Pedalboard for covers...

[Bob Savage]

I've already bought or own a number of these. The only ones in question at this point are "some other chorus or not," MXR Phase 90 and the voodoo pedal power. nonetheless, I'd like to hear your input.

My goal is to be playing late 70's early 80's stuff with some exceptions. Here's what I've got on the set list so far (i.e., this is what I've learned)

Only You Can Rock Me (UFO) (sub keys in bridge with guitar)
She's So High (Tal Bachman)
The Rover (Led Zeppelin)
Carry on Wayward Sun - (Kansas) (need keys, not likely to play this unless singer can do keys)
Forever (Y&T)
Jaime's Crying (VH)
Walk Away (Black Sabbath)
Midnight Rendezvous (The Baby's)
Holy Diver (Dio)
So Good To See You (Cheap Trick)
Jailbreak (Thin Lizzy)

My goal is to learn 3 sets of tunes initially, and this worth about a set, but the era of music will remain fairly consistent.

Thoughts on the pedalboard?

 

[LP Freak]

My thoughts are tap dancing sucks...especially on a dark stage and after a few beers.

 

[glassjaw7]

Looks good. I used a pod hd500 along with some other pedals and covered a ton of ground. You have all the basics covered. Throw a L6 M5 or M9 on there and you'll have a TON of options.

 

[Bob Savage]

My thoughts are tap dancing sucks...especially on a dark stage and after a few beers.

I'm not going to be tap dancing and nowadays after a few beers I can really suck so I'm thinking a couple beers are going to come after playing.

Looks good. I used a pod hd500 along with some other pedals and covered a ton of ground. You have all the basics covered. Throw a L6 M5 or M9 on there and you'll have a TON of options.

Thanks dude. I'm really only looking for basics. My plan at this point is to use the Super Shiva using the clean channel with pedals for the somewhat overdriven stuff (Cheap Trick's "So Good to See You is a good example) and the gain channel with just enough gain that I can nail it with an OD for tunes like Holy Diver, perhaps some Metallica stuff, etc.

The chorus and phase will be used where they're necessary and delay probably most of the time but almost undetectable most of the time, and then another two setup in varying degrees of "wow."

 

[stratotone]

Just curious - why are you considering two chorus pedals? I'd rather have a chorus pedal and then a MXR flanger. Only other thing I'd do is have a volume pedal in the fx loop (preferably active like a little alligator) so you can adjust the volume when you need a little more for leads. Just my opinion, your mileage may vary, etc.

 

[Bob Savage]

Just curious - why are you considering two chorus pedals? I'd rather have a chorus pedal and then a MXR flanger. Only other thing I'd do is have a volume pedal in the fx loop (preferably active like a little alligator) so you can adjust the volume when you need a little more for leads. Just my opinion, your mileage may vary, etc.

My thought at this point, and of course I haven't done covers since 1981, was to have a couple chorus settings on tap without changing anything on the Corona, but in the spirit of keeping it simple you're probably right about it being unnecessary.

A volume pedal eh?

 

[stratotone]

Yeah, or even consider a CE20 Boss chorus, has four presets you can save and it sounds great. It's also line or guitar level, so you can run it in the fx loop if you want 'more' chorus than you'd get in front of the amp. It emulates several different pedals and is pretty sweet.

And I always liked being able to bump my volume if necessary out front when playing live. You could also do the same thing with a Boss Graphic EQ in the loop with the mids boosted a bit and maybe a small volume increase too.

 

[Bob Savage]

And I always liked being able to bump my volume if necessary out front when playing live. You could also do the same thing with a Boss Graphic EQ in the loop with the mids boosted a bit and maybe a small volume increase too.

Aha, I think this is what I am missing. A friend who is a smoking cover player actually has two EQ pedals set differently that he uses for exactly what you're saying.

 

[Charvel_King]

Im trying to sort out a covers band at the minute, covering 80s arena style rock stuff.

Here's my pedal board set up:

EVH Wah
Maxon OD808
Korg PB Tuner
MXR "Script" Phase 90
MXR EVH Flanger
TC Flashback X4

Going to add a TC Corona Chorus too.

Just the TC delay and chorus in the loop.

Using a Marshall JVM for tones, clean through to lead. It's great head as can get a variety of tones, good FX Loop and reverb, great foot switching and has a second master for solo boosts.

I think the above pedals will be able to handle everything you will come across.

I assume you will be using a clean and and getting distortion from pedals?

 

[guitarmike]

Bob, how would you set up your amp to get "your" sound? When I play covers (or at church) I set up the amp for my tone and add/remove effects as needed. I use a tuner, phase 90, Super Chorus, and Flanger out front of the amp, and Super shifter, noise gate, delay, reverb, and boost pedal in the loop. I rarely use the chorus and flanger, the delay and reverb are usually on, noise gate if needed, and boost for leads. I found a cool boost pedal that will lower as well as raise volume, it is the RPG Gas Pedal. I bought it used for $25.

