No doubt redundant but - if you could choose on pedal for blues gigs what would it be

leevc5

New member
I'm still struggling with getting my pedals all set up and would like to narrow it down to one pedal (not counting the SD Pickup Booster which is a given). I need some help short term for sessions and gigs over the next two to three weeks.
 
Re: No doubt redundant but - if you could choose on pedal for blues gigs what would i

If I only bring one pedal to a gig, which is frequently, it's timmy
 
Re: No doubt redundant but - if you could choose on pedal for blues gigs what would i

Depends on amp, session/gig requirements, etc.


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Re: No doubt redundant but - if you could choose on pedal for blues gigs what would i

If I only bring one pedal to a gig, which is frequently, it's timmy

Listened to several sound clips of timmy - absolutely beautiful overdrive sound. I am going to forego the 805 and pick up a timmy.
 
Re: No doubt redundant but - if you could choose on pedal for blues gigs what would i

Timmy would be a great choice. It blends well with your guitar and amp's natural tone. Very reasonably priced for being a boutique pedal.
 
Re: No doubt redundant but - if you could choose on pedal for blues gigs what would i

Fulltone OCD
 
Re: No doubt redundant but - if you could choose on pedal for blues gigs what would i

I'm still struggling with getting my pedals all set up and would like to narrow it down to one pedal (not counting the SD Pickup Booster which is a given). I need some help short term for sessions and gigs over the next two to three weeks.

totally depends on the amp and axe.
Ive done hundreds of blues gigs over the years and mostly using one pedal, but which pedal depended on the other two important things in the chain.
Can you give us a bit more info on that?
 
Re: No doubt redundant but - if you could choose on pedal for blues gigs what would i

totally depends on the amp and axe.
Ive done hundreds of blues gigs over the years and mostly using one pedal, but which pedal depended on the other two important things in the chain.
Can you give us a bit more info on that?

Strat with Texas specials ( at times a HSH strat wirh Kent Armstong bridge, Fender noiseless middle and SD SH-2 neck), SD Pickup Booster, Marshall AVT50 = the chain.
The music Peter Green, Clapton, a dash of Mark knopfler ~ stuff like that
The environment mid to large bars.
 
Re: No doubt redundant but - if you could choose on pedal for blues gigs what would i

Korg Pitchblack
 
Re: No doubt redundant but - if you could choose on pedal for blues gigs what would i

Zendrive
 
Re: No doubt redundant but - if you could choose on pedal for blues gigs what would i

avt 50. 2 channels and a superstrat with many sound options.
I guess you don't really need any pedals. There is a real lot you can do when you deliberately limit yourself to just the guitar and amp, and work the volume and tone controls on the axe to squeeze out all the tones in there, not to mention all the different picking techniques you can employ for timbral colour.
However, if you work on that for a while and really milk you rig for everything it offers and you want to add some extra awesome, then just a regular run of the mill overdrive pedal will give you that "leap off the cliff" for really singing leads high up the neck.
The venerable boss sd-1 always wins with marshalls or any description, but seeing as you are going with one pedal, it doesn't hurt to have a little extra flexibility.
Hard to go wrong with a fulldrive 2 mosfet. It is great with ye olde single channel bluesbreaker style marshalls and it also sounds great through modern marshalls.
You can trim the clipping and the feel to match your amp, and still have the extra footswitchable boost up your sleeve for when you just want "a bit more".

....still the pickup booster would probably sound just as good, if a little different.
 
Re: No doubt redundant but - if you could choose on pedal for blues gigs what would i

No can do. Tuner, wah, compressor, delay, etc....I'm taking my entire pedal board for any recording or gigs I do, with a Mesa amp and at least a G&L Legacy and a 2HB. Even if I don't use it, I have it if I need it.

Bill
 
Re: No doubt redundant but - if you could choose on pedal for blues gigs what would i

If I had to have only one, I'd go with a either a Leslie speaker/Vibe pedal, or a good wah.
 
Re: No doubt redundant but - if you could choose on pedal for blues gigs what would i

Most of the "blues" gigs I have done a pedal would be frowned on. I brought an overdrive once to a blues gig as a teenager and caught hell from the band leader. This guy was a hardcore deep south bluesman. If it was a contemporary blues gig (Bonamassa, Clapton) I think my ROSS Distortion or MOOG MF Drive set for a slight boost would get the job done.
 
