Pedalboard Conneisseur's

[unworthy]

Bb,

Like with most questions, you'll get no consensus here, but I'll share some thoughts.

I limit my board to about 7-8 pedals mostly because I don't want a bigger board, 'cause I do love pedals. My signal goes first to a rackmount compressor that I can use to drive the signal (set to a very mild squeeze and left on all of the time) and some of my pedals are true bypass, so I never experience problems associated with a weak signal. I also keep my cables as short as possible, using George L's and making some of them only about 6" long. Except for the compressor, I only use the delay and/or reverb consistently and the OD (a Barber Direct Drive) occasionally. I rarely use the Dist, Tremolo, and Chorus, but they're there if I want them, and I have a Vibe and Wah to swap in if the occasion calls for it.

Just the one OD, but I sometimes cascade it into a Keeley-Modded DS-1. My sequence is: comp>tuner>OD>dist>amp modeler (for ampless rig)>chorus>Tremolo>delay>reverb. I also use a DC Brick for consistent, maintenance-free power supply. It's a nice, no-hassle board.

D

[ej]

I run a OD (as a solo boost), a wah, and a tuner in front and a Delay in the loop

[Bad Chile]

I'm a pedal whore. I use pedals to compensate for my lack of talent mostly.

That said, I like my compressor after Overdrive pedals because that way I can control the dirt with the volumne knob on the guitar.

So I go

Tuner -> Blues Driver -> MXR Distortion III -> MXR Dynacomp -> EHX Big Muff w/Tone Wicker -> EHX Small Stone (Classic Chasis) -> EHX Memory Boy.

I use the Blues Driver mostly to drive the Distortion III (which is more an OD IMHO), but lately I've been taking the gain up a little. I'm getting a little frustrated with the Blues Driver because I can't get my head around it lately, the tone I want out of it seems...well, so close but so far away.

I've had the following populate and then leave:
Bad Monkey
Carbon Copy Delay
Ibanez FL9 Flanger
Boss CH-1 Chorus

The only pedal I miss is the Carbon Copy delay. Everything else I was fine to see go.

[Alex W]

I have 4 distortion/ods and a fuzz pedal on my board.

[yorgatron]

SIB Nick Nitro fuzz/octave,BBE Freq Boost,Maestro Fuzz-Tone,and my amplifier has an overdrive channel,as well as a boost circuit that bypasses the tone stack.
that's about all the variety I need to play just about anything,with enough boost I can make a Danelectro sound like a Les Paul.

[Mac_C]

I run an Hermida Distortion and a Carl Martin AC-Tone. The AC-Tone is a two channel pedal in which I use of side for low gain and one side for higher gain. I run a Dr. Z Carmen Ghia so for another overdrive sound I just turn the amp up a pinch. With it being a lower wattage amp, it doesn't get too loud.

[akapuli]

I don't think your audience would give a sh*t what kind of drive pedal you're using.

Max 2 are more than enough. Drive+Distortion / Drive+Fuzz / Fuzz+Distortion, you choose.

[MichaelSaulnier]

I've been a pedal user for many, many years, but recently migrated to a Line6 M13 and have been very pleased with it.

Having so many options has opened up new ideas for me including two or three boost or OD pedals in a row... without as much noisy mess as I've gotten when trying this with individual pedals.

I also like how easily I can setup multiple "scenes", particularly as I'm in two different bands now, one more straight blues based, the other more rock based. I have complete setups for each band... without having to remember or worry about changing things at each band rehearsal or performance.

One thing I noticed among the posts so far, is how few people suggested using the "time based" effects in the effects loop... chorus, phase, flange, echo, reverb... etc, all sound better to my ears in the loop of my amp than straight into the amp.

If you're going to stack OD's or fuzz pedals, my best advice would be to keep each one with a lot less gain than you would have them individually. This should allow you to get a nice "bump" from adding each one, yet have useable sounds with fewer on.

Good luck finding your favorite tones!

M

[C-4]

I've had large touring p-boards and smaller ones.
My current one is the simplest and the best so far.
Find the right toys for the sounds you desire and leave everything else off the board.
If you use multiple distortion boxes, try thinking about loops for each device to bring in only the ones you want either by one at a time, or in combination without degrading the tone.
I only have one such toy now, an Xotic BB, and I don't have it on the p-board. My amp does it all for me.

[Doctor49]

I have very specific needs, so I'm not sure if this is relevant to normal people, but I use: 5 Distortions 4 Overdrives 3 Compressors a Fuzz a Boost a Flanger a Phaser a Vibe a Chorus a Delay a Reverb ...and then numerous odds and ends like amp switchers and channel switches, two volume pedals, input switches, a tuner, tap tempos, etc. To be honest, in any other band everything would likely be served by a fuzz, a boost, and overdrive, and a delay.

 

 

you mean normal people as in people who have only two legs?

[Bbreaker]

My basic pedal set up is a Dean Markely tuner & Visual Sounds H2O pedal and I add on from there.
I mostly use channel switching amps but when I use single channel or non channel switching amps, I'll add an OCD; Crunch box; Bixonic Expandora; OD808; Matchless Hot Box; Boss OD3 or Vox Valve Tone. It depends on the gig.
At my last audition, I used a Fulltone 69 pedal for cover songs from the 60's. For some reason, the 69 pedal had lots of hissing (eggs frying). Alone, the 69 pedal sounds good.
WTF? (bad cable?)

[roycew93]

As you can see by all of the post so far pedal order is pretty much up to you. I use two dirt pedals a Keeley DS-1 and a stock Blues Driver. And I run them through a true bypass looper. I like to put anything with gain before my Wah and I run my delay after the Wah just because I like the way it sounds. Here

[groovmongrel]

Boss TU 2 tuner > MCR Boost Linedriver > analougeman modded ts9dx > Boss DD 3 delay. I had a fuzz and didn't feel a need for it.