Effects Bay

Today’s pedal line is from Adam Parkes. If you have a pedal line (doesn’t have to be in a board) for your rig, please email me a photo, bio, description of pedals and routing to pedallineeffectsbaycom. Every Friday I’ll showcase a pedal line submission. Make sure you include any links to your band or music page.

I am a complete pedal geek (as you can tell) I have been playing for 18yrs I have gone through a lot of different pedalboard sizes as my collection has grown. And I’m always on the look out for new pedals.

I play in a funk rock band called Mezzotonic. Think chili peppers, Ratm and jamiroquai and you get the idea.

My board is set up to make things as easy as possible to turn pedals on and off, and certain pedals are placed in a where I haven’t got to stretch to opposite ends of the board. The pedals on the top row are all on pedal risers, so I don’t catch the pedals on the front row.

The pedalboard is from a company called Diago. The power supply and the pedal risers are also from diago.

Direct line: guitar to amp.
1: boss TU tuner. Standard tuner never let me down.

2: Cry baby wah wah, I love my wah I’ve had this wah from the age of 16 and is the first pedal I ever purchased.

3: Marshall ED1 compressor. This is always on and I love what it does to my tone, it pumps up the sound a little and adds a slight warmth. It’s set with quite fast attack but with a light compression so I can keep dynamics of my playing.

4: CAE Line Driver/boost. This is also a leave on. I use this to boost (buffer) my guitar signal through my pedalboard,
To combat high end loss I get from running through all the my effects pedals, cables etc

5: MXR modified OD. Believe it or not, this is my first overdrive pedal and infact I never thought I had a use for one. That is, until I got one. It’s such a great pedal plus it has 100hz control knob so you can cut and boost at that frequency as you desire.

6: MXR 78 modified distortion. I have never been able to dial a good hi gain sound out of any amp I’ve ever had. But this pedal makes up for it does all sorts of tones from 70s classic rock right up to nu metal. Plus it has little push button that adds a ton of harmonic overtones.

7: boss line selector. There are many uses for this pedal, I use it to link in the top row of my effects and the whammy to the front end of my amp. It has an adjustable volume control on each loop. That loop then gets sent back to the outout of the  pedal.

8: MXR micro amp. Just a good old clean boost. I use it for boosting my solos. This then goes straight in to the front of the amp.

Boss line selector loop.
Marshall chorus pedal. Does great slow swampy chorus to fast vibrato.

Boss phase shifter. Man I love this pedal. First heard it on gorilla radio by RATM, ever since then I had to have one. Superb pedal.

Boss flanger. Not much to say on this one don’t use it all that often 30 seconds here and there or for and intro on the odd song.

Boss tremolo. I mainly use it on arpeggio style intros, or on slow open chord sequences.

Moogerfooger ring modulator. This is by far one of the most difficult pedals I’ve used it can do really interesting stuff though. But you have to work hard to get things sounding good and not to crazy. I have it set to do a more lumpy sounding trem type sound for live performances. Then get a bit more creative with it in the studio.

Last in the loop is the Digitech whammy pedal. To me this one of the best pedals I own I’ve had it for about thirteen years and to me every  guitarist should at least try one.

Amp effects loop

Strymon timeline. This is the best pedal I own. It’s not only one of the best delay pedals I’ve ever heard but it’s a complete inspiration box. I also have the ernie ball volume pedal which I use as an expression pedal for the timeline. I use a split trs cable ( stereo one end, that then splits to two mono ends) I plug the mono ends into the input and output of the volume pedal then the stereo end into the exp insert on the back of the time line. I can then blend the delay in and out as I see fit, per patch.

Check out my band “mezzotonic” www.facbook.com/mezzotonic
We also have an iPhone and android app.
You can also check out my videos on YouTube here http://youtu.be/7nYxRub0Qk8

Adam

This all started after creating my Instagram account (wha.. did you not know I was on Instagram? If not, give me a follow). I started following Pedal Projects and was seeing some great looking pedals being made. Definitely check out their website – Pedal Projects. I wanted to learn more and sent Ásgeir Helgi Þrastarson some questions for a mini-interview post. This is what he had to say:

How did Pedal Projects come into existence?
It’s really simple, I initially wanted to see what was going on inside the pedals that I already owned. At the time I had no idea what a single component even did. I started researching online, joining forums, asking questions and reading a lot until I got a basic grasp on a simple circuit. I decided to try and build a few simple pedals for myself but it ended up being so fun that I decided to sell them off and while I did that, I expanded on my knowledge and kept learning by building more complex circuits. Troubleshooting is a huge factor to the learning curve, for sure!