Re: No doubt redundant but - if you could choose on pedal for blues gigs what would i

Most of the "blues" gigs I have done a pedal would be frowned on. I brought an overdrive once to a blues gig as a teenager and caught hell from the band leader. This guy was a hardcore deep south bluesman.


I've run into that too, from a handful of guys over the years who think everything has to be preserved exactly like it was in their idea of the 'golden age.' That's fine for those people, but there's a lot of kinds of blues, and the reason blues was kept alive was the Brits who reintroduced it to America in the mid & late 1960's. That qualifies as real blues too. What those guys are missing is that the blues greats use/used pedals & distortion themselves. Albert King used a MXR Phase 90 pedal, Buddy Guy has a Dunlop signature wah. The small amps of the 1950's really distorted when pushed; have you heard Willie Johnson's tones when he was playing with Howlin' Wolf in the early 1950's? One of the great blues guitarists, and his guitar was heavily distorted. That was common for guitarists back then, so that their little amps could be heard over the rest of the band. The self-proclaimed 'blues purists' only seem to remember the louder amps of the late 1950's & 1960's that were pretty clean played at normal volumes. Selective memory.
 
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Re: No doubt redundant but - if you could choose on pedal for blues gigs what would i

I dig the 805.
But if I had to bring one pedal, it would probably be some sort of delay (Vapor Trail, with a volume pedal in the insert jack), and use a non-master volume amp for power tube distortion.
 
Re: No doubt redundant but - if you could choose on pedal for blues gigs what would i

I've run into that too, from a handful of guys over the years who think everything has to be preserved exactly like it was in the their idea of the 'golden age.' That's fine for those people, but there's a lot of kinds of blues, and the reason blues was kept alive was the Brits who reintroduced it to America in the mid & late 1960's. That qualifies as real blues too. What those guys are missing is that the blues greats use/used pedals & distortion themselves. Albert King used a MXR Phase 90 pedal, Buddy Guy has a Dunlop signature wah. The small amps of the 1950's really distorted when pushed; have you heard Willie Johnson's tones when he was playing with Howlin' Wolf in the early 1950's? One of the great blues guitarists, and his guitar was heavily distorted. That was common for guitarists back then, so that their little amps could be heard over the rest of the band. The self-proclaimed 'blues purists' only seem to remember the louder amps of the late 1950's & 1960's that were pretty clean played at normal volumes. Selective memory.

Otis Rush is my go to man for blues. I don't think he uses any pedals. "Contemporary" favorites of mine Peter Green and Michael Bloomfield don't/didn't use any pedals either as far as I know.
of some interest all three used guitars with humbuckers:
Otis Rus- ES-345, ES-355;
Peter Green - Les Paul;
Michael Bloomfield: Telecaster, Les Paul and ES-175 (my favorite works of his were done on the Les Paul e.g.: Mary Ann Bloomfield and Cooper Super Session live at the Fillmore)
 
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Re: No doubt redundant but - if you could choose on pedal for blues gigs what would i

Any gig, open mic night, any performance or jam where there is "frowning upon" anything sounds like a boring suckfest and I would not bother going.
 
Re: No doubt redundant but - if you could choose on pedal for blues gigs what would i

No can do. Tuner, wah, compressor, delay, etc....I'm taking my entire pedal board for any recording or gigs I do, with a Mesa amp and at least a G&L Legacy and a 2HB. Even if I don't use it, I have it if I need it.
About ten years ago, I was in a roots rock band and had a "respectable" pedalboard. When it came time to go into the studio, I didn't use a single one. It wasn't an intentional choice, just going where the music took me.

I've run into that too, from a handful of guys over the years who think everything has to be preserved exactly like it was in the their idea of the 'golden age.'
<rant> Such refusal to depart from the style and tools of our forbears is a major reason why guitar's relevance in contemporary music is on life support. Such a "time capsule" approach to an instrument is why guitar is only slightly more relevant today than Benny Goodman's clarinet. </rant>
 
Re: No doubt redundant but - if you could choose on pedal for blues gigs what would i

Otis Rush is my go to man for blues. I don't think he uses any pedals. "Contemporary" favorites of mine Peter Green and Michael Bloomfield don't/didn't use any pedals either as far as I know.

if you can crank up your tube amp then you dont need pedals. i have a little musicmaster bass amp that i can usually turn up enough to get the goods but even my deluxe reverb is too loud to run as hot as id like in most places, hence the need for a good overdrive
 
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