Hellish bypass looper pedalboard - or a amp mod?

[Larioso]

We got one amp guru in sweden - Tommy Folkesson that do rebuild Marshall and anything

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wPIyWLZa7Hw

But also thinking if really flexible floorboard with a preset, not only connecting pedals and also in any order - like the Gig Rig G2

https://www.thegigrig.com/g2

10 pedals support, what they call true bypass anyway - haven't tested.

Does pedals replace amp mods - or what is your thinking?

Shape sound in amp or pedals(apart from guitar, pups and fingers)?

If you got the 4 basic sounds of this Marshall, maybe Fenderish stuff is missing?

Amp switching instead - two amps at least, or?
I think Alvin Lee did this to get his versatile sounds.

Thanks.

[beaubrummels]

Re: Hellish bypass looper pedalboard - or a amp mod?

Pedals are easier to try and reverse if they don’t work. Mods can either work or ruin a perfectly good amp. Pedals you can buy for cheap and sell for not too much loss. A modded amp costs a lot up front and larger losses if you sell it. Pedals seem like an easier route to me.

[PFDarkside]

Re: Hellish bypass looper pedalboard - or a amp mod?

Crazy switcher based pedalboards are fun (I’ve got one). Amp mods are fun, technically one of my amps is a modded Marshall. They are just tools to get you where you want to be tonally, and they are not necessarily independent nor are they an exhaustive list.

To me, tone all starts with the amp and speakers. Get that sorted out so you are in the ballpark of the base tone(s) you want. If you have more than one base tone, you may need to look into either:
-A versatile channel switching amp.
-A preamp/pedal that melds well with your base tone to get that second (and third) tone.

Don’t overlook speakers, as they play a huge role in your final tone.

After you’ve got your base tone, you can explore pedals as a way to spice it up. I always recommend getting a your drive pedal(s) first. There are many great overdrive/fuzz/distortion pedals, but the fallacy is that because I/some famous user loves it, it’s perfect for you. For me, the Fulldrive 2 is an awesome pedal... with my Princeton Reverb. It sounds good with others, but it is THE pedal for ME, with the PR. Find your gain/boost/drive/fuzz pedal for the guitar/amp/speaker you chose above.

Then you can sprinkle in the other flavors.... amp mods, extra gain, delay, modulation, etc. The switcher based pedalboard is a tool for when you need more pedals than is reasonable (either from a signal chain perspective or from a tap dancing switching perspective) I love complex switching based rigs, but they are a solution, not a goal. If you can get it done with one amp, do it . If you need an amp and one pedal, do that. Determine what you need, then the path to make it happen.

[beaubrummels]

Re: Hellish bypass looper pedalboard - or a amp mod?

If you want a modded amp, I would recommend having a custom amp made for you. You get exactly what you want, probably for less than a “famous name” amp that you have to mod.

I paid $1800 total to have a custom hand wired JTM45 made for me with some extra gain, vintage NOS tubes, for the case I could have any color scheme of covering, circuit, chassis, transformers brand new and hand wired; meanwhile a real hand wired JTM45 would have cost me $4000-$8000 in used condition still requiring service, let alone have to customize from there.

Another option is buy a newer circuit board version for $2000 and pay more to replace all the guts with custom hand wired stuff with mods.

Yet another option for the latter is the LLL route where he did all the rewire himself, which is well documented here and on some other forums.

A final option, if you’re feeling really hearty, is to build your own kit and learn/get some advise on how to mod the circuit before totally wiring it in.

All that said, these days almost all mods you could do can be found as factory options on stock amps. Think Friedman, Swart, Mesa, Peavey, Morgan, Two Rock, Egnator, etc. even the big names have mods built in. Marshall had the Vintage/Modern with voicing options, almost all have master volumes and extra gain stages or channels and loops. Fender has extra eq options and loops on some models to insert before the power stage, etc.

[Larioso]

Re: Hellish bypass looper pedalboard - or a amp mod?

Crazy switcher based pedalboards are fun (I’ve got one). Amp mods are fun, technically one of my amps is a modded Marshall. They are just tools to get you where you want to be tonally, and they are not necessarily independent nor are they an exhaustive list.

I've been intrigued by these that also allow order of pedals - true lab environment, kind of.
And if you find some to keep, it's there as a preset.
Unless you touch controls of course.

[Larioso]

Re: Hellish bypass looper pedalboard - or a amp mod?

If you want a modded amp, I would recommend having a custom amp made for you. You get exactly what you want, probably for less than a “famous name” amp that you have to mod.

I was almost at doing that 20 years ago some did Bkackface replica or close to - but then came the thoughts
- what if I don't like it?
- what is second hand value of this unknown amp, even if attempted replica of something?
- probably close to nothing

But pedalboards soon build up to a lot of money too.

