OK guitarists: effects boxes?

[jpgray]

Right now all I have out are a Morley Bad Horsey wah, a Boss DD-5, a Boss CS-3 Compressor, a Boss PH-2 Phaser and a Fuzz Face. And an ABY switch.

[Beware the Beast Man]

1. Alesis Spitfire amp with built in effects.

I'm a relative newbie at guitar, plus I have some ergonomic issues, so I went with that rather than separate pedals. Oh yeah, and it was on clearance!

ON EDIT- if I do get a pedal, the first will be a Big Muff.

[XNASA]

2. Boss DS-2 Turbo Distortion

My amp has built in DigiFX for chorus, delay and reverb, etc.

I'm not really big on FX, but I have been know to add some really weird tremolo in strange places, just for kicks.

[Pepperbelly]

3. I don't use them ...

I'll overdrive my amp and let in a little air with some chorus and reverb.

I do use an Alesis Nanoverb as a pre-amp to get a bit more whoomph from my amp.

[LifeDuringWartime]

4. bassist here

my bass-> (carvin 6-string)
DOD FX25B envelope filter-> (GREAT for dub)
Digitech Bass Synth Wah-> (amazing octaver)
Morley Dual Bass Wah-> (cool for chords and stuff)
Boss RC-20 Loop Station (awesome for songwriting/weird noisemaking)

i want to get an electro-harmonix bass balls and a DOD FX 250 for overdrive.

[chaska]

5. I love my Snarling Dogs Mold Spore ring modulator/wah.

And I have a very rare and wonderful Fripp-in-a-box Arion 4 second digital delay. I'm rather fond of my boss octave box too.

[dbt]

6. If I had to have just one box,

It would be a compressor, preferably a tube model. You push your guitar and it pushes back! Ya fool with the input/output and you hit that one spot wherein you are God for the whole gig!

Oh, HELL yes!
:smoke:
dbt

[ProfessorGAC]

7. Just One

I use a Boss PW-10 Wah. Hall effect (no moving parts, no light bulb to replace).

Has a nice long through like the Morley, and has individual control over the Q and the peak height. So, i can get a really broad, sweeping, and fairly subtle wah effect. The pedal has a passable distortion in it, but i don't use it, unless i'm playing through a jam night amp with crummy distortion. (I think it's the same circuit that's in the DS-1, but with less control.)

The wah is part and parcel of my sound for lead work. I use no other stomp boxes, but i do use a digital reverb & delay in the loop of my amp. The amp has built-in reverb, but i didn't like the sound of it.

But, the time FX unit NEVER changes. I set it for one good ambient effect and leave it alone.

With all the technology that was in my keyboard rig for many, many years, i wanted my guitar system to be stripped down as far as possible. So, it's guitar, wah, amp!
The Professor

[johnnie]

8. I only use a DigiTech RP50

I was never one much for stomp boxes. I have a cry baby, DOD compressor, a few distortion boxes, MXR phase 45 and a few other things, but I don't use them. I could never find a distortion that I liked the sound of and I have tried quite a few.
I use a Fender Stage 112 amp that has a decent built in distortion and I just run it that way. I add a bit of the amp's verb on it and that's it.
I blow strings left and right and am always tuning. By the time I get the thing in tune I am blowing another string and it is a bitch. I bought a Tuna tuner, but it didn't work that well. So... I picked me up the DigiTech multi effect box with the tuner and it works pretty well. I have messed around with some of the presets and added in a few user settings, but I use one that is set for electric and one setting I use for acoustic. That's about it.

[XNASA]

9. I have a Fender Stage 100 DSP w/1-12" too.

It has about 15 built in Digi FX, but you can only use one at a time and the parameters aren't built in to the memory. The 'verb is separate from the FX, so at least so it's possible to use both.

I really don't like the sound of the distortion in the amp which is way I use the Boss DS-2. It's been my distortion pedal of choice for about 10 years now.

But the Fender amp is nice and loud, and very clear. It has an XLR out which is nice. The loop through sucks though. I tried plugging some other stuff into the loop but there must be some kind of impedance mismatch.

I like the way that Fender solid state amps cut through. Tube amps sound great for recording, but live I'd rather use my Fender.

Here's my amp.

[johnnie]

10. Funny you mention how loud it is

I was going to say that about mine. The fact is...it is TOO loud for me sometimes. I have to set the main volume at about 1 or a little under for rehearsals or it cuts thru everybody. I was thinking of switching out the main pot to something with a wider sweep, but haven't done it yet.
A few weeks ago a friend brought his 10 year old son to rehearsals we were doing for an "all-star" jam thingie here and I mentioned that the amp was too loud. He said.."Too loud? What's too loud?"..lol. Little shit needs a few more years of playing I guess. He actually is a pretty good drummer for a 10 year old. He can jam along with us and he sounds like he knows what he is doing.
Anyway... I have never tried the Boss distortion, but I think that is the one Cobain used if I'm not mistaken. I play mostly rhythm because the band doesn't like my Keith Richards meets Neil Young leads..lol. So the distortion from the amp sounds ok for me. The DigiTech has some amp modeling in it that I was thinking of playing with to see if I could come up with a bit more crunch.
My amp:

[XNASA]

11. Cobain used a DS-2, and Prince does as well.

It's basically the same as a DS-1, but has two modes. Mode 1 is basic DS-1, Mode 2 cranks the mids.

