Pedals & Pedal Boards

[loonerman]

I'm building my first pedal board and am looking for ideas. So far I have a tuner, distortion, chorus, delay, & reverb. I just bought a pedaltrain board and voodoo labs power supply.

Any pedals/effects I should consider? Any you cant live without? I'm having a lot of fun putting this together and have some more room on the board to fill up.:D

Thanks!

[dannopelli]

I'm building my first pedal board and am looking for ideas. So far I have a tuner, distortion, chorus, delay, & reverb. I just bought a pedaltrain board and voodoo labs power supply.

Any pedals/effects I should consider? Any you cant live without? I'm having a lot of fun putting this together and have some more room on the board to fill up.:D

Thanks!
Got to have a good compressor and wah. Wampler gets my vote for the compressor. I like the older Clyde Deluxe wah by Fulltone, or the Keeely modded ones are nice too. Then also and OD and a fuzz. Zendrive for the OD. Peppermint for the fuzz.

[pipedwho]

Only one distortion? :p

You should also consider a mid booster or other middle of the road boost/buffer for when you just need to goose the amp (or distortion pedal further down the chain).

[pluto]

Depends on your amp and the size of your pedalboard, but I agree that a wah is useful along with different overdrives and/ or distortions if you are playing through a clean amp. I think you basically got everything else covered in unless you want another modulation type pedal like a flanger or phaser which are not too essential. What kind of amp do you have?

[loonerman]

Depends on your amp and the size of your pedalboard, but I agree that a wah is useful along with different overdrives and/ or distortions if you are playing through a clean amp. I think you basically got everything else covered in unless you want another modulation type pedal like a flanger or phaser which are not too essential. What kind of amp do you have?

I currently have a Fender Prosonic and a Phaez Daisycutter. I mostly use the Prosonic. I'm a gain freak and the Prosonic has tons of it. I have room on my pedalboard for a wah and ~ 4 more pedals.

Thanks!

[Pietro]

I'd want, added to what you have, a comp and maybe a clean boost (my current one is the EP booster from xotic. It makes ANYTHING sound better/more. heck, it even does something nice with acoustic.)

I would also HAVE to have a volume pedal, which I prefer to be OFF the board.

[strat56]

What kind of music do you play? Do you play out or just around the house? All good suggestions so far but it depends more on what you play. If you play 80's then a Flanger may be more important. If you play country then several dirt boxes may not be as important.

[loonerman]

I'd want, added to what you have, a comp and maybe a clean boost (my current one is the EP booster from xotic. It makes ANYTHING sound better/more. heck, it even does something nice with acoustic.)

I would also HAVE to have a volume pedal, which I prefer to be OFF the board.

I picked up the EP Booster today and LOVE IT. WOW!

[loonerman]

What kind of music do you play? Do you play out or just around the house? All good suggestions so far but it depends more on what you play. If you play 80's then a Flanger may be more important. If you play country then several dirt boxes may not be as important.

I mostly play around the house but am hoping to start gigging again. I mostly play rock. From classic rock to heavy and yes, some 80's. Any suggestion on a flanger?

[kevin h]

There are so many choices these days. One recommendation I'll make is for chorus. It's hard to beat a Boss CE2. I mean, Boss invented chorus, so there you go. Used ones can be found cheap.

Depending on your needs... a couple of great delays that I love are the Ibanez EM5, which is a great tape delay type sound for solos and the Boss DD2 for good clean, but warm slap and short delays. The Strymon El Capistan is also a great all around delay.

[pluto]

For flanger, I love the ada reissue. Its one of my favorite pedals period.

[BigE]

With pedals being so personal the only one I aways recommend and would never take off my board is the Lehle Sunday Driver SW. Every amp I put this in front of just sounds better. Weather it is a friends Two Rock or a Crappy Crate I had. Never off for me.

Pedals I like.....
For dirty I like the Wampler Paisley drive(lower gain) Lovepedal Provalve(2 Stage high gain) My T Rex Replica is an amazing Delay with tap tempo. Also just got a early hand done Prescription Electronics Inc. Throb. What a great Tremolo. Super Transparent. What you put in is always in tacked when it comes out. Just a wonderful pedal in my opinion.

I also run a 5 channel Loop master pedal with bypass. Cheap and does a great job for controlling a lot of tone sucking pedals. It was more relevant when I had more older noisy pedals. Still nice to have for wah's and such.

Good luck. Post a picture when its done

[dannopelli]

...

I also run a 5 channel Loop master pedal with bypass. Cheap and does a great job for controlling a lot of tone sucking pedals. It was more relevant when I had more older noisy pedals. Still nice to have for wah's and such.

Good luck. Post a picture when its done

Excellent point!

You know if you are loading up more than five pedals to the front of the amp, you should consider either a bypass looper pedal or a buffer, (or both).

[Pietro]

You know if you are loading up more than five pedals to the front of the amp, you should consider either a bypass looper pedal or a buffer, (or both).

One always on pedal RIGHT AT THE FRONT can make all the difference in the world. I think, myself, that 5 is too few for a looper, if you have a buffer.

Of course, it might actually make your life easier, too... that's another fact...

But my pedals are mostly gathering dust anymore. It's all HD 500... and now it's been upgraded... diving in today to see what more wonderfulness I can get out of it.

