Effects Bay

One of my favorite computer pass times is to head over to the You Tubes and see if I can find something new musically. I really like music. I like playing. I like listening to it, but what I really like.. is to be inspired from it. That inspiration can be found in many forms – oldies but goodies, a horrible musician, that made a good noise at one point, or even an interview of a musician that makes me think of music in a new way.

Usually during this process I find at least one band that caught my ear for whatever reason, so I really try to do this a couple a times per month. The worst is being stuck in a musical rut. I think back to high school and how so much music was ‘new’ to me. Every person I met, every party I would go to, would be a new musical discovery. It’s not because there was more music back then, but I was very open and I wanted to explore. I think it’s good to keep that attitude today.

Anyways, I stumbled upon The Joy Formidable and something about it caught my ear. I like the chaos that was created by their effects. I like the drive of the tune countered by the pop/nice vocal style of Ritzy Bryan. I like that this video (by kexpradio) was shot in a bike shop, etc. They are from North Wales, UK and.. I want to hear more.

So, as you can see, there are some pedals on the floor. Let’s break down Ritzy Bryan’s board for this post:

Line 6 Echo Park Delay
Boss GE-7 Equalizer
Boss DD-3 Digital Delay
Boss DD-3 Digital Delay
Boss GE-7 Equalizer
Boss LS-2 Line Selector
Electro-Harmonix Micro POG
Line 6 DM4 Distortion Modeler
Line 6 FM4 Filter Modeler
MXR 10 Band Graphic EQ
Boss PH-3 Phaser
Boss TR-2 Tremolo
Voodoo Lab Pedal Power 2+

I saw that she was manipulating two pedals, and I had a hard time seeing what that pedal was below her hand in the photo above, but I was able to capture one frame that shows it. It looks like she’s manipulating a pair of Boss DD-3 Digital Delays. It was also interesting to see that she has a total of 3 equalizers (2 Boss GE-7 and 1 MXR 10 band). I’m guessing she has a lead route and a rhythm route (based on the Boss LS-2). Still not sure what the MXR 10 band is there for. I was unable see the settings on the 10band, but both GE-7 were flat with the exception of the output (so using them as boost maybe?).

Let me know if I missed anything.. or if anything is correct by commenting below! Thanks!

UPDATE
The pedal I identified as a Line 6 Echo Park, might actually be a Line 6 Verbzilla. Additionally, right of the MXR 10 Band EQ is a Boss TU-3 Tuner (not seen in the photos above)

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So there has definitely been a lot of talk about Van Halen these days. New album. New tour. Back in the day (we’re talking 8th grade or so) I was a HUGE Van Halen fan (probably like a few of you). I remember making calls about picking up a Kramer guitar. This was WAY before I even held a guitar in my hands for the first time. So I guess, the reason I play guitar today is because of Eddie? Maybe.

I was bummed reading about Eddie’s behavior from Sammy on the last tour (I can’t remember if it was the last tour or not) and seeing some of the few clips where Eddie definitely wasn’t Eddie of old. I really hope for 2012 things are better for him. Yesterday, I saw that Lava Cables posted a photo of Eddie Van Halen’s pedal board from the recent gig at Cafe Wah (which I believe is the first show of their tour on Jan 5th).

Here is the photo that was posted and the breakdown of Eddie Van Halen’s pedals:

Here is the breakdown of pedals

MXR M234 Analog Chorus
Custom Mute Box
Dunlop EVH EVH95 Wah
Boss OC-3 Super Octave
MXR EVH117 EVH Flanger
MXR EVH Phase 90
G-LAB PB-1 Power Supply
6 loop bypass switch
4 loop bypass switch

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Early on in my guitar youth, I always had a chip on my shoulder about Stevie. Not sure why, because I never really listened to him, etc.  I was young and had a narrow opinion of music and styles. When I began to actually ‘study’ guitar a little bit and wanted to improve myself and learn, that is when my eyes and ears opened. I began to respect quality of play regardless of styles or genre of music. I started to *hear* tone and marvel at effortless play, that was truly inspirational. Stevie Ray Vaughan definitely captures that, but the point that blew me away was watching an episode of Austin City Limits with some old live footage. I was absolutely blown away by how he played. His aggression with the guitar, but how clean it was sounding. How effortless it appeared for him to lay down some serious licks. At that point… I said… “I get it now.. yeah, I get it”. He was amazing guitarist on multiple levels.

