Effects Bay

Today’s pedal line is from Todd Bishop. 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 Every Friday I’ll showcase a pedal line submission. Make sure you include any links to your band or music page.

Here’s my submission for pedal line Friday. I’m using a XDS-X2 wireless, Crybaby 95Q wah, TC Electronic G-System (The G-system handles all my effects and amp channel switching via the RJM Mini Amp Gizmo. All my other pedals are plugged into the G-System’s external loops  so they can be controlled through the G-System), BBE Sonic Stomp, MXR-Phase 90, Morpheus Drop Tune, TC Nova Drive (which is controlled via the G-System) and Ernie Ball Volume pedals for expression and volume control. I run it all in stereo with a 5150 III half stack and an original 5150 half stack.

You can hear Todd’s gear in action at the following links:

Facebook is: www.facebook.com/victimrocks
Myspace: www.myspace.com/toddbishopmusic
Myspace: www.myspace.com/victimrocks (band)

Popularity: 3%

Today’s pedal line is from Steve Gerlach. 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 Every Friday I’ll showcase a pedal line submission. Make sure you include any links to your band or music page.

Signal Flow: BYOC 5-Knob Compressor> Paul Trombetta-Modded Rat*> Mid-Fi Glitch Computer> Radial Tonebone Classic> Peterson Strobo-Stomp> EHX Bassballs> Digitech Hardwire Delay> TC Electonics Nova Modulator> Digitech Whammy> Dr. Scientist Reverberator> Fulltone Fat-Boost (+ Yamaha Channel Switcher)

* Modded Rat includes feedback loop; Momentary (on the side of the pedal) or Fixed, Odd/Even Harmonics switch, and blend knob for feedback loop (on the side as well) demos of his Rat mods can be heard here  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LZQpIOairZQ

My pedal setup has reached relative stasis in the last year or so, and I mainly use 100-Watt amps (I have a Hiwatt and a Soldano-Designed Yamaha combo, also a Top Hat Club Deluxe and a bunch of old, low-wattage combos). I run the amp clean and get whatever character I need from the pedals, which means that if I have a good, clean tube amp, I can get more or less the same sound anywhere, anytime. I have owned many, many Fuzz boxes*, but at present the only ones on the board are the Mid-Fi and the heavily-modded Rat, which give me a decent variety of fuzz textures.

For a straighter overdrive sound, you can’t beat Radial preamps; worth every penny, and this pedal is “on” more often than not. Everything else is pretty self-explanatory – Filter, Delay, Whammy, Reverb, Modulation, and finally Boost, which, being last in line, will change the audible level of the reverb and echo, but I’ve found that it works for me that way; Those effects are on most of the time, and when the Fat-Boost is on, they are more pronounced and lively, the way I like it.

I suppose this is a fairly modest setup by some standards, and I probably own 20 more pedals not on the board currently. My favorite players would include Robert Fripp, Jimi Hendrix, Jeff Beck, Steve Howe, Mick Ronson, Adrian Belew, Elliot Easton, and Jimmy Page. I play on everything from Disney records to space-punk freakouts, happily. I use Gibson-type guitars mostly.

* One esoteric Fuzz I own but don’t use live is the Effector 13 Synth Mangler, which can be heard with minimal accompaniment here.  There is an underpinning synth-bass track, but most of what you’re hearing here is that pedal, which goes berserk towards the end.

Cheers,
s

About the author:
Sent by Steve Gerlach, Tomorrow The Moon, Tommy Keene, John Cale, Ralph’s World, etc)
http://www.myspace.com/tomorrowthemoon
http://www.myspace.com/stevegerlachmusic

Popularity: 4%

Today’s pedal line is from Andrew Elmore (@AndrewElmore). 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 Every Friday I’ll showcase a pedal line submission. Make sure you include any links to your band or music page.

GUITARS
MIM Fender Stratocaster. This thing is about to get some SERIOUS modding done.
Ibanez AX-S42. This is my rhythm guitar. Looks like an SG, sounds somewhere between an LP and an ES-335.

