Effects Bay

The following is a guest post by Steven Williams. If you are interested in guest posting, please contact me!

My name is Steve I work for a music shop and am a massive guitar enthusiast. I enjoy writing about guitars and accessories. I enjoy learning new things about instruments and pedals and sharing information to anyone that wants to hear it.

Are you a Cry Baby? But just need a little advice, well I will be reviewing the different types of Jim Dunlop Cry Baby pedals to give you a bit more information about them and help you choose the correct one for you’re style of playing. The Cry Baby pedal is already an iconic figure in the guitar world thanks to users such as Slash, Eddie Van Halen and most famously Jimi Hendrix. The pedals are capable of performing a wide variety of various effects from the ‘wokka-chokka’ sounds to a cutting lead tone. From then Jim Dunlop has gone on to make a large variety of different models but are they really different?

But before we start comparing the different models we must clarify exactly what they are and how they work. Basically the Cry Baby takes the middle and upper frequencies and then filters and emphasizes them. The pedal then controls the frequency at which it is operating and allows the guitarist to play through the frequencies giving the famous ‘wah’ sound from which the Cry Baby gets its name. Then from here a few elements can be altered to change the characteristic of the sound, the amount of emphasis (or the Q) can be changed as well as the range of frequencies being let through. In addition to these the analogue circuit within the pedals can be altered to have different characteristics and effects and we will look at the 3 most popular varieties.

The Jim Dunlop Cry Baby Classic: This model is identical to the original one used way back at the birth of Rock and Roll with. However the components used haven’t been used in decades thanks to unavailability. So for the older generation of players looking for the warm vintage sound then the Cry Baby classic is ideal. In fact the only differing factor from the pedals used by Hendrix is a hard-wired bypass and a Fasel inductor, which means its even better.

The Jim Dunlop Cry Baby Original: This model is based on the original design but with a few minor enhancements to boost performance and reliability. Infamous due to its fixed Q tone and frequency range, which means the classic ‘wah’ tone in abundance.

The Jim Dunlop Cry Baby Q: Pretty self-explanatory what this is going to offer you, of course a ‘Q’ control. This means the emphasis on the effect can be increased or decreased along with a volume boost. You also receive an ‘auto-engage’ feature which conveniently activates the pedal when you place you’re foot on it.

These are just the 3 of the main models of Cry Baby’s, there are many more models each offering you different features and characteristics. The best way to find out which is the right one for you is to do you’re research and simply hear them for yourself.

Popularity: 6%

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Today’s pedal line is from Jon and Paul from Mod Gun. 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.

Love your site and would love to be featured on Pedal Line Friday!

Here are the pedal boards we use in the band Mod Gun. We are from the Boston area and gig regularly. Our music is available for free download at modgun.bandcamp.com. Please take it!

The first board is home made from ply wood and carpet. The red boss master switch toggles all of the modulations and time based effects on the second row on and off. I run into a dynacomp before my gain stages on the first row, and there is a second dynacomp outside of the switch’s loop at the end of my signal chain. I run my board through a 77 bassman 100 head with a 2×12 avatar cab loaded with eminence swamp thangs. For guitars I use a Gibson Les Paul 40th Anniversary model and a De Armond Starfire.

The signal chain goes like this
MXR Dynacomp
Guyatone SV-2 Slow Volume
MXR M-109 6 Band Graphic EQ
MXR M-104 Distortion +
MXR M-103 Blue Box
EHX Big Muff
Fulltone Octafuzz
Dunlop Fuzz Face
Boss PSM-5 Power Supply & Master Switch

Out from the switch into:
EHX Deluxe Electric Mistress
EHX Small Clone
MXR M-101 Phase 90
Guyatone MD-3 Micro Digital Delay
Boss DD-6 Digital Delay
Boss DD-3 Digital Delay
Boss TR-2 Tremolo
Boss TU-3 Chromatic Tuner

