Pedals for a newbie

JohnA · Post by **JohnA** » Wed Aug 19, 2009 1:04 pm

Attenuators can be hard on your valves, it's basically the same as running your amp at much higher levels will reduce the valve life, not the attenuators fault, and it certainly won't shorten the valve life any more than gigging with the amp at normal levels would.

Some cheap resistor based attenuators don't maintain the correct impedence and this can damage the output transformer, but you would be OK with the Weber, or my favourite, the Marshall Powerbrake.

stratman323 · Post by **stratman323** » Wed Aug 19, 2009 4:19 pm

I got a Weber, but it just sucked the tone out of my Vibroverb - I soon re-sold it. I can get a much better overdrive sound at home volumes or with the band by using an overdrive pedal.

Big Willie Style · Post by **Big Willie Style** » Wed Aug 19, 2009 11:37 pm

stratman323 wrote:I got a Weber, but it just sucked the tone out of my Vibroverb - I soon re-sold it. I can get a much better overdrive sound at home volumes or with the band by using an overdrive pedal.

Cool, then hopefully my Blues Driver should suffice when it arrives.

Jason

youami · Post by **youami** » Thu Aug 20, 2009 12:18 am

Blues Drivers are cool. One of my favourite settings is gain on zero, level on full, tone to taste... it really gives my amp good kick. In fact my usual setup for classic rock type stuff is:

BD2 on above settings -> Boss Digital Metalizer (gain zero, level cranked as well) -> Digitech Digidelay -> amp (Harley Benton GA5 set pretty low)

Gives me a good classic rock (think AC/DC, Cream) type sound at bedroom volumes.

The Digital Metalizer is an old Boss stomp from the 80s that gives a very nice "Marshall in a box" sound to my ears.

Big Willie Style · Post by **Big Willie Style** » Wed Aug 26, 2009 5:44 am

Blues Driver arrived today! Awesome sounding pedal with a little tweaking of the knobs. I got it from the 'bay cheap but you'd be very hard-pressed to tell it isn't new. I do have a question for anyone with one of these though (youami) - Is the thumbscrew supposed to have a nut on the inside of the pedal or just does it stick through the hole and catch on the metal? Reason I ask is, if that is the case (just goes through and catches on the casing) it doesn't make much sense to have that rubber bushing in it.

Anyways, the pedal really brings the drive out of my amp and makes it sound great. Now let's see how the Cryababy works with my amp when it arrives

Jason

youami · Post by **youami** » Sat Aug 29, 2009 4:04 pm

No nut on the inside of my Boss pedals.

DrJzT · Post by **DrJzT** » Mon May 03, 2010 11:43 am

Hey just thought id throw my two cents into the discussion. My pedal history goes back almost as long as ive been playing eek. In the last couple of years I decided to try and arrange them onto a professional board for gigging purposes. Some may think its slightly silly, but hey ho, keeps me off the streets

) At the end of the day, the quest goes on. Ive made a flickr set to try and explain the evolution of it all

)

http://www.flickr.com/photos/48441708@N ... 984102048/

DrJzT · Post by **DrJzT** » Mon May 03, 2010 11:44 am

incidentally that huge board weighed in just under 25kg, all flight cases from theflightcasewarehouse. The pedal power is now mounted underneath the board

warxy · Post by **warxy** » Mon Jan 10, 2011 10:07 pm

Great topic people! Sorry if this counts as hijack but i feel that its unnecessary to open another topic.

At the moment im in a similar situation like what Big Willie Style had experienced. Ive just got my blackstar ht60 which sounds amazing, and im getting away from my line6 x3L as well and going to get a few pedals for a simple setup to compliment the new amp. Im into playing stuff from classic rock, blues up to hardrock (big fan of GunsNRoses if that helps).

Ive already made myself a list of the sort of pedals that i want to get:
tuner - maybe a polytune?
wah - thinking about a dunlop 535q or some of those CAE wah
boost/drive
chorus
delay
and maybe a distortation and one of those boss's harmonizer thingy or similar.

Im bit spoiled and confused by all the available brands/options and hopefully you guys can give some input to help me get some idea or what to get.

