Pedal Line Friday – 4/30 – Ben Howard

Today’s pedal line is from Ben Howard (@benzakonium). 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 pedalline@nulleffectsbay.com. Every Friday I’ll showcase a pedal line submission. Make sure you include any links to your band or music page.

I’d like to submit my setup for Pedal Line Friday.

Here’s my line:

Monster Cable >>

Custom Audio Electronic MC404 Wah – This is the newest addition to my line. I’ve been looking for a Wah for a long time, I’ve tried a lot and apart from the Fulltone Clyde Deluxe, this is the only one I’ve liked. The dual Fasel feature is amazing with two completely differently voiced conductors, Yellow is classic Cry Baby and Red is warm and dark. It also has a built in MXR MC-401 Boost/Line Driver which ads up to 20dB of boost if you kick the switch in… very handy. It’s True-Bypass which you don’t get in most Cry Babies >>

Korg PitchBlack Tuner – Not much to explain here, just a great tuner especially in strobe mode, true-bypass so no tone messing going on >>

Pigtronix Philosopher’s Tone Compressor – This is just the sweetest compressor. I love this pedal and use it a great deal. It’s really quiet and it has a hidden gem with it’s Grit knob that ads in a layer of distortion which is blendable, this makes it sound like you are playing through two amps at once, one clean and one distorted. It really nails that Chili Peppers tone when using a Strat >>

B.Y.O.C Phaser – This is a clone of a classic Phase 90 Script, but with an added control for the amount of phase effect. If you dime it, it’s just the same as a Phase 90, so mine stays dimmed most of the time. It’s a great phase pedal, probably would be even better built by somebody with more skill than me, but it was only my second crack as a B.Y.O.C kit and it seems to work ok for me >>

EHX Big Muff Pi with Tone Wicker – I wanted a classic fuzz tone, but sometimes found regular Big Muffs a little… well muffled, this has the ability to by-pass the tone circuit which really opens up the tone. The Whicker switch adds in a mid-range boost I believe which also helps it stand out in the mix >>>

B.Y.O.C OctaFuzz – This was my first B.Y.O.C build. I got it because I was looking for that Hendrix OctaFuzz tone and I read that this was one of the simplest pedals for beginners. Well it is a simple pedal and I put it together without any major headaches, but it doesn’t sound like a Hedrix OctaFuzz… It’s a crazy sounding pedal that takes some taming. It works best with single coils, bridge position and with the volume and tone set down a bit. It’s a fat sound and can be fun to kick in now and then >>>

ProCo Solo – I went in to my local guitar shop with the full intention of buying a classic RAT and somehow walked out with this. It’s a great sounding pedal and goes from dirty fuzz to searing distortion. It can really scream through the mix which is great for lead, but it has a mid-scoop which can also be good for rhythm work. However I mainly have it set so it sounds like a classic RAT… kinda ironic, but at least I have the ability to tweak it if I need to >>>

B.Y.O.C Overdrive II – This is basically a Tubescreamer clone with some great extras. It has so much more control over the shaping of the tone than most Tubscreamer clones and you really can make it sound like lots of different pedals just with a few tweaks. I got it after I saw Gearmanndude demo one, check out his video, you’ll get a better idea than me waffling on. I use the boost in this pedal a lot too, it’s really clear and great for clean as well as being able to throw an amp over the edge into crunch >>>

Boss GE-7 Monte Allums Mod – This is a great EQ pedal. I bought it on eBay with the mod already in place, so I don’t know the details of what is involved, but from their website it seems it’s got replaced op amps for a cleaner signal… it’s a great tool to just tweak you tone at the end of the chain and I leave it on almost all of the time, I also use it to give a slight signal boost which really brings my amp to life >>>

Effects Loop >>>

MXR Stereo Chorus – I love this chorus pedal, you just have so much control with it. The bass cut switch is great for strumming as it keeps the bass frequencies intact. If you crank the Rate knob it does a great Leslie sound too >>>

EHX Stereo Memory Man with Hazarai – I have a love/hate relationship with this pedal. It has great flexibility and being able to save presets and call them back and the touch of a knob is awesome. But it’s a tone sucker, especially the Looper which just rips the guts out of your tone. Having said that I use the looper a lot as it’s a great practice tool, I’m thinking of swapping this out for a Way Huge Aqua Puss II and a Boss Loop Station >>>

All of this is powered with a T-Rex Fuel Tank and routed using Fulltone Cables with the exception of one George L’s due to space constraints, it then goes into an Egnater Tourmaster 4100 Head with an Orange 212 Cab… both of which are incredible. I mainly use the amps distortion straight up and just my pedals on the clean channels to kick them into crunch or fuzz.

About Ben Howard:

I don’t currently play in a band, so I don’t have much to promote other than that I am a graphic designer specializing in branding, so if there are any pedal/amp/guitar manufacturers, big or small, looking for some graphics, packaging concepts or advertising then give me a shout… I’m always up for doing work based on trading for gear. You can contact me via my Twitter account: @benzakonium
Ben Howard