Explain your board

[Jared Lash]

Something like this has been done in the past, but I always think these sort of threads are fun. In short, explain what you use your effects board for. If you are in a band, tell us about it and how the effects are used in the music. If you are just playing for fun, tell us about the type of music you play and how you use your effects.

I've had a number of bands and boards over the last few years, but I'll just do one for now.

My dub board:

The missing spot was a Rust Ride for when we tried doing heavier stuff (ala Dub Trio) but eventually it was replaced with a Small Stone for funky phasing.

The Octaver was great for doing synthy keyboard sounding lines (like the old Cassio riddims), the FX25 could give me a dub sound or a filter tone (especially blended), the Moog LPF was pretty much just for fixed cutoff dub tones though occasionally a synthy sweep.

The Deep Impact was also for synthy tones. The "bounciest" bass synth pedal it worked great for dub stuff. The delay was used infrequently and the Squeezebox just gave a big fat pillow to the tone that I loved.

Plus, the Moog, Holy Fire and Squeezebox combined to give me the classic saturated dub tones from the 70's.

I hated when this band broke up because I loved the music we did, but I also really dug the tones I got with this board.

Who's next?

 

[Smallequestrian]

This is the basic board I've been using since the beginning of the year that's about to get retired.

The Source Audio Multiwave Distortion is the key. I have 6 presets and use at least 4 of them on every gig. The multiwave foldback is my favorite, but it only gets used on one song at this point. The single band distortion is my go to.

The VP Jr is there to act as my switcher for going between banks 1 and 2 on the Multiwave without having to bend over and do it manually, I don't use the morphing features in songs at the moment, but I keep the Vp Jr for switching for now in the even that I will need it.

The part that is getting retired (or moving on) is the M9. I really like it, but found I was only using it for phasing, octave and the Octa reverb setting. In order to use the VP Jr, the Multiwave and the M9 at the same time on a board, I was forced to move up to a PT1, which is more than I want to haul. I don't like the external power supply, so I've decided to sell the M9 and the bigger board and move back to discreets. I will miss the octavers the most as the tracking is fantastic, but I only use an octaver on one song at the moment. I can get a good phaser from several other places, though I no complaints about the model I was using. The Octa reverb can be had from the Line6 Verbzilla, but we are going to stop playing the two songs that I was using it on after the next gig so I don't need to replace it. I didn't like any of the filters, so I am acquiring one of my own.

The other two pedals on there are the Flipster and the Crossdrive. I am getting all of my drive needs handled by the Mutliwave, so they are no longer needed. The next iteration of the board will be ready soon and I may get pegged as a bit of a fanboy

 

[3toes]

Micro POG: For beefing up the sound when I'm up high on the neck. Also sounds really good when we break into a 2/4 gospel-sounding build up.

Enigma: Really sounds great when the rest of the band drops out and its just me and the drummer pumping out some funk. Distortion for kind of a synthy-sound on solos. Enigma + Dist. and the POG can sound pretty raunchy together as well:

VT Bass: Always on. Warm tubey goodness.

 

[Jared Lash]

What are you using the Debarge Concepts clean blend for ?


EDIT: The FX25 I see now

Yeah, the Barge was used to blend some clean with the FX25 when using it as a filter, but also the Rust Ride I had because it has a great heavy dirt sound but does cut low end.

I started this thread because I realized that when I had a specific gig it was very easy to create a board. But when I had no steady gig (like now) or had multiple bands/projects where I was trying to create one board to cover all my effects needs I buy and sell pedals often and have trouble settling on what I want. So I'm curious to see how people use their effects and how they decided on the board they have now.

Anybody else?

 

[Jared Lash]

Wiggler: Lighter, jazzier stuff and chording: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AQUC...pecially cool to see how you use the Wiggler.

 

[3toes]

Good stuff all around. Especially cool to see how you use the Wiggler.

Thanks

My only complaint is that it adds a tad bit of noise to the signal. And a tiny amount of low-end loss, but nothing major. Great for 3-4 piece groove/jazz settings imo. Especially if you're lacking some keys and just want to add a bit of texture.

 

[St Drogo]

Interesting thread! Subscribed for great justice!