Cheers!

marcusnieman · Post by **marcusnieman** » Mon Jan 10, 2011 10:44 pm

warxy wrote:Great topic people! Sorry if this counts as hijack but i feel that its unnecessary to open another topic.

At the moment im in a similar situation like what Big Willie Style had experienced. Ive just got my blackstar ht60 which sounds amazing, and im getting away from my line6 x3L as well and going to get a few pedals for a simple setup to compliment the new amp. Im into playing stuff from classic rock, blues up to hardrock (big fan of GunsNRoses if that helps).

Ive already made myself a list of the sort of pedals that i want to get:
tuner - maybe a polytune?
wah - thinking about a dunlop 535q or some of those CAE wah
boost/drive
chorus
delay
and maybe a distortation and one of those boss's harmonizer thingy or similar.

Im bit spoiled and confused by all the available brands/options and hopefully you guys can give some input to help me get some idea or what to get.

Cheers!

Polytune's are very cool.... but if you're going to be up on stage for a gig, they are next to impossible to read from the floor.

Ibanez tube screamer (TS9) is a great overdrive pedal.

warxy · Post by **warxy** » Tue Jan 11, 2011 1:15 am

marcusnieman wrote:Polytune's are very cool.... but if you're going to be up on stage for a gig, they are next to impossible to read from the floor.

OOh how come?

i might be joining my youth's band soon so i need to make sure ill get something that will work. What would be a better one then?

marcusnieman wrote:Ibanez tube screamer (TS9) is a great overdrive pedal.

Yeah i thought about that but i got confused with all the different tube screamers, TS9, TS9X?, 808 and all that.

fury_dice · Post by **fury_dice** » Tue Jan 11, 2011 2:41 am

warxy wrote:
marcusnieman wrote:Polytune's are very cool.... but if you're going to be up on stage for a gig, they are next to impossible to read from the floor.
OOh how come? i might be joining my youth's band soon so i need to make sure ill get something that will work. What would be a better one then?

Boss TU-2 - accurate, easy to use, easy to read, bomb-proof

As for other pedals, all you can really do is to audition them until you find what suits. Took me years of chopping and changing to find that I like Barber overdrives but my ?20 Digitech Bad Monkey also sounds great. Try not to be swayed by 'boutique pedal' hype and trust your own ears

marcusnieman · Post by **marcusnieman** » Tue Jan 11, 2011 6:06 am

warxy wrote:
marcusnieman wrote:Polytune's are very cool.... but if you're going to be up on stage for a gig, they are next to impossible to read from the floor.
OOh how come? i might be joining my youth's band soon so i need to make sure ill get something that will work. What would be a better one then?

marcusnieman wrote:Ibanez tube screamer (TS9) is a great overdrive pedal.

Yeah i thought about that but i got confused with all the different tube screamers, TS9, TS9X?, 808 and all that.

The Polytone LED lights are very small and at a distance on a dark stage, you can't see them if you need to tune on the fly. I use this Planet Waves strobe with true signal bypass.... it's built like a tank but works like a charm. And you can SEE it.... even with stage lights in your eyes:

http://store.daddario.com/category/1485 ... edal_Tuner

The original Ibanez Tube Screamer was the TS808. The first reissue was the TS9..... great pedal. I think they've also reissued the TS808 and some variations of it. Here's the whole story on them:

http://www.analogman.com/tshist.htm

warxy · Post by **warxy** » Tue Jan 11, 2011 11:27 am

Think i will defs stay away from the fancy polytune pedal then, still think its cool tho

What about the newer Boss TU-3?

Anyone know if those pedaltrain pedal boards are worth the price? Im gonna try one of those ikea gorm board project before considering the pedaltrain but still, i cant figure out a way to transport the gorm board.

JohnA · Post by **JohnA** » Tue Jan 11, 2011 12:06 pm

It's your old eyes Marcus

The polytune, in poly mode is a bit on the small side but I can see it just fine, also if you just pick a single string it automatically reverts to being a regular tuner and the E A D and the tuning lights are very big and clear.

TU-2, TU-3 or Polytune would all be great choices though.