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Please rate my pedal collection and offer suggestions...

Phil O'Keefe

By Phil O'Keefe
in Effects and Processors

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Phil O'Keefe Rookie

Phil O'Keefe

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Hi folks, I've got the following pedals:

 

MXR Super Comp

Ibanez CP-5 Compressor

Ibanez TS-5 Tubescreamer, modded to 808 specs

Danelectro Reel Echo

Danelectro Rocky Road

Danelectro Fish & Chips

Danelectro FAB Overdrive

Danelectro Daddy-O Overdrive (borrowing / may buy)

Line 6 MM4 with expression pedal

Morley ABY switch & volume pedal

Dunlop GCB-95 Crybaby

HBE Germania

EH LPB-1

 

I also have a BYOC Fuzz on order, which should arrive tomorrow. Oh, and a Digitech RP-6 and BP-200; neither of which knock me out.

 

For power, I have several Ibanez AC adapters, a One Spot with a daisy chain cable, and a Fulltone AC adapter for the Germania.

 

Uses? Pretty much strictly for studio use... I rarely play out live. While some of this stuff is used when I'm playing, the other use is just to have some different options around for my studio clients to play with.

 

The only other pedals I'm currently considering is a Fulltone OCD and a Janglebox compressor... but I'm open to suggestions - so please tell me what YOU would keep, what you would sell, and if there's something you think I should sell, what you would recommend replacing it with.

 

Thanks - I look forward to reading your comments and suggestions! :)

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Phil O'Keefe Rookie

Phil O'Keefe

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Oh, and in case anyone is interested, my guitar and amp collection includes:

 

1997 (?) Epi Les Paul limited edition

2001 Epi Casino

2000 Danelectro DC-12 12 string electric

1994 modded Fender Tele Special

1962 Fender Strat

1992 Rickenbacker 610

1994 Taylor 510

 

Those are the main guitars, although I have a few others as well as a few basses.

 

Amps?

 

THD Univalve

"Blueprinted" Fender Princeton II

Highly modded Super Champ (AC15 front end, Marshall output with EL34's)

 

I'm also building a couple of the Guytronix heads for a review, and I'll probably purchase at least one of them.

 

Oh, and I've got a Bass Pod, Pod XT and a Johnson J-Station... please don't string me up. ;):D

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guitarcapo Newbie

guitarcapo

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Personally I wouldn't have that much redundancy. Do you really need two compressors?

 

Do you need all those Dan-o drive pedals?

I would think the Ibanez would be fine by itself.

 

I have 3 "drive" pedals...One is diode based, the other is tube based, and the BadCat I leave on clean for presence.

 

How about a chorus pedal? Some other modulation effects?

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Phil O'Keefe Rookie

Phil O'Keefe

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Originally posted by guitarcapo

Personally I wouldn't have that much redundancy. Do you really need two compressors?


Nope... I'll probably sell or give away the Ibanez.
:)

Do you need all those Dan-o drive pedals?

I would think the Ibanez would be fine by itself.


Well, there's really only two Dano drive pedals - the FAB OD and the Daddy-O, which belongs to a friend of mine. I bought the FAB on a whim (hey, for under $9 bucks new, I thought, "why not?"
;)
), but my original idea was to get a collection of a half a dozen to maybe a dozen different "dirt boxes" and boost pedals for different OD / Distortion / Fuzz tones. The Daddy-O might be redundant, and I might give it back to my friend instead of buying it, but with the Ibanez TS, the Germania and LPB-1 boosts and the BYOC fuzz and maybe an OCD, I think I should have some good options for starters... but I'm open to other / different suggestions as far as OD and distortion pedals.


I have 3 "drive" pedals...One is diode based, the other is tube based, and the BadCat I leave on clean for presence.


I've been known to run the THD in front of another tube amp, so I guess that would qualify as a "tube based OD" type unit too.
:)
What drive pedals do you have? Opinions?


