So is 18 pedals excessive for a new board ?

[millsart]

Not sure if that question is retorical or not lol........

So I was working on a layout for a new pedal board and getting the dimensions, power needs etc and I'm thinking things might be a little much but who's to say

Heres what I've got going though the order isn't really set in stone by any means, just rough draft layout if you will


Guitar

FoxRox Octron (I like it before wah to filter the octave effects) octave

Teese RMC3 Wah

EHX Qtron+ envelope filter

Boss Tuner

Retro-Sonic compressor

Keeley Voodoo Lab Sparkle Drive OD

Roger Mayer Axis Fuzz

MI Audio Crunch Box Distortion

EHX custom modded Little Big Muff

KR Musical MegaVibe (or SweetSound MojoVibe, not sure which yet)

EHX modded Small Stone phaser

Boss PH-2 phaser (set to 12 stage, cranked rez) in by-pass looper

EHX Deluxe Electric Mistress flanger

Retro-Sonic Chorus

Voodoo Lab Tremolo or Duncan Shape Shifter Tremolo (not sure which)

EHX Deluxe Memory Man (for mod delay)

Boss RE-20 Space Echo (for slapback, multitap and long delays)

EHX Holy Grail Plus reverb

Amp




Its going to be a rather large board but its not like I'm playing out often anymore so space isn't an issue. Theres not really much I can see leaving off though as everything has a use and a roll that can't be filled by anything else.

I'm tired of always having to plug and unplug pedals to suit my needs so I finally want something with everything all hooked up at once though it gets a bit crazy sounding when I do hook it all up.


I'm going to need to get another Planet Waves pedal board kit because I honestly don't even have enough patch cables to connect everything like this LOL

Your thoughts.....

 

[Lazarus1140]

Re: So is 18 pedals excessive for a new board ?

Man, I thought I was a pedal freak!!

Part of the fun is experimenting with sequence, laying out the board and then building it. It seems like a build a new board almost every year.

You may want to consider running the tremolo after the reverb.

You may also need crutches to take your signal from the board to your amp. Good luck ,dude!

 

[Rich_T]

Re: So is 18 pedals excessive for a new board ?

If you use them, no problem. I'm on 10 at the moment, but I'm always looking for cool new stuff to add.

 

[Skarekrough]

Re: So is 18 pedals excessive for a new board ?

Restraint.

Look it up....

 

[disturb]

Re: So is 18 pedals excessive for a new board ?

Yes! By the time that signal gets to the amp, it's not even close to what came out of the guitar. If I were going to use more than 3 or 4 pedals, I'd get a rack unit. Of course I hate pedals and only use 2 or 3 live. Wah, Phase, and maybe delay.

 

[Iron Horse]

Re: So is 18 pedals excessive for a new board ?

You should get few buffers to the board, too. For example MI Audio's Boost'n'Buff, so you can use them as a boost, too. One boost right after guitar, then one before the time and modulation effects, and third in the middle of them. Sure they cost about $ 120, but you've got plenty of pedals already, so I wouldn't think that it'd hurt your economy too bad.

 

[PFDarkside]

Re: So is 18 pedals excessive for a new board ?

No, not excessive, as long as you are using everything. I am kind of in the same mode as you, but I don't even have a board. I just grab 2 - 5 boxes I feel like playing with and string them together. Just make sure you do everything correctly in the design phase to elliminate issues down the road. Consider power supplies (there are quire a few different power requirements there) possibly a few more TB loopers (or one strip of several channels) and as Iron Horse mentioned, a booster that can be left on all the time as a buffer. Some will hurt the tone more disengaged than others, so I'd put those in a loop.

Bypassed, will it sound exactly like it does when you plug straight into the amp? No, but the goal is to make it as close as possible, then start with that as your new base tone. Also depending on how big it is when you draw it up, you may want to split it into two boars to make transportation easier.

 

[Rich_T]

Re: So is 18 pedals excessive for a new board ?

Restraint.

Look it up....

If they are an integral part of his playing, I don't really see why. Just another bit of the instrument.

 

[JB_From_Hell]

Re: So is 18 pedals excessive for a new board ?

If they are an integral part of his playing, I don't really see why. Just another bit of the instrument.

Exactly.

To be honest, if he only uses each one three times a year, I don't have much of a problem with it, either. Now, if he had 18 pedals plugged in, griped about how his signal wasn't the same as if he was direct, then refused to whittle the collection down a bit, I'd think he was being silly. But he's not, so I don't

 

[WhoFan]

Re: So is 18 pedals excessive for a new board ?

ya the signal lose must be huge with that stuff plugged in..... i guess a lot of it will have true bypass loops? if not you may want to look into a buffer or a set of EMG's

 

[jmh151]

Re: So is 18 pedals excessive for a new board ?

my pedal board has a built in pre amp and buffer.

even with georgeL or planetwaves cable kits, the more pedals you add, more noise. definately need a boss ns-2 in there

 

[Empty Pockets]

Re: So is 18 pedals excessive for a new board ?

wow.

i mean if you honestly use all those different sounds power to ya but ****.

i get overwhelmed when I use a wah pedal, an OD and a fuzz. I think I would just start sobbing if i was plugged into a rig with 18 pedals.

