Has anyone ever been made fun of because of the size of their pedalboards?

[Zachman]

 

I've got plenty of answers, and they're all coherent...if you actually pay attention. It doesn't matter whether you've got a zillion pedals or none at all, if you've got the goods to back it up. If you can't play, it really doesn't matter how many fx you've got either. You'll still suck. However, if you suck, the more fx you have, the stupider you'll look.

 

 

Oh, the shell game....

 

This isn't about whether or not someone is "Good enough" to "deserve" to have pedals/ good amps, guitars, rack gear, etc... It's about the player's choice to follow a chosen path. The guy may end up NOT being a GREAT guitarist, rather a GREAT engineer... Who's to say? (Rhetorical) BUT, in the mean time, if it motivates them to enjoy themselves while playing, more power to them.

[Kap'n]

 

Oh, the shell game.... This isn't about whether or not someone is "Good enough" to "deserve" to have pedals/ good amps, guitars, rack gear, etc... It's about the player's choice to follow a chosen path.

 

 

Huh?

 

You didn't actually read, or understand the note.

 

Being creative is what makes a great guitarist. Not the chops. Not the pedals they have, or the lack of pedals either. It's the ears, and the knowledge of what is right. It can be Beck ripping mind-boggling riffs on a rack system, John Lee Hooker playing a one chord vamp on a pawnshop guitar, it can be Fripp droning feedback sustains with a simple fuzzbox on a Bowie tune, it can be virtually anything.

 

On the other hand if you suck, you suck. And no pedal is going to save you. And more pedals just make it worse. And it's been my decades of experience that I've never encountered anybody with a large pedalboard that could even scratch the surface of what it (the board) was capable of, much less create anything of substance with or without the pedals.

 

But if it happens, I'll let you know.

[sdresdre]

you have NEVER seen someone with a large pedal board that was good? no band ever?

then you dont get out much. i guess im the first ever guitarist with a large pedal board that is good player/tasteful writer.

Huh? You didn't actually read, or understand the note. Being creative is what makes a great guitarist. Not the chops. Not the pedals they have, or the lack of pedals either. It's the ears, and the knowledge of what is right. It can be Beck ripping mind-boggling riffs on a rack system, John Lee Hooker playing a one chord vamp on a pawnshop guitar, it can be Fripp droning feedback sustains with a simple fuzzbox on a Bowie tune, it can be virtually anything. On the other hand if you suck, you suck. And no pedal is going to save you. And more pedals just make it worse. And it's been my decades of experience that I've never encountered anybody with a large pedalboard that could even scratch the surface of what it (the board) was capable of, much less create anything of substance with or without the pedals. But if it happens, I'll let you know.

[Zachman]

 

Huh? You didn't actually read, or understand the note. Being creative is what makes a great guitarist. Not the chops. Not the pedals they have, or the lack of pedals either. It's the ears, and the knowledge of what is right. It can be Beck ripping mind-boggling riffs on a rack system, John Lee Hooker playing a one chord vamp on a pawnshop guitar, it can be Fripp droning feedback sustains with a simple fuzzbox on a Bowie tune, it can be virtually anything. On the other hand if you suck, you suck. And no pedal is going to save you. And more pedals just make it worse. And it's been my decades of experience that I've never encountered anybody with a large pedalboard that could even scratch the surface of what it (the board) was capable of, much less create anything of substance with or without the pedals. But if it happens, I'll let you know.

 

 

Well... Holdsworth, Landau, Fripp, Summers, Gilmour are ALL great players with or without huge amounts of toys at their disposal, they choose to use them, for a reason.

 

Granted if you suck you suck... TRUE... BUT If you suck, and having some toys that motivate you to play more, and have more fun during the growing pains years, makes it more enjoyable, than I say why not, as the more time you spend bonding with your instrument and the tools of the trade, the BETTER, IMO.

 

Not ALL people who enjoy playing and creating sound are doing it to impress someone, or to be famous.

[gold_soundz]

lots of the time i use effects because i want my guitar to not sound like a guitar. i layer stuff so i can create tones that sound like synth pads etc. im no rookie. im 28.... been playing for 20 years ( i feel old) i teach guitar blah blah blah. so im def not trying to "mask" any bad playing. i think of effects as another instrument. if done well it they can be. takes a lot of time but im a nerd who loves tweaking. i play keys too but im not a classically trained piano player by ANY means!