[dannopelli]

One always on pedal RIGHT AT THE FRONT can make all the difference in the world. I think, myself, that 5 is too few for a looper, if you have a buffer.


That is kind of what I'm trying to say. If you have a buffer or an always on pedal, (mine was a Wampler Ego Compressor), acting as a buffer, then a looper's only purpose would be to put all the on off switches in one row.

But yeah like Pete, I'm using an HD 500 now too. Sold my board, 14 boutique FX. And my six way BP Looper!

[paleolith54]

I'm building my first pedal board and am looking for ideas. So far I have a tuner, distortion, chorus, delay, & reverb. I just bought a pedaltrain board and voodoo labs power supply.

Any pedals/effects I should consider? Any you cant live without? I'm having a lot of fun putting this together and have some more room on the board to fill up.:D

Thanks!

Hi. Although I have not gone their way, and likely will not in the forseeable future, you might note that some guys like Danno and Pietro have gone to HD500, and there are other even more upscale choices out there too. Just a data point.

Note that the amp you're playing through makes a big difference in your choice of pedals. Unfortunately, knowledge in this area mostly comes through trial and error.

I'll say that with my Lonestar Special, a primary signal chain of EP Booster into a BB Preamp (volume noon, gain 9:00) into an Empress Multidrive has given me (1) great tones, that (2) sound like natural extensions of my amp rather than artificial add-ons to it, and (3) lots of flexibility with little or no adjustments between songs. After 6 months with that configuration, I still have no nagging little voices telling me my sound could stand to be just a bit better, and there's a pedal for that...

The Lonestar Special really likes the BB Preamp, in my judgment.

I'd also say to bear in mind that getting to know the pedals you have is more productive than constantly researching and acquiring more, though perhaps less fun. For perspective, I saw an interview with Doyle Bramhall, he showed his monster pedalboard (probably 30 pedals on it) for his first tour with Clapton, and he said by the end of the tour he was using 3-4 of them.

Happy hunting!

[dplight]

I've followed in Danno and Pietro's footsteps with the HD500. I will get around to posting a picture of the box it's in one day. Entire rig in a box.

[Briggs]

I would love to see picture of the rig dplight. I've been thinking of making the move to an HD500 myself just not sure of the learning curve and I need to sit down with one when I have the time to go through some sounds. Seems like a perfect compliment to the C+ for what I do though.

[Pietro]

I've followed in Danno and Pietro's footsteps with the HD500. I will get around to posting a picture of the box it's in one day. Entire rig in a box.

If you come up with some cool C+2 patches... I'd love to check 'em out...

[dplight]

I would love to see picture of the rig dplight. I've been thinking of making the move to an HD500 myself just not sure of the learning curve and I need to sit down with one when I have the time to go through some sounds. Seems like a perfect compliment to the C+ for what I do though.

I'll try and get pictures up soon. So far I am pleased with the HD500. I've not yet gotten very deep into yet. Basically I've recreated the sounds I got out of the tonelab that I am used to gigging with and have 1 basic C+2 patch that uses the gtr input for the mag pickups and the aux input for piezo. It works great with the C+2.

I wouldn't worry about the learning curve. While it is a very versitile gizmo, the HD500 is quick to get from box to gig.

[dplight]

If you come up with some cool C+2 patches... I'd love to check 'em out...

So far I only have 1 C+2 patch and it looks suspiciously similar to yours. Not exactly, but I did use yours as a "how to" guide. Thank you.

[dplight]

I would love to see picture of the rig dplight. I've been thinking of making the move to an HD500 myself just not sure of the learning curve and I need to sit down with one when I have the time to go through some sounds. Seems like a perfect compliment to the C+ for what I do though.

Pictures are now up in the technical section if you haven't seen them yet under HD500 in a box. Not good pictures, but then it's not a guitar.

[Briggs]

Not good pictures, but then it's not a guitar.

well said sir, well said

[harritone]

Prosonic is a fantastic platform for pedals....I didnt even use the dirt channel(even though it was great).....do you have an LO version or a CR?(serial number)...that is the last killer amp fender came up with....before the 5150III(think these are Fender).....I've seen guys play the whole night, sound great, play all sorts of genres with 1 or 2 ODs...maybe a delay...and a tuner.........I've seen guys with nothing but that old Boss pedal board that holds 6 Boss Pedals and sound awesome.......unless you have a refrigerator rack(and a roadie), I am from the 'less is better' frame of thought...whatever works for you, my suggestion is that you probably will change it up or switch it around 5 to 10 times(maybe more), so don't make anything to permanent!

[loonerman]

Prosonic is a fantastic platform for pedals....I didnt even use the dirt channel(even though it was great).....do you have an LO version or a CR?(serial number)...that is the last killer amp fender came up with....before the 5150III(think these are Fender).....I've seen guys play the whole night, sound great, play all sorts of genres with 1 or 2 ODs...maybe a delay...and a tuner.........I've seen guys with nothing but that old Boss pedal board that holds 6 Boss Pedals and sound awesome.......unless you have a refrigerator rack(and a roadie), I am from the 'less is better' frame of thought...whatever works for you, my suggestion is that you probably will change it up or switch it around 5 to 10 times(maybe more), so don't make anything to permanent!

It has an LO serial number. I got the amp a couple of years ago. It is still like new. I love the gain channel. the clean channel is great too but the amp does have the notorious POP when you change channels. I will have it fixed someday.