 

[Deluge Of Sound]

Consider me subscribed. My board has been regulated to the "fun" sector lately, but I'll get some pictures & an explanation up tonight.

 

[Jared Lash]

Another one from me. This was the last incarnation of a board I used in a RHCP tribute band:

The tuner was used obviously to tune up for shows but also for a quick change to drop D (By The Way, The Brothers Cup etc)

The Turbo Rat was used for mild dirt on By The Way and heavy distortion on Invalid Link Removed.

The Groove Regulator was used for Power of Equality, Sir Psycho Sexy, 21st Century and a couple others.

The octaver and phaser were just fun for jams. The filter and dirt changed a few times (FX25, Qtron, 00Funk, XXLB, Brown Dog, VT Bass etc) but basically it was tuner, filter, dirt and some pedals for jams.

 

[EdHunter]

I've not got a board as such, but I've just ordered a Cry Baby. Its main purpose will be Burton/Butler esque solos (with about half as much quality) and just generally making an awesome sound. Wouldn't mind some kind of fuzz pedal in the not too distant future either...

 

[Jared Lash]

Nobody else? I thought this thread would get a better response.

 

[RickenBoogie]

Ok, no pic, but my current board is all encompassing. Tuner, eq and comp up front, synth, octave, fuzz, drive, filter, delay, flanger and chorus, with an expression pedal for the synth off on the floor. My current band, as well as my "sometimes we get together to jam" band are not good candidates for the stuff I've got. But, my little side projects, ( a band without a drummer, or gigs), is expirimental in nature, and that's where I employ my gadgets. Me on bass and bass noise, a keyboardist, and 2 guitars, and a 12 track recorder. I have more fun with this ensemble than either of the "real" bands.

 

[kesslari]

My rather meat-and-potatos board.

The Morley A/B was used to switch between basses (fretted 4 string and fretless 5 string). I've dropped it and use a switched cable now. I'll be replacing it with a VT Deluxe.

Mutron III+ This is a great sounding filter, and I use it a lot in my funk band. It cops the right sounds for a lot of covers and a few of our originals as well.

EBS Multicomp I used to not like compressors, until I tried this while playing slap style on the fretted. Also a big component or our funk shows (a fair number of the songs are better with slap) and this really adds nicely to that sound. It also allows me to balance the volume of the fretted and fretless basses (the fretless is a bit hotter). I have come to really love this compressor.

MXR Carbon Copy Gets used for some spacey parts in ballads. Fun pedal. When I do looping I like using it for electronic feedback and out of control spaceship sounds.

TC SCF I use this for the great chorus sound, but honestly, I don't use that sound much. Currently using it on the bridge of one song. If I need real estate with the VT comes, this is what will probably come off the board.

Oh, and a homemade loop switcher - invaluable, I like to take the whole thing out of the system when I'm playing fretless (unless I need the filter on).

 

[nad]

Even though I've swapped out specific boxes many times, my overall board type hasn't really changed much in a few years. I usually find myself in loud rock bands, somewhere around the grunge and stoner areas, but have also found myself playing avant garde, noise, jazz, and synth-pop utilizing much of the same old same old:

-Flanger and delay are used for trippy passages, together or separate.

-Octave is used to thicken things up down low or when I don't want to lose the booty whilst playing up high.

-Phaser is for more alien type things than a flanger handles, aka less w33d more lazertag. Combine with an octave and the disco ball drops from the ceiling.

-One fuzz to slice through a mix, the second (heavier) fuzz is primarily used for feedback and occasional heaving earth desires. Both at the same time when I need to carpet bomb.

-Tuner pedal strictly for the purdy lights.

-Ring mod is for when it's time to get weird.

 

[Kromwarp]

Tuner aside...

Electro-Harmonix Nano Muff Overdrive: Used in conjunction with my wah pedal, for a couple songs with fuzz/wah

Dunlop 105Q Crybaby Bass Wah: Used sparingly on a couple tracks

Hartke VXL Bass Attack: This pedal is on all the time, gives me the 'tone zone'

Boss ODB-3 Bass Overdrive: Used on breakdowns, heavier passages (I play rock/heavy metal)

Digitech Bass MultiChorus: Used for some intros, texture for some clean parts

 

[needmoney]

I'll put mine up soon, just waiting on the final piece to arrive!

