Effects Bay

Today’s pedal line is from Michael Stettes. 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 bass (and do some light synth work) in Sam Cooper & The Sleepwalkers, a Wilco-ish, Sun Kil Moon-y sort of band that I love dearly. We just did a winter EP called “Snow” and you can download the three songs off it for FREE at http://samcoopersolo.bandcamp.com/releases. It includes an original as well as two covers. So if you wanna hear some slackers put their own spin on “Kiss From a Rose” as well as the Christmas classic, “Walking in the Air,” boom, do it. I mean, it’s friggin’ Seal, man. Get some.

The Bass: I’m only using one bass guitar right now–a MIM Fender P-bass that’s been completely gutted, sanded down, and rebuilt to emulate a 60′s P-bass in every way. Electronics have been replaced, frets have been sanded, and it’s been repainted with a nitrocellulose laquer (ReRanch Sonic Blue) with the headstock matched. The coat has started to become a little seafoamy with time, but that’s just fine. Here are a few pics, one with me in it from a gig a little while ago. The pic with the driftwood came from the luthier who sold it to me, and he didn’t include the tugbar, but I wouldn’t have used it anyway. I also put a sizable nick in the headstock that I’m irked about, but like the luthier told me to do when I bought it from him, I’ve been “playing the hell out of it.”

The Board: I use a modified Pedal Pad AXSII. It’s really heavy but it’s super durable. I loved the board but since I bought it used, the carpet wasn’t in the best condition. I ripped it off, painted the bare wood black, and drilled some 12″x12″ aluminum sheets into it. They’re lightweight, and good for adhesive strips of velcro. I’m thinking of modding it further by drilling a handle between the wooden flaps so I can lift both up at once.

The Power: I use a Voodoo Labs Pedal Power 2 and have a Visual Sound 1-Spot plugged into the PP2′s outlet. The only thing I don’t like about the PP2 is the fact that because the barrel connectors are straight, it’s hard to fit them in tight spaces, like on pedals with 9v jacks on the side right next to the jacks. That’s where the 1-spot’s angled connectors come in. I have the PP2 attached with velcro to the underside of one of the flaps, reinforced by super glue. Super-glue is awesome. I’ve noticed some minor noise that I think is likely ground-loop related and cuased by the daisy chain, so I’ll likely get a Voodoo Lab ISO-5 at some point to supplement MAH POWAH.

The Cables: Most of the connections on the board are made using Planet Waves Solderless Pedal Board Cables. I strongly recommend them. Easy to make and use. I have a couple of DiMarzio Patch Cables, an Armor Gold one, and a few cheapies of origins unknown. I use a Monster Rock cable from the guitar to the board. People say Monster is overrated, and that’s probably true, but their Rock cables coil extremely well, look good, and have never given me an issue. From the board to the amp, I use an Armor Gold cable.

Korg Pitchblack Tuner: Nice and bright. Does its job and does it well. The footswitch has gotten a little glitchy over the years and I might repair it soon. I’d prolly get another if I had to replace it.

Boss DF-2 Super Feedbacker & Distortion: Many reviews knock the dirt of this pedal, but I actually dig it. However, I don’t use this as a dirt pedal live. I solely use it for its feedback function in combination with my other pedals to create cool, droney soundscapin’, which is why I don’t mind it being in front of the compressor. I’ve toyed with the idea of getting the new Boss FB-2 Feedbacker/Booster as a replacement, and storing the SF-2 for safekeeping since it’s discontinued. Oh, and I had a guy put a purple LED in mine, because fuck red.

Ashdown Dual Band Compressor: A buddy of mine had this sitting around his house and just gave it to me. I had never messed with a bass compressor pedal before. I was definitely missing out. I almost always leave it on now. It’s got a pretty big footprint, but I love the sound it gives me. Plus, the EQ on it is really powerful.

Fender Sub-Lime Bass Fuzz: What a cool pedal in both looks and sounds. Rockin’ ballsy vintage bass fuzz. Comes with a price though: learning curve, weighs a bit, and some of the controls are under the pedal. I’ve thought about having it rehoused by Walrus Audio and renaming it the “Sub-lemon-al Bass Fuzz” (see what I did there?). Still, I love it. This is my go-to pedal for dirt live. I stack it with the El Oso if I need even more.

Devi Ever U.S. Fuzz: Gated, sputtery doom. Lacks a little low end, but I can adjust the amp for that and it’s good for smooth, synthy, saw-like fuzz. It’s actually off my board now (I had stolen it from my guitarist and he wanted it back, d’oh!) I now have a clone of the U.S. Fuzz that Noisekick FX did for me called the “DEUS,” which means “GOD” in Latin, but also pays tribute to the original: Devi Ever US. The clone has an an additional toggle switch for more low end. I combine it with the Hummingbird for cool pulse sounds.

