The Anti Pedal Board Thread

[Guitar Dave T]

Has anyone else been going through this?

I've got an assortment of really nice pedals on a pedal board, but lately I've been grabbing just one for gigs. Kind of been on an anti-pedal-board kick lately.

Yea, sure it's just a cyclical phase, but it's been a lot of fun working all the ins and outs of just one pedal throughout a night.

Am I friggin' nuts to have all this great pedal gear sitting at home ignored?

[jaywalker]

I do it sometimes for a challenge, but I prefer to take just one pedal to blues gigs and learn to get the most out of it without overdoing it, which gives me more know-how with the respective pedal when I put it back on my board.

[mrt]

I've done it....

I play in hard to heavy rock band. We use allot of effects.

Went back and forth with rack gear and pedals...

now I have both setups....

I went a litter cheaper on some things, but when it comes down to it.. when your playing a show, no one can tell the difference between a $300 chorus, and a boss CH1.

[Lightningrt]

I think it depends on what type of gig it is. At sit-in or ad-hoc types of gigs you may not take all the gear because a] it's too much hassle and b] you won't use it. You often sit-back a bit too behind other musicians.

At gigs where you have a set list of your own or other's you have worked on, and you are the sole guitarist, you usually have an idea in your head about what fits where. I have played gigs where one or more pedals have failed and I get by, but I do miss them.

Funny, I used to rehearse with a very meagre pedal board - one drive pedal. As I upgraded my main pedal board I created a practice one made up of my cast-offs, because I found that the first time I was playing new songs with my full kit was at the first gig we played the song at!

My practice board now has octave, Wah, Fuzz, OD, Tremolo, Vibe and Delay, but it really does help me. I would only take a drive pedal to a sit-in gig tho'.

[Don P.]

For the longest time all I used and needed were od, tremolo, and reverb. For a few years all I had was a DRRI and a Tube Works Blue Tube. Then the Blue Tube crapped out on me and things began to accumulate: multiple od's, compressor, chorus, fuzz, delay, vibe, clean boost, & even a second tremolo. All of this began while searching for a suitable replacement for the BT. Another factor was when I changed jobs and went to working nights which left the DRRI practically unused for a year and a half before I traded it in. Admittedly some of it was just corksniffing as well, stuff I just wanted to tryout. Now I find myself paring down the gear and selling off stuff. I would like to get it down enough to fit it all on one of those Pedaltrain Mini boards.

[Groovey Records]

Guitar / Cable / Amp

[BryanMatthews]

count me in, Guitar..tuner....amp .

I really hate the way fx color your tone and i just cannot hear through the pedals , simplicity is way best and for me that equals no fx apart from a wah which i use every so often.

[H.P. Lovecraft]

All I ever really use is a Fuzz >> Delay

[Ang3lus]

Mesa road king II is all you need

[charmboy]

I do alot of gigs where I just grab my fuzz and tuner, or maybe a wah as well... teese pic wah and the new dunlop jh-1 fuzzface are a really nice combo... lots of tones to be had within those confines.

[mattreid222]

exactly what i'm planning on doing for this weekend of gigs and practise tonight , its so much fun going back to the basics after playing with a lot of pedals for a long time

[crockett]

Originally Posted by Ang3lus

Mesa road king II is all you need

Agreed, since I got the Roadster, I've booted several pedals off the board and made space for the amp footswitch with my pedalboard. Now I'm trying to get it down to the point where I can fit a Tim, Strobostomp, Psilocybe, Nova Delay on top of the amp and solely use the the footswitch for all my tonal desires, ditching the pedalboard.

[buddaman71]

For the last 5 years or so, I have kept a Rt 66 in the front pocket of my gig bag.
PERFECT jammin' pedal in case you get a house amp that sucks.
It's been a life saver for me several times.

[Funky Monkey]

I start to, but on my way out the door, I tell myself I need my tuner and delay. And then a boost for solos. And, sure my amp gets great dirt tones, but it can't do fuzz...so I grab one of those. And if I'm using fuzz, I can't have my head set for very high gain. So then I need an OD pedal...or two. And how am I going to get any satisfaction at this dead club without any reverb? So I grab that. And I can't do that one passge of volume swells with my picking hand. Where's my volume pedal? Oh yeah, this is the dive that causes our gear to hum like made...better take the noise gate. Uh, why didn't I just grab my pedalboard?!?!? :NUTS

I love plugging straight into my amp at home, but for gigs, I "need" all of my pedals. I'm backing up a singer/songwriter, doing lots of textural stuff, faking keyboard, violin and pedal steel parts from the original recordings. I keep my head set clean and use every pedal I have. Some situations require several things at the ready. Unfortunately, I'm in one of them.

I would happily show up to a blues or jazz open mic without any pedals at all. One of my favorite "roots" guitarists would show up with his guitar, a Vibro King and a digital chorus pedal. First time I saw him I was kinda puzzled, if not a bit disheartened at the sight of it. Then I saw him lean his amp back, put the pedal under the front of it and use it to keep it propped back at an angle. Ha!

[bkd_guitarist]

I wish. On my board I have two O/D's, two fuzzes, a tremolo, a vibe, a clean boost, a wah, a delay, a pitch shifter, a chorus, a tuner, a MIDI loop switcher, and a MIDI controller, and I use 'em all. However, I am getting sick of lugging a big pedalboard around, so I'm about to shift to a hybrid setup.

I'm going to build a small pedalboard to house everything that needs to be in front of the amp: wah, O/D, fuzz, and tuner, plus the MIDI controller. Everything else goes in the effects loop, so I'm going to mount all those pedals plus the loop switcher in a rack and keep them back by the amp. I have the good fortune to be able to leave some equipment at my regular gig, so I'll leave the rack there and just lug the small board back and forth.