I'm planing out my pedalboard. Any suggestions?

[The GrungeMetal Guy]

So, I'm planing out my pedal board, and I've done a lot of research into the best stuff for as cheep as I can. I kind of have two pedal boards, my dream one and my practical cheep one that I'll use for before I can pay for my expensive one. I play metal if it isn't obvious from my user name, primarily using elements of progressive metal. Lemme know if you have any suggestions for it.

Practical: TC Electronic Polytune, JoYo Harley Benton: Dyna Compressor, Ibanez TS-7, TC Electronic Dark Mater distortion, this then runs into my amps pre amp, then goes into my Fx loop it goes; TC Electronic Forcefield Noise Gate, TC Electronic Echobrain Delay, and I'm wondering if I should have phaser or chorus and which pedal I should get in that catigory j should get.

Thank you!

 

[Mincer]

Re: I'm planing out my pedalboard. Any suggestions?

Well, there is always the Catalina Chorus, with its expression control, which is a great thing to have for metal intros and interludes.

 

[Coma]

Re: I'm planing out my pedalboard. Any suggestions?

Well, for starters, I'd get a noise gate. You say you have a a TC forcefield, but that's a compressor, not a gate.

Phaser for me is somthing that needs songs written with it in mind, whereas a chorus can be applied to almost anything so long as its set farily subtle. Or used just over solos to fatten thigns up, sort of like a delay. I don't use phaser, but I use delay all the time and I've started to look into choruses as well. And I play metal exclusively (at least in situations where my pedal board is involved). So that's my take on it, but pick what you think you will want/need.

Compression - from what I've been told - is mostly used for clean playing, since distortin compresses for you anyway. But you'd probably want to wait for someone else to chime in, I have no practical experience with compressors.myself.

A much more important thing to consider, IMO, is layout. There are a number of rules (none set in stones, mind you, but definitely good to look up if you're new to pedals) for pedal connection order. HOWEVER, this does not necessarily translate well into pedal board layout. Setting things up exactly as your signal chain and connecting everything with short jumpers might make wiring easier, but the drawback is your feet will be flying all over the damn place. Try to figure out which pedals you'll be stepping on the most and place them on the same side as your dominant leg. It'll save you a lot of strain, not to mention keep you from tumbling over

The alternative to this is a loop switcher (not to be confused with a looper) but since you want to go as cheap as possible, that might not be what you're looking for.

 

[The GrungeMetal Guy]

Re: I'm planing out my pedalboard. Any suggestions?

Yeah, thank you for letting me know about the compressor with distortion. I am aware about compressors in metal, why I was gonna use it was keep the gain Chanel on my amp (currently I have single Chanel amp) and so even if I have my distortion off then it'll still have grit, which I don't want. But if you roll back the volume pot then it cleans up the sound (but only on passive pickups), but if I have the sound lower then the output then the gate will cut it off, but a compressor will prevent that from happening. If you have another suggestion, I'm all ears, and you're rigt, forcefield is a compressor... Thanks for pointing that out

 

[Paully]

Re: I'm planing out my pedalboard. Any suggestions?

Use "pancake" jacked connections.
Don't skimp. Your sound can degrade with every one it travels thru.
Don't need to break th bank, think "ebay"
https://rover.ebay.com/rover/0/0/0?mpre=https://www.ebay.com/ulk/itm/332410119619

 

[Aceman]

Re: I'm planing out my pedalboard. Any suggestions?

Give us a signal chain diagram. And what amp are you using? And are you playing live with this, jamming, or just at home? Also - metal runs a big range. My band does 80's hair, so a chorus is a MUST have. Slayer, not so much...

Guitar > Polytune > TS7 > Darkmatter > Amp

Loop > Delay > Amp

etc...