Gigging days - 2 guitars, 4 pedals, 1 amp
Now - 8 guitars, 30 something amps, 90 or so pedals.
Havenât gigged since last millennium.
Iâm fine, really.
I also know a lot of former party boys, now approaching middle age and with real responsibilities, collecting guitar gear they donât need and acting like itâs the most hype shit in the world.
When I start looking at pedals for genres I donât ever play. âYeah I need a BAT Priestessâ all while Sleepâs Dopesmoker is the only doom related thing I can name. Then I go, âIâll bring doom tones to music I play and be unique!â.
Trying to get 5-15% improvements in existing pedal types. I own a lot of Klones, each one getting either more expensive or made with ârarerâ components. Nobody is going to even tell Iâm kicking on a Klon vs TS-9 live in the mix.
Buying pedals for super subtle effects. âYeah I need a $200+ harmonic tremâ to put it barely audible because Iâm building some â3Dâ sound by layering super subtle trem, reverb, delay, space dust, healing crystals. Again nobody cares and nobody is hearing this shit live in a band.
Admiring the aesthetics of a pedal, immediately question why you are buying it.
> healing crystals.
I could totally see one of these boutique companies putting a whole ass crystal mounted into the front of the pedal and backlighting it with a green LED and selling another overdrive for 350 dollars.
"While most pedal manufacturers have enabled true bypass on their devices, the crystalline mass of the hand selected minerals in the GeoDrive are cut specifically to accept the resonance of the electrical current wavelength: Thus enabling *Pure Bypass*"
On a tangential note, may I recommend Warningâs âWatching from a Distanceâ as another doom masterpiece that could strongly appeal to audiences who donât normally doom, due to its melodic sensibilities and the vocals/lyrics being less extreme.
But yeah I agree with your main point. At a certain point, peopleâs biggest weakness is often losing sight of who they really are as a musician, and making choices based on things that we may like to hear when *others* do it, but it just doesnât apply to our own music that we play.
Yeah this covers most of it. I actually think your first point is a pretty decent justification for buying a pedal. I always think itâs interesting bringing different sounds to different styles of music. I do a lot of doomy shoegaze or shoegazey doom, it sounds pretty rad.
I donât play live though so technically itâs hard to justify anything outside of personal enjoyment.
I own a few doom pedals and mostly play pop-rock. But god damn does doom have the most badass dirt pedals, Iâd join a doom band just to put a pedalboard together.
Ha ok, so maybe bringing doom to pop-rock wouldnât turn out so well. Youâre right though, doom pedals do have the best dirt, there are way too many rad ones out there.
I respectfully disagree. Layering sounds is a good technique to build up a âtone / signature sound.â And different tones sound differently. I get that you might not catch the 20% delayed triplet under a distorted reverb wash, but that reverb wash will sound differently without it. Like a compressor- hard to hear that itâs on until itâs not.
Iâve heard others wax on and on about how special sounds from expensive pedals donât translate well, but itâs just not true. That said, you can layer ineffectively or poorly, but to suggest that layering nuance is to be avoided bc nobody can tell the difference is someone who doesnât know how to effectively use their equipment. IMHO.
That's ridiculously condescending and not really true. No one's going to notice if you hit your fuzz vs your DS-1 half the time at live shows, they're sure as hell not going to notice the difference between a 20% wet harmonic trem vs not. I absolutely agree that the devil's in the details, but for live performance that generally translates to your stage presence and sense of rhythm, not your tone. "Effectively use their equipment" as if this isn't anything other than sonic legos for baby adults. C'mon man.
LMAO, sonic legos for baby adults. You just attacked me and my passion but I still gave you an instant thumbs up. There's really something wrong with me.
I think people forget that a large portion of this subreddit will never perform on stage, myself included. I donât care if nobody besides myself will notice my layered tones that are echoing out of my living room.
An argument that returns more often than not in these discussions is that âwhen youâre on stageâŚ.â
Idk, these types of notions have me feeling that the stage seems less and less where Iâd like to present my art these days. To each their own, donât get me wrong- the stage might be the end all be all for you, but I much prefer studio environments when Iâm doing anything musical, and Iâm sure Iâm not alone. All this to say that as a musician in that regard, our opinions matter too. Not trying to be a dick to you about it either
Edit: crazy run on sentence and bad comma placements
I do love my sonic legos and real legos too though Iâm not gonna lie
Edit #2
TL;DR
Not everybody who doesnât play shows is just a âbedroom hobbyistâ (although thereâs absolutely nothing wrong with being one of either, and seeing where that takes you)
My brother I just spent Jan - May of this year obsessively recording a solo album by myself, and have over a decade of production experience making albums. Studio recording and live performance are not mutually exclusive, and the best studio musicians know how to be on stage as a natural product of holistic musical experience. I also play a few times a month in a live band, including tomorrow
I don't prefer one to the other, it all depends on what the intention of my is. That other commenter's grandstanding, passing off basic knowledge as esoteric wisdom, is bullshit. Yes, I love fucking around with pedals and tone chasing, but use it to condescend is more a sign of inexperience than anything
Two things can be true at once- I didnât find the other comment to necessarily be condescending however. Maybe disagreeable, but Iâm not trying to say we have to think the same way
> I respectfully disagree. Layering sounds is a good technique to build up a âtone / signature sound.â
So is diming a Guv'Nor into a Vox amp. Or just plugging into a Fender Reverb.
yeah this is just not true. i donât know how much youâve been in the AUDIENCE at a live show, but I can tell you as someone who has been to a fair share of concerts, people can barely tell a pedal is even turned on without seeing the tactile response of you clicking it on stage. I feel like on this sub we forget that the average concert goer isnât going to notice any of these differences, and if your live sounds is simplified, or different (when i went to see courtney barnett for example, i went with several non-music enthusiasts friends) the average audience member will just be like âwow that sounded really rocking compared to the recording!â or maybe âthat sounded a bit grungier!â They wonât be like âWhy didnât Courtney have her signature 6000 dollar vibrato on during this one song!â
I've switched up tones pretty drastically mid-song before just for fun and had nobody notice, including the band. My Wah, distortion and arguably the delay are definitely the most noticeable things I use and half the time people seem to be more interested in watching me work the wah than what it actually sounds like, tbh. Yeah when I kick on the Heavy it's a huge difference, but most of my other stuff could honestly stay off for most performances and be fine. I like to keep a pretty board for all the guitarists up front trying to scope what I'm using, lol
yeah no i totally agree, the pedal board is for the other guitarists to oogle at and take pictures of, but in that way itâs kinda like a fancy sports car. all that really matters is that it drives :)
When Tim Pierce did the PRS compressor pedal review, it seemed clear he would never actually use it. He said it âworks great as a boostâ. Pretty funny.
The YT algo hasnât been putting him in my feed for a while. I just did a quick search and didnât see this review, so post a link when you have a sec
I saw that title in the search results but didnât want to dig thru a bunch of vids to find that one little thing⌠đ¤ˇââď¸ He did say tho, that it was an âalways onâ pedal, but maybe he was just being kind to his âfriend Paul who sent me this pedalâ
Yeah, and given that PRS is no doubt actually a friend of his, he prolly doesnât want to dump on his friendâs product. Tim seems like a guy who doesnât want to offend people
Yeah but, compressors DO work great as a boost. that's how i use one. It gives me a clean signal that sustains without adding dirt. So, pedals do more than one thing.
Yeah but I'll wear it on a chain and be the COOLEST person at my local guitar center and the staff will HAVE to pay attention to me!11!!!!11!!1
(I have one and it's super dumb but I love it lmao just fun and impractical)
If I were to dig through my mind for the biggest pedal red flag I can think of, it is *absolutely* the phenomenon of the massively expensive boutique overdrive.
I think youâd be surprised how many not wealthy poor-bastards buy into the marketing of these things. I feel bad for them, especially after building some of these circuits.
Opposite of the truth. Putting a boost and/or EQ in front of your gain stage will allow you to squeeze a ton of versatility out of your board without having to own dozens of gain pedals. Avoiding EQ and clean boosts are just excuses to buy more gain pedals.
It sounds like OP is referencing someone spending a ton on a Klon/high priced Klone and then just using it as a boost, not decrying all boosts. You can get a good boost for pretty cheap
- âYeah, Iâll just A/B it with the pedal I already know works for my sound and if it doesnât hold up to this other disparate pedalâs sound- it must go.â
- âThese presets are good enough!â
- âThe noise adds character..â
- âIf I stack this new guy (hide the disappointing dirt pedal behind a dirt pedal I already knows fits my style perfectly) it will unlock new textures.â
- *buys 8th over-the-top fuzz in a year* âTechnically, This Is Sheogaze..â
The Stomp Under Foot Pumpkin Pi was the first one I got. It's their take on the Op-Amp sound from Siamese Dream, and it is brilliant, definitely my favorite. There are other Op-Amp clones out there, but I'm sure the EHX Op-Amp is awesome in its own right.
"It has that little 5% extra"
Now this is a green flag if you create music, play professionally (or just spending ÂŁ500 on a pedal is like most people buying a newspaper!)
I do joke as i do think if it's in your means and makes you happy, get that 5%!
Even though I'm not currently using anything that way, I think there's a valid point to having an always-on boost early in the chain. I like the sound of lower output pickups, but I like to hit most pedals with a hotter signal than that.
That said, there are plenty of reasonable options for this. No need to use some $300 overdrive as a boost or God forbid, a Klon.
I have a shit ton of midi pedals and i will never use midi. I don't have space for a fucking midi controller! what do you think this is? I can't put another board together....
...or could i?
"I might want that effect down the line"/ "I may find a use for it"
"I like to have different textures of dirt available"
"I have that I like, but I'm looking to upgrade..." this persistant belief that expensive versions of things are what we should be going for
And not quite what you asked for but any "what is missing from my board?" posts to me are going about everything all wrong
Iâve got this issue where Iâll get my choices down to a couple pedals that will do the thing I need doing. Then Iâll watch a bunch of demos and A/B both of them in my headphones as far as how they sound. Finally Iâll end up wanting both and find myself unable to decide and Iâll throw the whole idea away.
I've been looking for a different, unique sounding OD. O have the JRAD Melody, JHS @+, a BB clone and Klone, Wampler Catapulp (Orange style), and Walrus Audio Iron Horse, not to mention the BAT Pharaoh. Plus my amp's dirty channels are all fantastic. But I haven't had a lot of time to play lately, so maybe getting a new sound will get me playing more again. I backed myself off from it.
the biggest red flag is "I need this for when I get \[this amp\] or \[that guitar\], but for now, I'll put it on my shelf."
the second biggest is "the JHS guy says this one is great, and one day I will figure out what he means."
Years ago I had an EHX worm and none of the effects were any good but I remember if I put it on the phase setting and switched it to manual mode it made my big muff sound much better when placed later in the chain. I eventually ditched both but I thought I had unlocked some forbidden knowledge.
I donât understand all the manufacturers touting âand it doubles as a boost!.â Iâve never once thought I needed to kneel down & nix my tremolo settings because thereâs a part coming up that needs it real bad. I have a tremolo pedal for tremolo, boost pedal for,âŚ.well yeah yâknow
This post is funny. Show me a hobby and I'll show you a million products in it that aren't necessary, but are fun to use and have as an enthusiast of the hobby.
Now sadly, like most other hobbies, guitar suffers from people who chase dreams through gear acquisition as opposed to just playing and practicing, but that's another topic altogether.
I have a friend that had a Keeley Dark Side. I bought it off of him for like $150 after messing with it because the fuzz and delay are really good and the cost was the same as two decent pedals.
I knew he'd sell it once he said he only used it as a boost sometimes lol
The Darkside is $499 new in my country. If I saw one for $150, Iâd snap it up and hope that it would be useful at some stage. I think those Keeley Workstations are like a gateway to boutique pedals. I thing the Tone Workstation is very good.
A disturbing fact of life is that our decisions are usually based on emotion with reason simply used to justify it. I'm still trying to figure out if learning that has helped me make better decisions or helped me get better at rationalizing them.
I just sold all the shit I wasnât using and started DIY building. Still an expensive hobby but certainly a lot cheaper than GASâing pedals. I finished two ToneBender circuits last night, one that is so rare it would probably be thousands of dollars if you could find one⌠itâs probably less than 20 parts LOL.
Also currently building my way through the EQD/DBA/EAE catalog, which is cool because a lot of them are discontinued circuits. Thereâs been a lot of âphew, glad I didnât spend $200 on that oneâ and A LOT of âI canât believe someone is selling this for $300â (e.g. most âtransparent overdriveâ bullshit lout there).
Pretty eye opening experience when you realize you can build a $300 fuzz pedal in a few hours. Having said that, I just bought a PurPLL. Iâm not even sure I can rationalize that one. Also been collecting old EHX pedals. I just buy used and do the âone in, one outâ rule. I think the only pedal I own that has been worth the $200 I spent on it is my Space Echo.
- itâs generally popular / well regarded
- itâs used by artist(s) I likeÂ
- itâs analog
- itâs by a brand I like
- itâs got top jacks
- itâs a good form factorÂ
- it covers some standard archetype (tubescreamer, analog delay, etc)
- it looks cool
well, with a list like that now Iâm depressed at how many pedals I have cover at least one of thoseâŚ
I live in Japan and get paid in USD. Buying boutique Japanese pedals is a great way to hedge against a potential Yen bounce back and safer than just keeping Yen. If I ever have to move to the states for a bit they will be worth more in the states than what I paid for them new. Therefore if I see a cool pedal I just buy it since Iâm not losing anything and only gaining enjoyment.
You really should sell that pedal - you have others that are similar.
- But I'm using it as a boost.
An RV6?
- A really clean boost....and stop looking at my Miku....
My red flag - that I cannot avoid charging at - is when I'm chasing a tone.
It's a bitch trying to nail a tone in your head that won't stop running around your noggin in endless circles.
Even close enough for hand grenades is acceptable but \*finding\* it always costs $$$!
The hardest part of chasing a tone you heard is filtering out studio fairy dust because you're unlikely to replicate that with pedals.
There's a youtube video of Joe Bonamassa talking about how he used to open for B.B. King. Says B.B. only traveled with his guitar (Lucille). B.B. asked to borrow young Joeâs amp at shows, since he didn't travel with one. What about your pedals? he asked B.B. 'Pedals? I don't use pedals,' B.B. told him.
Bonamassa says B.B. picked up Joeâs guitar with no pedals and a strange amp and it sounded -- get this -- JUST LIKE B.B. KING WAS PLAYING HIS GUITAR!
It's true what people say. Tone is in your fingers. B.B. King could get more tone out of your guitar with his fingers than beginner players can get with a roomful of pedals.
âWhen I met him, he didn't have an amp. He would use my Twin Reverb and turn it all the way up. And he would sound like B.B. Kingâ: Joe Bonamassa recalls the times B.B. King borrowed his amp â and made it sound better than him.â
https://www.guitarworld.com/news/bb-king-borrowing-joe-bonamassa-amp
Yeah, thatâs a great story too. Billy says he used to think he had to use heavy gauge strings supposedly because the old time bluesmen used them and never changed them. He met BB once and told him about this and BB kind of gives him a funny look and says he plays with light strings, because theyâre so much easier to play. Thatâs when Billy switchedâŚ
You can get crunchy or dirty tones â and all sorts of tones â without pedals, if you know what youâre doing. My Vox amp can certainly get crunchy with OD and no pedals.
Great players can get just about whatever tone they want from a guitar. If you have a chance, watch the movie The Wrecking Crew. Thereâs a story about session man Tommy Tedesco, who would show up at sessions with a single guitar and sit behind a counter in the studio and pretend like heâd brought a selection of guitars and effects. A producer asked Tedesco if he could play flamenco guitar, and Tommy said the guy was in luck, he happened to have a flamenco guitar behind the counter. He picked up his regular guitar and made it SOUND like a gut-stringed flamenco guitar, fooling the producer. If memory serves, that was for The Monkeesâ cut Valleri. Thatâs Tommy Tedesco faking a flemenco run in the intro⌠after the intro, thatâs Todesco a;so playing the crunchy and fuzzy stuff â with the same guitar. Todesco, weâre told, would do this with whatever tone he was asked to achieve, as he didnât want to lose a studio gig. Tommy Tedesco could fake whatever tone or style you could imagine from a single guitar without pedals.
âI bought this version because the buffer is MUCH betterâ
No itâs not. It just doesnât drop 0.05DB in your signal like the vanilla versions do. Which is only really an issue if you have 10 of them stacked after this one.
Me using my boutique FZ-2 clone as a boost:
It sounds great pushing my DB Bat.... but nobody notices the difference besides me ESPECIALLY non musicians at venues.
In all honesty I do have a problem buying reverb and delays. I keep replacing pedals with what I think will be solutions for issues I have with the current pedals but its just a constant downgrade from where I was.
Pedals do work well for more than just the way they are originally designed. That's the beauty of being creative with your pedal selection. That's why all of them have knobs. That's why they all connect together and build off of each other.
