Bare essentials of a pedal board

MadAsAHatter

MadAsAHatter

Well-known member
I've never been much of a pedal user, but I'm thinking of putting together a small board to mess around with. In addition to a tuner pedal, I'm thinking 3-5 more pedals max. One of those spots would be taken by my Chiron. I don't really know what else would be worthwhile. Whatever may go on the board would likely come from Wayne so that's something to keep in mind. What other pedals would be your essentials to put on a minimalistic board?
 
The way I started out my minimalist Fx loop board;
At least chorus, graphic EQ and delay.

The rest is bonus now; Harmonizer, Flanger, 2nd Delay...

But for years I've gigged with an Ibanez Tone Lok case that had room for just 3 pedals, so it was MIJ Boss CE-2, MIJ Boss GE-7 and an Ibanez DE7 Delay in analog mode.
 
  • Tuner
  • Overdrive
  • Fuzz
  • Delay; reverb for some guys, but if I can only choose one...
  • Phaser; sub for flange or chorus if that's your thing, but some type of basic modulation
 
my suggestions would really depend on which direction you're thinking to go musically ....

a overdrive to go in front of the Chiron for some stacking and multiple gain options
if you're at all into fuzz ..... I can make real deal Germanium ToneBender's / Fuzz Faces
if you're doing anything clean at all ..... a compressor
if you're working with a loop ..... I would definitely get a BBD Chip driven delay
a simple EQ for anywhere you see fit in the chain
Reverb is a tough one .... for me anyway ... because I refuse to go digital .... I ended up with the Gamechanger Audio's Light Pedal ( just friggin amazing )

if you're looking for texture/movement ..... then you're into Phazers , Flangers .... Bit Crushers/Synth's ... nother rabbit hole all by itself .
 
stratjacket said:
  • Tuner unless you have another method
  • EQ
  • OD
  • Maybe a Noise Gate
for the loop:
  • EQ
  • Delay
  • Reverb
Click to expand...
I agree with stratjacket and this, slimmed down, is basically my gig board. I don't typically use reverb live but I do have reverb on my amp so not a big deal.

I have a small board and the top row is a tuner, and overdrive or two. This goes into the front of my amp. Then the bottom row is my clean boost, EQ, and delay that goes into the loop.

For home, I have a huge board I got from my buddy and it is packed with pedals of different types, lol. I think it depends on what you are using it for. I will warn you, it is definitely an addiction 🤣🤣🤣
 
i don't want to taste the rainbow or tip toe through the tulips just gimme a good boost/od and let's drink some beers and whiskey and get down to playing the blues already. I gotta sweet little pedal it's called a guitar cable. Save the pile of boxes for your next move my man. You bring more than about three of those toys and I'm turning away from you at stage right, snorting to myself and then figuring out how much money I"m docking from that paycheck son cause your probably the sort of guy who pours the la croix on your vintage 30's thinking you will out-tone the competition.
 
with my tube amps I prefer to go guitar into input; the reason I have these amps are for their sounds

with single channel amps I usually use an EQ pedal to get a lead tone;

amps with 2+ channels, I don't use pedals at all; except for prog (e.g., my JP-2C, where I use my HX-FX in 4CM)

my computer rig patches are dry or wet cleans, mostly dry rhythms, liquid/glassy leads (smooth, sustain), and various patches drenched in effects because why not, the HX-FX has many choices.
 
Are you going to use the amps effects loop ???
Most delay pedals sound much better in the loop. There is a few people use in front of the amp.

I like having a tuner, overdrive, noise gate, wah and modulation. That covers most things I would do.
 
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I've always been a plug straight into the amp person; maybe a noise gate set low to knock down any 60 cycle hum if needed. I prefer to let the voicing of the amp and speakers do the heavy tone lifting. I've tried modulation pedals before and they've never really fit my style. And I've never felt any of my amps needed extra tone shaping to make an EQ pedal worthwhile. The more I think about it, if I tried any modulation or EQ pedals they would probably end up not getting used and collecting dust.

The only thing I can think of that would get some use would be a boost/OD for my handful of lower gain amps to give them a bit extra push. Maybe a fuzz to dabble with doom/stoner metal stuff.

I'm probably going to go with a tuner, gate, a couple flavors of boost/OD, as permanent fixtures and call it a day.
I have the full set of Ibanez 5 series pedals I nostalgia collected to swap in and out if I want to mess around with other things now and again.
 
griff10672 said:
Reverb is a tough one .... for me anyway ... because I refuse to go digital .... I ended up with the Gamechanger Audio's Light Pedal ( just friggin amazing )
Click to expand...
I haven't found a digital reverb that doesn't add a harshness to the top end of a distorted gutiar. I have a Meris Mercury 7 which is an amazing pedal but it still has that harshness once you aren't using a clean tone. Otherwise it's fat and juicy. Amazing really. I personally don't care for reverb in my live tone at all unless we are talking about a Fender standalone tank, which is like carrying a 2nd amp to the gig but the preamping effect it provides is wonderful for tone and the controls are sensitive enough to be able to dial it in to the level where I don't lose the attack of the pick due to it's presence in the chain. Dwell and mix controls make the difference vs the usual BF Fender amp with reverb inside (which do not have dwell and mix controls)
 
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