When I received the Owly I was excited to see you were from Iceland. Are there many builders in Iceland?
I’m the only builder who does it full time but there are guys who experiment and build for themselves and maybe occasionally for friends

I know basic components would be coming in from other countries, but are you able to source local parts/services for your pedals?
I actually don’t source a single part here in Iceland. The only thing I could claim to be locally sourced is packing material, which I get from a local furniture shop. Instead of them throwing it out, I reuse them to keep the pedals safe in the box. I’ve spent a lot of time sourcing sellers all over the world to get the best prices I can find. This is in fact a lot cheaper than buying anything here.

What got you interested in electronics?
I’ve always been fairly handy and a very quick learner, no matter what I do. If it sparks my interest, I won’t have a tough time learning it. Like I mentioned in the first answer, I wanted to know what was going on inside pedals so that’s basically the reason for it. Also being able to fix pedals and build for myself is great!

When you design/build your pedals, are you targeting a certain type of musician?
No not really, like with my latest release “Growly” I didn’t have any specific type of musician in mind. I just wanted a good sounding overdrive with a unique twist and add my Owly booster to it for versatility. In the end, I’d say I make what I think sounds good so if other people like it too, that’s great!

Are there any musicians playing Pedal Projects that a few of these readers might know?
Yeah I’m happy to have a bunch of great guys using Pedal Projects products. It’s a blend of production pedals and custom pedals. Ben Weinman of Dillinger Escape Plan has two, Daniel of No Bragging Rights has a few, Rhett Smith has a custom pedal and then a bunch of Icelandic guys that probably wouldn’t be considered worldwide famous but they’re keeping busy here. I had a chance for the guitarists of “Of Mice And Men” to have an Owly each for their current tour but USPS messed up a shipment so they didn’t get there in time.

One thing that catches my eyes about your pedals.. are your circuit board (PCBs). Frankly, they’re works of art. The Growly is a perfect example of this. Why do you put this much attention to cosmetic look of the board.. that is rarely seen?
Oh yeah they’re lovely, aren’t they? I don’t design the layout myself. I have a guy who lives in Finland who does the PCB designs for me. I hand him the schematics, we discuss it and throw ideas back and forth and end up with a nice design. His name is Teemu and he will be launching his own pedal business under the name Manala FX, that’s something to look forward to! Anyways, I think having a nice looking PCB is a good thing and people like to see that there attention paid to the design of the PCB. If there’s anyone who know’s how to make beautiful PCBs, it’s Jack Deville of Mr. Black Pedals.

When you’re designing pedals, what are the important points you’re trying to always achieve.. or avoid?
Hmm, well I want something that sounds good and is visually appealing so I guess that’s the main thing. I’m also all for simple circuits if possible but if the pedal calls for a complex circuit, that’s fine too. I generally don’t like internal trimmers or switches but in the case of the Klone, there’s a switch to select buffered or true bypass mode which I don’t think should be external. The Growly has an internal gain trimmer because I wanted to take the attention away from it. It’s the most used knob on an overdrive and I want people to interact with the pedal from a different perspective and use the other knobs to shape the tone. The pedal is also very responsive to different playing styles and guitars.

What is your favorite pedal.. that is not yours.. and why?
Oh man, that’s a tough one! I’d have to say my Retro Mechanical Labs 432 Distortion. It’s such a cool pedal, features a vintage meter on it that reacts to the pedal. It’s super versatile and well made!

How can people purchase a Pedal Projects pedal?
They’re only available through me. For the standard production pedals, they’re available at www.pedalprojects.com if they’re in stock. For custom pedals, people need to contact me and discuss details about it.