PEDALS
1.) Dunlop GCB-95 Crybaby, Heavily Modded. Range improvements, vocal mods, true bypass switching, slight gain boost.

2.) Boss AC-3 Acoustic Simulator. This was a gift. Use this sucker to play really, really clean. Very natural sounding with single coils. (Read my Effects Bay guest review)

3.) Boss SD-1 Super Overdrive. Also a gift. Beautiful. My main OD, my only complaint is that it’s not very loud, soi usually leave it cranked. (Read my Effects Bay guest review)

4.) Hardwire CM-2 Tube Overdrive. Traded a Sony PSP for this one. Most unique drive box I’ve heard for a hundred bucks. Sounds great overall, but something about it just feels… digital. Ugh. (Read my Effects Bay guest review)

5.) Boss BD-2. Got a great deal from a friend. This thing is one of my favorite OD’s, and I’m sure it’ll be even better once i (someday…) get it Keeley or Wampler modded. Right now its being used as a dirty boost, but there is a LOT of gain on tap with this sucker.

6.) Digitech Hot Head. This was a throwaway buy for 20 bucks used. Bought it for pop-punky old green day stuff but it really doesn’t sound good for anything I play. Some have claimed that it’s actually analog. Maybe, but that doesn’t mean I’m ever gonna use it for anything realistically.

7.) Danelectro Hashbrowns Flanger. Another gift. I pretty much only use this when I’m jamming in my bedroom on some Pink Floyd stuff. you can get a good electric mistress sound out of it if you try hard enough, but it’s a bit hissy, and kind of a tone suck.

8.) Danelectro Tuna Melt Tremolo. This, like the Dano Fish & Chips, Chicken Salad, and French Toast, is a REALLY REALLY good pedal. I’m not kidding. Don’t believe me? Lurk around the Gear Page for awhile. People love this pedal. I got it modded from a friend (Who also modded my crybaby) to have some more reliable glue and switching system inside it. I wanna rehouse it soon.

9.) Danelectro DE-1 Dan Echo. Great little delay pedal. Another gift (from my modder friend) It’s digital, but it has a “Hi-Cut” knob that makes each consecutive repeat sound even warmer than the last. Also has a Short/Long switch for Slapback or legitimate Echo. Close your eyes, and you wouldn’t know this is a digital delay.

10.) Boss DD-7 Digital Delay. Love this thing. Only use the Modulation setting, because I seem to think I’m The Edge from time to time. haha. I want to find a way to turn a Staples Easy Button into a tap tempo for this sucker.

11.) Digitech RP-50 Processor. This was my first “pedal” several years ago. NEVER KEEP IT IN THE CHAIN. It’s just my temporary tuner for now.

12.) Fender Two Channel Footswitch for Frontman 212r (My amp) or Hot Rod Deluxe (My church’s amp)

OTHER PEDALS PICTURED
I play at my local church, and we are blessed to have an amazing professional sound/light system and crew, due to a congregation of a few thousand people. The following pedals belong to the church, I use ‘em from time to time.

1.) Ibanez TS9DX. Used this to warm up my sound and make the church’s Fender Hot Rod Deluxe sound a bit grittier.

2.) Ernie Ball VPJR. Love this thing. Keep it after my dirt pedals so that I don’t lower my gain impedance when doing swells, which I do ALOT.

3.) Boss DD-7 with M-Audio tap tempo. I was really just using the tap tempo. This other DD-7 was just laying on my board. Didn’t need a second delay at the time of this picture.

4.) Boss TU-2 Tuner. I pretty much just used this as a mute switch. In a perfect world, I would have a board full of True Bypass pedals and keep a buffered tuner at the end to minimalize tone loss, but oh well.

AMPS
I use a Fender Frontman 212r. I wanted a big loud combo (100w) with a three band EQ. As it turns out, this amp has the cleanest, sparkeliest cleans I’ve ever heard. Fender Twins have a reputation for great cleans, this amp is even cleaner. (and has a real spring reverb tank. wham.) Drive channel is complete crap.