How about a chorus pedal? Some other modulation effects?


Honestly, I've been pretty surprised with the Line 6 MM4... it's not bang on accurate in all respects, but for my needs, it works and sounds pretty good for the modulation based effects stuff. And frankly, I do a lot of that sort of thing with my rack units and plug ins in the studio... so while I might consider some other boutique modulation based pedals in the future, I think that's a lower priority for me than the dirt boxes and so forth.



Thanks for your suggestions!

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Eddie Newbie

Eddie

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Given that your main use is in the studio, I would go for 2 factors; versatility and sound quality.

Given this, I would consider getting:

 

Banzai Fireball 2

Blackbox Oxygen (maybe)

Yamaha MagicStomp ($89 + free shipping is hard to beat)

Captain Coconut (maybe)

Teese RMC-3

Everman Fuzz Drive

EBS MultiComp (maybe)

EBS MultiDrive (maybe)

 

The idea behind these suggestions is that they are versatile (capable of producing diverse sounds and work with different amps/guitars) and the sounds are very usable. Some work with bass too (e.g., EBS, Oxygen). So one of this pedals may actually be a good substitute for 3 other pedals, for example.

 

Depending on the type of music you record there may be other suggestions.

By the way, if you want a Chorus I have a brand new EBS UniChorus (analog chorus/flange) on eBay :)

 

Budget is also a big factor most of the time, so at least consider the MagicStomp. Great time based effects in there. Of course, the studio(s) may have their own effects (or software) in many occasions.

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Phil O'Keefe Rookie

Phil O'Keefe

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Thanks for the suggestions Eddie. :cool:

 

Can you please give me a bit of a description of each of those pedals and what they dio, and tell me a bit more about what you like about them?

 

BTW, the studio is mine. ;) Although I do work in other studios on occasion... "my studio" is my main "day (more accurately, "night") job". :)

 

As far as the types of music I normally record, it's pretty diverse - lots of rock / alternative, some occasional punk and pop, some country, blues, classical and jazz... a bit of everything really. No rap and very little metal.

 

MY personal love is powerpop - think Tom Petty, middle 1960's era Beatles, Fountains Of Wayne, etc. etc. But honestly, I like a wide variety of music. :)

 

 

 

 

PS You're absolutely correct - tone and versatility are the most important things to me... but a good bargain is never unappreciated either. ;)

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Eddie Newbie

Eddie

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Banzai Fireball 2

Summary:

Dual channel OD, lets you select different amounts of gain, compression, etc.

http://www.banzaieffects.com/products/fireball2.htm

Has links to MP3s, manual, description, etc.

 

Blackbox Oxygen

An extremely versatile compressor, which includes features not found in most compressors, such as an integrated noise gate, saturation, and more.

http://www.blackboxmusicfx.com/oxy.html

 

Captain Coconut

Three pedals in one: Fuzz, Vibe, and Octave.

http://www.foxroxelectronics.com/Captain%20Coconut%202%20banner.html

 

Teese RMC 3

In Geoffrey's words: "The Real McCoy Custom 3 (RMC3) is the world's first (and only) fully tunable self-contained wah."

http://www.realmccoycustom.com/RMC3.htm

 

Fuzzdrive

Flexible fuzz pedal

http://www.jeverman.com/FDG2.html

 

EBS

Small pedals that sound great, work with guitar and bass, and have a few different sound settings (e.g., MultiDrive and MultiComp have 3 different settings that -at least- affect their eq.)

http://www.ebs.bass.se/index2.html

Go to Product>Pedals

 

MagicStomp

Great reverb, chorus, delay, etc.

http://www.magicstomp.com/

 

In addition, Olaf (Banzai), Lorren (Blackbox), Dave Fox, Geoffrey Teese, and Justin Everman are wonderful to deal with if you ever need their support.