Do you offer custom services? If so, how do you go about it?
Yeah that’s pretty much the way I started off, by making pedals the way people wanted them. I moved into making standard production models later on to keep a steady flow of builds and sale. The process is simple. People contact me about what they want and we bounce ideas back and forth until we’ve settled on something that the customer wants and that I can do. Because I build every single pedal with my two hands, I can only build so many at a time. That means there’s a wait for custom pedals and right now it’s 5-7 weeks but that might change, depending on how many orders are on wait.

Do you ever say ‘no’ to a custom build? And why.
I hardly ever do it but after getting to know other builders, I don’t want to clone their pedals out of respect for their work. It all depends on what the customer wants in the end. I won’t say no to any kind of artwork though.

Do you have a new design in the works? If so, can you give us a clue what’s next?
I have some ideas in my head but I’m not working on them until I’ve converted all my pedals to PCB designs for now. I’m focusing on that and getting all models in stock so that people don’t have to wait for them. It’s a slow but steady process. Once that’s all done, I will be releasing some new stuff. I want to cover all the range so you can expect to see tremolos, possibly chorus, delay and more drive-type pedals.

Definitely take a moment and check out Pedal Projects. He’s making some great pedals!!!

I’ve been thinking… I haven’t done a give away in a little bit. Say what?! So, I’m thinking it’s time. I’m announcing a new give away today – this time it’s for the EC Pedals Zombie Distortion pedal. EC Pedals, out of Israel, has been making some awesome sounding pedals for a while now, and are definitely worth your time to check out.

EC Pedals Zombie Distortion is a high output distortion pedal. Simple controls… distortion … tone and zombie(s) switch. Zombie gives you low to medium gain, and Zombies gives you max gain. The Zombie Distortion sells for $199, so this is a great opportunity. I would also like to send a special thank you to the fine people at EC Pedals for giving an opportunity for a lucky EffectsBay reader to walk away with this great sounding distortion.

We had a chance to demo the pedal a little while back, and you can watch/listen/read about it here – “EC Pedals Zombie Distortion Demo”

Okay, how do you win the EC Pedals Zombie Distortion? Read below:

I’m going to select one random entry on March 19th. I will email that random entry asking for the answer to the question listed below. They will have 24 hours to respond with the answer. If the 24 hours passes and I don’t hear from that finalist, I will select a new random entry and repeat the process until I receive confirmation from the winner. This is open to everyone. Yes, that means international! Also, one entry per person. Please read that last sentence again… “one” “entry” “per” “person”.

The submission form will be open until March 19th (Wed) 2PM MST.

On top of that, I’m going to sweeten the deal. If you ‘LIKE’ EffectsBay on Facebook and you’re selected as the winner, I’ll throw in an extra prize – A free Pedal Label System pack (learn more at PedalLabels.com)

So, it’s pretty much a no-brainer to like Effectsbay on Facebook! Just click the ‘likes’ below.

Please take a moment to Tweet, Share, Email this give away to your gear friends. We all like free gear right?

So the question is…. “What was your first distortion pedal?”

Last week, Peter of VFE Pedals sent me a message asking me to help spread the word about his new interactive custom shop service – called the Pedal Wizard. The Pedal Wizard website is almost done, and he’s looking for more help to get a special (and expensive UV printer) that would allow him to print directly on top of pedal enclosures. By doing this… you can come up with any print for the pedal. Pretty awesome.

Here is the video talking about what he’s trying to put together:

VFE is currently running a campaign on Indiegogo (you can view here) and this is a great opportunity to take advantage of some of their perk packages. There are only a couple of days left for this campaign, so if you want to help out and pick up a perk, you best get on it.

Those of you that aren’t familiar with VFE Pedals. They’re a pedal company out of Washington making amazing effects. If you have a few moments, check out this interview/demo we had with Peter Rutter – “Review of the VFE Pale Horse Dynamic Overdrive“

Following one of my favorite builders – Fuzzrocious Pedals, I was stoked to see that he had a chance to see one my favorite bands – Russian Circles up close. Brian Cook, the bass player of Russian Circles owns a pair of Fuzzrocious Pedals (The Demon and a Rat Tail), so Ryan of Fuzzrocious had a chance to see the band up close and took a couple of photos. He was super cool to send them my way

Digitech Whammy
Fuzzrocious The Demon
Fuzzrocious Rat Tail
Tym Guitars Big Bottom Magic Dirt
Way Huge Swollen Pickle
Ernie Ball Jr Volume Pedal
Akai Headrush II
Boss TU-2 Tuner
EHX POG2
Unknown Fuzz (please help identify)
EHX Memory Toy

As you can see, one pedal is unidentified. I’m assuming this is a fuzz since in the past, this pedal use to be a Dwarfcraft Eau Claire Thunder and is replaced with this pedal which looks DIY possibly. If you can identify it.. please comment below.

