Effects Bay

Today on Facebook, I saw a Lava Cable post where they posted a photo of Kenny Wayne Shepherd’s pedal board. That was interesting enough, but what really caught my eye was that the pedals were on a Helweg Custom Pedalboard. I’ve interviewed Michael Helweg in the past, and I really like the look of his boards. You can read that interview here – “Introducing Helweg Pedalboards“. It’s great to see that Helweg is getting some big names with his boards. There is no doubt the look of the boards are pretty great.

I haven’t listened to any Kenny Wayne Shepherd stuff.. probably since the late 90s, but I do remember he had pretty stellar tone. I thought I’d take this opportunity to break down his latest board. Lots of good stuff to be found on there for sure.

Butler Tube Driver
Ibanez Tube Screamer TS808HW
Jam Pedals Delay Llama w/hold footswitch
Dunlop Uni-Vibe UV1 Chorus/Vibrato
MXR M-103 Blue Box
Boss TU-3 Tuner
Chicago Iron Works Octavia
Analogman Bi-Chorus
Dunlop MC-404 CAE Wah
Analogman King of Tone

Voodoo Lap Switcher x2
Voodoo Lab Commander

Let me know if you see anything incorrect or missing by commenting below

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John Mayer is another guitar player that I’m not a big fan of, but I definitely respect his guitar tone and quality of play. This guy can really lay down some awesome guitar. I remember catching a few live performances on TV that really impressed me, so when I came across this Premier Guitar Rig Rundown I wanted to share this. It’s a little old (9/8/10), but I would assume some of the pedals are still in the line up.. if not all of them.

This video really shows what’s all involved with his guitar tone. Premier Guitar’s Rebecca Dirks interviews Rene Martinez (guitar tech for Stevie Ray Vaughn, Prince, Mick Jones). Video submitted by PremierGuitar

As you notice, Rene doesn’t go into detail about the pedals except for the fact that they’re using a Bradshaw switching system.. and that they’re on in the trays. I wish he would have talk about a few of them – ie: the Roger Linn pedals, etc. I was able to get good screen snaps off all the pedals and was able to identify all of them. Here is the breakdown of pedals below.

Rack 1

Eventide Timefactor Delay
Way Huge Electronics Aqua Puss (vintage mk1)

Rack 2

Boss GE-7 Equalizer
Eventide Timefactor Delay
Ibanez TS10 Tube Screamer
Roger Linn Adrenalinn III

Rack 3

Marshall Blues Breaker
Analogman 3 knob compressor
Klon Centaur (silver)
Korg G4 Rotary Speaker Simulator

Rack 4

Roger Linn AdrenaLinn
Roger Linn AdrenaLinn II

Floor 1

Bradshaw foot controller
Boss TU-2 x3
MXR MC401 CAE Boost / Line Driver

Floor 2

Keeley Katana
RMC8-Guitar Eqwahlyzer
Radial JDI passive direct box
Custom A/B/Mute Box w/XLR out for Acoustic
Keeley True Bypass Looper

Floor 3

Uni-Vibe w/foot controller (vintage Unicord/Univox U-915 Shiftee Uni-Vibe)

If you see anything that’s incorrect, or notice something that I missed, please let me know by commenting below!

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The Smashing Pumpkins are on tour again, and TC Electronic posted some photos of a recent show. In those shots, there is a great shot of Billy Corgan‘s pedal rack. There are some interesting pedals in there, but I was mostly surprised.. no Big Muff? It’s great to have a recent photo of his gear!

Here is the shot of his pedal rack:

Digitech Whammy
Voodoo Lab Micro Vibe
Blue Collar Menatone
Analogman Standard Chorus
MXR EVH117 Flanger
Keeley Electronics Nova Wah
Xotic Effects RC Booster
Analogman Peppermint Fuzz

I’m not sure if there are additional pedals at his feet close by to the controller or not. If anyone has additional information/photos please let me know.

Here is a shot of the full pedal rack:

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Today’s pedal line is from Ken Stern. 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 primarily play a 6-string short-scale bass. Currently using a Schecter Hellcat VI and a Burns Barracuda which are both more or less in the Fender Bass VI category. I like a vintage sound, so I focused on accumulating some vintage Boss effects. Here’s my path… Bass > Korg Pitchblack tuner > Boss PH-1r Phaser (Phasers ­ to me anyway – are more like Wah pedals than modulation as they cut or notch a frequency that is swept to electronically so I put it early in the chain) > Tech 21 VT Bass which I use primarily for OD and some distortion and tone shaping rather than pre-amping. If I was pre-amping with it I would probably put it at the end of the chain just before the looper.) > Analogman Standard Chorus which has an optional “Deep” toggle switch on it which makes it sound significantly better with a bass when it’s engaged. I also run it at 18v for more headroom. This is really the ultimate bass chorus. > Boss BF-2 Flanger (there is a bass version of this but I feel this non-bass version sounds better) > Boss DD-2 Delay which I had modded by Dan at This1smyne to have more a tape-like effect with the flick of a switch. Last on the chain is a Boss RC-2 Loop Station with a custom This1smyne duel footswitch. I have all of this mounted on a Pedaltrain Jr and powered with a TRex Fuel Tank Jr. I mounted the Fuel Tank Jr. invisibly under the board using 3M Dual-Lock. Perfect fit. I also have a rare and quite bizarre sounding Danelectro Sitar Swami which is not on the board right now. This board set-up also works just fine with my 1982 Guild D-35 acoustic which I had electrified with a K&K Sound Pure-Mini pick-up. The design of the K&K is fantastic. It does not at all degrade or impact the non-electrified acoustic sound or in any way alter the aesthetics of the guitar as it is totally invisible. The cord plug is built into the side strap button. Great tone and not at all intrusive. It is a perfect solution. Also, the “Deep Toggle” on the Analogman Chorus gives me the flexibility to adjust it with a flip of the toggle so it sounds great with the acoustic as well.

I’m not in a band. Instead, I concentrate on home-recording via a M-Audio Firewire Solo interface into a MacBook Pro i7 with GarageBand. I use a small Acoustic brand bass amp for amplification when practicing and for micing into the Firewire interface when I need it.

Ken Stern

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Over at Never Too Late Guitar, he posted a great post where he compares the EHX Big Muff Pi (Wicker Switch Version) against the Analog Sun Face NKT 275. He played his 1957 Reissue Gibson Les Paul Goldtop and a Vox AC15CC.

Along with his description of settings, he provided a nice little video with audio clips of the two different effects. Personally, he did the clips the way I like them. Simple. Play the same ‘simple’ thing with one pedal, then play it again with the other pedal. I thought it gave a great interpretation of what the pedals sound like in the real world. Obviously, different guitar and amp can change this as well, or the application of the pedal… meaning do you use a fuzz to ‘wool’ up your lead tone, or is it stand alone for rhythm or specific lead tone. I personally have a few pedals just for ‘wool’ (not sure if that’s a official term or what), but I use them for giving body to lead. I don’t particularly like the pedal by itself, but love it after the TS9 for example.

Anyway, kudos to Never Too Late Guitar. Great comparison. You should check it out!

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