More pedals than songs?

[scelerat]

How many of you have more pedals on your board than songs in your set?

I'm getting blown away by the pedalboard photos. I guess some are recording rigs and there to have everything at your fingertips. But for those of you playing live with massive boards -- say more than 10 discrete fx units -- is an effected sound just integral to your tone? Do you have some on all the time? Are you doubling or tripling up at different parts of songs, what?

I get heat in one of my bands because I roll with about six -- octave, fuzz, wah, OD, phase shifter, delay/reverb -- but even then they're more for accents, solos, etc. I'd say 60% of a show I play with no fx on, and 40% with *something* on.

[oinkbanana]

Originally Posted by scelerat

I get heat in one of my bands because I roll with about six -- octave, fuzz, wah, OD, phase shifter, delay/reverb -- but even then they're more for accents, solos, etc. I'd say 60% of a show I play with no fx on, and 40% with *something* on.

this seems fine.



i own lots of pedals (70+), but in the band I play with now I try to keep myself to 2 or three.
my lead singer uses all the pedals he owns (fuzz, booster, tremolo, delay, reverb, phaser & overdrive). I'm very amused at shows when people ask me what it's like being in a band with someone with sooo many pedals.

[SteveO]

I have a small collection of pedals, but all I ever used in a live band was a volume and a wah. The other guitar player ran a processor and utilized various effects, but I stayed pretty much dry.

[jchan]

Well, you can either practice or buy more stuff. Sometimes its easier to just buy more stuff!

My setup is: guitar > Wah > LDO > MO'D > pitchblack tuner > DD3 > RV5 > Volume Pedal > amp

[Budster]

I think it depends on the Band and the sound youre after
it never hurts to have the right spice for the right meal
but just like food you can ruin it with too much.I love sifting through
and finding something cool to float in the background

[this1smyne]

and the environment you're playing in as well. in a 'fixed set' you know whats coming and can bring just what you need, but in a more 'spontaneous' situation you want to have stuff available if you might need it. i play very effected music, with a delay/reverb on most the time (even just slightly) for ambient sounds. so my board has an OD or two a VP a tuner and a handful of atmosphere pedals (DE7, Timefactor, RV5) and works great for me

[XmasTree]

Originally Posted by scelerat

How many of you have more pedals on your board than songs in your set?

I'm getting blown away by the pedalboard photos. I guess some are recording rigs and there to have everything at your fingertips. But for those of you playing live with massive boards -- say more than 10 discrete fx units -- is an effected sound just integral to your tone? Do you have some on all the time? Are you doubling or tripling up at different parts of songs, what?

I get heat in one of my bands because I roll with about six -- octave, fuzz, wah, OD, phase shifter, delay/reverb -- but even then they're more for accents, solos, etc. I'd say 60% of a show I play with no fx on, and 40% with *something* on.

GOOD OBSERVATION
FUNNY
you can own one hundred pedals ...but why take them all to a live jam?

[jazzfromhell]

I just like to be well prepared, be it for a live gig or a recording session. Just because you have 20 pedals on a board doesnt mean you HAVE to use them all

Of course it depends on the music; if you play AC/DC covers you dont really need 59 od boxes and 23 delays but if you do Pink Floyd, U2, SRV, Pantera and Radiohead, and you get off on re-creating the tones off of the records as closely as possible, then its necessary to have a few more colors available to you.
Whatever floats your boat...

Having a lot of expensive gear will of course never cover up shitty playing....if you suck you suck, even if you have an Ethos, Timefactor, Klon, Tim, Cornish bla bla bla whatever on your board. But if you can play and have a creative mind AND have access to a lot of cool, great-sounding equipment well....the sky is the limit!

[The Kid]

Originally Posted by jazzfromhell

I just like to be well prepared, be it for a live gig or a recording session. Just because you have 20 pedals on a board doesnt mean you HAVE to use them all

Of course it depends on the music; if you play AC/DC covers you dont really need 59 od boxes and 23 delays but if you do Pink Floyd, U2, SRV, Pantera and Radiohead, and you get off on re-creating the tones off of the records as closely as possible, then its necessary to have a few more colors available to you.
Whatever floats your boat...

Having a lot of expensive gear will of course never cover up shitty playing....if you suck you suck, even if you have an Ethos, Timefactor, Klon, Tim, Cornish bla bla bla whatever on your board. But if you can play and have a creative mind AND have access to a lot of cool, great-sounding equipment well....the sky is the limit!

Exactly.

I have 4 dirt pedals on my board, but I play in 7 different projects and cover a few different styles including Soul, R&B, Jazz, Reggae, & Blues.

Different tools, different jobs. Also, it's nice having some options when you have to deal with a different backline every night.

Some gigs, I don't step on anything but my tuner. Some gigs, my board is lit up like Christmas Eve in Vegas at the end of a solo.

I go for what the bandleader needs on the gig. Keep the bandleaders happy, and you'll have plenty of work.

[PanicProne]

I have waaay too many pedals. Double the amount of songs. I should really dowsize but it's hard. also, with my delays I'm working a lot of them into the set/songs..

[slacker]

I own 11 effects pedals and various AB's, TB loops etc and for the last year have been delaying making a decision on how to use them. For a while I've used two EH bags and made a board or two. However I keep chopping and changing depending on what guitar I use, style, band etc.

I generally use an overdrive AB ti tuner and a delay. I sometimes add a boost or overdrive or compressor depending on what 'specialist' sound I want. My general tones are clean(ish) light overdrive sometimes with delay either ambient or timed. Anything else IMHO is a 'special effect' (sic).

I suppose I am lazy, I dont want to carry a flightcased 30 inch wide board when I could have a bag on a should strap.

Sometimes I've used just one twin channel overdrive and played with the reverb on the amp.

[peridot1]

That is me for sure. 12 years ago I was exploding with ideas but very little gear. Kinda poor. Now I've got just about everything I dreamed for and.. writer's block. My luck lol.

[semi-hollowbody]

Just add more songs to your set list...lol

I remember seeing a live band playing in a bar parking lot a year or 2 ago before a Tigers game...I could see he had an SKB Ps-45 and I got all excited...at break I wandered over to check it out...
All he had on there was an echo park,,,wtf...

[alvarete]

I like options. That said, I don't take everything out when I head to a jam. I can downsize to 4 essentials + tuner, and I'm happy with that.

[Shiny McShine]

Yep, I have more pedals that we have songs in our weekly set list (about 5-6 usually). I always have people saying "Wow, that's a lot of pedals" but I don't get why. I've only got 2-fuzzes, wah, 2-ods, vibe, tuner, and echo? That's not a huge amount. Ironically, the other guys with their POD like devices have 25-30 "pedals". It's funny sometimes.