My church uses a Fender Hot Rod Deluxe. Decent cleans, a good bite, lots of presence, take strats/teles very well. Drive channel is also complete crap.

PICKS
I use a Brain super heavy pick. It was the closest thing I can find in America to a Herdim pick. I bought em cause the Edge uses em, he holds ‘em sideways and picks with the scratchy part. You get a ridiculous, beautiful chime out of it. I love it. Just these picks can make a Line 6 Spyder sound decent. haha. I also use Dunlop Tortex heavys and Dunlop Big Stubby 3mms. For acoustic I use Dunlop Nylon .73’s or whatever.

Everything is held together on a falling-apart-homemade-board-of-giganticness using musicians gear cables (super cheap, no noticable tone loss… yet.) and a Godlyke 11 plug Daisy Chain. Hope to soon buy a Pedaltrain PT-Pro.

COULD SOMEONE PLEASE EXPLAIN TO ME WHERE TO GET THOSE PLASTIC KNOB GUARDS FOR DANELCTRO MINI PEDALS?! I CAN’T FIND THEM ANYWHERE!!!

Popularity: 5%

Today’s pedal line is from Kevin Ian Common (@TheCommonMen). 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 Every Friday I’ll showcase a pedal line submission. Make sure you include any links to your band or music page.

Here’s my Pedal Line with descriptions Thanks! – Kevin Ian Common

About 5 years ago I abandoned effects processors in favor of stomp boxes. My setup has changed, grown, shrunk, and now expanded since then. In looking for great tone, I am fairly satisfied. My recent additions (which I will note) are now more about finding ways to manipulate and transform my sound. My friends and fans who have followed my work call it “Building a Spaceship”

My biggest influences on guitar are The Edge (U2), Reeves Gabrels – Earl Slick – Mick Ronson (David Bowie), Robert Fripp – Adrian Belew (King Crimson), Bernard Sumner (Joy Division, New Order), and Daniel Kessler – Paul Banks (Interpol). These guitarists have two things in common: 1) Distinctive Overdrive/Distorion/Fuzz, and 2) Interesting ways to play/manipulate guitar tones.

My three main axes are an Italia Rimini 6, a Reverend Club King 290, and an Eastwood Coronado. The Semi-hollow design of the Italia and Reverend coupled with p90’s give me a very resonant, glassy tone. The Eastwood has a chambered body which gives the guitar an different character from the others.

My rig is broken up into two boards: Guitar and Texture

Guitar:

Danelectro Chicken Salad: This pedal sounds great and is very inexpensive. It gives me everything from a lush vibe setting to a quacking tremolo. I tend to use the latter more often

Vox V810: I had read that Interpol used this pedal all over their first album. It’s been long-discontinued, but I managed to find it on eBay. It gives me a chime-like overdrive. I keep the gain relatively low.

Barber Small Fry: This is my distortion pedal. I use the asymmetrical clipping setting on the distortion most often. This pedal either goes on top of the V810 for high gain leads, or by itself when I want just a tad more distortion than the V810.

Dwarfcraft Spectacular Aenima: This is my newest pedal. I’ve recently gotten into more extreme and harsh textures, and this pedal does many different things. I use this to add atari-sounding fuzz on top of everything for leads or motor-boating textures. The pedal also contains a feedback looper which I will discuss later. It also contains a PEEP–a photosensitive eye–which reacts to light. That explains the book lights clipped onto the pedal board.

Electro Harmonix #1 Echo: I keep this pedal on at all times. It is used for a quick slap back that sits back in the mix. I don’t always need delay, but I like a very subtle “slap,” at all times.

MXR Carbon Copy: This is my main delay.

Behringer EM600 Echo Machine: This pedal performs very well and I use it for swells, multi delays and ducking effects.

Digitech DigiDelay: I use this for reverse delay. NOM

BBE Sonic Stomp: I don’t fully understand how this pedal works, but after testing it out a few years ago, it’s never left any incarnation of my rig.

Next is my “Texture Board.” This board was added recently to accommodate my Spectacular Aenima. All of these pedals become completely different pedals when you have them feedback upon each other. I set them up in random order to see how they react to each other, and this has yielded the best results:

Digitech Synth Wah

Danelectro Rocky Road

Danelectro Fab Flange

Digitech DigiDelay

Behringer US 600 Ultra Shifter/Harmonist

The PEEP is highly temperamental, but when it works, it is total chaos. You can disengage the feedback option and it works like a regular pedal board, but with tons of weird noises and static involved.

I’ve been looking into other pedals to add to both boards, including the Moody Mushroom Delay, Mid-fi Glitch Computer, the WMD Geiger Counter, and the Robot by Death by Audio. I’m currently accepting donations

- Kevin Ian Common

Today’s pedal line is from Mike Mulholland (@mikewtf). 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 Every Friday I’ll showcase a pedal line submission. Make sure you include any links to your band or music page.

Hi, my name is Mike and I play guitar for a band called Emmure.  Catch us on the upcoming Mosh Lives II tour and this summer’s Vans Warped Tour on the Hurley stage. If you live in Australia, we’ll be out there with Machine Head and Hatebreed this coming spring, as well.

I’m a gear head and this is my pedal board.

Loop 4 – “Heat” – Tube screamer and two noise suppressors (Boss NS-2). I run this pretty much all the time as my main high gain tone on top of my lead channel. I found that two noise suppressors, directly in line, works really well and allows me to push the tube screamer hard without feeding back. For those wondering, it’s a custom, made by a guy named jason, whom I have since lost contact. It’s basically a Maxon OD-9 with a JRC4558D chip. I’ve had it a couple years, and it’s the best sounding overdrive i’ve had.

Loop 3 – “Soundwave” – This is the individual loop for the Boss Phase Shifter. It’s a great pedal but it is noisy as hell. I use it for a song called sound wave superior, hence the title.

Loop 2 – “Delay” – In this loop, I’m running my MXR Carbon Copy and Phase 90. I often use these two together, I recently swapped my Boss DD3 for the Carbon Copy, it’s so much warmer, I mostly use it to thicken up leads. The Phase 90 gives a little extra texture to everything, i keep it pretty low. Having them both running at the flip of one switch is nice.

Loop 1 – “Whammy” – Switches on my Whammy and Boss Super Shifter. I did have two Whammys directly in line, because we have songs where we octave up and octave down without enough time to bend over and turn the knob. I recently swapped out one of the Whammys for a Boss Super Shifter, because our octave down parts don’t require much expression, so instead of having to switch on, express down, express up and then switch off on a whammy, I use the tremolo arm function on the Super Shifter and just hold on it for as long as I need to dump down an octave. As soon as my foot is off it, i’m back to normal. I have found though, that the tracking on the whammy is slightly better for the low stuff. Harmonizer functions of both pedals are awesome.

The great thing about running a Voodoo Lab pedal switcher is that you have to put much less thought into the configuration of your pedals, since whatever effects you have activated are the only ones in line to the front end of your amp. If you want to get really wild, the pedal switcher is MIDI programmable and you can link one or more of them up to a Voodoo Labs pedal commander, and have each button control any configurations of pedals you’d like, similar to the GCX/Ground Control, except you can leave all of your pedals on the floor. I’m trying to keep it simple, and I tend to tweak my pedals quite a bit on stage. This is also much more portable than a GCX for me, because when I head overseas I don’t have to dismantle my whole rack setup.

