My new CU24 30th has inspired me to do more messing around with my pedalboard. After all, with two mighty electric guitars, it was essential to find the tones that work with both of them, and with my amps. I just did all this when I got the McCarty Singlecut affectionately known as The Hammer Of The Gods, but never mind. I had to do it again.
And I think I've got it as right as I'm going to get it.
I'll admit it - I'm a perfectionist. But when it comes to putting the right stuff on a pedalboard, in the right order, there are compromises. You want the clearest tone? Put the buffer first. But wait, it messes with the wah tone just a tiny bit. The true bypass swtich box preserves that last little ounce of tone if I can bypass my digital pedals and tuner when not in use, but dang, it takes up a lot of room on the pedal board, and adds more cables to the mix. Putting the buffer box underneath the pedalboard's deck makes switching things around kind of a pain, but it saves room for another pedal.
Then there is the question of configuring cables. Change the pedals around a bit, and they're never the right length. Then there's the whole tone thing, which is another can of worms.
Et cetera, et cetera.
Anyway, after a fair amount of experimentation, I decided that I needed to return the wah to my pedalboard. I held my nose and decided that can live with it coming after the buffer, because it's more important to have that sparkle in my tone when I'm not using the wah, even though it makes the wah slightly less awesome.
I decided not to use my true bypass switch box and saved room for a couple of pedals I might add down the road. I put a Suhr Koko Boost on the board because it is awesome with the Grissom 30 amp. The Koko Boost is a clean boost that gives me a little more push when I want it, and it adds a little sparkle when I play clean, too. I think it sounds better with my stuff than the Xotic EP.
For the gainier stuff, the Bogner Burnley is great with humbuckers, and the Eventide H9 is a very essential piece of gear for me. The Suhr Jackrabbit is a phenomenal sounding tremolo pedal, no ticking, lots of waveform choices, great sound. I am really digging the Suhr pedals I have. They made my buffer box, too.
I went and got a TC tuner even though I like my Peterson better, because the Peterson made the board too heavy. The TC is very small and light.
I ordered some very low capacitance Van den Hul cables from Lava at the lengths and terminations I needed to wire up the board's I/O. It's the red stuff, and while it's not as clean looking for the installation as other choices, I'm digging how everything sounds.
So here it is:
And I think I've got it as right as I'm going to get it.
I'll admit it - I'm a perfectionist. But when it comes to putting the right stuff on a pedalboard, in the right order, there are compromises. You want the clearest tone? Put the buffer first. But wait, it messes with the wah tone just a tiny bit. The true bypass swtich box preserves that last little ounce of tone if I can bypass my digital pedals and tuner when not in use, but dang, it takes up a lot of room on the pedal board, and adds more cables to the mix. Putting the buffer box underneath the pedalboard's deck makes switching things around kind of a pain, but it saves room for another pedal.
Then there is the question of configuring cables. Change the pedals around a bit, and they're never the right length. Then there's the whole tone thing, which is another can of worms.
Et cetera, et cetera.
Anyway, after a fair amount of experimentation, I decided that I needed to return the wah to my pedalboard. I held my nose and decided that can live with it coming after the buffer, because it's more important to have that sparkle in my tone when I'm not using the wah, even though it makes the wah slightly less awesome.
I decided not to use my true bypass switch box and saved room for a couple of pedals I might add down the road. I put a Suhr Koko Boost on the board because it is awesome with the Grissom 30 amp. The Koko Boost is a clean boost that gives me a little more push when I want it, and it adds a little sparkle when I play clean, too. I think it sounds better with my stuff than the Xotic EP.
For the gainier stuff, the Bogner Burnley is great with humbuckers, and the Eventide H9 is a very essential piece of gear for me. The Suhr Jackrabbit is a phenomenal sounding tremolo pedal, no ticking, lots of waveform choices, great sound. I am really digging the Suhr pedals I have. They made my buffer box, too.
I went and got a TC tuner even though I like my Peterson better, because the Peterson made the board too heavy. The TC is very small and light.
I ordered some very low capacitance Van den Hul cables from Lava at the lengths and terminations I needed to wire up the board's I/O. It's the red stuff, and while it's not as clean looking for the installation as other choices, I'm digging how everything sounds.
So here it is:
