Guitar Nerd Report: My new pedal board is based on the chassis of my old acoustic guitar board, and retains the delay pedal from that rig. The compressor, overdrive, phaser and chorus pedals, and T•Rex power supply are from my old main board, which was more than double the size of this thing. All the other pedals are new, acquired to get the exact sounds I need for this band. I may no longer be a boy, but part of me really loved playing with all the coloured boxes and velcro.
So here’s how it works:
The first pedal in the chain is a TC Electronic Hyper Gravity compressor. When I first got this pedal, I tried the Tone Print setting, and it was almost perfect. A couple of little tweaks, and I haven’t looked at it since. It stays on and feeds a nice even signal with groovy sustain through the rest of the chain. The compressor feeds into a TC Electronic Sub’n’Up Mini octaver, which I got to provide sounds for some specific parts, as well as a cool 12-string sound with its polyphonic setting. The tracking on this pedal is awesome, and having it second in the chain ensures a clean input signal for it to track. I’m sure I’m going to find more some places to use this nifty little gadget!
Next up, the Ibanez TS9DX Turbo Tube Screamer features the same circuitry as the classic TS9, with the addition of three new settings. This pedal has been with me for ages, and has enabled me to pull some wicked tones from the new rig – more on that in my Quest For Tone post.
The signal then runs into a TC Electronic Spark Mini booster, which is used mainly for boosting cleaner sounds for solos. The booster plugs in to an MXR Phase 90 which, apart from having some cool textures, allows me to passably emulate a wah-wah, which I am terrible at. Next is an MXR Analog Chorus which sounds wonderful on clean sounds, especially when used with the octaver in poly mode.
The last pedal in the chain is a good old Boss DD3 digital delay. I don’t seem to be using as much delay playing a blues rock repertoire, but when the perfect spot comes along, it stands out all the more.
The effect chain then runs into a Radial Bigshot ABY pedal which can switch between amps or run both together. I have mainly been running both amps, but there have been a spot or two where switching one amp out allows for some interesting dynamics. More on that subject in the forthcoming Quest For Tone!