• TalkBass has been independent since 1998. Add your voice.
    Create a free account to reply to discussions, view embedded media, and browse with fewer display ads.
    Join free Log in
    Want zero display ads or expanded classifieds tools? Compare plans.

Pedals LIVE

Kenny Allyn

Kenny Allyn

Mar 25, 2006
2,566
38
Memphis
#1
Reading the Bootsy LIVE thread got me to thinking


What pedals (and this is for those that DO use pedals) do you actually use LIVE and why?

Lets set aside for a moment studio or home/hobby use etc: and the I only use Bass, cord and amp setup (because I do too many times)

For me ... I play in a blues based band that leans more towards progressive rather than traditional. Being three instruments my need is to fill a lot of space.

My sound needs to be from funky clean, to SVT fat, to Jack Bruce overdriven and sometimes calling up old B3 organ grind to a synth type vibe. I also like simple setups as I'm set and forget it once on stage.

So here is my main stage setup on a PedalTrain Jr board @ around $1700.00 total including ATA flight case, George L cables and Voodoo Lab PP2 power supply :D


TheBIGboard.jpg


TheBIGback.jpg




Sometimes I work on a really small club stage or in a place where I don't want quite so much $$$ sitting on the stage floor and then I'll take this one, it does about 79% of what the BIG board does for about a $300.00 total investment, with a home made board and an old aluminum camara carry case. :cool:

TheSMALLboard2.jpg



:) ... So lets see those LIVE rigs!
 
#3
WOW nice board ...

You know at home I almost never do anything but bass-cord-amp.

Once I know what the various pedals and combination of pedals do they rarely see the light of day unless I'm working out how to use them on a new tune.


:) ... Yeah I dig the low synth sound too.
 
#4
I dont have a camera at school for pictures, but my board is a work in progress.
I currentley run sansamp BDDI > pitchblack > devi ever bass fuzz > love tentacle superfuzz > boss odb-3 (looking to replace) > micro qtron > boss ceb-3 > boss DD-3 > ibanez weeping deamon.

I should be happy with my setup, but GAS never ends
 
#5
This thread is kind of funny for me. I say that because I realize that I have two live pedal "boards" that I've never posted pictures of (up until very recently they both lived at their respective rehearsal spaces) and the board I've posted here was mainly for fun/playing around/a side project with one of my guitar players.

One band is a RHCP tribute where really all I need is an envelope filter or two (21st Century, Power of Equality, Sir Psycho, Coffee Shop etc) a heavy distortion or fuzz (Around the World) and an overdrive (By The Way) and a limiter for keeping volume even when switching between fingerstyle and slap. It was always just a loose collection of pedals powered by a 1spot. The last gig I used the XXLB, the Blueberry, the FX25 (or maybe the Robotalk I forget) and a Guyatone BL-2.

My other gig is a trio backing a pianist/singer/songwriter. Sort of Ben Folds/Ben Kweller/Elliot Smith but with a very cute Korean/Irish grad student fronting it. For this band I'm still figuring out what I want. The only thing that has remained constant has been an octaver and a Big Muff in a blend loop in a very obvious rip-off of Robert Sledge. I've gone from three pedals to eight and now I've got 4 and sometimes 5.

Here was my playing around board:
pedalboard005-1.gif


It was so much fun and I created some awesome sounds, but ultimately I needed a gigging board and not a bedroom board.

So I'm building a new board for my new band. It's changing every practice, but here's what I'm taking for practice tomorrow:
pedalboard3.gif
 
#6
I totally understand the "evolution" of a LIVE board ...


Here is some of my board evolution.

An early iteration after I got tired of dragging pedals around without a board.

pedalboard1.jpg


This evolved some time later

maxboardbassdoc.jpg



And this as an all battery powered second board

minibassboarddoc.jpg


;) ... You can see where it went and the current setup works well
 
#7
Yeah, it's definitely a process.

I just think it's funny that the "bedroom"/side project board was put together and built with such care and the actual gigging "boards" were basically pedals and cables thrown into a bag and taken to to gigs.

I've said it before, and I'll say it again. Gigging saves me money. When I'm gigging a lot I use the tools I have to do the job. It's when I have time to sit around criticizing my gear that I buy new pedals.

I'm convinced that's why most pro boards are pretty "vanilla" by pedal geek standards.
 
#8
TheBigO said:
I've said it before, and I'll say it again. Gigging saves me money. When I'm gigging a lot I use the tools I have to do the job. It's when I have time to sit around criticizing my gear that I buy new pedals.

I'm convinced that's why most pro boards are pretty "vanilla" by pedal geek standards.
Click to expand...
a very keen observation, indeed!

here's a pic of my live board with Overbreaker. it's heavyHEAVY rock music with badass riffs all over... so i need drive and more drive. i use Jazz basses and a Marshall VBA400 + VBC412 stack.

