Choices!

[chadmj]

I'm currently playing through a Line 6 POD Pro -> Behringer DUALFEX PRO EX2200 -> Mesa 20 / 20 Power Amp -> Marshall 2 x 12 1936 lead cabinet.

I've always been very shy of stomps just because of all the changing you have to do for each song (if you are playing songs that have different tones). The cool thing about the POD is that you can set it, save it, and leave it! As I'm learning more about tone I am looking into phasing out the POD and going with stomps. Lucky for me that ScottiK has great taste in guitar tones and is willing to help me search out that perfect tone.
The tone that I am after is close to Glenn Pierce's on the Michael W Smith 20 year anniversary DVD. Granted that I will be playing a drop top and Glenn is using a Cobra (Hollow or solid?), I absolutely love the tone he is getting!

What would your suggestions be for starting out from scratch with stomps? I'm fairly certain that a Full Tone FDII will be a part of it at this point.

[Stan Malinowski]

I always have (and still am) a BIG fan of the Fulltone FD2. Saying that I have recently (about the last 2 months) become an equally big fan of the Barber LTD pedal. It is a low-medium overdrive pedal. Unlike the FD2 it is a single channel pedal but I rarely ever used the second channel on my FD2. For the money ($99) the Barber LTD is hard to beat.

I'm a basic tone type of guy so I very rarely used echo, wahs or any other type of pedals. The Barber LTD or FD2 into one of my Carrs (Mercury or Rambler) or my BF Princeton Reverb is all I need!

[tom]

glenn's cobra is solid. he's using a devided by 13 amp now, and lots of pedals. i'm a fan of the barber burn unit for gain, it does fairly low and pretty high gain well, and has two presets. i got a beta line6 trem pedal, and it is my favorite new pedal. it has tap tempo, so it's really easy to sinc up with the song. it does the bias trem thing really well and you can slow it down really slow. i use that as a vibe kind of thing for ballads. they have a new series of stomp boxes coming out and they should be considered.

[chadmj]

I was thinking about staying with the line 6 product and getting the DL4 and MM4 as part of the stomp collection. Any idea when the new product line might be coming out? You really got my attention with the trem pedal.

[tom]

they should be out by years end. they are doing a delay pedal as well . i am considering selling my dl4 and getting two of the delay pedals.

[Stys]

Line 6 new pedals, called ToneCore are listed at www.fullcompass.com. There are six pedals. No prices listed.

[tom]

i was told they were going to retail for $179, with the regular discounts,but i can't say for sure.

[njjessee]

Yeah... Glenn's got some great tone! Check out his response to a similar question....

http://forums.gospelcom.net/view/baloche/baloche/view_post?id=1359

Noah

[John Price]

The Xotic Pedals are fantastic! I've Been using the AC Booster and expect the RC Booster to arrive this week!.....Very natural sounding pedals.....



:cool:

[andersonguy]

Originally posted by Stys
Line 6 new pedals, called ToneCore are listed at www.fullcompass.com. There are six pedals. No prices listed.
Cant find em.:(

AG

[tom]

if you search for line6 on their site, they are listed, but no pics yet and i don't think the prices are right. they are just slightly bigger than a boss pedal, and use reg boss power.

[chadmj]

Thanks for the lead on the Tonecore stuff from Line6.

Has anyone ever played the Voodoo Lap Sparkle Drive? I was at the store this afternoon and they were telling me that this would be a nice rhythm and use the FDII for lead. I did not have time to sit down and play due to work, but thought I might throw this out and see if anyone has any thoughts.

I do have access to a Barber Burn unit so I will definately give that some attention.
The Xotic pedals... I will check them out too!

Thanks all for the suggestions!

Chad

[njjessee]

So Glenn plays a DividedBy13 amp now. I have wondered about that for sometime. I have seen him play with Michael W. Smith several times, but I've been so far back, I couldn't make out the amp.

There was a recent review in ToneQuest. Has anyone played one of these? Care to report?

[tom]

i'm pretty sure leonc has at least one. he's been talking lately about the aiken though.

[chadmj]

While on the topic of amps...

Since I am totally starting over with stomps and such, I am also looking for a new amp. It would be nice to keep the amp cost around $800 and I KNOW that a real nice amp would be at least double that. But, since I don't have the cash to do it right the first time... what suggestions would you all have?
I am borrowing a friends Fender Hot Rod 1x12 for a couple days to play through.

Any suggestions?

[mbrown3]

My advice...keep borrowing your friend's amp until you come up with the cash. Better to wait and get what you need than to just get something now and regret it later. You could also look for a good used amp, you can often find pretty good deals...just make sure you have a good amp tech check it out before you buy it.

[tom]

if you are planning to do a lot with pedals, and you are playing at church volumes, you don't need a super expensive amp. if you like the fender you are borrowing, that should be well within your budget.

[nickdahl]

An amp you might consider is the Mesa Blue Angel 1x12 combo. I had one of those, and it was great: it liked pedals and it had a really nice clean tone. It should be in the ballpark, pricewise.

Nick

[chadmj]

Thanks for all your feedback.

