Ditched all my pedals and just plugging straight in - except for a delay in the loop

[HowieJams]

Today I decided to go minimalist and took my pedalboard apart and put it away.

Gone are my D'addario XPND pedalboard, AMT wah pedal, Boss SD-1, Ibanez TS808-mini, Looper pedal, and my Pedal Power 8.
I moved my Delay pedals on top of their respective amps and the only thing in front of the amps is their channel switching footpedals.
I do have a A/B pedal to switch in between amps in the pic, but that is only when I want to compare the two amps.

I am so much happier.

I actually thought to myself..
Why put a $50-$100 pedal in front of a $2K-$3K amp?

I figure, instead of boosting the low gain channel for leads, just go to the Higher Gain channel on the amp instead.

Here is a before and after pic.

 

[RaceU4her]

I’ll never understand someone limiting their tonal options, especially over how much a pedal costs, but if it makes you happy

 

[HowieJams]

I’ll never understand someone limiting their tonal options, especially over how much a pedal costs, but if it makes you happy

I hear you, but I really like how it sounds without the pedals and it frees up my playing.

 

[RKnight]

Hey if you feel inspired, thats all that matters! And you can always get them back out after a while and maybe you'll rediscover something there as well.

Never played a "real" soldano. I got one of those mini solid state slo's as a joke but actually really dig it for what it is. Makes me want to try a real one really bad. Haha

But that JEL is fantastic straight in and you have a lot of shaping options with the mini switches. Great set up man!

 

[FourT6and2]

Checked out a guitar someone was selling recently and plugged into his Soldano. He had a giant board of like 20+ pedals plugged in to the front end and loop and an attenuator between head and amp and some other junk. I asked if I could unplug the board and just go straight into the amp and he was like, "Yeah sure I guess, I never plug straight in though..." I played for five minutes and his jaw was on the floor because he'd never heard his amp sound that good. He literally never tried any of his amps straight in. Always with 20 pedals destroying his sound.

 

[JackBootedThug]

NEVER! HERESY! WETWETWETFORLIFE!!!!

 

[tjnx]

nothing wrong with that, good way to see how much high end you're losing with each item in your rig

 

[BABMusic]

Yeah man, about 2 weeks ago some people on here pointed out that my Boss pedals were the reason my amp sounded so honky. Once I took all the pedals out of the loop, it was like a totally different amp. No honkiness, plenty of bottom end, better bite, better highs, etc. I was a little embarrassed that I didn't know this for such a long time.

Checked out a guitar someone was selling recently and plugged into his Soldano. He had a giant board of like 20+ pedals plugged in to the front end and loop and an attenuator between head and amp and some other junk. I asked if I could unplug the board and just go straight into the amp and he was like, "Yeah sure I guess, I never plug straight in though..." I played for five minutes and his jaw was on the floor because he'd never heard his amp sound that good. He literally never tried any of his amps straight in. Always with 20 pedals destroying his sound.

Yep, that was exactly me a few weeks ago.

BTW, can anyone tell me if this Boss EQ uses just a regular 9 volt? It's always dim even when I switch it on.

 

[SoooRad]

Yeah, if I’m not fucking around with a flanger, I’m going straight into the front of my amp with just a delay pedal in the loop. And I like my sound better than any of my “heroes”. Good times.

 

[RaceU4her]

And I like my sound better than any of my “heroes”.

im honestly struggling to think of any of my influential tones that were strait amp to guitar with nothing between. from Keith Richards and his metalzone on "Satisfaction" to everything i listen to these days.

 

[ChurchHill]

BTW, can anyone tell me if this Boss EQ uses just a regular 9 volt? It's always dim even when I switch it on.
View attachment 431474

AFAIK, the ACA adapters were unregulated and put out about 12vdc. If it specified the PSA adapter, it would be good with 9vdc. Both are good with 9v batteries, but when powering any that say ACA, 12vdc works better, won't harm the pedal, and should be the LED to light up normally.

