What pedals do you use?

jak3af3r said:
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.
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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.

For me, I have the 4 Wampler drive pedals but only 2 of those are on boards. That is not to say that the two that are not in use aren't phenomenal pedals themselves.

I use the Moxie (Wampler's take on the Tube Screamer) to boost and enhance the sound of the Sivertone Twin Twelve Overdrive pedal. I cannot recommend The Moxie enough, as you already know, Brian loves to clone a circuit but make a switch so that the player has a choice to combine circuits. The Moxie is no different with that, you can combine it's base circuit of the TS10 with the Klon circuit or the Timmy-like Moffett boost circuit. It's WILD! Kinda like how you can combine the Plexi Drive's circuit with the Tumnu circuit in the Plexi Drive Mini pedal. I honestly didn't like TS type pedals before I played the Moxie.

The Gearbox is being used as the total foundation on my smallest pedalboard. Most people don't know that Andy, Wampler and Suhr made the Gearbox and the Woodshed Comp to go together. Kinda like how many people don't know that the Paisely drive was made to go with an Ego Compressor. The noise gate on the Gearbox is the first "transparent" noise gate that I've both heard and used. It doesn't affect your tone or sustain or harmonics in any way, granted you don't adjust it foolishly.

I always want to put the Paisely Deluxe on one of my current boards but I have a strange ritual of not letting 2 pedals from the same brand/company on the same board. This mainly came about by watching Praise and Worship boards (or "Church music" boards) where they were predominantly pedals by a specific brand. Without that silly stuff though, the Paisely Deluxe is an extremely underrated and overlooked pedal. It's pretty much capable of anything - there are alot of crazy cool dual drives being released now and I feel like the Paisely Deluxe cab hold its own against any of them.

Lastly my review on the Plexi Drive. To be honest, I hadn't spend too much time with it as I'd like. I'm sure if I did, I could find some great tones with it. I may do that soon. Just spend some hours with it and swap guitars to see how the pedal reacts with the 'Add Tumnus' mode engaged.

You're making me want to jam with some new Wampler pedals!!!
 
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Tony M. said:
The Hot Wired is a truly wonderous pedal.
You should all go buy one right now.

You're welcome.
Click to expand...
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!


Edit:
Sad to see it got discontinued. I don't buy used pedals so that won't be a thing for me. Maybe Brian will bring it back someday though!
 
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Current board right after the last change to it, before I cleaned up cables and such. Wah is an RMC4 Picture Wah.

IMG-7423.jpg
 
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!!
 
markd21 said:
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
Click to expand...
 
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.
 
FlaGuitars said:
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.
Click to expand...

Ok, so we're cut from the same mold. When I use a wah, sometimes I channel my internal Hammett, but most of the time it's my internal Schenker and the wah is a filter.
 
markd21 said:
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!!
Click to expand...


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.
 
markd21 said:
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!!
Click to expand...
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
 
FragileThunder said:
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.
Click to expand...

Thanks! Responses to each:

1. Gotcha. Sounds like some of that is what I was doing with the Helix via snapshots when I still played live. I would program subtle changes to the amp gain and EQ for different song parts.

2. Gain staging I get. I use the "gain" block on the Helix to achieve the same. I was never patient enough to mess with various different brands and types of drives to stack. Even when I went nuts with the MIDI controlled system that combined pedals and rack processors, I had a tough time getting everything to sound "right". It was the catalyst for me moving to the Helix in the first place: access to parameter adjustments that couldn't be done on the fly with analog gear. My amp tones have always been a standard 2-channel deal - a great clean and a nice, thick overdrive. I hear about tone vs. sounds.

3. Cool. I guess I look at the pedalboards and remember the nightmare of a time I would have messing with that GCX/Ground Control loop system....ugh....

4. This is the one I was most curious about. I have seen dudes in cover bands using rather large boards (or modeling) to great effect. I have always been an "originals" guy. My tone needs are simple - 2 sounds. Clean and dirty. And then playing hard rock/classic metal, everything has always been pretty straight forward sound-wise.

Thanks again! I like learning about perspectives and why people use the things they do.
 
SteveGlitch said:
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
Click to expand...
YIKES!!! LOL, thanks! Very informative.

Ok, PW dudes are different. I've played on Praise Teams, but always as a bassist (big demand, lol). I just toss my SansAmps Classic on the floor and go to the desk for my sounds. Easy-peasy!

Yeah, I have great appreciation for the loop dudes. I watch guys doing that and I am amazed at how they layer effects to create ambient patches and then play over them.

I'm going to spend some time looking at your video examples to learn!

I mean, I have a Helix. All that crap is in there. I just don't use it!!
 
For my analog rig, my pedal board is a lot simpler than it looks. I use a Decibel 11 Switch Doctor that's programable for 4 isolated effects loops. Loop 1 has my EHX Small Stone Nano; Loop 2 is my drive loop and it has a Friedman BE-OD and a hand wired TS 808 Tube Screamer, these are tamed with an SMG Cock Blocker noise gate; Loop 3 is my delay loop that has an MXR Carbon Copy and a Boss DD-6; Loop 4 is my reverb loop and right now I've got a Walrus Audio Slo reverb in there since my amp already has a spring reverb tank. Other than that I've got a Boss TU-2 on my board and a Dunlop JC95 Jerry Cantrell wah pedal that gets run apart from any of the isolated loops on teh Switch Doctor.

That said, lately, I've been using my Line 6 Helix Stomp XL for everything, but I keep a pretty lean setup there. I use the JCM 800 2203 amp model, with a Greenback 4x12 cab and a V30 4x12 cab as the last block. Ahead of the amp block, I have a model of a Crybaby that I set the frequency range on to mimic my analog Cantrell wah; I use a Klon Centaur OD model, and a simple analog chorus. Between the amp and speaker blocks, I have an analog delay model and a spring reverb block. Simple, simple. I set up four snapshots this way (clean with chorus, slightly crunchy with some reverb, overdriven and boosted with the reverb dialed mostly out and no chorus, and overdriven and boosted with the chorus and delay, and a very small amount of reverb dialed back in). Gives me everything I need for my typical weekend warrior bar room gig. Makes life simple not having to lug an amp around too.

In typical gear whore fashion though, I do want to build another little fly rig around the new Friedman IR-X. I'm thinking I'll use the IR-X, plop a Tube Screamer in front of it, maybe put a reverb and delay in the effects loop of the IR-X, and call it a day as an analog alternative to my HX Stomp XL fly rig.
 
SteveGlitch said:
Angry Fuzz by old-skool pedal company Visual Sound, nice!!! Wish their pedals still looked like that
Click to expand...
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.
 
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