I will check out all the suggestions posted. With all that I am doing at once... not the best of ideas... I am going to concentrate on the pedals for now and once I get that set I will look for a amp. Right now I am playing a VooDoo Sparkle Drive along with the Full Tone FDII. I like the flexibility of the Sparkle with being able to add in the clean with the gain.

I liked the Xotic AC Booster sound from the videos (link on the Xotic post). I think I have enough medium gain to work off of (at least I think it was medium gain). I would like to find something with high gain to have available when needed.

The search continues....

Chad

[njjessee]

Chad, check out the MI Audio Tube Zone, here is the link...... http://www.miaudio.com/

There are sound examples for this pedal on the site... really has me thinking hard.

Noah

[chadmj]

There are sound examples for this pedal on the site... really has me thinking hard.

Noah

I did end up purchasing the MI Audio Tube Zone.

Every time I play it... the more I like it! I really like how you can tweak the brightness and character (internally). The one thing that would take this over the edge is if they added a second channel / compression to it!

[njjessee]

Nice choice for high gain stuff. I like the overall character of the pedal as well. On Michael W. Smith's DVD, you can really hear the character of this pedal come out on the song "Wired for Sound".

Noah

[chadmj]

Actually I have dialed that tone in pretty well (on "Wired For Sound"). I was not sure that Glenn was playing the Tube Zone on the DVD. But, after using the Tube Zone, I'm fairly confident that he is in fact using that pedal on the DVD (if my ears are not deceiving me).

That DVD is great. Glenn is one smooth player! The neck pickup tone on "Secret Ambition" is very cool too.

[guitarzan]

I'd rather not hijack this post... but would a non-MW Smitty fan dig that DVD? I've never been a tremendous fan of his, but I know that he is in the habit of surrounding himself with great musicians. I'm a big fan of quality live DVDs, though- especially ones that offer a clean view of the guitar playing.

so, what's the verdict? Is it worth a Netflix reservation?

[chadmj]

Well, I guess it would depend on just how much MWS you could handle. The DVD has a first set of tunes from his early days and then a piano set that jumps through five or six songs (all shortened). After the piano set (just MWS... you would fast forward through that most likely) Amy Grant makes an appearance for a couple songs. After that they go into a worship set.

They do a great job of providing a clean view of Glenn throughout the DVD. This DVD is great quality and the guitar is very audible in the mix so there is no guessing what is being played. I grew up on MWS so I'm a little biased maybe, but I do think it is totally worth one viewing.

It is too bad that they did not to the angles on the DVD... I'd love to watch Glenn only on a song or two and learn something.

[guitarzan]

cool. thanks for the extra info. Also, how are you doing on the great POD-to-stompbox conversion?Did you ever put together a final rig or are you still borrowing and saving for perfection?

[chadmj]

The POD to stomp conversion is going great! I have not plugged my POD in since I got the stomps.

Right now I've got the ATA hardshell pedal board case, VooDoo Pedal Power II, FullTone FDII, MI Audio Tube Zone, Ernie Ball volume, Line 6 MM4, Line 6 DL4, and a Boss TU-2 Tuner.
I am borrowing a friends Hendrix Cry Baby wah and I'm still searching for a compressor.

Between the FDII and Tube Zone... I have most everything covered. My favorite piece of the puzzle still is the Drop Top though!

Got any suggestions on compressors or anything else?

[guitarzan]

Lots of guys have lots of lots of opinions on what gear is the "magic piece". The truth of the matter is that you just have to find something that feels right to your ears and stays right for more than one gig. I've found that one magic box is dramatically less magic a week later, so it's just a matter of trying different toys. For me, personally, I love (and rep for) Visual Sound pedals, and I was playing them long before I was approached to push them, so it was a no-brainer. On their Route 66 pedal, it's a Tube screamer on the left side and a Ross-like compressor on the right. It's extremely versatile and feels boutique without the boutique pricetag. The compressor can be used like a fat boost/ clean boost or as a nashville-brick-wall tool. (Especially if you're hip to christian music these days, you know the sound of 10 tracks of guitars brickwalled and squashed under infinite compression.) The tube screamer is just that- a tube screamer, but with loads of volume gain to be used as a boost and a switchable eq for low end boost.

I'm actually kinda bummed that I work for VS because when I rave about how happy I am with their stuff, people think I'm just being a loyal employee.

I've heard lots of guys talk about the Carl Martin compressor, but it's pretty steep in price. You also might wanna check ut the Analog Man stuff. They have a dual compressor pedal with their ROSS-compressor on one side and the Dan Armstrong Orange Squeezer on the other.

[tom]

still really like the barber comp.

[BFC]

Originally posted by tom
still really like the barber comp.

My Barber Tonepress is always on!

[njjessee]

glenn's cobra is solid. he's using a devided by 13 amp now, and lots of pedals. .........

Hey Tom... what pickups does Glenn have in his Cobra?

[tom]

i'll have to do some digging, it's been a while. i think h2 and h1-, but i'll have to check.

[njjessee]

Thanks Tom, I would appreciate it.

Noah