Pedal justification

[aleclee]

Re: Pedal justification

I've been there and back. I had a big ass pedal board about ten years ago but when my band went to record a CD, all the guitar tracks were guitar straight into the amp. I've since replaced that entire rig and turned to the digital side. With everything "in the box", I can use whatever I want whenever I want.

If I still had a pedalboard, I guess it would come down to this:

1. Is there something I'd rather do with the space on the pedalboard?
2. Is the pedal messing up my tone when it's not engaged
3. Is there something I'd rather do with the money I'd get by ditching the pedal?

I guess where I'm going with that is that it's not so much about justification as it is prioritization. If there's nothing you want to take its place on the board, the only reasons to take it off are weight and tone suckage.

[That90'sGuy]

Re: Pedal justification

I went through this the past few years. I used to have multiple delay pedals, various wahs, phasers, various trems, etc. I hardly ever used any of it. The wah really messed with my head - even though I never used it I felt like my pedalboard wasn't complete without it

I went through a simplification process as I started focusing on writing a lot more. I started realizing what my "style" was and I realized that it wasn't a modern hard rock rig. I didn't need phasers, flangers, wahs, trems, lots of delays... I don't write with all that stuff. I condensed down to a compressor, a delay, a fuzz and an overdrive. That's more than some people, but it's pretty basic and most importantly, it all gets used.

[Stratman]

Re: Pedal justification

Just another pedal board, that I am building…
Needs cabling etc…
It will be placed in the middle of two other pedal boards.

[GuitarStv]

Re: Pedal justification

I've been in a process of minimizing stuff on my pedal board for the last few months, trying out different configurations and seeing what I can live without. At one point I was running 12 pedals, and realized that there were several on the board that had gone months without being turned on.

At the moment it's down to just fuzz->wah->vibe->delay. The wah pedal gets the least amount of use of those . . . but it's essential for some original funk tunes that I like to do (and Voodoo Chile) so it stays. I've given up trying to perfectly cop other people's cover tones . . . it's more fun playing the songs with the guitar sounding like me.

[Kamanda~SD]

Re: Pedal justification

Recently I was giving my pedalboard an overhaul, and I came to a surprising realization; I don't need a wah pedal on my board. It was hard to accept at first' "Of course I need a wah pedal, I've always had one. I can't take it off, what if I want to Kirk-up that solo?"

Then I really thought about how often (or little) I actually stepped on it. My band doesn't have any original songs that use it, and we play maybe two covers that might benefit from some wah-wah action, so why is it there? Simply because it's always been there, just in case. All this time I've been dedicating this precious real estate on my board to something I barely even use. So I did what I had to do; I took it off. We'll see how long this lasts, but somehow I feel like I'll barely notice it's absence.

I'm in the same boat. Just too much of a pussy to finally take it off the board!

[tinman1]

Re: Pedal justification

I actually prefer my Crybaby sitting off the board anyway. After all, it was designed to be ergonomic sitting on a flat surface, not an already angled pedaltrain.

It's more comfortable to play on the floor, saves a lot of space on the board and this is overall a more versatile set up. There's space for transporting it in the pedaltrain flight case when required.

[Nacho8807]

Re: Pedal justification

I actually prefer my Crybaby sitting off the board anyway. After all, it was designed to be ergonomic sitting on a flat surface, not an already angled pedaltrain.

It's more comfortable to play on the floor, saves a lot of space on the board and this is overall a more versatile set up. There's space for transporting it in the pedaltrain flight case when required.

I did this for a while, ultimately I felt that the space on the board wasn't worth the extra time to hook up those extra cables every time I played. especially on stage when you only have a few minutes to tear down or set up. That's what lead me to put it back on the board to begin with, now I realize I can really do without.

[Nacho8807]

Re: Pedal justification

I'm in the same boat. Just too much of a pussy to finally take it off the board!

Hey if it's all the same to you, there's nothing wrong with leaving it there. I just like having the space for something I'll actually use!

[tinman1]

Re: Pedal justification

I did this for a while, ultimately I felt that the space on the board wasn't worth the extra time to hook up those extra cables every time I played. especially on stage when you only have a few minutes to tear down or set up.

Don't really understand the time issue- it takes about 5seconds to patch the wah to the first pedal on the board with a 1ft cable.

[Nacho8807]

Re: Pedal justification

Don't really understand the time issue- it takes about 5seconds to patch the wah to the first pedal on the board with a 1ft cable.

It really wasn't much more time, it just seemed like a hastle to me. Especially for me to only step on it once, if at all, the entire show. Eliminating that one step during setup was one less thing I had to worry about.

[Agileguy_101]

Re: Pedal justification

If you don't use it, I can see why it would seem like a hassle. As I said before, I'm in a classic rock cover band, so I don't mind it - you can't do Hendrix, GnR, Zeppelin, and other like music without a wah.

[Gearjoneser]

Re: Pedal justification

On my large pedalboard, I still have all the pedals there, but I can decide to bypass the first few like wah and fuzz's by plugging into the 3rd or 4th pedals in the chain. So, they're there if I need them and out of the chain if I don't.

The pedals I realized I don't need are my vintage ADA Flanger and Fulltone Octafuzz. I'm still keeping the ADA, but I sold the Octafuzz.

[DreX]

Re: Pedal justification

The Fulltone Fulldrive II. After seeing this thread it got me thinking, and I pulled it. It seems to have a transparent and a TS clone mode. The TS clone mode is OK, but superfluous. The transparent mode is as advertised, but I don't honestly get why people dig transparency in the first place. A good clean tone isn't necessarily a good overdriven tone IMO. I like some amount of mid boost. The Joyo Sweet Baby is more of a boost, not much mid bump, but I still think it sounds a lot warmer and bubbly than the Fulldrive. And then the Fulldrive has the boost button, which I employed when I was in a band, but now that we just jam, there's less of a need, and what I prefer to do is set the volume / gain to "lead" levels, then just roll back the volume for the rhythm work. That a case where vol pot attenuation of the highs is actually beneficial, it helps push the guitar back in the mix during.

[Nacho8807]

Re: Pedal justification

If you don't use it, I can see why it would seem like a hassle. As I said before, I'm in a classic rock cover band, so I don't mind it - you can't do Hendrix, GnR, Zeppelin, and other like music without a wah.

That's exactly it, back when I played those songs, I actually did need a wah. Now that I don't, I barely touched it, but the mindset that it needed to be there remained. I never realized it until the other night.

On my large pedalboard, I still have all the pedals there, but I can decide to bypass the first few like wah and fuzz's by plugging into the 3rd or 4th pedals in the chain. So, they're there if I need them and out of the chain if I don't.

The pedals I realized I don't need are my vintage ADA Flanger and Fulltone Octafuzz. I'm still keeping the ADA, but I sold the Octafuzz.

I actually used to do that with my fuzzface. I would have it off my board with a 1' patch cable, and would plug it in for the songs I needed cause that thing would suck like crazy when bypassed. There was no danger of me keeping that thing around any longer than I needed it.

[everdrone]

Re: Pedal justification

It really wasn't much more time, it just seemed like a hastle to me. Especially for me to only step on it once, if at all, the entire show. Eliminating that one step during setup was one less thing I had to worry about.

5 seconds is 5 seconds no matter how you spin it

to debate about something psychological like this is something else

a carpenter values his tools but does not go into great depths about them for instance, I mean he certainly needs some and not others for certain jobs

you are overthinking it dude, just play!!! Rock on, Cheers