Musician Gear & Tech Discussion

So i've recently been picking up pedals despite my digi 2112 setup and snagged a crate v18 tube combo to boot...

dont' get me wrong my digi has the best stereo effects money can buy IMO, but digital has it's drawbacks...

#1 being digital clipping sux

so I'm kinda going back to the basics - ie back to analog and am putting together a pedal board...

wondering what you like?


so far i have:

boss cs-2 compressor, ibanez ts-9, Boss 65DeluxeRev, boss md-2 mega dist, boss hm-2 metal dist, peterson strobo, boss eq, dod punkifier, EH big muff pi, mxr wyld od, 72' crybaby, mxr phase90, eh nano clone, dano od/octave.

will be adding the infamous english muff'n saturday...

plan to add
--boss ce-2 -dreamy!
maybe a ce-5 or small clone if I can't find that
--either a boss dm-3 or dd6 or line6 dl4 or ibanez ad9... (opinions?)
--not sure which but I do want a reverb unit... maybe the boss or the
electro harmonics holy grail (opinions?)

what else is a must have?

vodoo lab is the best power supply I have found your going to want something to power all those pedals. The best order of connection I have found is wah or crybaby will change your tone and that placement is a matter of personel preference, comp. distortion in line to your amps imput. Your modulation effects i.e. chorus, flangers, phase 90s or phasers and last delay effects thru your effects loop it sounds much better this way guitar player did a story on this a year or two ago and it helped me a lot also when purchasing your pedals make sure they are true bypass so as not to suck your tone.

"power all those pedals" - right now I'm using two 1spots... no noise and enuf to pwr 8 pdls each... but I wonder if there isn't a reason ppul buy these $150 pwr pedals... (any insight appreciated)
I do have a power conditioner so perhaps that's why I'm not hearing any real noise.

"effects order" - wah up front is def a staple... but you get really cool aggressive highs if you put it after the distortion, and I've kinda been playing with that.

-placing a compressor right after the gtr is a must according to what I've read... and having tried it before and after... up front is def a more dramatic effect.

"true bypass" - def a feature I consider when buying a pedal, but I do have a punkifier that is not true bypass and I absolutely love it. It's well known for it's sound and I wouldn't even consider wiring in a true bypass because the thing is collectible. For that reason, it's not permanently in my chain, altho one could wire up a true bypass pedal to plug it in to(on my 2do list!).

I've also read that true bypass on a compressor is less than desirable as it causes a noticeable pop when engaging, but I've tried the keeley and would def endure that for it's superior tone if I had $200 for a compressor alone!

don't believe any of the boss stuff is true bypass, but if/when I make any recordings I def rewire my stuff to include only the pedals I'm using - true bypass or not... cause even the cable between the pedals is a tone modifier on one level or another.

Considering the long list of stuff I've got wired in now tho,... I'm quite satisfied with my tone.

thanks again for the reply

what fx are you playing/do you enjoy?

I currently am using a signal chain to amp (Crate V32) I love this thing it is very lite and (all tube) LOL, all my pedals are Boss, Boss NS2 noise suppressor into a Dunlop Classic Cry Baby with a Fasil inducter (I have been thru all wahs and crybaby's) this thing is the bomb into a Boss SD1 Super Overdrive I love this thing because when I want that little something more and I am on my dirty channel its there, but when I want that S. R. V. sound I use my clean channel and turn this overdrive on and turn my middle position or neck position pickup on, on my strat and its there. That signal goes straight to my amp imput. In my effects loop I run first a Boss CH1 Super Chorus, PS5 Super Shifter, DD5 Digital Delay. I also use A Banshi talk box this thing is great because you can use it as a pre-amp into a speaker cabinet for personel practice but when I use this I run it first in my amp line input not in the effects loop, this is the rig I run live. In the old days (not so long ago) I used Marshall 100watt thru multi cabs. but now as I get older I realize the importance of light and powerfull and if you mike your amp the only mike to use (give your shure sm57 to your drummer) for his snare or timbale and get yourself a Sennheiser large diaphram E609 Silver and you don't even need a stand for it.

Tweed instrument cable to my amp. Simple yet effective.

Mesa Boogie Triaxis -> TC Electronics G-Major. The only other thing in my chain is a Tremonti Wha.

I have probably 40+ unique tones I use for various songs, and probably 80% of all my tone work is done with the Triaxis. The G-Major just ends up being a minor tone improvement component, unless I'm really leaning on it for something like Flange or Delay.

I got to the stage a long time ago where I decided I would much rather have a flexible amp than a bevvy of effects pedals.

started this post back when I was just getting into pedals... as you can see I've been working on getting more and more... and being into multifx for so long... I'm sort of 're-learning' what I like.

lately have gotten the 'build your own' bug... and am currently working on several little schematics I found on the web including a true bypass order switch, a elec harm dr. q based envelope filter, a fet based dual rectifier emulator, a combo tube screamer/orange squeezer, and a rat clone.

I own quite a few boss pedals... but the more I've chained together the more my tone seems to get 'bland'... just compare a straight in signal to the signal after 8 or so boss effects and you'll see what I mean...

so I'm going to be adding a few true bypass loops to bypass all boss fet buffers and I'll be adding an onboard buffer to at least one of my guitars... or maybe as a pedal in front of everything else.