All my pedals are stock and I’m running George Ls and a few monster rock patch cables, and I’m using the Voodoo Labs Pedal Power 2+. My board is a pedal train pro, it’s got a bracket on the bottom to bolt in the Voodoo PP2+, but leaving it on top makes it easy for myself or my tech to find a problem and fix it (sometimes things get a little hectic on stage, kids have used my pedalboard as a diving board on way more than one occasion). I’ve left the extra real estate on the right to accommodate my wireless unit (sennheiser) for overseas and one off shows, when we haven’t got access to our main rigs and are using rented or borrowed/shared back lines.

If you’re curious, my live rig consists of a Peavey 5150 II, through a pair of Mesa/Boogie flat front cabinets. I’m running an additional EQ and noise gate through the loop on my heads. I play fender telecasters with EMG pickups (81/60).

Some of my pedals that are not pictured here and not included in my live rig, but sometimes make special appearances:

*Radial BigShot
Boss RC-20
Boss GE-7 (2)
Boss DD-20 Delay
Boss DD-3 Delay
Boss CH-1 Super Chorus
MXR Wylde OD
Dunlop Cry Baby
Dunlop 535Q
EH Big Muff*
*Decimator G String*

Thanks for looking! Now follow me on twitter for the occasional bit of gear nerdery and tour insanity.

Mike Mulholland
Emmure
twitter.com/mikewtf
www.myspace.com/emmure

Popularity: 10%

Today’s pedal line is from Matt Cheezem (@CheeseBlocks) of Cheese Blocks Effects. 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 Every Friday I’ll showcase a pedal line submission. Make sure you include any links to your band or music page.

This is my current setup… Everything is hard mounted with bike chain and cables are routed through holes… so it stays pretty permanent. If I have the occasional add on, I usually have to place it either before or after the board.

Everything is on a Trailer Trash board, with input and output jacks hard wired on either side.

Signal path goes as follows:

Input -> zvex Super Hard-On (modified with an external battery kill switch) -> Ernie Ball VP Jr. Volume Pedal -> Tuner out to Boss TU-2, Main out to the first sCream Cheese prototype (with the acid etched graphics) -> Catalinbread V8 Fuzz Tone Engine (LOVE that little guy!) -> 1982 ProCo RAT -> Duncan “Shape Shifter” Tremolo (poor man’s cusack tap-a-whirl… more features and about 1/3 the cost!) -> Boss DD-7 (tap tempo jack is hard wired to the right side of the board) -> MXR Carbon Copy Delay -> EH Nano Holy Grail Reverb -> Output

About the author:

Matt Cheezem is the owner of Cheese Blocks Effects and has contributed a few articles to EffectsBay.com!

Popularity: 7%

Today’s pedal line is from Jimmy Rolle. 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 Every Friday I’ll showcase a pedal line submission. Make sure you include any links to your band or music page.

Lehle Little Lehle II True Bypass Looper/Switcher
-    Boss TU2 Tuner in loop

Fulltone ‘69

Lehle D. Loop
Loop A – Bad Cat 2-Tone
Loop B – Maxon 808 to EH Big Muff Pi

Teese RMC “Picture Wah”

Fulltone Fulldrive 2 MOSFET

LOOOPER – single loop
-    EH Deluxe Memory Man in loop

Axess Electronics BS2 – Buffer Splitter

Whirlwind Selector
Output A – Matchless DC30 ef86 channel
Output B – Matchless DC30 12Ax7 channel / Rivera Knucklehead

I have used a bunch of stuff over the years with this being my most current lineup.  In general I like to have 4-5 different gain flavors on a board then a simple wah and analog delay.  The pedals are in an order that works for me to achieve the desired result.  This is a breakdown of the signal path and what each pedal is used for:

The Lehle Little Lehle II is used to place the Boss TU2 tuner in a true bypass loop.  The Boss TU2 features buffer circuitry that affects your signal even when the pedal is off.  Having the TU2 in a loop allows me to choose to have a buffered or unbuffered signal from the start of the board.  Some pedals, namely fuzzes or older style distortion pedals, react very differently to buffered/unbuffered signals, so it is nice to have the choice to obtain a desired sound.

The next pedal in line is the Fulltone ‘69 pedal.  I have had this one on the board for about 8-9 years and really like it for classic fuzzface type tones.  From the ‘69 the signal goes to the Lehle D. Loop where I have options for Loop A and Loop B.  I have a Bad Cat 2-Tone in Loop A and a Maxon 808 + EH Big Muff Pi in Loop B.  The Bad Cat gives me a big “Tone Boost” type of sound, in a lot of ways like a bigger, better, treble booster.  It does introduce some hum when turned on, I believe due to the preamp tubes and power trannies inside.  The Maxon + Big Muff Pi sound is thick and gives you great sustain and articulation for leads.  For me, the Big Muff is only OK by itself, pretty scooped and lacking in definition.  The Maxon 808 adds the midrange punch and clarity I’m looking for.

I’ve had a number of wahs over the years, the two I liked best being the Fulltone Clyde and the Teese RMC “Picture Wah”.  The RMC has a slightly wider and smoother sweep than the Clyde, and a hair more top end.  I’m sure someday I will have the Clyde in there again, just to mix it up.  Either way, they are both killer “classic” sounding wahs.

The signal then goes to a Fulltone Fulldrive 2 MOSFET.  The merits of the FD2 are pretty well documented.  This one replaced my original TS9 that was my very first pedal and stayed in my lineup for almost 15 years.  The FD2 is just a flat-out great overdrive that is versatile and easy to dial in.

At the left end of the board I have an EH Deluxe Memory Man which is in a LOOOPER true bypass loop.  The DMM really needs to be in a loop because you can hear a very small amount from the “Echo” output event when the pedal is bypassed.  The DMM has a classic, creamy analog delay sound with some versatility compared to the typical smaller analog delay units.

From the delay, the signal goes back across the board to the Axess Electronics BS2 Buffer/Splitter.  The BS2 is a high quality signal buffer which converts your high impedance guitar signal to low impedance.  It also features 3 outputs, one of which is a transformer isolated output with a phase reverse option for using when combining two amplifiers.  There is an internal “gain” pot that you can add a few dB of clean boost to your signal if you desire to push the amps input section a little harder.  Usually I have the gain up a few clicks to refresh my signal and drive the amp a little harder.

After the BS2 the signal goes to the Whirlwind Selector which allows me to choose outputs A/B or both outputs simultaneously.  For my band _pollen, I send one output to each channel of my Matchless DC30 and use both individually and in combination depending on the song.  For my other band, American Falcon, I send one of the outputs to my Rivera Knucklehead and then use the speaker phase reverse switch on the DC30 to eliminate phase cancellation issues between the two amps.

As far as cabling goes, the majority of the pedal board is wired with George L’s “Vintage Red” cable, which sounds great but is somewhat fragile.  The other jumpers are some sort of standard cables that I picked up because I needed more for my board.  They seem solid and sound good.  I use a Colossal Cable “Modern Classic” for my primary stage cable, and two DiMarzio cables to go from the board to the amp.  The DiMarzio’s are high quality cables, which I don’t think they make the same version of any more…don’t know why.

About the author:

Jimmy is a good friend of mine for many years, and I’ve had the privledge of playing guitar with him in various bands and projects. Jimmy is also featured in the EffectsBay.com pedal demos.

Popularity: 9%

Today’s pedal line is from Peter Berki (@PeterBerki). 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 Every Friday I’ll showcase a pedal line submission. Make sure you include any links to your band or music page.

My design philosophy is simple: keep whatever works. In order to find out what works, I spend a few weeks (if not months) with my pedal line without weeding out any unnecessary pedals. I’ll tweak them to perfection, then move on to bringing in a new toy. If after those few weeks I still can’t get it to work to my advantage, I discard it. This has been the process of several pedals; including the Boss Ch-1, Boss DS-1, Boss Metal Zone, Digitech DigiDelay, Ibanez TC7, and several others. I’ve employed this philosophy for many years now and it has brought me to these four pedals. All of these pedals have suited my needs wherever they may be placed. I have many more to try out, so my pedal line is still pretty young with room to grow. So what are we looking at?

(1) Korg Pitchblack
This is a great little tuner that is very simple to use: plug in, turn on, and tune. It works great even in low lighting. It has a Big, Clear Digital screen which is easy to see fifteen feet away. I actually place this at the back of my line (kind of rushed my pictures)

(2) Coffin Blood Drive
I was actually taken back by this pedal. I bought it solely because EffectsBay advertised it at its great price(43 total with shipping). Upon opening it, I immediately thought to myself “I hope this isn’t going to be a dumbed down Metal Zone”. After plugging it in, I found it’s capable of everything from smooth, creamy fuzz to aggressive, fierce distortion. I use this pedal for my bluesy tunes. Surprisingly, its well suited for blues and rock distortion, while lacking in the metal area.

(3) Electro-Harmonix #1 Echo
I immediately fell in love with this pedal. This is my one man band pedal. I use it to sweeten my solos and create melody lines. Outside of the band, I plug it in and crank up the delay time. If you get the timing right, you can create some amazing harmonies reminiscent of Iron Maiden. Its great at creating a wall of sound while using “single string” melodies.

(4) Dunlop Classic Crybaby w/ Fasel Inductor
This is a recent addition to my pedal line. I used a Morley Classic Wah prior to buying this. The problem with the Morley pedal was I could never find a use for it. It didn’t work for my solos; It wasn’t working for rhythm parts. I eventually found this bad boy. This works great when blazing the solo trail. On rhythm parts, it gives a clean, wide wah sound without piercing the ears with unwanted noise. It can be played in anything from blues to heavy metal. If you’re looking to play multiple genres, I suggest picking one of these up.

(5) BBE Sonic Maximizer
This is the only effect I use that is truly necessary (tuner’s not an effect). This makes any guitar sound like it’s being played through a Marshall. Some guitarists consider a Sonic Maximizer as cheating, but if you don’t have 1500 to spend on an amp, it is necessary. It manipulates your frequencies to push out a clean, balanced sound. I call it my guitar rigs “balls” because it gives my guitar the edge to play harder tunes. I know my Sonic Maximizer is not a pedal, but it does come in pedal form. I recommend the BBE Sonic Maximizer Stomp Box to anyone who is serious about their tone.

So what is it all plugged into? My guitar rig is pretty simple. All power goes into my Furman power conditioner, which plugs into the wall. My BBE plugs into the effects loop of my Carvin X100b. My X100b is connected to a 4×12 loaded with Rocket 50s. From my X100b it goes; Blood Drive, #1 Echo, Wah, and then tuner. All of this plugs into my Carvin Bolt guitar, equipped with a Carvin C22 (similar to Seymour Duncan JB).

Bio: My name is Peter Berki. I’m 23 years old. I’ve been playing guitar for about 8 years. I started playing acoustic then eventually graduated to electric. Currently I play in my band “Agents of Superstition”. We play a blend of music; including Progressive, Punk, Metal, and Alternative. I started getting into effects about 3 years ago. Prior to that, I just used an Ibanez Flanger for looks. I’m always looking for new effects to try, so I’m always willing to take suggestions.

Popularity: 10%

Today’s pedal line is from Mark Grundhoefer (@markgrundhoefer). 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 . Every Friday I’ll showcase a pedal line submission. Make sure you include any links to your band or music page.

As a performer and educator, my pedalboard is always changing when new equipment comes out, old vintage pedals are found, and unique sounds are required.  This is my current setup, and although a few pedals have been added and subtracted over the past few months, there have been a core group of stompboxes that have remained with me over the years.  The music I play on a daily basis requires a very pure tone which is why I have spent so much time searching for pedals that deliver clean uncompromised sounds.  Analog is a big selling point when looking for pedals and while there are a few on my board that are not “true” but high quality digital bypass, everything else is in my signal chain is true bypass.