 

And speaking of bargains:

SD-1 (mine were modded by AnalogMan)

Nobels ODR-1 (the old green one). Great "transparent" overdrive.

Ibanez EM-5 (digital delay that sounds analog). Sonny Landreth uses one.

http://www.sonnylandreth.com/sonnyframes.html

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FLYING V 83 Newbie

FLYING V 83

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Take the $ you were going to use for the OCD and buy a PP2 power supply. You don't need the OCD with the dirt you have already, and all those adapters make for horrendous noise issues the PP2 will eliminate. It'll run your MM4 too. And get some good connecting cables, not those cheapo all-metal connectors, just some nice cables like Hosa or make your own with a George L kit.

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Phil O'Keefe Rookie

Phil O'Keefe

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Originally posted by FLYING V 83

Take the $ you were going to use for the OCD and buy a PP2 power supply. You don't need the OCD with the dirt you have already,


Yeah, but I'm looking for lots of different
varieties
of dirt.
;)
And IMO, that OCD is pretty impressive sounding, and different than what I already have. Do you think it's not worth the money?


and all those adapters make for horrendous noise issues the PP2 will eliminate. It'll run your MM4 too.


Well, except for the center pin positive stuff (the Germania and probably the BYOC Fuzz - I'll have to check), I can run it all from the One Spot. So while I have a bunch of adapters, I really only need to run two.


But I'll check into the Pedal Power 2... especially if it can work with center positive AND center negative pedals... do you know if it can or not?


And get some good connecting cables, not those cheapo all-metal connectors, just some nice cables like Hosa or make your own with a George L kit.


I own a commercial studio... one thing I have plenty of is cables.
;)
And I can always make more.
:D

I'm not sure if I'm going to wire this stuff all up on a pedalboard or not. While it would be nice to have them all neatly mounted and organized, I'm more interested in connection flexibility for different sounds in the studio - sometimes a wah in front of the fuzz is what you want, and sometimes wah after the fuzz... depending on what type of sound you're going for. If I build a board, it would have to take that into consideration, which means lots of space... which means a REALLY big multi-tiered board.


Again, I'm just interested in good tones, and lots of tonal variety / flexibility and options for studio use primarily.


Thanks again for the comments and suggestions.
:cool:


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Eddie Newbie

Eddie

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Originally posted by arexjay

Eddie - do you think it'd be smart to get a Fireball II instead of a Tonepress and a dirt pedal?

 

I'm not sure one option is smarter than the other. Dave Barber makes some great pedals. The Tone Press has the useful feature of blending your compressed and uncompressed signal.

If you choose the Tone Press and a dirt pedal you have the advantage of getting the compressor you want and the dirt pedal you want. The disadvantages are that probably it will be more expensive than the Fireball 2, you'll need more space, extra batteries, etc.

 

The main advantages of the Fireball 2 are that it sounds great, is versatile, is relatively small, etc. When I got mine I was not expecting to use the compressed sounds, and I ended up using them quite a bit. It does not give you the versatility available in other compressors, but it does give you great sounding, highly usable tones.

 

Sorry for not being more helpful, but I think that both options are good options :)

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Eddie Newbie

Eddie

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Originally posted by Phil O'Keefe

Uses? Pretty much strictly for studio use... I rarely play out live. While some of this stuff is used when I'm playing, the other use is just to have some different options around for my studio clients to play with.

 

Hi Phil,

I re-read the quoted text, and now I'm not sure whether my recommendations are good, and the reason is simple:

Guitar players don't like to tweak pedals :D

 

It's a generalization that may not apply to your clients, but consider it. People often want to just plug and play.

Of course, once you're familiar with these pedals you will be able to tweak the pedals for them and just let them plug and play. That's one downside of having too many sounds available from one pedal :)

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Non-Digital Tom Newbie

Non-Digital Tom

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Hey Phil,

 

My first thought is if you are running a commercial recording studio, then why not dig a little (a lot) deeper and go nuts with this stuff. I'm assuming any effects you get can be written off as a business expense. I think your clients would be super psyched to have some premium boutique and vintage gear to work with.

