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overwhelmed with pedal choices what would you recommend?

Señor Verde

Active member
Joined
Jan 13, 2005
Messages
621
I have several Barber Electronics pedals and they're all good, but the Direct Drive really is clear and can get lots of drive.
 
Joined
Aug 1, 2022
Messages
91
Just looked at your board again and I have to say you've got some nice pedals. You might refresh things by messing with the order. Try chorus delay tremolo for instance. If you have two amplifiers you can go into both with that panning tremolo. I think that pn2 is delicious and I notice it's pretty expensive on reverb these days. You also might try experimenting with an effects Loop. Some of those pedals you've got are sought after today.
 

somebodyelseuk

Well-known member
Joined
Jun 10, 2020
Messages
454
I have been using the same pedals for almost 30 years. I have a bunch of old pedals but read so much about new ones it's overwhelming. For a short time I had a Line 6 pedal modeler but it was too complicated to use and it didn't channel switch the amp I use live (SLO-100) despite that being one of the reasons I bought it. Plus it sounded ok but didn't sound like the pedals I own.

My board is all Boss and a Klon, which I bought for $230 back when I was at Berklee in the 90s. I have a couple other pedals I put on sometimes, a Maxon OD-808 and the Maxon compressor (the black one). I also have one of those old timey Fender boxes that does reverb for when I play my Twin or Deluxe, which have no reverb.

I like clarity in my sound. I don't like fizz or distortion where you lose the attack of the note if that makes sense. I did get that new Boss Fuzz pedal as a Christmas gift and it's nice sounding but it's a little too fuzzy sometimes. I also bought the new Boss Chorus, which is nice because it doesn't need to plug into the wall like my old one. I can say that it sounds the same as advertised.

I play all styles but am not really into heavy metal or blues. What would some really nice sounding pedals to try out be?

Thanks!

Here is my board right now:
What would I recommend?
1 - Get the Klon insured.
2 - If it ain't broke, don't fix it.

I don't read anywhere you saying you don't like anything about what you've got.
If that's the case, keep your money in the bank and carry on doing it with what you've already got.
If you're getting bored with the sound, have you considered turning the knobs? ;)

'The grass may be greener, but it's still just grass.'
 
Last edited:

garagemonkey

Member
Joined
Jun 8, 2019
Messages
37
Add me to the "could've gotten an OG Klon in the '90s but wasn't smart enough" camp. Played through several of them in Boston in the early '90s but wound up going with the OG Marshall Guv'Nor that I bought used for like $40. At the time I remember thinking it sounded way better in front of the JCM/Plexi Marshalls I was playing at the time. Anyhoo....

Nowadays I have an offensive amount of "drive" pedals (Nordland ODR-C, JRockett Archer Ikon and Majestic, Guv'Nor, R2R boosters of several kinds, EP, Prince of Tone, Way Huge Overrated Special and Geisha Drive, Fuzz faces, benders, etc - the list goes on and on). What I find that works best for me personally in 99 percent of music I play from R&B, blues, country, rock, etc is: Guitar>Xotic RC Booster (the plain Jane white one)>Archer Ikon OR Nordland ODR-C > Greer Lightspeed>Analogman-modded Boss GE-7 EQ. I'll use the Ikon Klon circuit for my more mid-scooped amps like blackface or silverface Deluxe Reverbs. For Marshall or tweed amps I'll normally replace the Ikon with the ODR-C.

Most people use an RC as an "always on" but I keep my gain up around 11 o'clock and level right about unity and push the treble and cut the bass - then kick it on and off as I feel like it to add some pop and sparkle. The second stage (Klone with the drive up about 75 percent or ODR) is something I'll reserve for solo or stuff needing heavier gain...in that they're normally off unless I'm playing something I want to add compression/sustain into the Lightspeed. The Lightspeed is on nearly all the time. It's super touch sensitive, uncompressed, and just lovely. It doesn't have a ton of gain on tap per se, but if I hit the RC in front of it, it does a great job with nearly all classic '70s rock up to and including Sabbath. Punching the Ikon or ODR in front of the Greer drives it even more so. Then I keep the Boss GE-7 after the Greer - I goose the 800k and Level just a bit and kick it on for solos. Works killer.....for me at least.

Your pedalboard is already pretty awesome. There's some really good stuff on there including the king of all drive pedals. You could just try an RC Booster in front of your Klon to push it for a bit of additional drive or to accentuate certain frequencies. The EQ on the RC is pretty powerful. And if you still want something to fill a middle space gain-wise, I simply haven't found any pedal anywhere that (for me at least) comes close to getting the feel of the Lightspeed. I absolutely love that pedal for all sorts of music. It'd be pretty killer after that OG Klon on your board.
 
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