I play an upgraded Brian Moore “strat” style guitar with an HSH pickup configuration and a coil tap on the Sheptone in the bridge.  It has a synth pickup built in and sometimes I’ll run through a Roland GR-20 Guitar Synthesizer with my pedalboard in the effects loop.

The first pedal on my board is the super clean Keeley 2 Knob Compressor.  This thing can really add a lot of sustain to your leads or round out a rhythm guitar. Next I go into my newly acquired Rockbox Boiling Point Overdrive.  Seriously, what can I say…this thing is the real deal.  So many tonal options.  It took the place of my Keeley TS9 Baked Mod.  It’s that good! Then I run into one of my favorites: the Xotic AC Booste.  This pedal is usually left on since it cleans up so well with the volume knob. The EWS Fuzzy Drive is next followed by the Arion Chorus which was modded by EWS to be true bypass and to kind of beef up the tone.  Two great products from EWS! After that I go through a Dunlop 95Q Switchless Wah.  This is spring loaded so as soon as I step on the wah it is engaged.  No need to slam down the front.

The signal moves to the other side of my board and goes through the MXR Phase 90, EVH style, and then into an MXR Carbon Copy Analog Delay. I love the Carbon Copy for lead work. And the trim pots on the inside are easily tweaked to add a bit more modulation.  Nothing can match that analog delay sound, but for rhythm stuff I use the TC Electronics Nova Delay so that I have access to the tap tempo.  Plus, for a digital pedal, it’s extremely high quality.

The Electro Harmonix Pulsar Tremolo is next followed by your basic Ernie Ball Volume Pedal.  I use the tuner out of the volume pedal to go into a simple Boss hand held tuner.

The entire board is wired with Lava solderless patch cables.  I highly recommend those as they are an extremely easy DIY cable package as well as super high quality.  No loss of tone from one end of my board to the other. I use an SKB pedalboard with velcro attachments.  SKB is an amazing company with some of the best customer support I have had the pleasure of  dealing with.

Thanks for checking out my equipment and visit my website
www.myspace.com/markgrundhoefer or follow me on twitter www.twitter.com/markgrundhoefer for live show listings as well as info on lessons in the Greater Los Angeles area.

Popularity: 10%

Today’s pedal line is from Agra Prabhaswara (@agraa). 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 . Every Friday I’ll showcase a pedal line submission. Make sure you include any links to your band or music page.

Hello, my name is Agra and I’m from Indonesia. Here’s my latest pedalboard setup for jamming around.

The chain is:

Dunlop JH-1 Jimi Hendrix Wah
EHX Nano Small Stone, I put this here so the unbalanced signal from the phasing would be balanced by the compressor
Boss NS-2 Noise Supressor, I use this just to put some effects which possibly generates noise

(NS-2 Loop)
K.S.Aji Tone Workshop Comp*Box, a local builder’s clone of the ross compressor (you guys should check his ebay store)
Xotic BB Preamp, for clean boost
Ibanez TS-808 Tube Screamer, for the drives sometimes I just simply swap the TS with Boss DS-2 when I need higher gain

(NS-2 Output)
EHX Stereo Pulsar Tremolo
MXR Carbon Copy Analog Delay, set for slapback delays and mostly on
Boss DD-20 Giga Delay, for longer delays and looping
Boss RV-3 Digital Reverb/Delay, always on so my tone feels ‘wide’
Korg Pitchblack Tuner, I usually put tuner somewhere in the beginning but since I hate to re-arrange the pedalboard again so I put it here ;P

Sometimes I put BBE Sonic Stomp at the end of the chain and Boss CE-2/CE-3 Choruses when I need one

All the pedals are stock, powered through an Custom Audio Japan AC/DC Station v.2, which itself powered by a random power supply I found in my garage (noisy as hell)
If you have questions, comments or anything to say, feel free to email me at graphic_equalizer[at]hotmail.com

Regards,
Agra Prabhaswara

Popularity: 10%