I was excited to see a pedal board of Stevie Ray Vaughan the other day. His set up is very basic, tube screamer, vox wah and a couple of Fender amps. The tone definitely goes beyond the Strat and the gear. His hands and gnarly thick strings help. But you need the soul. Over the years his pedal board changed in configuration, and I’ll include the description that talks about the set up. The full article and other shots of gear can be found here at Premiere Guitar.

Ibanez Tube Screamer: Stevie upgraded as new versions came out – TS-808, TS-9, TS-10 Classic. A fan reports that the chip in Stevie’s pedals was probably the RC4558 chip for clean boost.

Wah-wah: Vox wahs from the ’60s. Occasionally connected two together.

The usual setup in the later years was Ibanez Tube Screamer TS-10, Vox wah, vintage Dallas-Arbiter Fuzz Face, and Tycobrache Octavia. For a brief time he used a Univibe. Roger Mayer Octavias were used prior to the Tycobraches. Cesar Diaz installed matching germanium transistors in the Dallas-Arbiter Fuzz Face body to increase transistor life.

Loop Selector – Stevie had several MXR loop selectors in the early ’80s, one of which is in the author’s collection.

The splitter box which later replaced the loop selectors was one input and six outputs to the amps. No preamp, but resistors to cut down the noise. With the Vibratone he used a Variac AC power regulator.

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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!

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Mastodon is a great band if you’re into the heavy. They do it right and have been doing it right for a while. They just came out with their latest release – The Hunter and it’s pretty awesome. Mastodon is a 4 piece from Atlanta, GA and I wanted to focus on the guitarist/vox Brent Hinds for this post. I’ve also been digging Brent Hinds since he’s been getting into some aluminum guitars and you can see him play a plexi (similar to Dan Armstrong) Flying V with aluminum neck. The guitar is a EGC (Electrical Guitar Company). I personally own a couple of EGCs and they’re pretty damn great.

So this pedal breakdown video comes from PremierGuitar where they go into Brent’s rig as well as Bill Kelliher’s rig:

Here is the breakdown of the pedals on Brent’s board:

SKB StageFive pedalboard
Boss RE-20 Space Echo
Morpheus Droptune
Ibanez Tube Screamer TS808HW
Boss GE-7 Equalizer
Boss DD-5 Digital Delay
Monster Effects Mastortion x2
Boss TU-2 Tuner
MXR MC402 Custom Audio Electronics Boost

Let me know if there are any updates/changes to this board. This video and photo was from 2010, so I’m sure a few things have changed since then. Please comment below or send me an email from the contact form.

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Getting my daily GuitarSquid on, I came across a video (2 parts) of Mike Einziger (of Incubus) talking about his gear (guitar, pedals and amps). It was an interesting setup with a custom pedal board/configuration.  Mike is a guy that definitely knows how to control and manipulate is guitar sound, so I wanted to re-post with a break down of pedals currently on his board for this tour. There were a couple of pedals I wasn’t 100% sure on. If you have more information, please contact me or comment the below. The pedals in question were the DOD FX25B and the Wah. The wah definitely looks like a Dunlop ‘style’ enclosure, but I cannot tell if that’s stock white grip from another builder, or tape applied to a standard GCB-95.