Back into the switch:
MXR Dynacomp

The second board is our lead guitarist’s Pedal Train Pro. That’s his Fender Custom Shop 1960 Stratocaster. He also uses various other Strats. He runs his board through an Orange Rockerverb 100 into a 4×12. The following pedals run through the front of his amp:

Vox V847 Wah
Xotic EP Booster
Catalinbread Ottava Magus
EHX Pog 2

The rest run through his effects loop:
EHX Little Big Muff
Zvex Fuzz Probe
EHX LPB1
Fulltone Mini Deja Vibe
Boss PH-3 Phase Shifter
Boss TR-2 Tremolo
EHX Memory Toy
EHX Freeze
Boss TU-2 Chromatic Tuner

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A while back I put together a poll about the best delay under $200, and I wanted to do another one for today. This poll is for the best wah on the market today. The wah pedal is a very personal tool, and people are very particular of the wah sounds they’re going for. Some like the funk snap, others like a very dark sweep, while others like a very bright wah sweep. Going beyond the tone, everyone has a preference of how it feels below them. What the sweep range is, how to activate the effect and how the foot feels on the pedal itself. Lots of factors.. and lots of wahs out there. So let’s start the poll. If you know of a wah that is available today, but is not on the list, please contact me or comment below. Also, love to hear your own personal feelings about the wah you chose below in the comments as well.

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Popularity: 8%

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I just came across a nice deal on the MXR MC401 Line Driver at Amazon. This is the Custom Audio Electronics (CAE) version. Quality build on the enclosure and the circuit is tight, as you would expect from CAE! The MXR MC401 Line Driver lists for $169.74, and is usually available for $99, but is currently on sale for $70.11 at Amazon! That’s $30 off regular price! This pedal is also available with FREE super saver shipping. At the time of this post, there were only 5 in stock. Usually when the stock number gets down to 1 or 2, the price will jump back up, so if you’re looking for a line driver.. this is a great opportunity to get one at a great price.

Here is the official description of the MXR MC401 Line Driver:

MXR and Custom Audio Electronics founder Bob Bradshaw – two names that have shaped the tones of the world’s greatest guitarists – join forces to bring you a dynamic new line of pedals. The Boost/Overdrive and Boost pedals are the first offerings in the series produced by MXR, featuring the unique sonic stamp of legendary designer Bob Bradshaw. Since 1980, CAE’s innovative pedal designs were made in limited quantities only for his select clientele. When it was time to bring these pedals to the masses, there was only one name he could trust to deliver the same quality and standards that his customers demand – MXR. Available only from Dunlop Manufacturing, Inc., the world’s leader in analog pedal technology. MC-401 Boost/Line Driver The MC-401 is simple in design but superbly effective in solving a variety of mis-matched line level and signal conditioning problems that can occur when combining effects. The MC-401′s circuit design has been used for years by CAE in the world’s best guitarist’s rigs to remedy these problems and rejuvenate the sparkle, punch and brilliance that can be lost. It can also be used as an ultra-clean boost for solos or to drive effects for more dynamics and sensitivity.

Again, the MXR MC401 (CAE) Line Driver is on sale for only $70.11 at Amazon!

Popularity: 6%

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A while back.. , maybe two years ago? I was in a little Judas Priest tribute project. A friend of mine grew up with Judas Priest’s British Steel album, and he wanted to put a project together where the band played that entire album front to back. As for me, I wasn’t the greatest JP fan, but definitely had a phase in high school. I definitely appreciate the concept of ‘project’ vs. ‘tribute band’. The difference is that it’s a limited run. Minimal shows (less than 5) and that’s it.. you move on. You don’t end up as a perpetual tribute band. I definitely could relate since I did a Joy Division one years ago where we played only one show.. and that was it. These projects are an absolute blast and really enjoy it when an opportunity presents itself.

Today I came across a rig rundown of Richie Faulkner of Judas Priest. Richie, in 2011 took over for KK Downing after he announced his retirement. If anyone knows the reason for the retirement.. let me know. Quite curious.

