The learning...pedals thread!

GloopyJon

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We have threads for learning to play and for equipment in general, but I thought it would be handy to have a thread for discussion of pedals. As you may know, I currently have a Line 6 HD500X and I think that it is great for use with the DT25 but it's probably best if you're gigging and you want to take the time to set up some different patches that you can easily switch between when playing live gigs (which I don't do). If you just want to play around with some different sounds at home, it's rather fiddly and so I'm fantasising about getting a more traditional pedal board and a set of effects pedals.

I've been watching YouTube videos on pedals, along with other gear, for some time and I decided to spec up a decent but not outrageous pedal board. This will consist of the pedal board itself, a power pack, tuner and five effects pedals: gain, delay, chorus, wah and a compressor. I might also want to add a volume pedal, but that's pretty simple (although they are surprisingly expensive).

So here's the kit list:
1) Pedalboard: Pedaltrain Junior with soft case (£79)
2) Power: Harley Benton Power Plant (£30)
3) Tuner: TC Electronic Polytune 2 (£69) - not the Mini, the full-sized one
4) Gain: Lovepedal Stax Master (£170) - the Lee Anderton special which looks pretty versatile
5) Delay: TC Electronic Flashback (£119) - again, not the Mini as this one has one extra control
6) Chorus: TC Electronic Corona (£100) - same again
7) Wah: Jim Dunlop Original GCB95 (£65) - or the basic Vox depending on preference
8) Compression: Boss CS-3 Compression Sustainer (£65)

Total cost £697 (excluding cables)

I reckon that would be a pretty good setup. It's not cheap, and I'm certainly not going to buy all of that any time soon, but maybe as I get better and maybe start playing more outside Rocksmith, this would be a great setup.

I didn't put really expensive pedals in my selection because that would be a long way off. As I've already mentioned in the Equipment thread, I love the sound of the new Strymon Deco pedal, but I think you really need to know what you're looking for to buy a pedal like that (and with its price tag). Similar thoughts eliminated more advanced pedals such as the Flashback X4, together with the consideration that I wanted this to be a relatively compact pedal board.

It could be an interesting exercise to price up a budget version of the above using clones such as the Joyo pedals. I might have a look into that too.

Another interesting topic, of course, is the signal chain, and how one would order these pedals (and whether they would go before the amp or in the effects loop). I'll leave that till later, though!

Over to you for any thoughts, comments, praise, abuse, links to favourite porn sites etc....
 
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Hadn't heard the Love Stax so dug out this video:

 
A picture of my entire pedal collection!
(oh I do have an iStomp that I need to check out more)

1411-pedal1-w.jpg

.
.
 
Well, here's a quick go at a budget setup. These pedals aren't from some of the big UK guitar shops (although GAK sells Behringer pedals), so I've taken pedals and prices from Amazon or Thomann. I haven't tried any of these but they all seem to have quite good reviews on their respective sites - this is just an exercise to see how little you could spend on this type of setup.

I've taken the pedal board out since you can get away without it, or you can make one yourself. However, the one component that I left in was the Harley Benton Power Plant. They don't come much cheaper than that, and I think it's worth paying for a box rather than just having a daisy chain, but you can probably save £10-15 by doing that instead.

So here's the budget alternative:
1) Pedalboard: None or home-made
2) Power: Harley Benton Power Plant (£30)
3) Tuner: Behringer TU300 (£12, Thomann)
4) Gain: Joyo Ultimate Drive (£26, Amazon)
5) Delay: Harley Benton DD-2 (£19, Thomann)
6) Chorus: Behringer EC200 Ultra Chorus (£17, Amazon)
7) Wah: Behringer HB01 Hell Babe (£21, Thomann)
8) Compression: Behringer CS400 Compressor/Sustainer (£16, Amazon)

Total cost: £141 (excluding cables and delivery)

I've picked some of the cheapest options, but if you go up to about £30 per pedal, there's actually quite a lot of choice. The total cost is about a fifth of the first setup, which is really food for thought! If these pedals are decent, that could be a great setup for very little cost. Hmm.....! :laugh:
 
Top idea for a thread Jon! Pedals are something I have also started thinking about. Havent gotten further than daydreaming about say Polytune -> Xotic SP -> Bad Monkey-> SoulFood -> Timeline.

Of course, then there is the whole matter of wet/dry signal chains, pedals in front, pedals in fx loop, a/b pedals, stereo pedals.

There really are soooo many options and things to consider!!!!
 
Well, here's a quick go at a budget setup.

3) Tuner: Behringer TU300 (£12, Thomann)

Without playing live, I'd personally be happy with a Snark. Is there a real need for a pedal?
 
We have threads for learning to play and for equipment in general, but I thought it would be handy to have a thread for discussion of pedals. As you may know, I currently have a Line 6 HD500X and I think that it is great for use with the DT25 but it's probably best if you're gigging and you want to take the time to set up some different patches that you can easily switch between when playing live gigs (which I don't do). If you just want to play around with some different sounds at home, it's rather fiddly and so I'm fantasising about getting a more traditional pedal board and a set of effects pedals.

I've been watching YouTube videos on pedals, along with other gear, for some time and I decided to spec up a decent but not outrageous pedal board. This will consist of the pedal board itself, a power pack, tuner and five effects pedals: gain, delay, chorus, wah and a compressor. I might also want to add a volume pedal, but that's pretty simple (although they are surprisingly expensive).

