Miscellaneous Show us your Guitar,Amp,Pedalboard
- Thread starter rcarlton
- Start date
MarkDyson
Blues Hound Wannabe
Okay, haven't spent much time playing through this yet but initial reactions are positive. Just got the BD-2 yesterday, and watched @Griff 's video about his Trio, and was inspired to get back into messing around with some of the pedals I have languishing in a box.
The Pitchfork is one of those pedals that can be kind of weird but, applied very gently, give results I really like. Mostly I set it on detune or 1 octave up and down, with the modified signal blended in a very small amount. It just thickens up the tone a little, or can add a chorus with more detune blended in, or do a fake "12 string shimmer" if applied with just an octave up. I know folks use it to completely change their pitch, add harmonies, and all sorts of fun stuff but I just like it for that tiny bit of flavoring.
The board is a BoxKing that has a built-in LI battery pack that's beefy enough to power the Pitchfork and the Trio+ with plenty of power left over to handle the overdrives. Can't speak to how long the charge lasts under steady use but some day I'll test that out. If it ends up being disappointing I have a regular PedalTrain Nano board with a small VooDoo power supply, it would be a straight lift and move operation to move the pedals over to it. For now I kinda like the freedom of the battery.
The Pitchfork is one of those pedals that can be kind of weird but, applied very gently, give results I really like. Mostly I set it on detune or 1 octave up and down, with the modified signal blended in a very small amount. It just thickens up the tone a little, or can add a chorus with more detune blended in, or do a fake "12 string shimmer" if applied with just an octave up. I know folks use it to completely change their pitch, add harmonies, and all sorts of fun stuff but I just like it for that tiny bit of flavoring.
The board is a BoxKing that has a built-in LI battery pack that's beefy enough to power the Pitchfork and the Trio+ with plenty of power left over to handle the overdrives. Can't speak to how long the charge lasts under steady use but some day I'll test that out. If it ends up being disappointing I have a regular PedalTrain Nano board with a small VooDoo power supply, it would be a straight lift and move operation to move the pedals over to it. For now I kinda like the freedom of the battery.
MarkDyson
Blues Hound Wannabe
So, made a couple of changes. Thanks to a tip from @Stinger22 I simplified the solo boost by replacing the Tumnus with an EP Boost. That delivers just the kind of kick I wanted and without having to futz with EQ controls. I'd forgotten about that pedal, and that delivering a warm smooth boost is exactly what it's designed to do.
I also changed out the board itself. With the master and gain up I noticed that the digital pedals were actually quite noisy. I decided the culprit was running them on the battery pack so switched to a more traditional board with an isolated power supply that delivers 500mA per outlet. That cleaned the noise right up. Not as convenient when I have to plug in the board, but better than living with the whine of noisy power.
With the depth of the tone the EP/BD combo is delivering the subtle thickening I get from the Pitchfork is pretty much overwhelmed so I may pull that pedal as it's not contributing much. Might add an echo; the Quilter already delivers reverb and tremolo. Or I might just leave things at one fewer pedal. We'll see.
I also changed out the board itself. With the master and gain up I noticed that the digital pedals were actually quite noisy. I decided the culprit was running them on the battery pack so switched to a more traditional board with an isolated power supply that delivers 500mA per outlet. That cleaned the noise right up. Not as convenient when I have to plug in the board, but better than living with the whine of noisy power.
With the depth of the tone the EP/BD combo is delivering the subtle thickening I get from the Pitchfork is pretty much overwhelmed so I may pull that pedal as it's not contributing much. Might add an echo; the Quilter already delivers reverb and tremolo. Or I might just leave things at one fewer pedal. We'll see.
MarkDyson
Blues Hound Wannabe
While I was doinking around with the "new" pedalboard I thought I'd give a listen to how the BD-2 sounded through single coils (as opposed to the coil splits on my PRS). Dragged out (and literally dusted off, it's been a while) the ol' Spincaster and tried some stuff out. Forgot how much fun this guitar is to play! Definitely on my keeper list (and who'd want a home-grown partscaster with non-standard wiring, anyway?).