The following video is by EMGBackstage where Richie’s guitar tech breaks down the goods. I set the starting point to be at the pedals, but there are some sweet guitars at the beginning that are worth a watch:

Here is the breakdown of pedals:

Boss CH-1 Super Chorus
MXR Carbon Copy Analog Delay
Boss OD-3 Overdrive
Electro-Harmonix Micro POG
Boss NS-2 Noise Suppressor

Voodoo Lab Ground Control
Crybaby GCB-95 Wah
Dunlop Rotovibe

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Today’s pedal line is from Matt Streit. 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.

My name is Matt Streit, I am 29 years old, graphic designer/musician/effects pedal builder-designer-enthusiast.  I sing and play bass in a sludge metal band called Burrows www.facebook.com/burrowsct http://burrowsmusic.bandcamp.com/ and I have an acoustic/solo project called the Forest Room www.youtube.com/theforestroom.

I built this pedalboard myself, along with a few of the pedals on it.

In Order:

Boss TU-2 tuner – I use a daisy chain from this to power the other pedals, except for the Jamman and the DD-7.

Dunlop Crybaby Bass wah wah pedal (heavily modded gcb95 – “Bass Wah of Doom”) – a co-worker gave me this bass wah after cleaning his studio, must’ve been sitting for years, it was dirty, had spider nests in it, probably didnt’ work, so I cleaned it up, re-painted it, and did a bunch of mods to it.  I did this Foot-on-Switch/true bypass mod to it that I found on instructables.com, a pretty useful switching option I must say; there’s normal crybaby switching and then with a flip of a switch I can have the effect in use only when my foot is on that little red momentary switch on the foot pedal.  I also did a Q control mod, bass switch mod, and volume swell mod to it from Griffin Effects.  I don’t use wah with the music I play really, but the volume swell is something I use and the wah does go well with creating weird and varying soundscapes combined with my other effects pedals.  This sat for a year after I painted it and before assembling it and for some reason the paint didn’t take too well so it’s got some chipping now, I might touch it up or I might keep it.  The “beat up” look doesn’t look bad.

GGG Dan Armstrong Orange Squeezer Compressor/”Happy Happy Joy Joy Squeezer” – This was from a kit from General Guitar Gadgets.  One of my early pedal builds.  I designed the artwork, painted it, applied the artwork, and assembled it.  It’s a nice simple pedal and does what I want it for.  I really only use it for a more consistent volume/tone when doing two-hand tapping stuff.

EHX Bass Big Muff - Excellent distortion pedal for bass and I’ve tried a good handful before settling on this.  I usually use the “dry mode” and because of that, I am able to mix it well live when with other distortion pedals I’ve used in the past have either been too much or not enough.

EHX Octave Multiplexer – Excellent Octave pedal.  Great Tracking.  Get some great synthesizer-type sounds combined with my distortion.

BYOC Reverb/”Deep Sea Verb” – I’ve tried several reverb pedals, kind of a long story how/why I got to this one, but I did a freelance paint/design/graphic application/re-housing to a pedal for a guy in Maryland who had seen my builds on some of the gear messageboards I check out and post on.  He bought me the kit in exchange for my services and I must say I’m very happy with this reverb pedal.  I did a couple mods to the circuitboard that I found on the BYOC messageboard and through contacting them about it, basically put two trimpots in spots so I could mix the wet and dry to perfection.  My favorite pedal art on my board.  I did a mixed paint job, green base, with some blue misted over it.  I’m really into the Planet Earth BBC documentaries and I took a screen shot from the Caverns episode that I liked and added a diver to it and used a blue led light to make it look like the diver’s flashlight.  I think it’s pretty cool when the led light is a part of the artwork.  Looks and sounds awesome.

Boss PS-3 Pitch Shifter/Delay – This pedal is kind of a secret weapon haha.  I get some very unique sounds from it.  I use two different settings in a couple subtle small parts, but you can play with this thing for days and get all sorts of weird stuff.