So here's the kit list:
1) Pedalboard: Pedaltrain Junior with soft case (£79)
2) Power: Harley Benton Power Plant (£30)
3) Tuner: TC Electronic Polytune 2 (£69) - not the Mini, the full-sized one
4) Gain: Lovepedal Stax Master (£170) - the Lee Anderton special which looks pretty versatile
5) Delay: TC Electronic Flashback (£119) - again, not the Mini as this one has one extra control
6) Chorus: TC Electronic Corona (£100) - same again
7) Wah: Jim Dunlop Orogonal GCB95 (£65) - or the basic Vox depending on preference
8) Compression: Boss CS-3 Compression Sustainer (£65)

Total cost £697 (excluding cables)

I reckon that would be a pretty good setup. It's not cheap, and I'm certainly not going to buy all of that any time soon, but maybe as I get better and maybe start playing more outside Rocksmith, this would be a great setup.

I didn't put really expensive pedals in my selection because that would be a long way off. As I've already mentioned in the Equipment thread, I love the sound of the new Strymon Deco pedal, but I think you really need to know what you're looking for to buy a pedal like that (and with its price tag). Similar thoughts eliminated more advanced pedals such as the Flashback X4, together with the consideration that I wanted this to be a relatively compact pedal board.

It could be an interesting exercise to price up a budget version of the above using clones such as the Joyo pedals. I might have a look into that too.

Another interesting topic, of course, is the signal chain, and how one would order these pedals (and whether they would go before the amp or in the effects loop). I'll leave that till later, though!

Over to you for any thoughts, comments, praise, abuse, links to favourite porn sites etc....

Looks to be quite an epic board. Any room for a reverb pedal? I'd have to have one. The iStomp is currently filling that role for me, but I may be on the look out for a dedicated one soon. Totally agree with the Strymon Deco call. There is one for sale just down the road from me on Gumtree, but it's £200. Having seen the demos for it I would dearly love one, but the coffers are currently well and truly empty :(
 
Not sure if anyone has watched this video, but it is absolutely mind-blowing. I understood maybe half of it. I just thought pedal boards were fairly simple affairs in as much as you select the signal path, link the pedals and power them up and away you go. Oh no, Sir!! Watch the pro approach. Simply staggering :eek:

 
I have reverb on my amp so it wouldn't be a necessity. I know that a proper reverb pedal will give you lots more options, but that would be an optional pedal for me. For sure, though, if you don't have reverb on your amp, it would be a high priority.
 
Behringer pedals are ghastly ( well the ones Iv tried)

Pedal board first me thinks as my floor is a mess :) of metal and cables
 
Some pedal advice from Steve Vai

 
You developed any love for your Sweet Baby pedal yet TJ?

Well I gave it another go yesterday when I was in the mood
Now I can see what it does and gives to your tone I like it. It's like a boost works great with fender cleans especially for a little bit of overdrive on solos ect, nothing too drastic just a quality boost in power if you like.
Just need to mess about a bit more with it as I'm keeping it. There's a local guy with a Joyo chorus for sale at £20 or something think I'll offer him £15 see if he bites in that, love chorus (purple rain intro anyone) :)

Gonna look at that flashback that u picked up as that's quality kit by TC
Also might get my self a fender vapouriser amp as there stupid cheap at the minute just over £200 for a tube amp


I'll knock up a vid of that sweet baby overdrive once I get time playing cleans into boost
But first need to sort my telecaster out as it's devoleped a nasty hum, when I touch the volume it goes away. But not when I touch the strings?? Also when I drop the tone down it gets rid of it altogether but losses some ump. There's a bad earth somewhere but tracking it down is a pain
 
Sorry to hear about your telecaster, and good luck trying to fix it.

Quite keen to try a Sweet Baby for myself. Watched a few vids, and it just seems to produce the kind of overdrive that I like. I have a Joyo Ultimate Drive at the mo', but it's a bit too "metal" for my needs. It was the 1st pedal I bought so I was a bit naïve not really knowing what I wanted. Not that it's a bad pedal mind, just inappropriate for my needs. Will be interested to see the video of yours when you get around to it :)
 
Sorry to hear about your telecaster, and good luck trying to fix it.

Quite keen to try a Sweet Baby for myself. Watched a few vids, and it just seems to produce the kind of overdrive that I like. I have a Joyo Ultimate Drive at the mo', but it's a bit too "metal" for my needs. It was the 1st pedal I bought so I was a bit naïve not really knowing what I wanted. Not that it's a bad pedal mind, just inappropriate for my needs. Will be interested to see the video of yours when you get around to it :)

Tele still plays fine just the hum that started yesterday lol

I was sold on the sweet baby after watching in the blues YouTube channel has that lush tone to it :)
I might be interested in that ultimate drive if u want rid mate :)
 
Just tried the sweet baby with the Wolfey oh man now I know why I bought it huge grin it just adds an extra dimension to the tone for £20 it's a no brainer. Works great with humbuckers strat next :)
Got a nice song intro lined up for the tone demo :)
 
Tele still plays fine just the hum that started yesterday lol

I was sold on the sweet baby after watching in the blues YouTube channel has that lush tone to it :)
I might be interested in that ultimate drive if u want rid mate :)

I'll certainly bare that in mind. although I shan't wave goodbye 'til I've sourced a replacement 1st.
 
What did you think? I think it sounds pretty cool but there are a ton of distortion pedals on the market.


There's toooooo many I think it's certainly a case of try before you jump as it a minefield
Wage they star rising in price demos have to be heard not sure I'd blind buy an expensive pedal
 
What did you think? I think it sounds pretty cool but there are a ton of distortion pedals on the market.

Lovepedal Stax Master

Well I was actually disappointed because I thought it was the porn you mentioned:laugh:
 
I've been a rack man since forever but I did have a boss mt2 metal zone back in the day which sounded really good for gain. They are still available so must be pretty popular.
 

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