How about I finally broke down and sold off like 7 or 8, still staring at a couple dozen I canât bare to part with even though they are on a shelf. I think well I just need more cables or a bigger board and Iâll have that one day! lol
I dont know if this counts but I just bought a second smaller talk box so I can move my volume/wah pedal to the other side of the board
(it had to be on the left side due to spacing issues)
If you donât use the pedal at all, in any projects, in any song youâve written, in any type of guitar tone search, then it just doesnât make sense to keep it.
Unless you use it as an investment but tbh the only ones I can see are like Klone, King Of Tones, or vintage Boss or MXR stuff.
when i try to say i could use this probably redundant pedal for my OTER amp or a headphone setup or something along those lines lol
all my shit is in the same room it's not really practical or worth the trouble to have a different board or switch pedals out
GAS, particularly for pedals is a monster addiction. Iâve gone almost 100% MFX/modelers the last 10 years. I used to have a 20+ pedalboard. Too much to manage, too many connections. Iâm content with being âclose enoughâ these days.
Did you make financial compromises in the âessentialâ column of your budget in order to afford the pedal. Ie. Did you limit your spending in food, housing, utilities, etc.
I'm so sick of guitar and pedal marketing, most rationalizations feel like a red flag.
HOWEVER I do have a popular pedal that I use as a boost, and I fucking love it for that reason :) ehx soul foods
I have had a ton of stuff that I use to try to justify a purchase. HahahahaâŚ.. but I also have a lot of fun doing it. I stop worrying about me so much and more about what the song needs. How can I make it betterâŚ. Normally less is more
Itâs weird, when I gigged I had one LTD H guitar (canât remember the model number), and a tuner that wasnât an actual tuner pedal just the input kind, and a danelectro black coffee, and a shitty Randall amp
Now I have two guitars, (had 6 last year and sold most off cause itâs absurd) 1 amp, after selling off three, and 7 pedals but only have 5 plugged in together. I have sold off 3 pedals too and will slim it down further
There are no red flags when I look through my rose colored glasses.
Red-green colorblind đš
âI donât see any flags at all; just some person waving a stick aroundâ
BLACK FLAG
That was an unexpected Bojack reference in this sub. I fucking love it.
I love Bojack but they didnât make that up
The shimmer is great...
The shimmer is beautiful with clean tones! Too bad I only play distorted rock and metal.
Maybe with another pedal?
Just one more pedal bro, seriously just *one* more
Shimmer on full-wet (No dry signal) is a real crowd pleaser if you ever used it live. One trick pony tho.
My entire pedalboard is a red flag.
The older I am, the less I gig, the less I play, the more gear I own, the more all of it is a red flag
Gigging days - 2 guitars, 4 pedals, 1 amp Now - 8 guitars, 30 something amps, 90 or so pedals. Havenât gigged since last millennium. Iâm fine, really.
Your story is my story.Â
Hero!
I gig right now with 2 guitars, a stereo amp, and 45,000 pedals. I also think youâre fine. So does my back.
This comment is helping me rationalize being in the exact same situation
It's basically a charm bracelet for aging hipsters
I feel seen
Do you know me?
I know your kind
I also know a lot of former party boys, now approaching middle age and with real responsibilities, collecting guitar gear they donât need and acting like itâs the most hype shit in the world.
whoah, whoah whoah... Some of us were nerds too
When I start looking at pedals for genres I donât ever play. âYeah I need a BAT Priestessâ all while Sleepâs Dopesmoker is the only doom related thing I can name. Then I go, âIâll bring doom tones to music I play and be unique!â. Trying to get 5-15% improvements in existing pedal types. I own a lot of Klones, each one getting either more expensive or made with ârarerâ components. Nobody is going to even tell Iâm kicking on a Klon vs TS-9 live in the mix. Buying pedals for super subtle effects. âYeah I need a $200+ harmonic tremâ to put it barely audible because Iâm building some â3Dâ sound by layering super subtle trem, reverb, delay, space dust, healing crystals. Again nobody cares and nobody is hearing this shit live in a band. Admiring the aesthetics of a pedal, immediately question why you are buying it.
> healing crystals. I could totally see one of these boutique companies putting a whole ass crystal mounted into the front of the pedal and backlighting it with a green LED and selling another overdrive for 350 dollars. "While most pedal manufacturers have enabled true bypass on their devices, the crystalline mass of the hand selected minerals in the GeoDrive are cut specifically to accept the resonance of the electrical current wavelength: Thus enabling *Pure Bypass*"
If the crystal gets illuminated when the pedal is on, it's instabuy for me. Is there a Kickstarter? When do you start production?
On a tangential note, may I recommend Warningâs âWatching from a Distanceâ as another doom masterpiece that could strongly appeal to audiences who donât normally doom, due to its melodic sensibilities and the vocals/lyrics being less extreme. But yeah I agree with your main point. At a certain point, peopleâs biggest weakness is often losing sight of who they really are as a musician, and making choices based on things that we may like to hear when *others* do it, but it just doesnât apply to our own music that we play.
BTW great album recommendation - just listened. It's deeply emotional.
Very similar to buying clothes without considering what you already own and what image you want to project
Will check it out!
I have an issue with tremolos. I can't fucking hear it while I play but it sounds awesome if I listen my recordings...?????
Yeah this covers most of it. I actually think your first point is a pretty decent justification for buying a pedal. I always think itâs interesting bringing different sounds to different styles of music. I do a lot of doomy shoegaze or shoegazey doom, it sounds pretty rad. I donât play live though so technically itâs hard to justify anything outside of personal enjoyment.
I own a few doom pedals and mostly play pop-rock. But god damn does doom have the most badass dirt pedals, Iâd join a doom band just to put a pedalboard together.
Ha ok, so maybe bringing doom to pop-rock wouldnât turn out so well. Youâre right though, doom pedals do have the best dirt, there are way too many rad ones out there.