Boss DD-7 Digital Delay w/ tap tempo – Excellent and functional delay pedal.  I usually just keep it in the analog setting.  I first got into looping parts with this pedal cuz it has the loop function which is awesome and easy to use.  I built the tap tempo pedal that’s with it which is very useful to have.  The tap tempo made a popping noise when I used the daisy chain to power this, so I got a separate adapter for it which solved the problem.

Digitech Jamman Looper/Sampler w/ footswitch – I wanted to be able to add more and do more with live looping that the DD-7 can’t do, so I bought this from a guy on craigslist and got a great deal.  I use live looping more with the Forest Room project I do, but this is also a very useful tool for writing.  I also sometimes load drum beats and/or synthesizer parts that I create in Reason to this pedal.  I haven’t used it much with my current band, but i’m sure it’ll get more use in the future.  For a trio situation, it is nice to be able to layer parts and sounds to fill up space if needed.  I do a lot of multi-tasking haha.  I built the footswitch that goes with it which allows me to go up and down the sound banks of the pedal as well as switching between the auto record function.

Everything is pretty tight in my pedalboard, but I love it and I don’t really have any need for any more pedals any time soon.

I primarily play two Ibanez SR1205 five string neck-thru basses (my main bass is natural color with an aguilar obp-3 onboard preamp and my back-up is the same bass stock electronics and is transparent black).  My amp is a Gallien-Krueger 1001RB head with an Ampeg 6×10 cabinet that I put a steel grill over the mesh cover and I put black speaker carpet on the entire cab for better protection.  For the Forest Room, I play a 1985 limited edition Ovation Celebrity acoustic guitar and an Ibanez AEB30 acoustic bass guitar that I converted to fretless, coated the neck, and put flatwounds on, and plug that into a small 1×10 peavey bass combo amp.

Thanks for looking!

Sincerely,
- Matt Streit

Popularity: 7%

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Today’s pedal line is from Peter Trabucchi. 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 play with this pedal setup in my band Roadside Manor.  I use a Vox AC30 an my main guitar is a Mexican made Fender Stratocaster with Lace Sensor Gold Pickups (easy adjustment to make a MIM Strat sound amazing).

This is my pedal line from the instrument-amplifier:

* Dunlop Crybaby Wah *: A true classic…

* Boss PH-3 Phase Shifter *: This is a pretty sweet phaser many different modes and sounds in such a small pedal (I have a Boss FS-5L attached to it as the expression pedal to change the rate)

* Digitech Whammy *: This is one of my newest pedals.  You can get all kinds of sweet harmonizing sounds with this pedal and it’s really a blast to play with

* Keeley Katana Clean Boost *: This pedal is a great boost pedal.  The volume knob pulls out to convert into an overdrive pedal as well.  I use this when I need a nice, crisp solo sound

* Ibanez TS9DX Turbo Tube Screamer *: This pedal is much like the TS9 made by Ibanez, but it has different modes you can set it to.  This one works well for getting a real dirty, crunchy solo tone

* Ibanez TS9 Tube Screamer *: Another classic, works great for a real crunchy tone

* Boomerang III Phrase Sampler *: A sweet loop pedal that can loop up to 17 minutes of recorded audio.  It has many different functions, including a reverse function which will play back what you are playing in reverse (it records 8 second chunks and plays that 8 seconds while you continue playing and it is recording another 8 seconds and so on, I haven’t mastered it just yet but it seems like it could be interesting to use)

* Boss TU-3 Chromatic Tuner *: A nice, simple tuner pedal

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Today’s pedal line is from Justin Wright. 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.

My name is Justin Wright. I hope you’ll accept my submission.