 

[theodie]

Re: So is 18 pedals excessive for a new board ?

IMO, 1 pedal is way too many!

Hey, ya asked. LOL!

 

[Skarekrough]

Re: So is 18 pedals excessive for a new board ?

If they are an integral part of his playing, I don't really see why. Just another bit of the instrument.

Fair enough.

But most folks realistically only end up using a small handful of effects on their boards and after about 5 or 6 pedals at best they end up getting turned on for one song or a small bit which they could have easily done without.

After 18 pedals your signal has to sound like crud, even if you're only running a few of them at a time.

Sure, I've owned 18 pedals. I'm probably near that now. But I only really use maybe 4 of them regularly, and of those 4 I consider 2 to be a necessity.

At what point does the time you spend stomping around and tweaking become more than its worth? At what point does it interfere with the music and the songs being played? At what point are you more aggravation and unnecessary delay to your other band members than you're really worth?

Most of the pedals listed are "trick" pedals that should likely only be used for a short passage or a single song at maximum. Two fuzzes and three phase/flanges? Seriously? Two different delays?

At what point does it start to become more work than its worth?

 

[marvar]

Re: So is 18 pedals excessive for a new board ?

I would feel like a tap dancer instead of a guitar player with that much stuff.
If I were recording, that many pedals might be ok, but live, I wouldn't have time to keep track of all that .

 

[wahwah]

Re: So is 18 pedals excessive for a new board ?

Here's a pic of Paul Stacey's (Black Crowes, Finn Brothers) live board...

A couple of different types of delays, a few different types of drive and gain stages, several different types of mod pedals, and a Gig Rig to program all of the patches. The Gig Rig would see to it that anything that isn't getting used is out of the chain for that patch. Knowing how fussy Neil Finn is about tone, I'd be betting that this guy pulls better sounds for the job at hand than any of us. This is one example of a global touring professional's board. There'll be others with no pedals, or maybe a few. If you want to have that kind of setup at home, who's gonna stop ya?


Cheers..............................wahwah

 

[Skarekrough]

Re: So is 18 pedals excessive for a new board ?

If you want to have that kind of setup at home, who's gonna stop ya?

In the absence of common sense and practicality then technically "nothing."

Key point though....he has the money to pay people to make sure he has great sound as well as tote that battleship around.

While I have the utmost respect for both you and Mister Finn, most of us are typically playing to small crowds and small venues where our finances and efforts are better suited to a host of other aspects regarding our playing and situations than dumping it into the pockets of someone like Bob Bradshaw just so you can get that perfect pristine Flange sound for all of the required eight seconds in Boston's "More Than A Feeling."

The OP asked if it was excessive.

The answer resoundingly is "Yes."

 

[Lazarus1140]

Re: So is 18 pedals excessive for a new board ?

That's a nice layout.

 

[That90'sGuy]

Re: So is 18 pedals excessive for a new board ?

18 pedals? Wow! Everybody has their own approach to playing guitar - if you dig that many effects - go for it! You don't see guys like the Edge, the guitar player from Mars Volta or John Frusciante arguing with you.

I personally hated the sound of having a lot of pedals in my chain. I essentially broke it down to a wah, two overdrives, a clean boost, a tuner, delay and trem. With my tube buffer, the sound is almost exactly the same as when I'm direct, so I've found a happy compromise. It's really a very personal thing, you may really dig the bypassed tone of your setup with that many pedals.

 

[FAC]

Re: So is 18 pedals excessive for a new board ?

Consider power supplies (there are quire a few different power requirements there) possibly a few more TB loopers (or one strip of several channels) and as Iron Horse mentioned, a booster that can be left on all the time as a buffer. Some will hurt the tone more disengaged than others, so I'd put those in a loop.

I agree with the looper idea, so you can avoid trying to cram the guitar signal through all the dormant effects. Heck, I use them and I only have 6 effects...this also puts some of your switches right down in front of the board, so you can avoid the balancing act of trying to turn on effect #18 in the upper left corner while turning off effect #1 in the lower right.

Here's one outfit: http://www.loop-master.com/

or, perhaps that new one from Carl Martin would work, especially if you have certain "presets" that you use frequently (phase+fuzz, or wah+distortion+echo, etc.).

edit: just curious...do you need the memory man and the RE-20? lots of real estate to have both.