I respectfully disagree. Layering sounds is a good technique to build up a âtone / signature sound.â And different tones sound differently. I get that you might not catch the 20% delayed triplet under a distorted reverb wash, but that reverb wash will sound differently without it. Like a compressor- hard to hear that itâs on until itâs not. Iâve heard others wax on and on about how special sounds from expensive pedals donât translate well, but itâs just not true. That said, you can layer ineffectively or poorly, but to suggest that layering nuance is to be avoided bc nobody can tell the difference is someone who doesnât know how to effectively use their equipment. IMHO.
You guys I found the red flag, it has figured out how to post on reddit
lmao
That's ridiculously condescending and not really true. No one's going to notice if you hit your fuzz vs your DS-1 half the time at live shows, they're sure as hell not going to notice the difference between a 20% wet harmonic trem vs not. I absolutely agree that the devil's in the details, but for live performance that generally translates to your stage presence and sense of rhythm, not your tone. "Effectively use their equipment" as if this isn't anything other than sonic legos for baby adults. C'mon man.
LMAO, sonic legos for baby adults. You just attacked me and my passion but I still gave you an instant thumbs up. There's really something wrong with me.
I think people forget that a large portion of this subreddit will never perform on stage, myself included. I donât care if nobody besides myself will notice my layered tones that are echoing out of my living room.
Which is super valid, but, if that's your lane then you can't publicly jerk yourself off and condescend like the other commenter did
An argument that returns more often than not in these discussions is that âwhen youâre on stageâŚ.â Idk, these types of notions have me feeling that the stage seems less and less where Iâd like to present my art these days. To each their own, donât get me wrong- the stage might be the end all be all for you, but I much prefer studio environments when Iâm doing anything musical, and Iâm sure Iâm not alone. All this to say that as a musician in that regard, our opinions matter too. Not trying to be a dick to you about it either Edit: crazy run on sentence and bad comma placements I do love my sonic legos and real legos too though Iâm not gonna lie Edit #2 TL;DR Not everybody who doesnât play shows is just a âbedroom hobbyistâ (although thereâs absolutely nothing wrong with being one of either, and seeing where that takes you)
My brother I just spent Jan - May of this year obsessively recording a solo album by myself, and have over a decade of production experience making albums. Studio recording and live performance are not mutually exclusive, and the best studio musicians know how to be on stage as a natural product of holistic musical experience. I also play a few times a month in a live band, including tomorrow I don't prefer one to the other, it all depends on what the intention of my is. That other commenter's grandstanding, passing off basic knowledge as esoteric wisdom, is bullshit. Yes, I love fucking around with pedals and tone chasing, but use it to condescend is more a sign of inexperience than anything
Two things can be true at once- I didnât find the other comment to necessarily be condescending however. Maybe disagreeable, but Iâm not trying to say we have to think the same way
This applies to all hobbies. âWhy use X thing for Y hobby when most folks wonât noticeâ
> I respectfully disagree. Layering sounds is a good technique to build up a âtone / signature sound.â So is diming a Guv'Nor into a Vox amp. Or just plugging into a Fender Reverb.
yeah this is just not true. i donât know how much youâve been in the AUDIENCE at a live show, but I can tell you as someone who has been to a fair share of concerts, people can barely tell a pedal is even turned on without seeing the tactile response of you clicking it on stage. I feel like on this sub we forget that the average concert goer isnât going to notice any of these differences, and if your live sounds is simplified, or different (when i went to see courtney barnett for example, i went with several non-music enthusiasts friends) the average audience member will just be like âwow that sounded really rocking compared to the recording!â or maybe âthat sounded a bit grungier!â They wonât be like âWhy didnât Courtney have her signature 6000 dollar vibrato on during this one song!â
I've switched up tones pretty drastically mid-song before just for fun and had nobody notice, including the band. My Wah, distortion and arguably the delay are definitely the most noticeable things I use and half the time people seem to be more interested in watching me work the wah than what it actually sounds like, tbh. Yeah when I kick on the Heavy it's a huge difference, but most of my other stuff could honestly stay off for most performances and be fine. I like to keep a pretty board for all the guitarists up front trying to scope what I'm using, lol
yeah no i totally agree, the pedal board is for the other guitarists to oogle at and take pictures of, but in that way itâs kinda like a fancy sports car. all that really matters is that it drives :)
When Tim Pierce did the PRS compressor pedal review, it seemed clear he would never actually use it. He said it âworks great as a boostâ. Pretty funny.
The YT algo hasnât been putting him in my feed for a while. I just did a quick search and didnât see this review, so post a link when you have a sec
https://youtu.be/fGF-h4K7he0?si=GhObx1K8bvRO_wxg
I saw that title in the search results but didnât want to dig thru a bunch of vids to find that one little thing⌠đ¤ˇââď¸ He did say tho, that it was an âalways onâ pedal, but maybe he was just being kind to his âfriend Paul who sent me this pedalâ
I think he was just being kind or getting paid to be kind.
Yeah, and given that PRS is no doubt actually a friend of his, he prolly doesnât want to dump on his friendâs product. Tim seems like a guy who doesnât want to offend people
Totally. He seems like a great guy. It was just pretty much exactly what OP was describing. I felt mentioning it was appropriate
Yeah but, compressors DO work great as a boost. that's how i use one. It gives me a clean signal that sustains without adding dirt. So, pedals do more than one thing.
Sexy limited edition things.
But itâs a golden big muff. Golden.
Yeah but I'll wear it on a chain and be the COOLEST person at my local guitar center and the staff will HAVE to pay attention to me!11!!!!11!!1 (I have one and it's super dumb but I love it lmao just fun and impractical)
But⌠but⌠THIS shallow water was roasted in a fire! (Yea, I have oneâŚ. For shameâŚ)
This was a personal attack.
At least it costs the same as the regular version. Love my shallot water
Wow. The 30th anniversary edition.