TOP ROW

Boss OC-2 Octave
Digitech XMC Multi-Voice Chorus
Boss CS-3 Compressor Sustainer
DOD FX25B Envelope Filter (un-sure)
MXR EVH Eddie Van Halen Phase 90
Boss RV-3 Reverb
Electro-Harmonix Holy Grail Nano
DOD FX13 Gonkulator
Boss PH-2 Super Phaser
Boss PH-2 Super Phaser
Voodoo Lab Pedal Power 2+
Voodoo Lab Pedal Power 2+
Voodoo Lab Pedal Power 2+
Electro-Harmonix Deluxe Memory Man (older vintage)

BOTTOM ROW

Boss TU-2 Tuner
DigiTech XTD Tone Driver Overdrive
Electro-Harmonix Micro POG
Whirlwind A/B Selector (modified with ‘Both’ removed – straight A/B only)
Hughes & Kettner Tube Tools Tube Rotosphere MKII
Dunlop GCB-95 Crybaby Wah (white grip tape or possibly something different)
Danelectro Reel Echo Tape Simulator DTE-1

Here are the two videos by incubusTV:

Video One:

Video Two:

Here are some additional stills of his pedal board:

Also, I wanted to remind everyone that the T-Rex Tonebug Fuzz give away is still happening. Be sure to get your entry in.. before it’s too late. Full details on the give way can be found on the following post  – “T-Rex Tonebug Fuzz Give Away“

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Today I came across a artist I wasn’t familiar with – the pride of Philadelphia, G. Love. G. Love and the Special Sauce is a three member alternative, blues, hip hop band. Okay, so that caught my eye and wanted to learn more. If you’re curious too, you need to go here: Philadelphonic.com for the full scoop. What really got me on this journey was Premier Guitar’s rig rundown piece with G. Love. I LOVE the rig rundowns. Great stuff. If you aren’t subscribed to Premier Guitar’s YouTube Channel.. you should be.In that segment, G. Love goes into great detail about his board, and what I really like, into WHY he likes certain pedals, etc. It’s one thing to have a quality effect on the board, but it’s quite useful to hear the rational as to why it’s there. That same logic might apply to you, etc. and might help you find that missing piece in your line.

Here is the break down of pedals on G. Love’s board:

Voodoo Lab Amp Selector
Electro-Harmonix Wiggler
Boss BF-3 Flanger
Boss TU-2 Tuner
Xotic RC Booster
Electro-Harmonix Q-Tron Plus
Boss DD-6 Digital Delay
HAO SP-1 Sole Pressure
Keeley Compressor (2 knob)
Dunlop Cry Baby Wah GCB-95

I thought it was interesting that he mentioned that the Electro-Harmonix Q-Tron Plus would be his  “deserted island pedal”. I really like it when this question is asked. By answering you really get a glimpse as to what is the biggest component (effect wise) to their tone or sound.

If you’re interested in any other artist boards that haven’t been featured on EffectsBay.com, please let me know!

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I came across this sweet recent photo of Dominic Aitchison (bass player of Mogwai) playing a Travis Bean bass  (photo by Gavin Kelly1). I thought it was pretty wicked and got me thinking it would be cool to showcase his board. But as it seems with all bass players, getting that information is pretty hard.

I came across a still that someone took of the PSL TV show. I used stills from that to showcase for Stuart Braithwaite and John Cummings‘ pedal board as well in the past. That piece of footage has great information on Mogwai’s gear.

As I mentioned, there wasn’t too much available as far as gear lists or discussions. I did find one post on talkbass.com, and I’m using that info for this post. Below is a shot of Dominic’s pedal board:

From right to left:

Boss TU-2 Tuner
Boss ODB-3 Bass Overdrive
Boss ???
Boss DD-7 Digital Delay
Electro-Harmonix Knockout
SansAmp Bass Driver
Electro-Harmonix Bass Micro Synthesizer
Voodoo Lab Pedal Power 2+

I had some doubt on the EHX Bass Micro Synth due to the size of the enclosure in the photo, but I think it’s how the photo is skewed. There is one unidentified pedal. It almost looks like some type of modified Boss pedal. Not sure. If anyone can shed some light, please comment below!

