Pedal/Rig Observation - Question

[Gearjoneser]

Re: Pedal/Rig Observation - Question

I think any player that's been playing a long time goes through phases, both musically and gearwise.

You'll see people swearing they'll never use anything but Fender guitars, then buying a LP a year later.

I've been through the 'rack-itis' phase, thinking I was making my life easier, till I tried lugging it around.....then back to square one.

If you're in a band that requires certain parts to sound like your recording, you need a big pedalboard to pull it off. If you're in a blues/roots band, you may only need 4 things on the floor......or nothing but an amp.

I'll bet all the guys who say they hate British amps will be buying one in less than 10 years. And visa versa with American amps.

 

[JeffB]

Re: Pedal/Rig Observation - Question

I see what you mean. That makes perfect sense. I don't see much of it out here unless it's an older player that is very stuck in his ways and refuses to see beyond his own setup. Not all of them are like that, but they're out there.

HEY! There's nothing wrong with being a crotchety old curmudgeon:fing25:

:laugh2:

Well, you know me and my tastes bro. I'm just NOT big on pedals/effects. I've found very few distortion/drive pedals I like period, and fewer still I'd want as my "gain channel"...Niel's plexitone is one of the few I would consider. I just don't find pedals sound very natural, and they mess with the low and mid frequncies too much for me to use for most rhythm work. I do like them as a clean boost or slight gain boost on an already overdriven amp for leads tho. But my tone needs are narrow now, and were so when I was playing out in my younger days too. Some folks NEED the variety of sev dirt boxes and modulations if they are doing a variety of covers, etc. And thats cool. Nothing wrong with that.

I did the "rack thing" back in the 80s and I was sooo glad when I got rid of my preamps, and processors and got back to basics. My tone improved, I fiddled less, and enjoyed playing more.

Basically I susbscribe to that late 70s/early 80s thing..a good amp, a good goose, and maybe a analog chorus/phaser and reverb/delay and just go out and ROCK. I like effects as EFFECTS.. not part of my main tone, and I use them sparingly when I do use them: Chorus or phaser for clean parts or on occasion during a lead. Delay for that big "arena" sound.

I used to have this old vid from around 1987. It was called Metal Mania, and it had some live concert footage from UFO (Atomic Tommy M era), Uriah Heap, Nazareth, Warlock, and someone else I'm forgetting at the moment. On the Warlock tracks they did this slow power ballad (oh Doro Pesch...YUM :laugh2: ). Anyhoo warlock had two guitar players. One guy was using a washburn set neck explorer type thing and the other guy pulled out a Les Paul for this particular song. They both were plugged into (surprise surprise) 800s. The guy with the washburn had this shredder dude tone that was gained out (he was running some kind of dirt box..sounded like an MXR D+ or a Rat), chorused, drenched in reverb and as a result VERY compressed. He had some chops. But it was just horrible to listen to him. Then the dude with the Paula took his solo..just a little ambience Delay and..well..you can imagine the difference. It was HUGE , Fat, Open and sang. It wasn't just the difference in guitars. Cos he played another guitar on the first song they did (cant remember what), and he still sounded 10 times better than Mr. Washburn (not to mention Mr. Washburn was completely DROWNED out of the mix when he was crunching along)

Bottom line: KISS works best for me. YMMV.

PS: I'm glad you got your MOSFET boost pedal worked out! Remind me NOT to have you build me any pedals, K? :chairfall :fingersx:

 

[ErikH]

Re: Pedal/Rig Observation - Question

You are definitely old school, bro. Nothing wrong with that at all. It works for you and you get some great tones that way.

Yeah, I can't believe I had those caps backwards all this time....LOL. Whacky thing is, I find that I want to have that pedal in the chain now. :smack:

Since it would be on all the time anyway the way I use it, it doesn't need to be out front. It can sit on the floor under the amp stand with the tuner. It just puts back all that sparkle and clarity that can be lost with longer cables.

 

[ErikH]

Re: Pedal/Rig Observation - Question

Note to self. Leave the Mosfet booster at home. At low volumes at home it's great to use with my setup but with the band at high volumes, too much. It's like a presence knob at 3 o'clock. Too much highs. I like the sound of the amp that loud without it. So, it's back to nothing in the band rig...LOL.

 

[WhoFan]

Re: Pedal/Rig Observation - Question

Note to self. Leave the Mosfet booster at home. At low volumes at home it's great to use with my setup but with the band at high volumes, too much. It's like a presence knob at 3 o'clock. Too much highs. I like the sound of the amp that loud without it. So, it's back to nothing in the band rig...LOL.

i still can't imagine using outboard FX's with a modeler like the Vox amp....

 

[ErikH]

Re: Pedal/Rig Observation - Question

i still can't imagine using outboard FX's with a modeler like the Vox amp....

If I was able to afford the blue series, I would agree totally. But the silver series has less in it so if you want to add, that's where pedals come in. These amps take pedals very well so that is an added bonus. However, it does the job perfectly and I can get away with not using any like I had mentioned before. It's quite nice having to deal with only a tuner and a 2-button footswitch.

 

[LesStrat]

Re: Pedal/Rig Observation - Question

I would love to pare it down to a couple of pedals (pair it down:chairfall ), but I have to be able to reproduce too many different things in a moments notice. I don't think my board is excessive, but the only reason I bought a wah was to be able to play some of the songs that we do.

Otherwise, I'd settle minimal effects.