Today’s Pedal Line Friday submission is from Matthew Swasta. 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.
Pedal Line Friday – 5/12 – Matthew Swasta
Hello again, my name is Matthew. It has been five years since my first pedal line submission. My board has gone through a complete overhaul, with only a couple pedals retaining there place in the line up. I’ve always built boards from scratch, but this is the first wedge shape, which facilitates mounting my new Strymon Zuma power supply underneath. It has a great look and I wish I had space to place it on top of the board, but ultimately, it is simply a utility. I am still using the same guitars, an Aria Pro II, Carvin CS3, Fender Jaguar HH Classic Player, and an older Carvin DC-127 Koa running in to a Bogner Ecstasy 101b. I also use the power section of a Mesa Boogie Electradyne loaded with a Cannibus Rex to amplify my looping signal from the line out of the Bogner with an Akai Headrush and Boss DD-20’s as loopers.
After moving from Little Rock to the D.C. area for work, I am currently not in a band in this location, yet, but still playing, writing, and recording under the moniker 3000 Lumens, and I still keep up with my former band mates in Strange As Fiction.
https://3000lumens.bandcamp.com
https://strangeasfiction.bandcamp.com
The line up…
TC Electronic Polytune Noir – nice tuner, small footprint with a large enough display.
Ernie Ball VP Jr. – easy to work and smooth attenuation.
Dunlop 535Q Wah – very versatile wah with a wide array of frequency ranges. I love using an Ebow through the wah and the narrower settings helps keep the sounds from getting to loud or harsh, yet very expressive and haunting.
MXR Microamp – great little boost I place in front of the new fuzz and distortion for tone stacking and pushing/squashing the signals a bit.
Walrus Audio Jupiter Fuzz – just got this pedal, still learning it, but love what I’ve gotten so far
Walrus Audio Iron Horse distortion – again, another new pedal I’m still learning. Very nice tones.
Boss PH3 phaser – I don’t use this too much and intend on removing when I purchase either a Strymon Ola or Chase Bliss Warped vinyl…or both…
Digitech Whammy IV (I think) – this is the only pedal not powered by the Zuma. I primarily use it with the Ebow to get some crazy other worldly sounds for looping. Otherwise, I don’t use it for regular play too much.
Strymon El Capistan – wonderful tape delay emulation. I love being able to go from clean analog sounding delays to the sound of a warped worn out tape machine. Constantly tweaking this pedal…so cool!
Boss DD-20 – I have used up to three of these at a time for looping in different configurations for many years. Rugged, hard working, abused pedals that just keep going. Love em!
Digitech Hardwire RV-7 Reverb – nice solid reverb that is either at the end of the line or running in my amps effect loop. I plan on adding back a Strymon blueSky I had to sell a few years ago, but the RV-7 will still hold a place somewhere in the signal path.
Not pictured is a Fulltone Plimsoul my brother gave to me a couple Christmas’s ago that is taking a break while I get familiar with the Walrus Audio gear for a bit. It’ll probably return in the empty space on the board very soon. Nice, dark sound.
Akai Headrush E2 – used solely for looping (not pictured)
Boss RC-50 Loop Station (not pictured)
Thank you Hank for maintain such an awesome website!