Today’s pedal line is from Kern Ramsdell. If you have a pedal line (doesn’t have to be in a board) for your rig, please email me a photo, bio, description of pedals and routing to pedallineeffectsbaycom. Every Friday I’ll showcase a pedal line submission. Make sure you include any links to your band or music page.

My name is Kern Ramsdell. After learning to play the guitar, I joined my friends and played in a small town cover band. After hurting my back, I learned about recording and mixing. Now, I write songs and spend my days recording and mixing them. I am a guitar player that has learned to get by on keys, drums, and bass. Here is my guitar pedal board…

This is my version of what a pedal board should be. The actual pedal board is a “Holey Board” by Chemistry Design Werks. I love the speed and ease of use that comes from the use of zip ties. So much better then using Velcro to hold down the pedals. I plug my 1980′s era Fender Lead2 into these pedals, and then into a VHT Special 6 Ultra combo amp, and on the “Clean” input. My pedals supply all of the dirt.

A MXR DC Brick supplies power to all of the pedals. It is hidden under the upper deck of the HoleyBoard.

The pedals on the lower deck are in series, or are “before the amp”. They are:

Behringer Chromatic Tuner TU100. A simple cheap tuner. Works as an “on and off switch too”.

MXR Phase 90. What more can I say about this pedal? I love EVH and Trey Anastasio (Phish) types tones, and they both use these great sounding pedals. A real no brainer!

Lightning Boy Audio, An honest, hand wired, made one at a time (and with a real tube) overdrive pedal. This pedal gives me a real chime that I adore. It will give some growl, too, but I use it (mostly) as a simple boost in tone and volume.

Boss DS-1 distortion. This is the most bang for the buck distortion pedal there is. This one is un-modded because it just sounds so good as it is. I use this for distortion duties, along with the Lightning Boy Audio pedal. Sounds like butter with them both in use.

Parallel FX loop, from the amp, and on the “upper deck” of the HoleyBoard.

VHT MeloVerb. I really like this pedal a lot. The Tremolo side is the real attention grabber here, but the reverb is nice too. This is a great “two for one” pedal, and I like how it has two independent switches for each effect. It is a well made, great sounding trem/verb unit.

MXR Carbon Copy. I love messing with the knobs on this pedal. I like a dark delay, and this lets me get real dark sounding. These delay pedals are famous for a reason. Built like a tank too!

DOD Flanger. This pedal was too much of a “score” for me to pass up. I only paid 15 dollars for this little gem, and it still puts a smile on my face each time I use it. I had some DOD pedals when I first was learning how to play, and one just like this one was in that small collection I had.

TC Electronic Ditto Looper. I just purchased this pedal. I like to use short to medium loops to help “flush out” ideas and to write whole parts of songs. I have been using the Jam Up Pro app, on my iPhone, for these duties but I will now be using The Ditto Looper pedal. I like how small it is and how powerful of a concept it is. Besides, it is so easy to learn how to use. Plus, if you play out live, it could come in very handy. You could supply a backing loop to solo over as your band mate changes a broken string.

Thanks so much, and I hope you enjoyed hearing about my effects pedal chain!

— UPDATE —

Some time ago, I sent you my modest “recording” pedalboard. I have attached an image of the new, completed line up. I have since “completed my dream board” with a vintage pedal that I never thought I could find for under 500 dollars. The Ross compressor pedal! I grabbed one from EBay for 120.00! A steal if you ask me, because these are awesome compressor/sustainers. Trey Anastasio of Phish uses them, hence the hefty price tag on these
oldies. Thanks for the great website, and all the hard work that you do!