Heavy Electronics El Oso Bass Distortion: Use this when I want a mostly clean tone with a background of sizzle. Thank you Blend knob! Sayer, the proprietor of Heavy Electronics, is an awesome chappie, and you really can’t go wrong with his pedals. Ever.

Earthquaker Devices Hummingbird: This is essentially a tremolo, but Earthquaker refers to it as a repeat percussion pedal, which is probably more accurate. It’s all chop, can get really fast, and its depth goes all the way to silence. Exceptional pedal.

Danelectro Cool Cat Chorus: While this can definitely add some thickness to the dirt and the drones, this is strictly a placeholder pedal. I will soon be replacing this with the Source Audio Soundblox Bass Envelope Filter. And yes, I’m getting the Hot Hands to go with it. I’m torn on whether or not I should get the “Pro” version of it. If I get a bigger board though, I’ll keep the Cool Cat because I like the spund of chorus on bass, but in that instance, I may replace it with the Tech 21 Bass Boost Chorus.

MXR Carbon Copy Analog Delay: You see this bad boy everywhere for a reason. Solid, dark, analog delay. I’ve tweaked the internal controls for more modulation.

Line 6 Verbzilla: There are two main things I use this reverb for. The first is the Octo setting for thickening the feedbacker drones and for other shimmery things. The second is the Ducking verb, which is really ideal for bass guitar. It responds to your playing dynamics. The louder you play, the less reverb you hear, so your signal isn’t muddied, and when a note rings out, the verb fades back in. Plus, the Verbzilla has a trails switch that I think is ideal for delay/reverb pedals.

The Amp: Nothing fancy. Just a little Ampeg BA115 Combo.

Thanks for reading! i know I probably included a lot of details you don’t care about, but I personally like reading that kind of stuff, and thought others might as well! Again! Free songs! Seal! http://samcoopersolo.bandcamp.com/releases

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Today’s pedal line is from Adam Parker. 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.

Hey there, I love your site and keep up with you guys daily through Facebook.

I wanted to submit my pedal line to you before the year ended, because it’s a collection that started just under 12 months ago in January. Everything shown in the picture attached has been acquired since then. I sold some unused gear of mine, and the simple want for a nice tremolo pedal quickly turned into a mild obsession of the ever growing world of boutique guitar effects and their builders.

My current group, Honest Engine, is a recording only project- so I keep my pedals un-mounted and unwired which I feel encourages me to constantly experiment with various combinations and order.  Also, while recording I typically only run my signal just through the pedals that I am using for that particular part.  I feel that this practice helps keep down excess noise.

Please visit my Facebook or ReverbNation page to hear some of the Honest Engine material, or to just say hello:
http://www.facebook.com/honestenginemusic
http://www.reverbnation.com/honestengine

Pedals listed by builder/brand:

VFE Effects:
Alpha Dog – Vintage distortion, capable of achieving some really dirty old combo amp sounds (and more). [info]

Blueprint Delay – Great all around analog voiced delay.  Extremely versatile for subtle effect to intense modulation. [info]

Enterprise – Great phaser, very thick and warm. [info]

Catalinbread:
Manx Loaghtan Fuzz - A Ram’s head Big Muff Clone.  This pedal is a beast. [info]

Montavillian Echo – Digitally voiced delay to mimic old echo tube effects.  Great for long, long delays. The self-oscillation is unreal, this is very unique sounding delay in my opinion. [info]

Dr. Scientist:
The Tremolessence – Simply put, one of (if not the) best sounding most revered tremolo pedals available today.

http://www.drscientist.ca/pedals/trem

EarthQuaker Devices:
Sea Machine – An extremely non-traditional sounding and operating chorus pedal.  It’s an analog/digital hybrid (so they say), and it very easily and quickly turns from a slight chorus to extreme modulation of tone. Basically using anything more than the Depth and Rate knobs on this pedal will take your tone into territory outside of a traditional chorus effect. That being said, it’s probably not a great substitute for a simple analog chorus, it’s definitely best when used for effects that other chorus pedals cannot achieve. [info]

Menatone:
Das Boost – A great sounding transparent, signal boost pedal. [info]

Sonic Research:
Turbo Tuner Model ST-200 – Extremely accurate, solid as a brick, easy to tune up with and the strobe is a great visual.  True bypass. [info]

Thanks
-Adam

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Today I wanted to talk about Juan Alderete of The Mars Volta. I was psyched to be able to break down a sweet bass player board. I noticed at Premiere Guitar they had some rig run downs of Juan and Omar so I thought I would feature them here.

Juan went into detail on some of the pedals, but passed over a few. I went ahead and broke down all the pedals on the board. He was showing off his Fender fretless bass as well, which threw me off for a second – sounds like a fretless but with frets? He’ll explain it in the video below.