Thats great - I'd like to see you play . I think its the huge board / 3 chords / been playing for 6 months brigade that generate bad feeling.

At the end of the day if you make good music no one will care. Its if people are making fun of you after the gig that there should be concern...

[Liberty Belle]

I've never been made fun of about my pedals but i have had similar treatment about other things and i put it down to jealousy plain and simple!

 

See,imo it dont matter if your a rockstar with 20 pedals or a kid with 30 pedals,providing you enjoy them amd use them for music that is fun to play,makes you and everyone around you feel good then no bad can possibly come from it.

 

People suck and are jealous fools because only a fool would get jealous over material objects.

 

pretty {censored}in' simple!

 

 

 

Huh? Y On the other hand if you suck, you suck. And no pedal is going to save you. And more pedals just make it worse. And it's been my decades of experience that I've never encountered anybody with a large pedalboard that could even scratch the surface of what it (the board) was capable of, much less create anything of substance with or without the pedals.

 

I agree with this fully! And thats why i prefer to call myself a musician than strictly a guitarist.Sometime i play my effects and dont even touch my guitars,i just play the modulation and oscillations like its an instrument and push my stomp boxes into unknown territory,i try to hear things that no ones ever heard before.

 

Its a helluva lot of fun and i'm being creative as {censored},at the same time i'm writing new songs or parts of songs or intros/outros of songs.

If i had to use effects the conventional way i'd sell all but one fuzz pedal.

[ZeppelinPie792]

what exception? dude's boring as hell.

 

 

If by that, you mean has amazing tone

[tri99er]

I really don't see the issue with having a big board vs. a small board vs. no board, I use all three, it's all about using the proper tools for the job.

Sometimes I need 15 pedals, feeding 2 amps, sometimes I don't.

BTW I am suprised there is no mention of Multi FX's yet, cause they pack way more effecs than even the biggest boards I've seen here, or are they ok, since they are all in one casing?

Just a thought.

[Zachman]

I really don't see the issue with having a big board vs. a small board vs. no board, I use all three, it's all about using the proper tools for the job. Sometimes I need 15 pedals, feeding 2 amps, sometimes I don't. BTW I am suprised there is no mention of Multi FX's yet, cause they pack way more effecs than even the biggest boards I've seen here, or are they ok, since they are all in one casing? Just a thought.

 

 

Fear not, the monster rack haters groups are out there too. Usually emo whiner punks, or the pedal snob nazis

[sdresdre]

Fear not, the monster rack haters groups are out there too. Usually emo whiner punks, or the pedal snob Nazis

 

 

lol. im not a rack guy myself but yeh.... i imagine its WAY worse for you. rolling in with a big rack. people will be people right!

[Zachman]

 

lol. im not a rack guy myself but yeh.... i imagine its WAY worse for you. rolling in with a big rack. people will be people right!

 

 

Usually it's only on the forums... In person, there are no doubts, regarding the performance benefits of the Big Rig. (Fast setup time, the tone kills everything else, the automation makes song to song and mid-song transactions seamless etc...) There are only compliments and people scratching their heads wondering out loud what is that, saying stuff like WOW that sounded great, and asking how I figured out how to use all of that stuff.

 

But I only use the Big rig for concert gigs (Rare nowadays). Usually it's for studio stuff. Mostly, I run a normal small 1x12 and 1-4 pedals.

 

You're right though, people will be people. I guess it's like one guy who sees a Ferrari and admires it for what it is, and the other guy-who keys it out of jealousy, for spite.

 

Once- after seeing Allan Holdsworth, we were hanging out and some guy comes up and tells Allan, "Hey that rig is like -what $25,000, right?" and Allan responds ya- To which the guy responds, "Correct me if I'm wrong, but you used like what, 2 tones?" To which Allan responded, "Ya, but what did you think of the tones?" At that point, the guy just shut up, sort of shaking his head in approval. (I thought it was funny watching that creep get shut down)

 

I figure, IF I don't have to move someone else's gear, what do I care if they have a small setup or a monster pedal board or a monster rack.

[Tomomoto]

Pedophile?

AHahahah! Rofl!

