I played with no pedals tonight into a non-MV combo.

[NB_Terry]

I play my first show with a pop and classic rock band tomorrow.

We're doing 12 tunes, lots of keyboards.

The keyboardist lives out of town, and I just wanted to go over 6 or so of the show's tunes so I told him he could stay home.

It forced me to learn some of the keyboard parts, and do the intros that he normally does.

Also, since I expected it just to be a 1 hour practice, I just brought my Morris 14 watt combo, and no pedals; not even a tuner.

It was cool doing all these hard rock guitar solos with a clean tone, and not having to stomp on pedals.

Then when the vocalists left, we played classic rock with just bass and drums and I could put the amp on about halfway up for a mild natural OD and it sounded great.

I love pedals, esp OD and delay pedals, but it's cool to go without once in awhile and just play and work the volume on the guitar.

Thanks for listening.

 

[bayAreaDude]

Agreed, though at least delay or reverb for me.

 

[jeff5371]

I agree. Sometimes playing dry, no effects or loop (bypassed, or whatever) just sounds right.

 

[Teleplayer]

I am all about that at this point. Even when I was gigging, I was usually Guitar--->1 OD Pedal---Amp.

Now when I jam or mess around at home, it's usually Guitar--->Amp with one great cord between the guitar and amp, and that's it.

 

[HeyMrTeleMan]

Yeah, I don't have very many pedals and don't like to futz with them, unless I need to.
Here's is one of my all time favorite examples of a guitar straight into an amp. It's been posted before but it needs to be seen again.

Special guitar and special amp, for sure, but still...

HMTM

 

[JonRock]

 

[soundchaser59]

Here's is one of my all time favorite examples of a guitar straight into an amp. It's been posted before but it needs to be seen again.

Special guitar and special amp, for sure, but still...

That is awesome......Thank You! Not just great honest tone, that is a musician playing AMERICAN MUSIC! I am so glad that I heard this on July 4th! Way too cooL!

 

[guitarjazz]

Those cats are standing at the Crossroads.

 

[ripple]

I envy you non-pedal guys. I've tried before and failed. When I go without pedals, I feel like I forgot my pants.

It's a comfort zone I can't break away from, and I attribute it to how I first started playing, 35 yrs ago. My first amp was Fender Dual Showman and you absolutely HAD to use a stompbox for any gain or distortion. I got used to having clean at the amp and grit from the pedals, and haven't been able to break away from that ever since. And I love a nice analog flanger and delay for coloration, so there's that.

I'd love to lighten the load and drop the pedal board, but I'm currently gigging a JTM45 and you can't crank that baby up at most places we play. Besides, I'm running two different overdrive pedals currently, which really allows for some flexible drive tones. Very subtle and stackable.

 

[Seegs]

I use 6 pedals...1 is a tuner and 2 are always on as part of my base tone because I like how they shape my base tone (compressor and delay)

2 are flavors that get used sparingly (wah and leslie effect)

2 are dirt which get used once in awhile (Rat and Keeley Boss Blues Driver)

Most of the gig is spent playing clean and using the volume control with the two always on pedals...

I don't feel this great liberated feeling by going straight in without pedals as for all intents and purposes that is how I have been playing...albeit with various tone shapers always on...for most of my life...

Pedals are a benefit and totally necessary when you are fronting a band and singing and soloing a lot...

 

[acwild]

I just did a gig in which my footswitch for my amp failed (mid-song, third tune down in a thirty song set). Since a lot of our tunes go from clean to dirty, I had to use my guitar volume knob. It was nerve-wracking at first but it wasn't as hard as I thought it would be. Now I'm not saying that I'm a convert to single channel amps and ditching pedals but I do see the value of going to a simplified setup. Especially with all of the gear mishaps that I've had while playing live.

 

[Mike R.]

Years ago I was addicted to the next best 'insert pedal here.' I recently got back into electric and am forcing myself to move away from that. I actually like it better. I feel I play more and tweak less.

Edit: Totally forgot the gear. Dano Tele into a PRRI.

 

[e???]

14 watts is a good number for that. Definitely something to be said for lower wattage amps for going straight in. Hope your gig went well