 

[scotch]

I'll join in! I love hearing the details as to how people are using things.

My main board:

Basically, my board acts as both a 'home base' for live shows and as my tonal sculptor in the studio.

Since I do a lot of for-hire commercial music sessions, the first priority was the ability to have a pure, unadulterated signal when needed. Not every client wants the 'something extra' that the pedals can provide, and many engineers and producers demand a straight-forward signal chain. All of the pedals are connected to the Loop Master True Bypass looper except for the first 3 pedals in the chain: Barge GLZ Buffer > Xotic RC Booster > EBS Valve Drive. All 3 of these are TB on their own, but I've never turned the GLZ off & the Valve Drive is on about 90% of the time (my preferred "clean" tone has just a bit of 'hair' to it, which the EBS excels at!~).

The Barge Concepts GLZ-1 is a buffer + volume control. Given my heavy reliance on passive instruments, complex pedal system and often long cable runs- a dedicated, quality buffer is called for. The Barge sounds very transparent and also allows me to compensate instruments with different output levels using the gain and volume controls. This way, my vintage P-Bass drives my filter/od's, etc just the same as my active higher-output instruments.

The RC Booster serves 2 functions: In the studio, it gives me a very broad 2-band Baxandall eq. Very quick and easy for setting up tones! Live, I usually use it as a pick-to-fingers compensator. I often switch from pick to fingers mid-song & don't want a massive eq shift when I switch (i.e. when I use the pick treble is accentuated & the bass tapers a bit). I set the RC for a bit of treble cut & a tiny bit of bass boost. I still get the articulation and phrasing benefit/change of the pick, but I get a more consistent overall sound so it doesn't sound like Chris Squier suddenly showed up! (nothing against Chris, just not the sound I'm after!)

Next is the EBS Valve Drive. Easily my favorite pedal ever! It's fender-style tone stack eq and georgeous, natural overdrive have become "my sound". While it's a very flexible od and preamp, I generally use it as an always-on od to give just a bit of 'hair' to my clean tone as I dig in. Very dynamic, very tube-esque! It makes solid state rental amps sound much better to me & it has replaced a host of rack pre's that I used to bring to sessions.

After those preliminary pedals, everything else is routed using the 5-loop Loop Master w/ tuner mute and master bypass. The master bypass (labeled "=") lets me activate & de-activate more than one pedal with one stomp. Very handy! My go-to combinations are octave+envelope filter and envelope filter+compressor.

I don't use compression very often live (and use studio compressors when recording), so I have the MultiComp set up in dual band mode for a lot of compression- very "effecty". Think Tony Levin'ish. I also like how it compresses the Mu-Tron- making the overall eq tilt more even, but still letting the full effect through.

For overdrive, I've finally found my favorite set-up. It involves the Fulltone Bass-Drive in conjunction with the Xotic X-Blender. I've found that the 1 -2 punch of this pedal combination gives me the most usable & diverse overdrive to distortion sounds that I've used yet! Plus, I get the real-time mix adjustment with the big black knob! Genius! I do add a bit of bass eq to the Fulltone with the X-Blender which gives me better level control and depth. The Fulltone is set to flat mids and mosfet clipping. I get a very natural and usable transition with the boost as well, going from agressive od to full-bore distortion! Still, I can always reign it in with the mix control on the X-Blender.

The Aguilar Octamizer and HAZ Mu-Tron III+ are pretty self-explanatory.

The effect order is Octave>X-Blend/Fulltone>Mu-Tron-Compressor.

The 5th loop is an "auxiliary" loop. In the above photo, I have a Choralflange inserted. Other options for this include:
MOOG Bass MURF
AboveGroundFX Reverb
EHX Bass Big Muff
Fender Sub-Lime Bass Fuzz (amazing fuzz! Like a good big muff, but with mids!!!)
Boss ODB-3 (yup, my oldest pedal & it still gets used for more 'industrial' sounding tones...)
Boss DD-5 Delay
MXR Bass Octave Deluxe (I go back and forth between it and the Aguilar- but the Aguilar is getting used more these days)
EHX Small Stone Nano Phaser
Xotic BB preamp overdrive

Last in the chain is usually the Visual Volume. I don't always use it, but if I'm planning on doing any dynamic swelling, I love this volume! Very transparent sound + it acts as an active splitter (handy in the studio).