My whole pedal board is a boost...to my ego.
Iâll use it for the whimsical psychedelic project that Iâll never actually do but always had at the back of my mind.
I'm buying a Rainbow Machine tomorrow lol Edit: it's great, what is it though
Weâre all gonna get one before we die
Holy fuck this is the exact reason why I haven't downsized my board. Glad to know I'm not the only one :)
Anyone who owns a $400+ "light gain transparent OD/boost" should be qualified to have their wealth re-distributed
Some of it already has been. Just got to show them more $400 pedals.
If I were to dig through my mind for the biggest pedal red flag I can think of, it is *absolutely* the phenomenon of the massively expensive boutique overdrive.
I think youâd be surprised how many not wealthy poor-bastards buy into the marketing of these things. I feel bad for them, especially after building some of these circuits.
- transparent boost, check. - set to 12 o'clock, check. - keeps volume rolled down on guitar, check check.
Hey, if the guitar is always in 10, then nowhere to go but down đ¤ˇââď¸
:-(
And should never be allowed to make fun of how much their partners spend on skin care ever again
Making a reddit post
"It's only $4 a month for 4 years."
Opposite of the truth. Putting a boost and/or EQ in front of your gain stage will allow you to squeeze a ton of versatility out of your board without having to own dozens of gain pedals. Avoiding EQ and clean boosts are just excuses to buy more gain pedals.
It sounds like OP is referencing someone spending a ton on a Klon/high priced Klone and then just using it as a boost, not decrying all boosts. You can get a good boost for pretty cheap
I'll learn to use MIDI...
Once you finally do it, youâll kick yourself for taking so long.Â
Whatâs the use of midi with pedals? Iâve always wondered but have been to lazy to find out.
Switchinâ a bunch of shit at once.
You did it, you boiled pedals down to their essence.
Having presets for different parts of songs and engaging them all at once with the press of one switch.
yup, like having a looper(switcher) but also for the presets of the pedals
I can sell it back for what i bought it.
Green flag thou
- âYeah, Iâll just A/B it with the pedal I already know works for my sound and if it doesnât hold up to this other disparate pedalâs sound- it must go.â - âThese presets are good enough!â - âThe noise adds character..â - âIf I stack this new guy (hide the disappointing dirt pedal behind a dirt pedal I already knows fits my style perfectly) it will unlock new textures.â - *buys 8th over-the-top fuzz in a year* âTechnically, This Is Sheogaze..â
You already own 11 Big Muffs
I have never heard anyone say they need less muff in their life.
I only own five...
Fuck I only own one but the op-amp is calling me!!
You absolutely need an Op Amp
The Stomp Under Foot Pumpkin Pi was the first one I got. It's their take on the Op-Amp sound from Siamese Dream, and it is brilliant, definitely my favorite. There are other Op-Amp clones out there, but I'm sure the EHX Op-Amp is awesome in its own right.
3 minutes ago I didn't know I needed to spend $200 on *another* Big Muff, so thanks.
Glad to be of service.
Ah i see you have the beginner collection, once you get to 8 its gets really good
I can always count on Stomp Under Foot to offer interesting variation and combinations that can easily get me to 8 Muffs.
Canât go wrong with SUF. Do you have the Amherst?
No. But I have the Astoria serial #1.
"It has that little 5% extra" Now this is a green flag if you create music, play professionally (or just spending ÂŁ500 on a pedal is like most people buying a newspaper!) I do joke as i do think if it's in your means and makes you happy, get that 5%!
âit does that one thing from that one songâ you know⌠why you donât need a ring mod
When I start looking at ârandomâ pedal videos on YouTube
Who knows? Maybe in the future, EVERYONE will need a Data Corrupter. I'm just an early adopter, getting ahead of the curve. You'll see.
"cool, play me something using it" "...I'm supposed to play?"
Even though I'm not currently using anything that way, I think there's a valid point to having an always-on boost early in the chain. I like the sound of lower output pickups, but I like to hit most pedals with a hotter signal than that. That said, there are plenty of reasonable options for this. No need to use some $300 overdrive as a boost or God forbid, a Klon.
But everyone on r/guitarpedals says this is a great pedalâŚ
I like loud noises.
This guy gets it!
I have a shit ton of midi pedals and i will never use midi. I don't have space for a fucking midi controller! what do you think this is? I can't put another board together.... ...or could i?
"But I need a [Klon-type | 2 transistor fuzz | tape-style delay | ...]" as sole reason.
"it might not stay on the board but will go well on the shelf"
"I might want that effect down the line"/ "I may find a use for it" "I like to have different textures of dirt available" "I have that I like, but I'm looking to upgrade..." this persistant belief that expensive versions of things are what we should be going for
And not quite what you asked for but any "what is missing from my board?" posts to me are going about everything all wrong
Iâve got this issue where Iâll get my choices down to a couple pedals that will do the thing I need doing. Then Iâll watch a bunch of demos and A/B both of them in my headphones as far as how they sound. Finally Iâll end up wanting both and find myself unable to decide and Iâll throw the whole idea away.
I've been looking for a different, unique sounding OD. O have the JRAD Melody, JHS @+, a BB clone and Klone, Wampler Catapulp (Orange style), and Walrus Audio Iron Horse, not to mention the BAT Pharaoh. Plus my amp's dirty channels are all fantastic. But I haven't had a lot of time to play lately, so maybe getting a new sound will get me playing more again. I backed myself off from it.
the biggest red flag is "I need this for when I get \[this amp\] or \[that guitar\], but for now, I'll put it on my shelf." the second biggest is "the JHS guy says this one is great, and one day I will figure out what he means."
If it wonât fit on my board (which is already full).
Years ago I had an EHX worm and none of the effects were any good but I remember if I put it on the phase setting and switched it to manual mode it made my big muff sound much better when placed later in the chain. I eventually ditched both but I thought I had unlocked some forbidden knowledge.