 

[jlbaxe]

I like the Boss GE-7 eq with Sniper mod. Great clean boost pedal also. Mine is in front of the amp but have thought about getting one for the Effects loop. The rest of your board looks fine to me.

I don't play out so my live opinion sucks…as well as my playing

 

[supersonic]

A TC Vortex Flanger would bridge between your chorus and Phaser!

 

[thenine]

Looks good so far but I would be missing - noise gate, EQ in loop and rythmn cut pedal. Why must the TC be run on battery?

 

[overthemountain]

Only need 1 chorus, probably will want a gate, and I agree with the GE-7 (especially with a Sniper mod) for a boost- works great.

 

[Bob Savage]

I assume you will be using a clean and and getting distortion from pedals?

The Shiva is 2 channels so I'll hit the clean with pedals for some slightly dirty stuff and will set the gain channel fairly low on the gain so I can use it as-is and also hit it with pedals for a higher gain kick.

Bob, how would you set up your amp to get "your" sound? When I play covers (or at church) I set up the amp for my tone and add/remove effects as needed. I use a tuner, phase 90, Super Chorus, and Flanger out front of the amp, and Super shifter, noise gate, delay, reverb, and boost pedal in the loop. I rarely use the chorus and flanger, the delay and reverb are usually on, noise gate if needed, and boost for leads. I found a cool boost pedal that will lower as well as raise volume, it is the RPG Gas Pedal. I bought it used for $25.

"My sound" is what it is, as long as I'm pulling good tones out of the amp which I have no doubt about because this Shiva-J definitely has the goods. It's really just a matter now of adding a few effects to cover delays, chorus, flange or whatever else I may encounter doing these tunes. I'm not going to obsess over it though and worry about being dead on with the effects so as long as I've got a good variety available, I'm good.

I like the Boss GE-7 eq with Sniper mod. Great clean boost pedal also. Mine is in front of the amp but have thought about getting one for the Effects loop. The rest of your board looks fine to me.

I don't play out so my live opinion sucks…as well as my playing

Sniper mod huh? What's that?

A TC Vortex Flanger would bridge between your chorus and Phaser!

Going along with my TC dominant theme, that's what I looked at last night. May just go for it.

Looks good so far but I would be missing - noise gate, EQ in loop and rythmn cut pedal. Why must the TC be run on battery?

Where do you put your gate? The old TC has an 1/8" phone jack for the power input so unless I could find a converter cable I'll have to use a battery.

Only need 1 chorus, probably will want a gate, and I agree with the GE-7 (especially with a Sniper mod) for a boost- works great.

What gate do you suggest and where do you put it?

 

[thenine]

I am a big believer in the ISP decimator. I put mine in the loop, after EQs and before delay. Cleans up the hiss. Turn it off for clean tones.

 

[rlord1974]

A TC Vortex Flanger would bridge between your chorus and Phaser!

Like I posted elsewhere, if you are going to go for a flanger, I highly recommend the Mr. Black Tunnelworm.

 

[jlbaxe]

From the site:

This is very handy tone shaping tool to have on your pedal board. This is actually a very nice sounding EQ right off the shelf. But it suffers from excessive noise as a result of the cheaper components Boss uses. With this mod we replace the cheaper noisy op-amp chips with low noise higher quality chips.

Lower quality capacitors are also replaced reducing noise even more and also adding a more focused Hi-Fi tone to the circuit. Noise is substantially reduced and the signal is passed through preserving the original tone of your guitar. The bypass circuit is also much improved. You will not find a better mod than this anywhere for the GE-7! You'll be shocked at the improvement this mod will make on this pedal.

 

[Bob Savage]

I am a big believer in the ISP decimator. I put mine in the loop, after EQs and before delay. Cleans up the hiss. Turn it off for clean tones.

You using the pedal? I'm wanting to stay away from rack gear.

From the site:

This is very handy tone shaping tool to have on your pedal board. This is actually a very nice sounding EQ right off the shelf. But it suffers from excessive noise as a result of the cheaper components Boss uses. With this mod we replace the cheaper noisy op-amp chips with low noise higher quality chips.

Lower quality capacitors are also replaced reducing noise even more and also adding a more focused Hi-Fi tone to the circuit. Noise is substantially reduced and the signal is passed through preserving the original tone of your guitar. The bypass circuit is also much improved. You will not find a better mod than this anywhere for the GE-7! You'll be shocked at the improvement this mod will make on this pedal.

Cool... thanks dude. What's the site URL?

 

[thenine]

I am a big believer in the ISP decimator. I put mine in the loop, after EQs and before delay. Cleans up the hiss. Turn it off for clean tones.

You using the pedal? I'm wanting to stay away from rack gear.


Yeah, we're talking a pedalboard of stomps for covers here. Using a Marshallesque amp with a lead and clean channel.

BTW, as I previously mentioned I am using an EQ and a rythmn cut pedal. I prefer this as the rythmn cut is good for solo boost and you also always have an EQ for slight tone shaping should you add a tune that cant quite cop, or you find yourself in a room where you need a little more this or that, or add mid-boost, or juice up your clean tone, or any myriad of reasons.