Why, oh why? (Pedalboard overkill content)

[Il Duce]

Dude shows up at a gig last night in a relatively small club with quite a small stage for a 8-piece band and THIS is the pedalboard he lays down and hooks up:

Mind you, this was a for an early gig (7:30 to 10:30pm) with a 1980s cover band. His board and amp alone took up about a fifth of the overall stage. The drummer had a smaller footprint!

All I can say is, why? Even if you're an effects maven, would you show up with such a ridiculous rig, bragging about the fact that it lights up, when you probably wouldn't use more than two of the pedals on the board?

This band included three female singers, a singing sax player, a singing keyboard player, a singing drummer, a singing guitar player, in addition to the non-singing bass player.

I was just flabbergasted. I mean, really, WT... you know the rest!

(I do wish I had the guy's money, though -- That board must have cost more than my car!)

 

[HelpImaRock]

How did the C4 sound?

 

[JohnArnson]

And what is that to you, and why should I care?

I guess at least you didn't share his full name and home address.

This guy is fat, please point fingers at him and laugh if you see him:
[Invalid or Expired Link Removed]

 

[LSMFT6]

He’s got a C4, Aftershock, Manta and Reflex - this guy’s OK in my book.


One thing to consider is that he only has the one board. Maybe he only wanted/needed one or two of those effects but didn’t want to tear his board apart just to fit the gig. To each their own.

 

[jbybj]

I find myself asking, how did the band sound? Did you dance?

 

[catcauphonic]

Maybe he only wanted/needed one or two of those effects but didn’t want to tear his board apart just to fit the gig.

Was he a good player? He likely plays with others as well, so this would also be my guess (though I'm thinking he maybe used at least 4 of them. A tuner and a compressor is 2 right there.)

 

[catcauphonic]

this was a for an early gig (7:30 to 10:30pm

The time frame isn't important but I think playing for nearly 3 hours is a long gig.

 

[birminghambass]

That is a ridiculous board. I will probably be the only one who agrees with you. This is TB though, what do you expect?

 

[Alik]

Fire the drummer, that'll fix it

 

[BassBrass]

I think the background floor lights are a little much and wasteful of juice.

 

[Nev375]

I was just flabbergasted.

Wow. I've never had my gast flabbered by another dude's big bright pink pedalboard.

That must have been quite the experience for you. Bless your heart.

 

[SactoBass]

View attachment 3544748

Wow! That is a big pedalboard, and quite fancy too!

I say, if having a pedalboard like that brings him happiness in life, then that's the pedalboard he should use.

We should all do what makes us happy in life (and encourage others to pursue what makes them happy) as long as it doesn't involve hurting others.

 

[ERIC31]

What did his amp setup look like?? Did he have a Bootsy Bass to go along with that monstrous pedalboard?

Hey whatever gets you off, rock it! In this world of yin and yang there’s a bassist who shows up with a p-bass, one cable, straight through to a classic Ampeg stack, no effects and plays fingerstyle.

 

[N4860]

I could be wrong, but I feel like I saw the owner of that pedalboard posting on TB in the thread about the C4. It might have been a different board, but the one I remember seeing had all sorts of lights under it and had a crazy amount of pedals. It also had the mini wah at the bottom left so I'm thinking it's the same guy.

 

[N4860]

source audio c4

Definitely the same board

 

[Alex_H]

Oh my god: PINK! But when he likes it, who I'am to say anything against.

Reminded me of a Gaming PC I helped to build. That girl wanted a potent gaming rig and I helped her selecting the needed parts. She asked me, if it one could make that PC fancy and illuminated like her brothers gaming rig. Sure one can. Even in pink? In those days you had to solder yourself the stuff, for such fancy colors, but she did. And she took a LOT of pink leds. She could solder like a godess, but had no idea how bright those leds were. Each graphic card hat so about 60 pink high power leds allone, neatly embedded at the fans and fins. And every part of the rig had leds. That thing was so bright, it bathed a complete LAN-party in it's pink light. You could not see any details of the impressive setup, because it was so bright. Later on she put some controllers to those leds, imitating pink flames. That was damn fancy.

 

[catcauphonic]

I recall bright neon colors being a big thing in the 80s.

Purple is my favorite color
but pink ain't far behind

 

[nnnnnn]

when you probably wouldn't use more than two of the pedals on the board?

But did they only use two of the pedals?

And how did they sound?

 

[Spectrum]

I also attended a show once, which also started around 7:30 or 8 and lasted for 3 hours, and this bass player dude, man you wouldn't believe the giant layout of gear he had. Bass synth pedals and keyboards and crap, unbelievable how much space he took up. I thought he sounded pretty good, though, and to be fair, his drummer had an overly large kit as well, so I guess he couldn't complain. I think there's a pic around here of that guy's rig...oh, wait, found it.

 

[Jazz Ad]

The pink neon color is absolutely perfect for an 80's gig.
It takes a lot of effects to play guitar 80's style. They were everywhere.
Granted, nowadays any entry-level multi has them all without taking space but he did it with style.
What guitar did he use ? Jackson, Charvel, BC Rich ?