TC Electronic Polytune Tuner
Boss CS-2 Compressor/Sustainer
Boss VB-2 Vibrato
Boss OC-2 Octave
Digitech Meat Box FX32
Wren and Cuff Pickle Pie B Fuzz
Earthquaker Devices Ghost Disaster
Digitech Multiplay PDS FX0893
Line 6 DL4 Delay Modeler
Pigtronix Envelope Phaser
Boss PN-2 Tremolo/Pan
Custom Audio Electronics (CAE) MXR MC-403 Power System

Here is the video by PremiereGuitar

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While working on tomorrow’s demo/review post, I stumbled across Fat Tone’s video review of the Earthquaker Devices Dirt Transmitter pedal, so I thought I would mention this real quick like. Seems like a very interesting lo-fi style pedal that might be the thing you’re looking for! When I say lo-fi, I think I’m saying old-school retro fuzz, something about it.. is quite cool.

Here is the official description:

The EarthQuaker Devices Dirt Transmitter Pedal is designed for the fuzz pedal fan who wants it all. It features a dual transistor setup for the fuzz tone we all look for. Built with only the finest parts, the EarthQuaker Devices Dirt Transmitter Pedal is almost silent when in engaged and completely quiet when disengaged thanks for the true bypass switch.

The EarthQuaker Devices Dirt Transmitter Pedal has an unbelievable range of tones lurking within it’s industrial metal case. The key to the sound is the Bias control which controls the voltage being sent to the transistors. It allows the Dirt Transmitter to have a cool gated style fuzz when twisted counter clockwise and when turned back the other way the fuzz returns to normal. The transistors become properly biased at around 2 O’Clock. Add to that a Tone knob that is essentially a bass cut, and you begin to realize the power that is the EarthQuaker Devices Dirt Transmitter Pedal.

* True Bypass
* LED Indicator
* Standard Boss-Style 9 volt adapter or battery (battery included)
* Top Quality parts
* Handmade in Akron, Ohio

And here is the video that I was referring to:

You can pick up the Earthquaker Devices Dirt Transmitter pedal for $145.00 at Fat Tone Guitars.

Remember, if you like reading about these pedals and seeing videos reviews from others, please subscribe to the RSS feed and get notified via email when there are new postings!

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A couple of days ago, I posted about Fat Tone Guitar exclusively selling the Earthquaker Devices Zap Machine Fuzz pedal for $175. At that time, they did not have a video demo of the pedal. Looks like Phil whipped up a quick one… and here it is:

You can pick up the Earthquaker Devices Zap Machine Fuzz Pedal for $175.00 at FatToneGuitars.com

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Phil from Fat Tone Guitars let me know of a exclusive pedal deal only available at Fat Tone. It’s the Earthquaker Devices Zap Machine fuzz pedal!  This is a limited run pedal made for Fat Tone exclusively, which is pretty neat and unique!

Here are the specifics:

What’s silver, sounds big and fuzzy and only available at Fat Tone Guitars? The Earthquaker Devices Zap Machine. This limited edition fuzz pedal has a very wide and dynamic range from near clean boost with the fuzz at minimum through overloaded fuzz tones with fuzz at maximum. Control over the low end frequencies lets you change the character of the Zap Machine. The bass knob allows it to behave as an overdrive, distortion or fuzz box depending on where the bass and fuzz controls are set.

The Zap Machine also has excellent response to picking dynamics, a trait rarely found in fuzz boxes. Cleans up nicely with the volume knob on your guitar too. True Bypass and built one at a time in Akron, OH.

Features
* True Bypass
* Level – Controls the volume
* Fuzz – From boost to overload and everything in between
* Bass – Controls the sub frequencies and character of the dirt
* 9V DC adapter (not included) or 9V battery
* Hand made
* Limited Edition with low serial number

Phil also mentioned that he shot a video demo of this pedal, and when it’s out, I’ll post it as well. You can pick up the Earthquaker Devices Zap Machine Fuzz pedal for $175.00 at Fat Tone Guitars only!

Remember, if you like reading about pedals and seeing videos reviews from others, please subscribe to the RSS feed and get notified via email when there are new postings!

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I saw that Fat Tone Guitars recently had a pedal reviewed by Gearmanndude, so I had to check it out. It’s the Earthquaker Devices Ghost Echo Reverb.

Here is the official description of the pedal:

The Ghost Echo Reverb is designed to emulate a vintage reverb unit. It ‘s capable of providing a little atmosphere all the way through to vast depths. The attack control sets the delay of the initial pick attack on the wet signal only. When playing staccato this registers as a slap back type echo hitting the reverb but when playing fluid lines it adds a massive depth and “fattens” up the sound. The dwell control is a fine tune function that enhances the decay. At first it may seem like it’s not there but back it off and you’ll miss it. The depth controls the intensity of the reverb.

And, here is the review by gearmanndude:

You can pick up the Earthquaker Devices Ghost Echo Reverb for $155.00 at FatToneGuitars.com!

Remember, if you like reading about these pedals and seeing videos reviews from others, please subscribe to the RSS feed and get notified via email when there are new postings!

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