I think they made the switch in the late '90s, but the label on the back of the pedal is the easiest way to tell.

 

[JackBootedThug]

I know a dude who can fix it for you….

 

[BABMusic]

AFAIK, the ACA adapters were unregulated and put out about 12vdc. If it specified the PSA adapter, it would be good with 9vdc. Both are good with 9v batteries, but when powering any that say ACA, 12vdc works better, won't harm the pedal, and should be the LED to light up normally.

I think they made the switch in the late '90s, but the label on the back of the pedal is the easiest way to tell.

Thank you. I just noticed it does read ACA on the sticker that I forgot to post. Ah, so it is supposed to be 12v? The only other Boss pedal I have that reads ACA is my BF2 Flanger, but that one lights up bright, so I'm assuming that is actually 9 volts.

 

[Shask]

Thank you. I just noticed it does read ACA on the sticker that I forgot to post. Ah, so it is supposed to be 12v? The only other Boss pedal I have that reads ACA is my BF2 Flanger, but that one lights up bright, so I'm assuming that is actually 9 volts.

Yeah, it is an old ACA adapter version. I have a GE-7 version of one of those I modded years ago to the updated PSA specs. It is probably running on 7V instead of 9V since the old ACA adapters were 12V.

 

[Shask]

I have been kind of thinking the same thing myself. I have a giant rack of stuff that sounds really good, but I am using it as a Reverb like 90% of the time, and a Delay the other 10%. I could easily replace the rack mixers and rack units and all that with a Delay/Reverb pedal that runs them in parallel with analog dry through.

Dont agree about the boosts though. I still love boosts. They do something an amp cant do on its own.

 

[ChurchHill]

I agree, some things just sound better in front of amps. Like the OP, sometimes, it sounds better just plugging in straight. What I use in front are all analog, mostly boosts. I think Phasers can sound different (better for me) in front, as do Univibes, and sometimes flanger or chorus (although I like those two in the loop, too).

In my rack rig, I've got a handful of pedals that are in true-bypass loops in front of the amp, but all my rack stuff, mostly time-based effects, runs through a mixer, including a dry pass-through. So, other than the mixer, it can be about as straight-in as it can, minus the extra cabling.

Sometimes, I just forget about all that and plug straight in, especially if I'm practicing something intricate, keeps me focused on practicing rather than exploring, or if I just want to hear what the amp sounds like when I'm comparing several.

 

[Robostyle]

I will never disparage anyone for using pedals or effects, they are awesome.
But playing the amp, if it's the right amp, can get me what i'm looking for.
Getting back in touch with your amp is never a bad thing imho.
Volume/tone, dynamics etc, nothing wrong with that.

 

[ChurchHill]

Yep, sometimes the best sounds are just a single channel amp and a single pickup guitar with just one knob. Keeps everything else out of the way.

 

[HowieJams]

Hey if you feel inspired, thats all that matters! And you can always get them back out after a while and maybe you'll rediscover something there as well.

Never played a "real" soldano. I got one of those mini solid state slo's as a joke but actually really dig it for what it is. Makes me want to try a real one really bad. Haha

But that JEL is fantastic straight in and you have a lot of shaping options with the mini switches. Great set up man!

I must admit I like the Soldano better, but the JEL is great also.

 

[HowieJams]

Checked out a guitar someone was selling recently and plugged into his Soldano. He had a giant board of like 20+ pedals plugged in to the front end and loop and an attenuator between head and amp and some other junk. I asked if I could unplug the board and just go straight into the amp and he was like, "Yeah sure I guess, I never plug straight in though..." I played for five minutes and his jaw was on the floor because he'd never heard his amp sound that good. He literally never tried any of his amps straight in. Always with 20 pedals destroying his sound.

Just having the pedals plugged in wasn't hurting my tone, but the Boost pedals while adding harmonics also added a harshness to the amp's tone