[PFDarkside]

Re: Hellish bypass looper pedalboard - or a amp mod?

I've been intrigued by these that also allow order of pedals - true lab environment, kind of.
And if you find some to keep, it's there as a preset.
Unless you touch controls of course.

But pedalboards soon build up to a lot of money too.

The Boss ES-8 is fun for this. I think you’ll find you end up with a preferred order long term though.

Big switching boards do add up fast. They are bigger, so they cost more, plus think about the cabling. An 8 pedal board needs an In, Out and 7 patch cables. An 8 pedal switcher board will need an In, Out, and each pedal will need an In/Out, for 16 patch cables. Usually on a typical board you can use basic connectors, on a switcher based board, you can use standard connectors but many times players opt for smaller, compact connectors so the board isn’t just enormous.

Again, this is a tool to simplify your pedalboard, not necessarily the goal in and of itself. Very convenient, and with only the pedals you want in the signal path, it is cleaner and less noisy.

[Larioso]

Re: Hellish bypass looper pedalboard - or a amp mod?

The Boss ES-8 is fun for this. I think you’ll find you end up with a preferred order long term though.

I just hate BOSS buffering stuff, it's not true bypass anything - not ES-8 or ES-5 either.

Decibel11 has a Pedal Palette that do 4 pedals, and half price to G2 from GigRig, if one can do with that.

Just finding really interesting sounds is the idea. Why I love playing with synths and stuff too.
It just feeds creativity.

I have a concert DVD with Talking Heads where the guitar player squeeze some really interesting stuff out from guitar. We just have to spend enough time experimenting to find these things. So looking for tools to simplify a bit. A bit off topic since pedals vs amp mod is another matter.

Regular playing is probably like you said a given order, probably what I do now.

[Hank-]

Re: Hellish bypass looper pedalboard - or a amp mod?

I just hate BOSS buffering stuff, it's not true bypass anything - not ES-8 or ES-5 either.

Decibel11 has a Pedal Palette that do 4 pedals, and half price to G2 from GigRig, if one can do with that.

Just finding really interesting sounds is the idea. Why I love playing with synths and stuff too.
It just feeds creativity.

I have a concert DVD with Talking Heads where the guitar player squeeze some really interesting stuff out from guitar. We just have to spend enough time experimenting to find these things. So looking for tools to simplify a bit. A bit off topic since pedals vs amp mod is another matter.

Regular playing is probably like you said a given order, probably what I do now.

The ES8 allows the option to pick buffered or truebypass for any of the loops or globally, not sure since it's been a while I looked at it, I'm guessing the ES5 is the same but smaller.

There are cheaper switcher options from joyo/mooer/etc. that work for home use. The ES8/gigrig2 are pricier but better built for live use.

I found I liked a specific order for fx & have settled on it, so reconfigurable chains of pedals is not a requirement for me, however I do prefer presets & the ability to turn a set of fx on or off together at the same time. For that I much prefer a mfx unit with a loop for drive since I already have drive pedals I like to use. Makes setup : breakdown alot quicker & lighter.

[Dave Locher]

Re: Hellish bypass looper pedalboard - or a amp mod?

When I hear someone say they are looking to make interesting sounds, I think pedals. A basic good clean amp and a handful of pedals can give a lot more variety than any amp, and "interesting" sounds usually involve at least one or two pedals.

[Larioso]

Re: Hellish bypass looper pedalboard - or a amp mod?

When I hear someone say they are looking to make interesting sounds, I think pedals. A basic good clean amp and a handful of pedals can give a lot more variety than any amp, and "interesting" sounds usually involve at least one or two pedals.

How this thread came about was because two pedals is as expensive as one amp, like Marshall Origin 20H I have.
Real interesting variations from any tube amp is parametric EQ pedals which I have a thread on as well.

I run amps in home studio only, and run preamp out to patch bay and back to power amp in or effect return if exist.
So I can combine preamp from any amp into another power amp.
I even made a mod on Superchamp X2 to get effect return to have a power amp with 6V6 tubes, as the others are EL34 or EL84 based.
And I can run preamps from other amps into this Superchamp as well.
Superchamp was also like two pedals in cost( tried but don't like the digital part, so only use power amp).

So consistently going for flexibility and recording every guitar, with every pickup position into standard amps config and 3 channels or boosts each - I am on my way a bit.
It's only through experimenting you get knowledge exactly what do what.

Was just curious how folks here reason and go about things - silly amount of mods on amps to more channels like the Folkesson mod JMP in OP or the route of pedal boards that allow altered order without so much cable switching.