"I got to the stage a long time ago where I decided I would much rather have a flexible amp than a bevvy of effects pedals."
I was in this stage too at one point... and bought a rack setup that can do just about anything I want...
I've played the tri axis quite a bit... and the ada mp1 (similar but IMHO a much better value in terms of a class a midi capable tube preamp)... and my 'digital' setup includes a hafler t3... (another class a tube preamp)...
but a tube pre by itself isn't quite enough for me...
After playing multifx gear for years ultimately I've come to the realization that you just can't improve on the 'bread and butter' that is a tube amp with an analog distortion/overdrive in front of it... it's a classic combo used by so many of my favs... from srv to satriani... and I can't imagine getting away from it now that I've heard the difference..


Anywho... here's the current setup:

Damn that looks complicated for one's tippy toes! I'd be tripping all over myself switching all those pedals on the fly.

It seems to me that programming your own tones into one of the well-made multi-processors out there is much easier, but I guess you don't get what you're looking for with that, huh?

I love real effects pedals in front of tube amps.

On reserve I have a fleet of Electro Harmonix pedals a couple of Whammys some old Ross distortion pedals, a Ratt dis, Ive got one of those blue compressor pedals like you do Mikey somewhere. Ive got a box of old effects pedals full of relics, most are noisy as hell, but most have one cool sound in them, that makes them worth keeping for recording purposes.

The board I pictured is what I use live, Ive left a lot of stuff off there cause they add too much noise. Realistically I could take a Boss Tuner, Morley Wah , and a TS-9 and probably with a 2 channel amp get more variations in sound than most guys I know get with a pedal board like yours Mikey, but that is impressive. I just wouldnt want to lug it around.

When ever I record I pull pedals off the board and use them individually so my signal goes thru less.

As Ive said in other threads this weekend Im taking out my POD PRO unit and floorboard and leaving the amps and effects at home unless I chicken out at the last minute. You just never know..................

Effects are my thing, I take most my influence from Tom Morello and David Gilmore

I currently run a custom wired, really old snarling dog whine o wah into a digitech whammy 2, into a digi hyper phase, into a danelectro cool cat chorus, into a digi digital delay, into a cheap behringer eq which i only use as a solo booster. I power all with several dc adapters i found in a garage sale through a sure protector power strip. My pedal board is simply a stolen street sign with velcro on it to hold everything down tight. I end my chain in a behringer rack tuner and an Ibanez 150watt half stack. I run it all through the amp input because my effects loop is busted and cuts the volume in half, something i need to get fixed.

That chain plus the use of a killswitch, jellyfish pick, and guitar slide helps me become more of a dj than a guitarist, useful in a hip hop band. The only thing i'm missing is a filter effect to get more funk out of my guitar

Damn that looks complicated for one's tippy toes! I'd be tripping all over myself switching all those pedals on the fly.

It seems to me that programming your own tones into one of the well-made multi-processors out there is much easier, but I guess you don't get what you're looking for with that, huh?

started out on pedals and went to multifx for years for this reason... and I still won't be selling my 2112... but 1) every co. does 1 or 2 fx great and everything else ok... for instance... digi delay is very flexible and clean... envelope filters are the best... flange is great... but compressor sux, chorus isn't exactly breathtaking, reverbs are OK. So to get the best delay, best chorus etc... you either have to have several rack pieces or several foot pedals.
2) there are limitations on organization of fx for even the best gear... the 2112 can put any effect in any order but the preamp and wha section MUST be at the front. I realize there are a few multifx systems that can get past this most of them don't have a good ability to interface with a tube preamp...
again, not selling my 2112... just finding that pedals rock as well.

jw123... I've got more than is there too.... I've got an original cs-2, eq's, etc.
I don't play for money anymore so I built that pedal board to be something I use at home. It's a real monster.
ts9 is a very flexible pedal. I modded mine to ts-808 spec and added a switch to change the diode clippers... in short you can get a clean boost, an overdrive and a distortion... very flexible pedal... and yes even the stock one can yield a ton of variety.
but each pedal has it's own sound. the ts-9 doesn't do fuzz, nor does it do 'balls to the wall' very well IMO.
afa recording... I'm currently working on true bypass loops for many of the pedals... and that and a nice jfet buffer cures that issue all together.

How do you keep track of all that stuff? My brain capacity is too limited for all that. I guess I'm lucky all I have to do is plug my bass into my amp and sing my ass off. I guess that's what guitarists are paid for, to do the hard stuff. I'm paid to do the easy stuff. It seems to work out well that way.

How do you keep track of all that stuff?

Yes. I know the feeling. Had one of those custom rigged boxes. DO NOT TOUCH THE NUBS!!! Don't! Oh damn it! You did touch the nubs. Did I not tell you "don't touch the nubs"!..

Anything for the right sound, man. Though when I plaid bass I had just the bass and the amp. Oh sweet times...

WOW ...

I'm almost embarrassed by my meager set up

I run a Digitech RP-350 multi-effect pedal through a Ibanez TS-808 into a Bugera 333 XL 212

Works for me