Kern Ramsdell,
Home Recording Weekly

Last week I noticed that I got into a couple conversations about clean boosts. I like clean boosts, and I think it’s a great option when you want to preserve your amp’s natural tone, but just need that pre-amp break up. Of course a clean boost is not for everyone.

One booster that have gotten a lot of attention over the years is the original Echoplex. You think delay/echo with Echoplex right? But the preamp of that unit has been used in people’s rigs for a while (eg: Eddie Van Halen). Since getting a vintage Echoplex can be tough and expensive.. and bulky, some builders have broke out the preamp into a small pedal. The Xotic EP Booster has been used for years and I definitely see these on boards on various Pedal Line Friday posts.

Dunlop just released their Dunlop Echoplex Preamp pedal. They reproduced the circuit including the FET (Field-Effect Transistor) and the pedal is a simple pedal. One knob. One Footswitch. The Dunlop Echoplex Preamp will give you to +0 to +11dB in signal.

Here is the official product video by Dunlop:

If you’re looking to pick up the Dunlop Echoplex Preamp, it is available for $119.99 at Musician’s Friend.

Last week I posted a break down of Pixie’s Joey Santiago’s board. I’m a big fan of the Pixies, and owe a lot to these guys from a musical perspective.  I think about all the beers I drank with friends listening to these guys – getting totally fired up and inspired. They are the masters of quirky songs with mix of hard and soft.. loud and quiet. I thought it was only fitting to showcase Frank Black aka Black Francis aka Charles Thompson IV.

Here is the break down of his board:

Lehle Dual SGoS Foot Switch
Klon Centaur (silver)
Gore Duh Fuzz
Boss FS-5L (for Vox AC30 Tremolo)
Boss TU-3 Tuner
Radial JDI Direct Box
Weber miniMass Attenuator

If you’re a fan of the Pixies and interested in their gear.. check out this great video by Premier Guitar:

If anything is incorrect, or if I’m missing anything.. or if you want to let me know about the Pixies, please comment below!

Today’s pedal line is from Bill Scherer. If you have a pedal line (doesn’t have to be in a board) for your rig, please email me a photo, bio, description of pedals and routing to pedallineeffectsbaycom. Every Friday I’ll showcase a pedal line submission. Make sure you include any links to your band or music page.

Hello there,

I play bass, mostly fretless, not in a band. I jam with friends and my son. Signal path is: bass  >  TC Electronics Polytune mini >  3Leaf Wonderlove  >  EHX Soul Preacher. In the effects loop of the Wonderlove is DIY fuzz pedal and a Boss PQ-3B. It is all powered by a DIY regulated nine volt supply.

It has been a slow evolution to this point, with various fuzzes and filters. The Wonderlove is near perfection; the effects loop is genius. I tried the MXR El Grande bass fuzz and the Way Huge Swollen Pickle, but the fuzz I made delivers the tone I want without the low end dropping out like so many others. The Soul Preacher does an ok job, after setting the internal trim pot properly, and keeping to lower settings. It is the next pedal to be replaced, when I discover the right compressor for me. The eq is the oldest pedal on the board, and I have no complaints about it; it is quiet and effective. The tuner is new, and works perfectly. Lastly, the board is diy. Two pieces of pine and some industrial velco. It all fits into a backpack for easy travel.

Thanks for considering my board and also for effectsbay.com!

Bill Scherer

I just stumbled across this today.. and you should be stoked if you’ve been interested in picking up a reverb. The deal that I just found was for the TC Electronic NR-1 Nova Reverb. This reverb usually is available for $200 – $270, but is currently on sale for a crazy low price of $99 at Amazon.com and ships with FREE shipping! At the time of this post, there were 20 units available. Not sure how long this deal is going to be around, but I would jump on it if you’re interested!

Here is a quick breakdown of features of the TC Electronic NR-1 Nova Reverb:

5 studio quality digital stereo reverb types
Two switchable settings: manual and preset
DynaMix™ – dynamic ducking reverb

Also, here is the official product video for the Nova:

As you can hear.. awesome reverb.. and for that price! Again, the TC Electronic NR-1 Nova Reverb is on sale for only $99 at Amazon.com and includes free shipping!