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Last night I caught the tail end of Foo Fighter’s performance on Austin City Limits. I’ve seen this before, and I always seem to catch the last 2-3 songs. One day I’ll watch it from the beginning. Of course I would keep a third eye on the floor of the stage to see if I can see anything interesting going on with the effects/set up. I did notice Chris Shiflett and his two Line 6 DL4s so for today, I thought I’d do some research and break down his pedal board. Without further ado I present Chris Shiflett’s pedal board.

I didn’t have to look hard at all to find something recent. At HC, niceguyollie posted some fresh photos of his board (posted 3/24/2011).

Below are the shots of the board:

Here is a break down of pedals:

Dunlop DVP1 Volume Pedal
Boss TU-3 Tuner
Voodoo Labs Amp Selector
Vox Input Selector/Jumper Switch? (custom)
Menatone Red Snapper
Fulltone Fulldrive 2 MOSFET
Electro-Harmonix Holy Grail Nano
Electro-Harmonix Micro POG (Polyphonic Octave Generator)
Line 6 DL4 Delay Modeler x2
Line 6 MM4 Modulation Modeler

The only one I wasn’t sure about was the black pedal labeled ‘Vox’. I’m assuming it’s a jumper pedal to blend inputs on the AC30.. not 100% sure.

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I remember early on in my guitar days I use to haul my stuff around in a square green milk crate. I think it would hold 4 gallons of milk or something. It was easy to lug around. I use to toss my pedals at the bottom then stack all the cables on top. It was a mess, but a somewhat organized mess. Of course, I then graduated to a briefcase, we all end up with a briefcase at some point.. right? And finally to a pedal board, yet I still need a case for my cables, tools and utility pieces. This is where Rock Cr8 comes in.

Scott Johnson created the Rock Cr8 to easily store/haul your gear along with your pedal board in one unit. Simple concept.. and a good one. Basically, one of the walls of the case is a detachable pedal board. The case is durable (tolex cover and strong handles). You can use the case as a riser (great for combo amps)! I sent Scott a email with some questions, and this how he responded:

Where did you come up with the concept of rockCr8?

One day I was jamming at home and I realized I took more time to set up and take down, and that I was losing valuable play time. I needed a way to keep my gear ready to go and quick to put away, and have things look presentable very quickly. I like to keep my nice guitars and amps in the house and jam whenever I can, but my wife doesn’t like to see my gear all over the place.

What took it from concept to something you were committed to build?

It was fast. I sketched it out the next day at my day job and had started building by the weekend. I knew I had to make a place to keep my pedals ready and also pick my amp up off the carpet. I was losing tone in the fibers and always had to tilt it back then pull out my old pedal board from the garage and put things together and that kind of made it mandatory.

What advantages does the rockCr8 have over conventional pedal boards?

It really kills two birds with one stone. You have an amp stand and you have a detachable pedal board for traditional use.  Then you can re attach it to the mothership holding up your Amp.  The kicker for me is you have a third element. You have a transportation device for all the other stuff a guitarist needs to take from home to gig. It’s durable and looks like an extension to your amp.

Can you make them custom? how custom? what are the options?

I have not tried anything too crazy yet but I was thinking about adding some lights in there since we have a power strip. Maybe a disco ball or some dice might be cool. We have two hinge styles. A piano hinge for the basic Rock Cr8 and a detachable hinge for the Rock Cr8 Gig.    The main option is the 39 versions of tolex available to make it a nice compliment to your favorite amp. We have a couple handle styles as well.

What is the turn around time to get one?

I am going to keep some body’s ready to be covered to cut down turn around time. My goal is to have it in your hands asap. Week or Two in most cases.  I also plan to keep some staple colors of tolex like Standard Black completed for immediate delivery.

How do they compare to other pedal boards – cost wise?

There is such a range of pedal boards from $50 to $400. We can do most versions of Tolex for about $175 with shipping on top of that. But it’s not just a pedal board, it’s a Cr8.

Check out RockCr8.com for more information and photos of the Cr8! RockCr8 is also on Twitter, so give him a follow!

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