 

Honestly, I don't see anything on that whole list I would consider a keeper. I would start maybe with a really good compressor. My comp of choice is the Analog Man Bi-CompRossor (duh!). I know it may seem biased for me to say, but words cannot describe how much I love this pedal and would not do without it (actually, I have 3). That's not to say there aren't other ones out there - part of the beauty (and confusion) of boutique is that there is SO MUCH good stuff out there now. The variety and quality of tone sculpting devices available to today's musicians is absolutely astounding... so, I really think you can do better than Danos and Soundtanks.

 

If you are looking for a variety of different types of dirt, I would think the Foxrox ZIM would be a great one-stop solution... or at least a good start. More dirt? Well, I think maybe a Big Muff, just because everyone should get to have a Big Muff at some point. And while we're on the tried and true classics, you might want to get a TS9 and a Rat. Get the TS9 stock, play around with it a bit, and THEN get it modded. This is another area where there's so much good stuff to chose from. I have a ZIM, and an OCD, and a bunch of other ODs... but I'm gassing SO BAD for a Zendrive... and a Mosferatu... and a...

 

It sounds like you have digital and plug-ins covered, so you really just need a small arsenal of good old-fashioned analog stompboxes. Since you have the studio, you might want to go by the "one of everything" approach regarding types of effects: comp, OD, fuzz, wah, phaser, flanger, ECF, etc. I'm assuming you probably have enough delays in your rack gear. An old Boss DM-2 still might be nice.

 

The Dunlop wah you have is a notorious tone sucker without true bypass. Eddie's recommendation of the RMC3 is great. You might also consider getting a vintage Thomas Organ or Jen wah and getting it modded for true bypass.

 

One final note - that Morley ABY box really loads the pickups, especially with both A and B on. It just takes the life right out of the tone. There are lots of good amp switchers available. I recently got the Voodoo Labs one and it has a built in buffer. Definitely a big difference. Well, I'm sure I could have more observations and suggestions, but it takes me so long to type stuff out... so that's it for now.

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Fourth Floor Newbie

Fourth Floor

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Hey Phil,

 

for studio work, the guitars and amps and other bits are really all you would need. The PODs and RP6 etc could be useful for a one off sound (the digital distortion on the RP6 can be handy for an ugly solo).

 

The pedals leave a bit to be desired.

 

Things I'd look at/shop for: Boss DD20 - a great all purpose delay, excellent analog and modulation models and tap tempo.

 

Modded drive pedals: Like the TS5 but more flavours. DS1, BD2 mods. The ZIM is a fine suggestion too.

 

The fuzz you're getting is cool. Look at MI Audio (Blue Boy, Tube Zone, and his fuzzes).

 

Studio tweaking pedals like the Infinitphase (if you can find one) or the Foxrox TZF flanger or even Lovetone gear (the Meatball envelope filter is a studio dream).

 

A good tremolo.

 

A whammy.

 

A bunch of Electro-Harmonix gear cause it'll always get used in the studio and is quite cheap in the states. Get a Muff, a small stone, a tube zipper, a Memory Man, Microsynth etc etc.

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fuzzbox Newbie

fuzzbox

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Originally posted by Phil O'Keefe

Hi folks, I've got the following pedals:


MXR Super Comp

Ibanez CP-5 Compressor

Ibanez TS-5 Tubescreamer, modded to 808 specs

Danelectro Reel Echo

Danelectro Rocky Road

Danelectro Fish & Chips

Danelectro FAB Overdrive

Danelectro Daddy-O Overdrive (borrowing / may buy)

Line 6 MM4 with expression pedal

Morley ABY switch & volume pedal

Dunlop GCB-95 Crybaby

HBE Germania

EH LPB-1

RATE: 0.5 of 100

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