[MathiasWilliam]

AHahahah! Rofl!

 

 

What does Jazz School think of the Pedalboard??

[elxchino]

Nice dig Tomomoto.

I hate FX haters

Unless the guy's outstanding at what he does, I'd tell him, "Your sound sucks. Maybe you should consider adding a pedal to make up for the suck. Cause it's what I do right?"

[jorhay1]

 

the more fx you have, the stupider you'll look.

 

 

interesting point

even if one doesn't suck, one always runs the risk of looking stupider

[miggy01]

My metalhead friend and his buddies laugh at the amount I've spent on pedals (which compared to some here, is not much at ALL), but I laugh at their line 6 amps and zoom multieffects pedals right back.

[echodeluxe]

i didnt read the whole thread because i saw a flame war, and would like to be omitted from it.

 

i ake fun of my friend madison (XanaduNEX on the HC forums) because he has a massive pedalboard. i think he has like 5 delays and 4 reverbs. haha.

 

i make fun of him more out of jealousy cuz he has some sweet pedals and gets some gnarly sounds out of them.

 

check out his band too, real dreamy fun stuff:

 

myspace.com/makeamends

[jorhay1]

pedal envy

[echodeluxe]

pedal envy

 

 

hah yeah.

 

its funny because i am REALLY happy with my pedalboard right now. i've pretty much got all i need. maybe a reverb, maybe another DMM. who knows, no gas though, just happy.

[MathiasWilliam]

i'm jelous of Tomomoto's pedalboard,

I turn up carrying my pedalboard, he asks me to help carry his.

[indigoguy]

1) Nothing is worse than a guitarist who drowns his tone in effects. 2) Effects can add color and beauty to the music; but good music should still be able to stand on its own, note for note.

1)Think you are missing the point here, people who use lots of effects (myself included) think of the effects as part of the tone of the guitar not as something that is getting in the way of it.

2) Once again, a good effect user will make the effects PART of the music, in some cases they can be as important as the actual notes chosen.

i'm not trying to have a go here just trying to explain that it is a different mindset to playing guitar -> amp

[echodeluxe]

1)Think you are missing the point here, people who use lots of effects (myself included) think of the effects as part of the tone of the guitar not as something that is getting in the way of it. 2) Once again, a good effect user will make the effects PART of the music, in some cases they can be as important as the actual notes chosen. i'm not trying to have a go here just trying to explain that it is a different mindset to playing guitar -> amp

spot on.

i personally think:

1) nothing is worse than tone snobs who like to share with everyone their opinions on how music SHOULD be played. get off your high horse and play.

[Toasted]

Pedophile?

Pedalphile?

[Small Stone]

Pedalphile?

[arcadesonfire]

1)Think you are missing the point here, people who use lots of effects (myself included) think of the effects as part of the tone of the guitar not as something that is getting in the way of it. 2) Once again, a good effect user will make the effects PART of the music, in some cases they can be as important as the actual notes chosen. i'm not trying to have a go here just trying to explain that it is a different mindset to playing guitar -> amp

 

I wrote my senior thesis on this very topic. Leading up to it, I wrote a paper first comparing three recordings of Bach's Goldberg Variations and what had been written about them, pointing out how virtually no attention was given to the timbre of the instruments the performers chose, then showing how the timbre was just as vital as the playing in defining Hendrix's, SRV's, and Clapton's versions of "Little Wing."

 

But to go real deep in writing about how vital effects, texture, and timbre are in rock music, I had to write my final paper on The Beatles, covering a bit of Magical Mystery Tour, then Sgt. Pepper's, and finally doing a complete explication of The White Album. I did the Beatles partly because there were enough written resources about them to draw on, but also because they were the most popular group at the time when effects were no longer just background, subordinate to the music, but instead were becoming part of the instrument, absolutely essential to defining the work of art on the record.

 

So, i try to protect my amp's tone, but if someone is up on stage using chorus, trem, delay, loops, phase, etc.etc.etc. on every song, then that's their tone; nothing wrong with it. Johnny Greenwood, no stranger to effects, still keeps a solid state Fender amp in his rig and you can hear it on their records a lot; could Radiohead be the same Radiohead if he were only using custom made, boutique tube amps on every track? I think not. It's silly to think that everyone should have the same priorities when it comes to tone.