Fun as she is, doesn't make the counting for Sitting Easy Blues any easier, tho. Heh.
Fun as she is, doesn't make the counting for Sitting Easy Blues any easier, tho. Heh.
MarkDyson
Blues Hound Wannabe
MarkDyson
Blues Hound Wannabe
Tweaked the cabling of the above. The intended signal path is for all the pedals (including overdrives) to go into the Trio+'s effects loop so, when you train it for a new progression, the only thing it hears is the unmodified guitar signal. I set it up accordingly, with only the tuner going directly into the Trio+'s guitar input.
MarkDyson
Blues Hound Wannabe
Yes, maybe. I have a Flashback delay, as well as a Wampler Ethereal reverb/delay, either of which would fit. Right now I'm trying to keep things as simple as possible, just the reverb built into the amp and some overdrive/boost from the board (plus the drum/bass tracks). It's so easy for me to get all juiced up about effects and start loading up the board so I'm resisting.
For now.
GeeDub
Mojo Seeker
I understand your not wanting to be distracted with too much attention to a given pedal. How about a little bit of slapback with one of your delays? Reason I ask is due to personal preference. I really like a little bit of slapback to accompany a little reverb. Just my $0.02 of course and I'm just trying to entice you to fill your board. 
MarkDyson
Blues Hound Wannabe
I understand your not wanting to be distracted with too much attention to a given pedal. How about a little bit of slapback with one of your delays? Reason I ask is due to personal preference. I really like a little bit of slapback to accompany a little reverb. Just my $0.02 of course and I'm just trying to entice you to fill your board.
I fully agree, and I do like a taste of slapback to go along with the reverb. I really do. You can imagine how tempting it's been to throw that Flashback pedal onto the board! When I feel I've progressed far enough in my current playing lesson work maybe I'll reward myself by adding it.
MarkDyson
Blues Hound Wannabe
I understand your not wanting to be distracted with too much attention to a given pedal. How about a little bit of slapback with one of your delays? Reason I ask is due to personal preference. I really like a little bit of slapback to accompany a little reverb. Just my $0.02 of course and I'm just trying to entice you to fill your board.
Okay, brother, I did it. I already had an open port on the board's power supply so while taking a fingers break last night I threw some slapback on. Better?
Okay, brother, I did it. I already had an open port on the board's power supply so while taking a fingers break last night I threw some slapback on. Better?
View attachment 13476
Funny, that you bring that up! I just added a Boss DD3, that I've had for years, to my board but don't seem to get the dial combinations just right. It always seems like it's too much or it's not there at all. I know that the answer is play around with it some more, but I need to search the forum, read posts, play some solos, bake some pastry....
snarf
making guitars wish they were still trees
Updated my board tonight. Realized something while I was doing it. I'm guessing that those of us that primarily play at the casa tweak our pedals one way while those that play out through an amp that is really cooking have to do theirs differently. If I ever get to the point that I'm playing out, I'm going to have to re-learn where I like them all set.
Chain is Boss tuner > Behringer compressor > Tone Bakery Creme Brulee (a klone - and always on at the house) > Tone City Durple (new pedal I've been playing around with...a sorta signature pedal for Danish Pete) > EHX East River (TS clone) > Danelectro tremolo > Visual Sound (now Truetone) delay > TC Electronics reverb > Boss looper. All that runs to my Vox ToneLab ST where I run it through an AC30 amp model.
Chain is Boss tuner > Behringer compressor > Tone Bakery Creme Brulee (a klone - and always on at the house) > Tone City Durple (new pedal I've been playing around with...a sorta signature pedal for Danish Pete) > EHX East River (TS clone) > Danelectro tremolo > Visual Sound (now Truetone) delay > TC Electronics reverb > Boss looper. All that runs to my Vox ToneLab ST where I run it through an AC30 amp model.
Rancid Rumpboogie
Blues Mangler
Snarf, you are right about playing out. And you will have to re-tweak your pedals for virtually every different venue you play in, and sometimes even several times in the same venue as the place fills up with people.
jmin
Student Of The Blues