PEDALBOARD ADVICE AND SUGGESTIONS... your thoughts on my rig

Hello all.. once again posting to get some input and advice on the way I have my pedals arranged on my board. I feel I finally have all the pedals I need to cover all sounds I like, styles of music I like to play and the versatility to cover any style I want to get into. It took a while to acquire all these pieces, but I'm really happy with the way I have it set up. I was just wanting to see if anyone has any suggestions on things I could try differently. Please don't come here to talk crap though... thanks!

So here's the order of precedence:

AMP: Mesa Boogie Mark V:35 (I use the standard clean channel for all my pedals. It takes pedals well)

Front of amp input: Xotic Effects XW-1 Wah - TC Electronics Polytune Mini 2 - EQD Pitch Bay - EQD Organizer - Xotic EFX SP Compressor - Xotic EFX EP Booster - Xotic EFX SL Drive - Emerson Concord Utility Buffer - JHS Mini Foot Fuzz - TO AMP

Amp EFX Loop: AMP Send - Red Witch Moon Phaser - Keely Seafoam+ chorus - JHS Tidewater Tremolo - Empress EFX Tape Delay - LWA Xenomorph Delay/Reverb - Boss RC30 Looper - AMP Return

I've posted a few pics... lemme know your thoughts and if you have any questions about any off the pedals in particular, lemme know thanks!

Great looking rig!

I would have laid it out very similar - if not the same.

I would likely put the fuzz closer up to the front, but if you like how it is sounding no reason to change. It just depends how you like whatever amount of gain going into whatever pedal is next, so for you, the fuzz might be in the right spot.

Have you tried the phaser in front of the amp? I know it's a modulation effect, but I kinda think they sound cool both places.

ke2":2m495mga said:

Have you tried the phaser in front of the amp? I know it's a modulation effect, but I kinda think they sound cool both places.

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Totally agree. I like phasers in front of the amp! Sometimes flangers.

Nice rig man!!

I find the chain depends a lot on the amps I use... And their inherent loops.

But I usually go with the tuner as an offshoot through my splitter, otherwise, it's first in line. Then compression. Then wah, dirt (if any), chorus, phase/flange, modulation.

Reverb, Delay, Looper in the loop. Otherwise, same order at the end of the pre-existing chain in front (ie: tuner off-shoot, or first, then wah, dirt, chorus, phase/flange - reverb - delay - looper).

I use a stereo rig, so the key stomps are my Eventide PitchFactor and TimeFactor. The TF is often in the loop, but depends on how good the amp's loop is. PitchFactor is a workhorse for me - so it's upfront and has a lot of MIDI programmed patches in it accessed by a GCP.

I've found there's no right or wrong way other than one's own ears and their tastes with the specific amp given. I've had to re-arrange my setup with amps that come and go. The best setup now for me is everything is racked with a GCX except for wah, VP and my most precious CAL Mk.4:23 Pro clean boost. All else is accessed by GCP, and the tuner is shot off from the Lehle S-Go-S.

ewill52":1qgql5nu said:

ke2":1qgql5nu said:

Have you tried the phaser in front of the amp? I know it's a modulation effect, but I kinda think they sound cool both places.

Click to expand...

Totally agree. I like phasers in front of the amp! Sometimes flangers.

Click to expand...

Good point. I would try it out front, that is where I typically put mine. You already have a modulation (seafoam) in the loop so you could try out front.

Its all preferences though really.

It looks like a cool rig and like said above, no right or wrong.

I like compressors as first, then OD and an EQ last before biting the amp. But sometimes I flip and put the EQ before OD pedals. I like both sounds, just a little different.
What’s the purpose of the buffer between the Drive and Fuzz?

In the loop I always put Reverb last and would probably do the exact order you have there, except I’d highly recommend an EQ first in the loop as well.
Set the EQ before the amp in a frown and the EQ in the loop with a big smile.

I typically run - tuner, wah, compressor, dirt/od, modulation effects (phase, flanger, chorus), delay/reverb in the loop.

I have experimented with phase and flanger into dirt, as well as dirt into wah, and they change it a bit, but I prefered the way I described.

I've always put Phase and Flange in the front. It just sounds right...to me.

And after years and years of putting the chorus in the loop, when I switched to an analog Chorus, I put those in the front as well. It sounds so much better with high gain than in the loop. Digital chorus, I'd keep that in the loop.

Delays, Verbs in the loop. EQ, depends on what you want to eq.

Hey!! Thank you all for the replies! It’s fun to read all the different suggestions and ideas. I may try the phaser in front to see how it sounds. My chorus does boost my signal in the loop so I may try that one differently as well. As for where the buffer is, I dunno, but that Concord buffer into the JHS Mini Foot fuzz just sounds so gnarly in a good way. I even like combing the SL Drive with and I get this amazing compressed smoothed out distortion sound. Thank you all for the nice comments on my rig too!

I think it looks great. I’ve always run everything but my delays and reverb out front. Everything is a little more pronounced that way. How do you get around that thing without a switching system?!?

KING - How do you like the red witch? I have wanted their chorus FOREVER. I am curious about the phaser too. I think my chorus will end up being the EQD Sea Machine though. At the moment I have a cmattmods chorus that is my favorite ever, a malekko chorus, and two VS H2O's which have a BBD in the chorus.

Count me as another that likes both phaser and flanger out front, so I'd give those a try. Speaking of flanger, it doesn't look like you have one, so put it on the list the next time you want a new toy!

Fellas! Sorry for the late reply! As for using a switching system, I don’t! Lol. I’m a bedroom jamming hobbyist who sometimes does freelance recording compositions for websites, theme music for whatever people need, and other stuff and I also write my own stuff which I post on SoundCloud under the same moniker here - JKingV2@yahoo.com. As for the Red Witch stuff.. had the chorus, loved it, but I just liked that Seafoam just that much better and couldn’t keep the Empress Chorus on the board. The Red Witch Chorus is a good unit and it has a vibrato switch that’s the best I’ve heard, so I’d use solely for that. The Chorus is good, but not as lush and thick as the Seafoam. The Red Witch Moon Phaser tho, best ever! Actually the pedal that I’ve owned on my board the longest. I’ll never get rid of it. The Cosmology knob is actually a switch that lets you go through three vintage phaser voicings, a tremolo/phaser voicing and a straight up tremolo/slicer voicing. It just works so well for me.

I had the EQD Pyramids Flanger on my board too a while back, but that thing was a little too complicated for me and I just don’t use that effect really, so I might just forego that modulation effect for now