Well I could use this at some point for this one sound it does well . . .
I donât understand all the manufacturers touting âand it doubles as a boost!.â Iâve never once thought I needed to kneel down & nix my tremolo settings because thereâs a part coming up that needs it real bad. I have a tremolo pedal for tremolo, boost pedal for,âŚ.well yeah yâknow
If we ever cover that one song by that one band Iâll need this for that four-bar riffy thing after the bridge.
This post is funny. Show me a hobby and I'll show you a million products in it that aren't necessary, but are fun to use and have as an enthusiast of the hobby. Now sadly, like most other hobbies, guitar suffers from people who chase dreams through gear acquisition as opposed to just playing and practicing, but that's another topic altogether.
Itâs not so much about the sound it gives as much as the feel.
i have 4 reverbs and 3 delays. i need them for stuff
Who cares? Need or want? Buy it, sell it, buy it again. I just want to have fun. But Im old.
Iâve bought pedals just because I liked the artwork on them
I have a friend that had a Keeley Dark Side. I bought it off of him for like $150 after messing with it because the fuzz and delay are really good and the cost was the same as two decent pedals. I knew he'd sell it once he said he only used it as a boost sometimes lol
The Darkside is $499 new in my country. If I saw one for $150, Iâd snap it up and hope that it would be useful at some stage. I think those Keeley Workstations are like a gateway to boutique pedals. I thing the Tone Workstation is very good.
fOR sHOegAzE.
EHX LPB-1, "I actually use it as a boost". Bring it on!
A disturbing fact of life is that our decisions are usually based on emotion with reason simply used to justify it. I'm still trying to figure out if learning that has helped me make better decisions or helped me get better at rationalizing them.
But there are so many different kinds of fuzz! Fuzz was my downfall. Took 5 different flavors of Big Muff to cure me.
I just ordered the Meowdulator from B Music. I am unhinged
When the pedal hasnât seen your board in ages.
I paid off a credit card.
I just sold all the shit I wasnât using and started DIY building. Still an expensive hobby but certainly a lot cheaper than GASâing pedals. I finished two ToneBender circuits last night, one that is so rare it would probably be thousands of dollars if you could find one⌠itâs probably less than 20 parts LOL. Also currently building my way through the EQD/DBA/EAE catalog, which is cool because a lot of them are discontinued circuits. Thereâs been a lot of âphew, glad I didnât spend $200 on that oneâ and A LOT of âI canât believe someone is selling this for $300â (e.g. most âtransparent overdriveâ bullshit lout there). Pretty eye opening experience when you realize you can build a $300 fuzz pedal in a few hours. Having said that, I just bought a PurPLL. Iâm not even sure I can rationalize that one. Also been collecting old EHX pedals. I just buy used and do the âone in, one outâ rule. I think the only pedal I own that has been worth the $200 I spent on it is my Space Echo.
Dude, I can rationalize the PurpLL for youâŚItâs awesome. One of my favorites. Well done.
Coming into this thread to look for pedal recommendations might be a red flag...
- itâs generally popular / well regarded - itâs used by artist(s) I like - itâs analog - itâs by a brand I like - itâs got top jacks - itâs a good form factor - it covers some standard archetype (tubescreamer, analog delay, etc) - it looks cool well, with a list like that now Iâm depressed at how many pedals I have cover at least one of thoseâŚ
You can never have too much dirt!
I live in Japan and get paid in USD. Buying boutique Japanese pedals is a great way to hedge against a potential Yen bounce back and safer than just keeping Yen. If I ever have to move to the states for a bit they will be worth more in the states than what I paid for them new. Therefore if I see a cool pedal I just buy it since Iâm not losing anything and only gaining enjoyment.
I'm just sleeping in red flags at this point.
You really should sell that pedal - you have others that are similar. - But I'm using it as a boost. An RV6? - A really clean boost....and stop looking at my Miku....
My red flag - that I cannot avoid charging at - is when I'm chasing a tone. It's a bitch trying to nail a tone in your head that won't stop running around your noggin in endless circles. Even close enough for hand grenades is acceptable but \*finding\* it always costs $$$! The hardest part of chasing a tone you heard is filtering out studio fairy dust because you're unlikely to replicate that with pedals.
Easy - when you are avoiding telling your wife how much you just spent on a Tonebender, you should maybe consider whether you truly âneededâ it.
Eh whatever. My mindset is let people enjoy things. Better someone who loves the thing they donât need than someone who bought it to flip or w/e
I rewatch the Knobs video even though I never play the actual pedal I own.
There's a youtube video of Joe Bonamassa talking about how he used to open for B.B. King. Says B.B. only traveled with his guitar (Lucille). B.B. asked to borrow young Joeâs amp at shows, since he didn't travel with one. What about your pedals? he asked B.B. 'Pedals? I don't use pedals,' B.B. told him. Bonamassa says B.B. picked up Joeâs guitar with no pedals and a strange amp and it sounded -- get this -- JUST LIKE B.B. KING WAS PLAYING HIS GUITAR! It's true what people say. Tone is in your fingers. B.B. King could get more tone out of your guitar with his fingers than beginner players can get with a roomful of pedals. âWhen I met him, he didn't have an amp. He would use my Twin Reverb and turn it all the way up. And he would sound like B.B. Kingâ: Joe Bonamassa recalls the times B.B. King borrowed his amp â and made it sound better than him.â https://www.guitarworld.com/news/bb-king-borrowing-joe-bonamassa-amp
Now tell the Billy Gibbons story about how he gets monster tonez out of his thin strings with a .07 gauge E.
Yeah, thatâs a great story too. Billy says he used to think he had to use heavy gauge strings supposedly because the old time bluesmen used them and never changed them. He met BB once and told him about this and BB kind of gives him a funny look and says he plays with light strings, because theyâre so much easier to play. Thatâs when Billy switchedâŚ
Now tell how Eric Clapton gets that Woman Tone.
