Robben Ford's Pedal Board...

[Lewguitar]

I found a great post from Robben on Facebook this morning detailing his pedal board. It's this pedal board described in this article, but Robben's own post would not stay uploaded. Sorry guys. I did find this one which doesn't include Robben taking you through it. But at least it loads.

Robben Ford pedalboard with full signal chain(2020 version) |Wednesday Pedalboard by The Pedal Diary | The Pedal Diary

2020 PedalboardGear List:TC Electronic Polytune 2 Mini Noir (Tuner)Electro Harmonix Micro POG (Octave)Hermida Audio Zendrive (Overdrive)Fulltone Mini Deja Vibe MKII (Vibe)Vertex BoostStrymon Timeline (Delay)TC Electronic Hall Of Fame (Reverb)

www.thepedaldiary.com

 

[Lewguitar]

Robben uses the Timeline and Hall of Fame at the end of his pedal board. So do I. Just like that.

But I've substituted the Halo for my Timeline recently. Not permanently, but for now.

I use the first J Rockett "Jeff" as a clean boost. All it does is fatten and sweeten things up. I can play clean chords with it set like this.

I set the second J Rockett Jeff for just a little overdrive. Like a Les paul through a Fender amp on 5. Then as the signal moves to the KTR it gets progressively more overdriven until it hits the Hot Cake. Then we're definitely in heavy overdrive territory.

My favorite overdrive tones at the moment come from driving the Hot Cake with the first J Rockett Jeff.

The settings are always changing.

Sometimes I set both Jeff's as a clean boost with the second being just a little "MORE".

The Andy Timmons OD sounds great. But now that I've gotten used to it I've gone back to using my Klons and my Hot Cake more.

https://imgur.com/go8zt6n

 

[Senor Verde]

I'm surprised he doesn't have the Vertex boost last. Seems if you boost into a delay or reverb, you could clip the signal going into them if it's boosted. I run my boost very last in the chain.

I need to buy a bunch of different Vetrex pedals I hear they're all great.

 

[Rod/]

I guess he doesn’t know about Vertex and his ahum, “shenanigans”

 

[Senor Verde]

I guess he doesn’t know about Vertex and his ahum, “shenanigans”

Open letter from Robben Ford regarding Vertex Effects | vertexeffects.com

Robben Ford writes an open letter supporting Vertex Effects and endorsing the Vertex Boost, saying "It's the most important pedal on my pedalboard."

www.vertexeffects.com

 

[Rod/]

Open letter from Robben Ford regarding Vertex Effects | vertexeffects.com

Robben Ford writes an open letter supporting Vertex Effects and endorsing the Vertex Boost, saying "It's the most important pedal on my pedalboard."

www.vertexeffects.com

Oh the Wah was just the first of many to come long after that letter

 

[Senor Verde]

Oh the Wah was just the first of many to come long after that letter

I know, but he was willing to forgive and forget at one point. I'm guessing Robben got the Vertex boost before all the hullabaloo and since he already had it, just keeps using it.

 

[László]

I'm surprised he doesn't have the Vertex boost last. Seems if you boost into a delay or reverb, you could clip the signal going into them if it's boosted. I run my boost very last in the chain.

I need to buy a bunch of different Vetrex pedals I hear they're all great.

It's all personal preference, of course!

The first pedal on my board is a Pettyjohn Lift, which incorporates a buffer, a preamp and a boost. It's designed to go first in the chain. But next I have a Suhr boost (Kokoboost) that can boost clean, or boost with a sweepable midrange. I considered putting it at the end of the chain, but the sweepable mid boost can sound great going into overdrives.

From the Suhr, the signal goes into overdrives, an EQ, then a compressor, then modulation, and finally into a pair of H9s. The H9s are wired to the board with a normalled patch bay that lets me run them in series, or I can split them and run one into the front of the amp, and the other into an effects loop or a second amp, or I'm able to insert another effect, for example a volume pedal or analog tape delay, between the two H9s.

The H9s can be set up with plenty of headroom to accommodate the boosts via an input level setting. However, most pedals allow adjustment of the input level via the gain control.

Obviously we all use our boards for different things, and we play different styles of music. I'd say there's no right or wrong, it's personal preference.

Robben sounds so darn great live or on recordings; he knows what he's doing, and does it the way it works best for him.

The Dumbles don't exactly hurt his tone, either!

 

[Rod/]

I know, but he was willing to forgive and forget at one point. I'm guessing Robben got the Vertex boost before all the hullabaloo and since he already had it, just keeps using it.

Yes, I think so too.. I wasn’t tryin to diss Robben. Sorry if it came across that way