PDRM0003-2.jpg


my other board is for my work with Jennifer Gail. she sings rock songs with some folk thrown into the mix. for the heavy parts i need a fat and heavy drive, so i'm using an Assmaster and/or a Guyatone Bass Gear (overdrive). there are some more ethereal moments in the show, and for this i use a Maxon FL301 flanger (thinking about a Micro Vibe, though... tried one out the other day. sounded bitchin.'). i'm toying with the idea of adding a delay, but the lead guitarist uses it a lot already. i don't have a recent pic of this board, but it started out looking something like this:

PDRM0133.jpg


i can talk all day about evolution. there's experimentation and options galore when you have a palette that looks like this:

PDRM0010.jpg



Invalid Link Removed
 
#10
Yeah by pedal board standards I would guess that simple and "vanilla" is a pretty good way to put it.

I know some guys use a lot, the bass player with Tool come to mind. But live I'm concentrating on the show so keeping it simple is key. I see all of these massive boards in the effects forum and it just makes me wonder how they could be used live.

My guitar player just downsized actually because he did a review of what he actually used, and adjusted his board accordingly ... here is what he has now down from one about twice this size.

Randysboard.jpg



:) ... Keep em coming
 
#11
Well I had two gigs, one is a bedroom/recording gig, the other was an actual live gig. But I didn't keep separate boards, I had everything I needed for both gigs on one board. Here it was (sorry for the dark picture):

pb1.jpg


The pedals that weren't used for the live gig were the first three in the bottom row: the BMS, the glitch computer and the Legend of Fuzz.

This is now all moot, as the live gig is on hiatus (perhaps permanently), so I'm concentrating on the home recording gig, which means I don't need a formal "board" per se
 
#12
Both my boards are getting a lot of mileage in my new project- Currently working on new material and will be gigging in a few months. Once we start gigging, ideally I'd like to be down to one board, but I'm thinking it will be two pt2's at least. There's a few that could still be downsized/kicked off, but the majority are currently being written into the songs, where I'm playing bass/synth.

I have a few things arriving tomorrow and possibly saturday, so the board started coming apart after practice earlier. After the weekend there should be a few nice changes.

IMG_0357.jpg
 
#14
I tend to be the use it or lose it type, so if it's not seeing current use on my board it doesn't stick around. The downside is I don't have a wide selection to pick from like some people, but it works for me.

Anyways, here's mine. I play in a 4 piece (3 + vocals) rock band, and being that there is only one guitar player, a lot of time I'm doing my best to fill space while also playing my parts.

[Invalid or Expired Link Removed]
 
#15
Kenny Allyn said:
Yeah by pedal board standards I would guess that simple and "vanilla" is a pretty good way to put it.

I know some guys use a lot, the bass player with Tool come to mind. But live I'm concentrating on the show so keeping it simple is key. I see all of these massive boards in the effects forum and it just makes me wonder how they could be used live.

My guitar player just downsized actually because he did a review of what he actually used, and adjusted his board accordingly ... here is what he has now down from one about twice this size.
Click to expand...

Obviously Kenny, the style of music plays a big part. IIRC you built your board in part to be able to get Hammond type sounds for blues/R&B type sounds right?

For me, there's one specific sound I use fairly often these days that requires 5 pedals to acheive.

And the way songs are shaping up, my guitar player is really adding texture on top of the rhythm section rather than being a lead instrument so he needs a wide palette to work with. He's now got a Pedaltrain Pro AND a PT-2 full of pedals.
 
#16
Yeah with the exit of our keys player I went after some of that space.


The type of music you play and how many instruments are present is the whole thing, and I have used 5 pedals to attain certain sounds myself.


;) ... When we were using a keys player I went Bass>Cord>Amp most of the time.
 
#19
nov08board.jpg


I use 90% of this stuff at 90% of the shows I do, really!

My Barge Concepts is always on for:
a) buffering my long cable runs (big stages & I don't believe in wireless...)
b) matching levels w/ different instruments

The Valve Drive is on 95% of the time for just a hair of grit (I'll kick it off on quiet ballads or super-poppy stuff)

I love octave & always find somewhere tasteful for it in a set!

Usually, I use the Xotic RC as an instant treble-cut & a little volume boost when I switch to a pick. Sometimes I change technique mid-song and like the instant footswitchability.

If I'm playing a rock show, the Fulltone definitely gets some use! (The Bass Big Muff less so... Sometimes I'll switch out this pedal position with chorus, delay, whatever!)

I'm not a compressor always on fan, so the Multi Comp is set up for the occasional slap scenario or for control of double-stop & chordal work. It gets used only occasionally, maybe a song or two a set.

The Mu-Tron probably gets used on 50% of the live shows (on average).

Other than that it's all switching, powering and tuning! Additionally, my pedalboard lid stores extra strings, cables, tools, etc... for road use.

I also use this as the cornerstone of my studio setup, but with an additional board with my MURF, delay, chorus & other drive options as well as my DI's, etc...
 

Latest posts

Top Bottom
Back