I’m not in a band right now, but I work for and play at a large church in Atlanta (www.evangelcc.org). My own personal style is blues rooted. We play a variety of music styles so I keep up a pretty large board to keep my options open. Here’s my line in the order I route the signal:

* Pedal Train PT-Pro Pedal BoardPedal Train PT-Pro Pedal Board *
* Crybaby Wah * – My first pedal ever, using it since high school
* DOD EQ * – I use this at the front end, mainly to scoop some mids and give me some line boost because of the long chain.
* Ernie Ball VP Jr. * – Great for swells and just muting the chain.
* TC Electronic PolyTune * (Fed from the “tuner” out on the VP Jr.)-Great tuner, lets you tune one note at a time or strum all six and see anything flat or sharp.
* Digitech Harmony Man Intelligent Pitch Shifter * – This pedal is just fun, makes tons of usable sounds from harmonies to normal octave up and down. Has to be near the front as it requires a clean signal.
* Mad Professor Sweet Honey Overdrive (PCB Version) * – This is a great natural sounding over drive. The great feature of this one is that it has a “focus” know that responds to your guitars attack. I have it dialed in so that playing soft/medium is pretty clean and digging in breaks up. Very versatile. (This pedal is fed from the Dist. Send/Return from the Harmony Man so that I can have dirty octave sounds if I want.)
* Visual Sound Route66 * – Another one of my original pedals. Combination Compressor (based on the Ross and the MXR Dyna Comp) and a Overdrive that’s a TS-808 clone with a bass boost, which I keep on. One of these effects is usually on at all times.
* ZVex Vexter Series Fuzz Factory * – I honestly don’t use this much, but it’s great to bring the noise if you need that.
* Carl Martin Classic Chorus * – This pedal has a great chorus and a switchable vibrato sound. I use both sounds some. The great part about this one is that it has a great gain circuit that gives lets me dial in that “tubes are just about to break up sound” with ease.
* Lovepedal Les Lius * – This one is supposed to sound like a Fender Tweed amp set to explode. Not so sure about that. To me this is the Keith Richards box. It just sounds like the Stones to me.
* Line6 DL4 Delay Modeler * – This is not the best sounding, most nuanced delay out there, but for ease of live use, versatility and cost it’s a winner for me. Also, it’s built like a tank.
* Visual Sound H20 Liquid Chorus * – Love this one, much less subtle of a chorus that the Carl Martin one plus it also has a great analog sounding delay that I’m currently using as an echo.
* Godlyke Power Supply + Visual Sound 1Spot Supply * – I’m using bits and pieces of both of these systems, but I find Visual Sound to be superior in all cases.

My current amp is a Fender Deluxe Reverb Reiss

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I came across Premier Guitar‘s Rig Rundown video of Dream Theater’s John Petrucci. I know there are a few Dream Theater fans out there that read EffectsBay.com so I thought I would re-post the video and break down the pedal board here as well. Some points that I thought were interesting on the video were the faux-stacks on stage. I know a lot of acts do this, but it still seems pretty goofy to me. Interesting that he has the cabs off stage isolated. This definitely is the best method to avoid stage bleed, etc and to get the amps cranked while giving the sound guy complete control. Using in-ear monitors gives the perfect mix, but I definitely can relate to not ‘feeling’ the air move from the cabs. To remedy this, John has kicker speakers next to his pedals (where he rests his foot) and in the 2×12 cabs on the backline. That way he can feel some air moving and some vibration from the guitar. Interesting technique!

Here is the video by Premier Guitar:

This is the breakdown..

On the rack:
Keely Mod Tubescream TS9DX FLEXI-4X2
Boss PH-3 Phase Shifter
MXR EVH-117 Flanger
Carl Martin Compressor Limiter
Voodoo Lab Pedal Power
Loop GRX 4 Axess Switching system
Possibly a older Ibanez TS808 on the B rig. I couldn’t get a great look at that pedal.

On the floor:
Axess  FX1 foot controller
Boss TU-3 Tuner
Dunlop Wah Control Pedal for Crybaby rack system
Earnie Ball Volume Pedal

I thought it was also interesting that the Carl Martin Compressor/Limiter was the winner of his own personal compressor shoot out. I’ve definitely seen those around for a good price on occasion.

Please let me know if you see anything incorrect or something that needs to be updated by contacting me or commenting below!

Popularity: 13%

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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

Popularity: 11%

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