. But after recently trying the Synergy system with a SYN2 and Fryette 2/50/2 and a couple preamp modules, I think I’m happily back to amp gain for those tones.

All effects are from the 19” format variety. PCM80, PCM91, and H3500. They can be a tough act to follow for a pedal, admittedly.

 

[László]

I have a few pedals in the drawer. Many more in a box that don’t see the light of day much anymore. The ones that have stayed wired in are:
- J Rocket Blue Note that I use as a bright boost. Works especially well livening up the clean mode of the Electra Dyne.
- J Rocket Archer when mids are called for.
- Friedman Buxom Boost just for the Racktifier.

I have also been using a Friedman Smallbox and BE-OD for crunch and high-gain into the Electra Dyne. The best straight distortion pedals I’ve owned, at least into my amps. But after recently trying the Synergy system with a SYN2 and Fryette 2/50/2 and a couple preamp modules, I think I’m happily back to amp gain for those tones.

All effects are from the 19” format variety. PCM80, PCM91, and H3500. They can be a tough act to follow for a pedal, admittedly.

I love saying 'nice rack'...

Seriously, what a nice rig! My '90s rig had the H3000 and Lexicon stuff along with a Mesa preamp gizmo that I don't remember the model name/number for, but it could be switched into various topologies.

The hairpin legs on the racks are a super-nice touch!

 

[László]

I agree: I used to have a gorgeous rosewood pair of 100ASLs in my old studio, which we sold off lock, stock and ...er, two smoking Neumann mics (Decca-FET 47s), some ten years or so ago. My 20SLs, on the end of some decent power amps and accompanied by a big REL sub, can still do very well, but all the same.........

I'm having my Crimson amps rebuilt from the ground up - they'll "out-Naim" a newer Naim at this point, hopefully - to drive the small passives. However, the breadth of ability that the 100s possess isn't that easily conjured up by smaller chassis, and in a box a fifth of the size.

I'm also having my big old Chord amps re-built, and may well have a go at building a pair of passive 100s (non-SL) from the 100ASL's original drivers and passive crossover. Those were removed when we upgraded our original mains, and I kept all the passive bits except the mid-domes - those I'll have to buy, and they'll be veeeeeeery expensive I expect. Like a new PRS-expensive, probably.

Hard choices........

I admire the perseverance on this kind of thing. I've never had the patience to build studio gear. Well, I've made cables. That's about as far as I've gone.

 

[Deleted member 5962]

I love saying 'nice rack'...

Don't we all!

 

[László]

Don't we all!

Equipment racks, of course, right?

 

[Deleted member 5962]

Equipment racks, of course, right?

 

[Johnny Rigs]

My '90s rig had the H3000 and Lexicon stuff along with a Mesa preamp gizmo that I don't remember the model name/number for, but it could be switched into various topologies.

If it was a real fancy gizmo, probably the Triaxis. Looks like you were a Petrucci fan and didn't even know it.

 

[László]

If it was a real fancy gizmo, probably the Triaxis. Looks like you were a Petrucci fan and didn't even know it.

Yes, that was it! The Triaxis!

I got it because I used a DAW called Performer, and could set up all the presets I used in recording via MIDI, and switch them from the DAW (I did this with all of my gear including the Lexicon stuff, H3000 and M5000). The beauty was that the DAW could recall the presets without my having to manually reset everything if a client called requesting changes if they changed the cut of the picture or VO.

I recorded sitting at my console, surrounded by the thickly-wired remotes for my tape machines (audio machines and Sony U-Matic video), and tied in place with a headphone cable and a guitar cable. Lots of things to trip over.

Switching or adjusting amps meant taking off the headphones, taking off the guitar, avoiding all the wires laying around, walking into the recording booth, adjusting the amps, and putting the cans and guitar back on. I figured, "Eureka! What could be better than being able to choose my tones right from the DAW screen?" At the time I had 6 Mesa amps, so what could be simpler...seemed like a great way to do it all from one spot.

Unfortunately, after having done all of this rigging work, and setting up the Triaxis to respond to all of these MIDI commands (all of which took quite a few days), I preferred the tone of the preamps in my actual amps, and wound up selling it.

By the early 2000s I moved my amp heads near my workstation and ran cables to the cabs, the way Tim Pierce does. This was also an attempt at not having a 'trip over all the cables getting to the amps to adjust them' goat-f^ck in my studio, but after spending a lot of time and dough making that happen, I discovered that the best way to dial in a tone is to have the amp, the cab, and me in the same room (not saying Tim Pierce does it wrong, we're simply all doing our own things).

At this point I think that I could actually incorporate one of those into my rig in a different way, but it's long gone.

 

[Wyzard]

Tim Pierce is one of the greats, and my methods have probably been pretty similar to his over the years; and yet I have friends who do things in completely different ways, and get awesome results too.

If anyone ever says that there's one definitive way to nail something as personal as recording a killer guitar tone or track, do pass my regards on to them: then tell them they're a complete aris (it's Cockney rhyming slang - you can probably guess the meaning, but do look it up anyway ).

Probably unsurprisingly, I have a TriAxis as well: it's currently being repaired

 

[tdarian]

I have a variety of amps, usually Dr. Z Z-28, Therapy or Maz 18. I have Barber Dual Discrete pedals for the board and at home. The pedals have 2 Direct Drive Super Sports and the switching is on/off and channel A or B. This gives me a purely clean, mild overdrive and what I call "over the top." It has worked well for me for 10 years or so. I have other amps the pedal works great with and many other pedals, but the Dual Discrete pedals always get me where I want to go.

I wish Dave would go back to dual format pedals!

 

[Senor Verde]

I wish Dave would go back to dual format pedals!

I completely agree. He has a few newer versions of pedal that I messaged or replied to posts asking for dual versions and he was vague about if/when they would or could be done, but he posts about enclosure finishes and knob colors. To me, I don't care about fancy finishes and knobs. I want great circuits in a format that work for me.