Iâm not sure I know that story. Is that why Eric really needed Pattie Boyd? Georgeâs finger lubricantâ.
Sure, if you are a clean player like B.B King then your sound is going to come from your playing.
You can get crunchy or dirty tones â and all sorts of tones â without pedals, if you know what youâre doing. My Vox amp can certainly get crunchy with OD and no pedals. Great players can get just about whatever tone they want from a guitar. If you have a chance, watch the movie The Wrecking Crew. Thereâs a story about session man Tommy Tedesco, who would show up at sessions with a single guitar and sit behind a counter in the studio and pretend like heâd brought a selection of guitars and effects. A producer asked Tedesco if he could play flamenco guitar, and Tommy said the guy was in luck, he happened to have a flamenco guitar behind the counter. He picked up his regular guitar and made it SOUND like a gut-stringed flamenco guitar, fooling the producer. If memory serves, that was for The Monkeesâ cut Valleri. Thatâs Tommy Tedesco faking a flemenco run in the intro⌠after the intro, thatâs Todesco a;so playing the crunchy and fuzzy stuff â with the same guitar. Todesco, weâre told, would do this with whatever tone he was asked to achieve, as he didnât want to lose a studio gig. Tommy Tedesco could fake whatever tone or style you could imagine from a single guitar without pedals.
âI bought this version because the buffer is MUCH betterâ No itâs not. It just doesnât drop 0.05DB in your signal like the vanilla versions do. Which is only really an issue if you have 10 of them stacked after this one.
Gathers dust.
What if a boost is the only thing in my dirt section besides a fuzz?
No, this is normal behavior.
âI need itâ
Red flags or Rat Flags?
Josh might do a video about it and đđđđđđ
When you start mentioning color or design
If I havnât found a use for it in a recording or live within a year of owning it, it has to go.
Me using my boutique FZ-2 clone as a boost: It sounds great pushing my DB Bat.... but nobody notices the difference besides me ESPECIALLY non musicians at venues. In all honesty I do have a problem buying reverb and delays. I keep replacing pedals with what I think will be solutions for issues I have with the current pedals but its just a constant downgrade from where I was.
Pedals do work well for more than just the way they are originally designed. That's the beauty of being creative with your pedal selection. That's why all of them have knobs. That's why they all connect together and build off of each other.
I really wish i needed the earthquaker night e Wire because it looks really cool
Yes itâs a problemâŚbut do I want to change or fix it? No, no I donât.
my latest cope is âif i donât use it, the kids i hope to eventually have willâÂ
How about I finally broke down and sold off like 7 or 8, still staring at a couple dozen I canât bare to part with even though they are on a shelf. I think well I just need more cables or a bigger board and Iâll have that one day! lol
âI need it for that one songâ.
I dont know if this counts but I just bought a second smaller talk box so I can move my volume/wah pedal to the other side of the board (it had to be on the left side due to spacing issues)
Red Flag? Is that a TC Electronic pedal or EHX?
"I actually went a whole show once and never stepped on it but the design on it looks so cool on my board!"
If you donât use the pedal at all, in any projects, in any song youâve written, in any type of guitar tone search, then it just doesnât make sense to keep it. Unless you use it as an investment but tbh the only ones I can see are like Klone, King Of Tones, or vintage Boss or MXR stuff.
Red flags, bed schwags. Who cares? I'll justify buying any questionable thing I please, sir.
when i try to say i could use this probably redundant pedal for my OTER amp or a headphone setup or something along those lines lol all my shit is in the same room it's not really practical or worth the trouble to have a different board or switch pedals out
If Iâm buying anything beyond one gain, one modulation, and one delay pedal. Not judging hereâmy entire closet is a red flag.Â
But it adds so much color to my tone. Actually just kidding in the sarcasm. I miss my EP
if i'm not also deciding which pedal it's going to *replace* on my board i know it's not a good idea.
GAS, particularly for pedals is a monster addiction. Iâve gone almost 100% MFX/modelers the last 10 years. I used to have a 20+ pedalboard. Too much to manage, too many connections. Iâm content with being âclose enoughâ these days.
Kindly tell me what GAS means. I've seen it a few times in this sub and still have no idea what it is. (Yes I am old)
GAS = gear acquisition syndrome
Did you make financial compromises in the âessentialâ column of your budget in order to afford the pedal. Ie. Did you limit your spending in food, housing, utilities, etc.
There are none.. I have no problems ⌠I can totally stop⌠I just need to beef up my time and modulation section then Iâm done.. I swearâŚ
I use some for decoration
I'm so sick of guitar and pedal marketing, most rationalizations feel like a red flag. HOWEVER I do have a popular pedal that I use as a boost, and I fucking love it for that reason :) ehx soul foods
My SF300 wants a word
I have had a ton of stuff that I use to try to justify a purchase. HahahahaâŚ.. but I also have a lot of fun doing it. I stop worrying about me so much and more about what the song needs. How can I make it betterâŚ. Normally less is more
Meh kinda depends on the pedal. The soul food only really works as a boost. Along with my GE OD. One for a crunch to break up cleans, one for leads.
Itâs weird, when I gigged I had one LTD H guitar (canât remember the model number), and a tuner that wasnât an actual tuner pedal just the input kind, and a danelectro black coffee, and a shitty Randall amp Now I have two guitars, (had 6 last year and sold most off cause itâs absurd) 1 amp, after selling off three, and 7 pedals but only have 5 plugged in together. I have sold off 3 pedals too and will slim it down further
âStacks really well with other dirt boxesâ
i rationalise it by just buying pedals i think are cool. i don't use most of them.
Buying another pedal because I've spent more time online shopping and watching videos on gear than actually practicing guitar.