I've tried modeling gear. I just don't like it. It always seems too compressed, no matter what. It's like wearing a prophylactic.

It's the same reason I don't like Marshalls. They sound good, but I just can't get the same kind of "feel".

[regularguy]

12. BOSS GX-700

It has all of the usual suspects. As time goes on I use less and less of it. The Boss chorus is particularly nice and the delay is decent. The "auto-wah" (or whatever you call it) is pretty crappy. Nice piece of studio gear, overall.

[nothingshocksmeanymore]

16. I have one as well..I like it because I use two pedals

the GX and the cry baby instead of having to string several

[Zorra]

13. Mostly just an old early 80's Ibanez Tube Screamer now.

I've got all kinds of gadgets but rarely use them anymore. Sometimes I use a few of the effects, mostly reverb and delay, in an old Digitech RP7 Valve, and sometimes use an old Crybaby for wah.

I had an early 80's Ibanez compressor/sustainer (it really put out a creamy fat tone if you tweaked it right) that I really loved and used for years, but have never been able to find another one like it. When it would quit I would throw it down onto a hard surface until it worked again. It was pretty ugly when it finally gave up the ghost.

[mitchum]

14. My chain: EB volume pedal- Tube Screamer- Proco Rat-Boss Delay-...

three DFX94 4second delays- Akai Headrush-DeArmond volume pedal
all running into a blackface VibroChamp or silverface Twin

I have nothing against effects :)

[asthmaticeog]

15. My bag o' tricks:

A Morely Wah

A really, really old DOD envelope filter

Boss flanger

Boss DD6 Digital Delay (I love the function that lets you tap the delay time in with your foot so you can match a live drummer without futzing with the knobs until you get it right)

A Morley fuzz/volume pedal that the guy I bought it from swears he stole from Steve Vai

Wish list:
A Ring Modulator
One of those Boss acoustic simulators (they actually work pretty well)
A Boss SuperShifter (I'm starting to sound like I'm shilling Boss pedals, I know)

[Dukkha]

17. Line 6 POD

Used for most of the guitar sound

also have an ART SGX-2000 and Lexicon MPX 100

[Swamp Rat]

18. OK. Here's what I'm using:

2001 Córdoba FCWE electric nylon


1980 Gibson "The SG"


Crate Acoustic amp CA-125


Electro-Harmonix Freedom Amp


Korg ToneWorks AX1000G



Two standard classical guitars: a 1975 Ramirez and an Alvarez Yari.

I also have: a trumpet, 2 clarinets (1 is a 1920s silver metal), 1875 banjo, violin and various brazilian percussion instruments, harmonicas and other stuff.

[no name no slogan]

23. (drools on your Cordoba FCWE)

I LOVE that guitar. I've got an 30F Córdoba myself, and they're really great guitars, especially for the price. I've only played the FCWE in the shops, and it is a beautiful instrument.

[porkrind]

19. Old Digitech G7

in effects loop of 1st-generation Peavey 5150 tube head, into Seymour Duncan 4x12 cabinet. Its kind of clunky to setup and adjust, and it's old, but it sounds great. Only other thing is an ernie ball volume pedal to set the gain.

[Pepperbelly]

20. I have a question for the FX people ...

How in the hell do you fiddle with the thing during a set? I mean ... maybe I'm just not as skilled but it's all I can do to not miss cues or fuck up runs or lose rhythm or ... you know. I am active on my guitar controls ... pickup selection, tone and volume knobs ... but adding a whole other thing that isn't that easy to see anyway ...

:shrug:

How do you guys manage?

[nothingshocksmeanymore]

21. The GX has foot controls

but I can also just do it...find a place where I can stop, adjust and then continue playing..it's like anything else in music..you don't attempt to do anything you don't have time to do and that's a function of your feel for what you are doing :shrug:

[chaska]

22. I never had any problem, except...

There was this one band where I sang all the lead. I never did figure out how to look at my feet with my mouth on the mic. I could never find the footswitches, kept missing 'em. Had to cut way down on the effects use then.

[no name no slogan]

25. As Jimi Hendrix once told Billy Gibbons:

"You gotta learn to dance on 'em before you learn to play 'em".

I'm the only guitarist in a trio, and also the only singer, too. Let's just say that I would be dead without a MIDI pedalboard and programmed presets.

I've used an old Rolls MidiBuddy for the longest time for most stuff. The MidiBuddy had about 128 different patches you could select. I have about eight favorite guitar sounds dialed into my Fx setup, and most of the time don't use more than two or three per song. That made things fairly easy.

Since the band's been on hiatus for a year, I've recently upgraded my gear, including a new pedalboard. So now I'll have to start over again...

[Pepperbelly]

24. Anybody here ever used a Rangemaster?

If you have, how does it sound?

How much of Brian May's sound comes from this device?

[Magrittes Pipe]

26. Most importantly, a cheap EQ.

The cheaper the better, as long as you don't get any noise from it. ;)

I also love my Songworks Little Lanilei reverb pedal (an Accutronics spring verb tank in a pedal -- not that I'd leave it on the floor at a gig).

Beyond that, I got trem and chorus from the good folks at Electro-Harmonix, a cheapo-plastic-Japanese analog delay pedal, and a ProCo Brat (I just my tubes for real overdrive, so I chose the Brat over the Rat or the Big Muff for that noisy, squealy, fingernails-on-a-blackboard SCRAPE).