Pedal Line Friday (on Wednesday) – 9/4 – Johnny Balmer

I know today is not Friday, but due to the large queue of Pedal Line Friday, I thought I do a few on Wednesdays! Today’s pedal line is from Johnny Balmer. 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.

Hello!
I submitted a photo for your consideration a few months back. However, like many guitarists I know, my pedal board is constantly evolving. I’ve included a photo of my current setup – which, I’m sure will change soon enough.

First, a little about me:
Early this year, I officially launched Alchemy Audio (www.alchemy-audio.com) – a business which combines my love of guitar playing with my technical skills. I primarily repair, modify and build guitar effects pedals, amplifiers and microphones. In the past two years, I’ve bought, sold and traded nearly 1000 effects pedals. I’ve modified and repaired hundreds more for clients.

The pedals currently on my pedals board serve as inspiration for playing at home. In order (from right to left):

1) Fulltone Clyde Standard Wah I have tried just about every wah pedal available (both vintage and modern). To my ears, this one sounds the best and is built like a tank.

2) JHS Little Black Buffer An essential component in a long pedal chain – especially if many of the pedals are “true bypass”.

3) Alchemy Audio modified Boss CS-3 compressor / sustainer I upgraded the circuit components for improved fidelity and reduced noise.

4) JHS Superbolt overdrive My newest addition. A very versatile pedal. It can go from a classic sounding overdrive (think early Zeppelin) to high-gain territory. Very transparent and responsive.

5) Devi Ever Goddess Zero octave up fuzz I’m a big fan of Devi and her pedals. This is one of the more “useable” pedals.

6) Lovepedal English Woman Still, my main “dirt” pedal – played through the clean channel of my modified Fender Hot Rod Deluxe. I’ve tried many overdrive / distortion pedals. This one still rises above.

7) Empress Effects Tremolo I’m a tremolo junky and have tried them all. This one offers the most features and best sound.

8) TC Electronic Polytune Easy to read display and packed with features – including full chord tuning.

9) Strymon Blue Sky reverb While I don’t use reverb a lot, this is by far the most natural sounding one. Worth the investment!

10) Channel switch for my Fender Hot Rod Deluxe

11) JHS modified Ernie Ball VP Jr. volume pedal The fine folks at JHS install a buffer and active circuitry to eliminate any tone loss.

All pedals are powered by a Voodoo Labs Pedal Power Plus and Iso 5 power supplies. Patch cables are George L’s.

Johnny Balmer
Alchemy Audio
www.alchemy-audio.com