Other devices I use often live & in the studio include a GT Brick Preamp, Empress ParaEQ, Aguilar DB900 DI (studio), DHA custom DI (live) and Birdsong B-Box passive tone control.

 

[bigchiefbc]

I don't have all of my effects for Seismic Feedback on a board at the moment, as we're mid-recording and they are strewn about the studio. But for now, here is my cover band board:

Bass (Carvin LB75 tuned ADADG and an ESP Viper 254 tuned CGCF) ->

Boss LS-2 - I primarily keep this in A <=> Bypass mode, to turn the following three pedals on and off as a group. I do also use the A+B mix mode for a couple songs, even though I generally HATE distortion blended with clean ->

(in the loop)

Digitech XP-1000 - In my cover band, I use a few of the whammy modes, as well as the volume pedal mode. I love this box ->
Devi custom twin (Hyperion -> Aenima) - The Hyperion does all of my muff tones, and the Aenima does noisy, bats***-loud trash distortion ->
Wilson Freaker Wah - My favorite wah pedal ever. I admittedly over-use it. Whatever ->

(back to LS-2)

Pigtronix Philosopher's Tone - I use this one in two different settings, depending on the song: a normal-sounding compressor, with sustain around halfway and blend about 2/3rds up; and in uber-sustain mode for a few songs where I need long, droning notes ->
Behringer BSY-600 - Boss SYB clone, even though I will now admit that I like the Behringer better than the Boss. I use it for 100% wet synth tones, covering things like "Head Like a Hole" and such ->
Boss DD-20 - I love being able to save presets on this bad boy. I use one for a long bright digital delay, one for subtle reverby delay, and one for dirty analogue-esque Pink Floyd delay ->
DHA VT-1 Bass - I switch between two settings on this one: just barely dirty and tubey, and really overdriven and saturated. It has a ton of low-end, no blend needed! ->
EHX Stereo Polyphase - very versatile phaser, although I found I was just leaving it in one setting, so I was wasting all that versatility. I just swapped it out this week for an early 80's Peavey Deluxe Phaser, which is MUCH thicker and wetter ->
DOD FX-72 Flanger - My favorite "normal" flanger ever. I love it so much, that I throw it into a bunch of songs that didn't even have flanger on the original. Screw it ->
Behringer CC-300 Chorus - Boss DC-2 clone. I've basically given up hope on finding a real DC-2 for a decent price, so I've come to grips with having two Behringers on my board and feeling no shame about it. Fantastic cold, frozen chorus without a tone of movement ->
Electronix Submarine - I haven't touched those knobs since the first day I've had it. This is that one pedal of mine that I never even think about it being there until its off and I wonder what happened to my awesome sparkling tone -> Amp

 

[lobey]

Electronix CrossDrive Use it primarily for some fuzzy Big Muff sounds

Dunlop 105Q Bass Wah Use it for a bit of quacky wah sounds

Boss PH-3 Phase Shifter Use it for phase shifting?

I've lately left the wah out and ran CrossDrive -> Phase Shifter and gotten some amazing sounds. I'm tempting to sell or trade off the wah for an octaver.

 

[slurpy]

Starts with my Sovtek Big Muff. sucks that there discontinued, I love mine.

Then Big Muff into Digitech BP50. The BP50 is basically a tuner for me now. its fun to use in prac sometimes, gets some fun effects and thers some nice chorus' and reverbs, but for me its a tuner, and because it has true bypass it doesnt hurt to have it in my board.

Then the Digitech BSW, which i use mostly for octave and syth sounds.

Then ive gotta Boss Dynadrive which is basically a back up to the Big Muff. Clearly not the best for bass, but not the worst either.

finally ive gotta Behringer Tremolo. This is just a fun pedal. picked it up for $20 from a pawn broker. its a good bit of fun, and sounds good with reverbs/chorus/delays but has never actually made it into a live slot. probably with good reason lol.

Pretty soon im hoping to add a Boss LS2, and a chorus and a reverb pedal. And Im going to replace the dynadrive with a Digitech Bass Driver i think, and once my board is full I'll get rid of the Tremolo, and relegate that to my cupboard lol.