Pedal Boards

A few salty thoughts about pedal boards

Thought #1 - get a board with a power supply. Chasing dead batteries is for suckers. Constantly moving cables around makes them fail. Just commit. COMMIT.

Thought #2 - put as little on the board as possible, and get the smallest board you can live with. You don't need every effect, you just need the right effects.

Thought #3 - Effect Ordering.

Here are the basic rules of order according to me (ok, they are really just pretty standard):

1. Tuner. Tuner should come first so it can mute your guitar while tuning and get the cleanest signal no matter what when you are tuning. Ever try tuning with Chorus on?

2. Non-time domain fx next. So your compressor (if you use one) and then any overdrives, fuzz, etc. Wah, if you use one goes here too. You generally want to do dirt pedals early for the best signal to noise ratio. Any kind of device that distorts is going to reduce your dynamic range and raise the noise floor. Same idea with compressors - they are bringing up your noise floor as well (by smooshing your peaks) Do this before you have lots of noise if you can. Some vintage fuzzes do not play well with other pedals and may run best alone. Try out different placements etc. and listen to what happens.

3. Any time domain fx next. Usually this means chorus, phase, flange with delay last before any reverb.

4. Volume pedal. Why? We'll get to that in a sec.

On the board above, which is what I have been using for a while now, and refined over decades, we're basically doing this. Peterson Strobe Tuner, Keeley Compressor, JHS Calhoun (fuzz + overdrive), KTR, Boss Blues Driver, TC Flashback delay, Strymon Flint reverb/trem, EP boost and Ernie Ball Volume pedal.

Well, how did I get here?

The bands I play the most with play covers. And we don't have a set list carved in stone so I need to be ready for anything any time. This precludes using a multi-fx unit and programming 'patch 36' for some track. I'll never remember it. I am sure not scrolling around on stage to find something. So we go for simple and flexible here. I can go from jazzy clean to new wave to disco to metal on this board in seconds.

1. Tuner. Get the best one you can. If you don't have a tuner on your board or at least a clip on, you are making a classic rookie mistake. After an hour of standing in front of an amp and next to drums your ears are going to be half dead. Maybe ringing. You're really going to try and tune over crowd noise now mid-set and make them listen while you struggle?

2. Compressor - can be amazing effects when used properly. That could mean country picking, funky rhythm hits or taking your distortion pedal to the legato hall of fame. The key is knowing what it does and what that means. It reduces your dynamic range which effectively raises your loop gain. (eg: It will make it easier to feed back & sustain). It will make your rhythm hits a lot more funky. It can even out your heavy distortion. The key in my experience is not to use too much. I particularly like the Keeley because it has a blend knob - it's like having a side chain compressor in a studio. You get to mix the effected sound with the straight sound so it is not such a dramatic thing. It's brilliant; take the time to really learn your compressor (if you use one). They can be make or break.I never liked a pedal version enough to make room on a pedal board until this one.

3. "Dirt" pedals. These things make distortion. Period. Throw your beer in the face of the next chuckle-head who says, "transparent overdrive". What? No. It's a dumb phrase. These pedals are designed, built and used to make or enhance distortion. If you need a clean boost, get a clean boost. Granted the Tube Screamer is loved for that mid-hump (but why not put in an EQ pedal and have more control?) Dirt pedals will do some combination of EQ, compress and clip. Clip will reduce your level so there is (nearly) always some kind of make up gain knob. Bass is usually a little tricky so they'll have some EQ to keep things under control. They come in lots of flavors, and I have 4 of them here I can use individually or stacked (running more than 1 at once) The Calhoun has a 60's style fuzz and then something like a blackface Fender pre-amp on its other side. It's mostly there for the fuzz. The KTR is a pretty great overdrive, some nights I just leave it on the whole time. It's like a great AC30 on the edge of breaking up, and it makes the breakup on most amps sound that much better. The Boss Blues Driver has a different kind of distortion and can be thicker sounding, so I might use it instead of the KTR sometimes or together with the KTR if I need a heavier distortion.

4. The TC Flashback delay has a great tape delay sound I use. I used to drag my EP2 Echoplex around, I also dragged my huge classic Memory Man around; no more. This is plenty close for being on stage. Very flexible, lots of options but I just keep it simple. I usually just need a slapback of some sort and a longer delay. I turn 2 knobs and I'm there in seconds.

5. Flint - reverb & trem. This pedal is so good I stopped dragging my '62 Fender Reverb around. The '62 is better at what it does (it is really the King at what it does), but the Flint is more than good enough. And the trem is crazy good. It is the trem you wanted your amp to have, but it fell short. The Flint trem goes there, 3 different ways. Just mind blowing. Doubly perfect because my favorite amps don't have trem or reverb.

6. EP Boost - look! An actual clean boost! I use this for a couple reasons. It has an EQ curve built in that thickens things up nicely especially if we have to play at lower volumes. It's also a bit of control for how much signal is hitting the volume pedal. I can make the whole rig hit the amp harder or softer this way.

7. Volume pedal! This is the key for the simple reason that it corrects for whatever else has gone on. Roll your guitar back to clean up but now it's too quiet? Volume pedal. Stack a second dirt pedal and now you are too loud or over the top? Volume pedal. Roll it back, step on 2 dirt pedals to get big overdrive and then fade it in with the volume pedal, stopping at the perfect feedback spot. There are so many things you will figure out how to do with it. The key is you can fix stuff fast with your foot, and that gives you a lot of flexibility to get more sounds out of what is on your board. A bit more ambiguous than just stepping on something, but so flexible I can't imagine not doing it.

This is not the only way, or the right way or whatever. It is simply what one person does and why they do. Ideas. Lego to help build your own solution.

The general rules around ordering are fairly universal (gain first, time domain last...) and are the same in studios - but if you are goofing around or recording or whatever, put things in whatever order and try every setting. You never know what you might find. Hook stuff up backwards. Go nuts.

But for playing out and being flexible, you will probably want something standard-ish. It will work for nearly anything with a minimum of fuss and a maximum of flexibility.

Have fun. :)