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Roubster

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Joined
Aug 20, 2005
Messages
2,639
Location
Crooklyn, NY
So lets see what you guys have. What pedals do you guys use that are a must in your rig? Which one is your favorite, and the one that is absolutely essential for you?

I've been on a quest to put together my perfect board, so I can take it anywhere with my and plug into any amp and get "my" tone. I have never been happier with my tone as I am right now. Just got the Empress Tape Delay which is really amazing. Delay is my favorite effect and absolutely must have one at all times. The 3 gain pedals I have allow me to play anything from blues to fusion to metal and anything in between.

Right now if I had to pick two pedals to gig with, and someone gave me a Fender amp, I would take the Xts Atomic OD and the Empress Tape Delay. The Atomic is by FAR the best musical and authentic sounding distortion box I've ever played. I've been through a Wampler Pinnacle, Suhr Riot and a MI Audio Megalith. All of those were great, but this one surpasses them all when it comes to playing both rhythm and lead. Last night at a jam session with couple buddies, the Atomic sounded much better than the JCM900 through a 4x12 that was there!

Anyway, lets see what you guys like.

 

Roubster

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Joined
Aug 20, 2005
Messages
2,639
Location
Crooklyn, NY
The Flux Drive is awesome! I've been searching for the smoothest warmest OD I could find. I did tons or research, and looked at demos, and tried whatever I could in stores. This one is perfect for the fusion lead stuff. It does not have a ton of gain, but has this warm singing vocal quality. The midrange is not overpowering, and is very versatile with the baxandall tone stack with the bass and treble knobs...like the BB. It can get a nice crunch out of it, and also can be used to push an overdriven amp more. But I use it as a standalone drive for fusion stuff, and push that with the BB for more gain and lead tone. The Flux just has these beautiful overtones going on and "feels" great playing it. Has a bit of sag to it, but not too much which I like.
 

jkruger03

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Joined
Dec 23, 2009
Messages
31
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mikeller

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Joined
Jan 11, 2007
Messages
2,762
Location
Central Ohio
Hey Mike, so I see you got rid of the Pinnacle as well. You like the Barber better?

I replaced a Wampler Ecstasy with the Barber Small Fry. The Ecstasy was very smooth and transparent, almost too much. When I played live it almost didn't offer anything. The SF is a little more aggressive.

I still have the Pinnacle Deluxe and will sometimes flip it with the Riot. I find them similar, but with my rig I find the Riot a bit smoother. I used a M/I Audio Crunchbox before the Riot. Very similar too. If I had it to do over again I'd have probably stayed there and save $$$$ LOL.... I too have a BB but haven't used it for a while but its a killer pedal. The knobs however frustrate my old eyes on a stage!

That automatic OD looks interesting....not familiar with it at all.
 

Roubster

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Joined
Aug 20, 2005
Messages
2,639
Location
Crooklyn, NY
Check out Pete Thorns demo of it. Only demo that does it justice. But there are so many more tones in it as well. Really really powerful and useful EQ section throughout the entire range.
 

cionian

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Joined
Mar 23, 2009
Messages
234
Guitar into amp into gt8 via parallel loop for delay only via footpedal.. I don't like effects, they make you lazy :)
 

nobozos

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Joined
Nov 10, 2002
Messages
675
Location
Pekin, Illinois
I built an ITS8 pedal from General Guitar Gadgets with the "Very Expensive Boutique Mod". Basically a Landgraff Dynamic Overdrive circuit. It has the options of Asymmetric clipping, LED clipping, or bypass of the clipping. It's a Tube Screamer on steroids, with clipping options. From 11 o'clock on down on the drive and level knobs, it's pretty much a TS808 with better tone. Upwards of 11 o'clock, it's a monster. I run it into a PRS SE 30 amp, into which I have installed a Hellatone 60 (Celestion Vintage 30 with the suspension exercised for 15 hours). That's it. I run my lead channel volume very low with the lead channel master up, and the clean channel volume high with the clean channel master down. With the ITS8 on, it makes my clean channel an outstanding crunch rhythm channel, and my lead channel a very toneful high gain lead channel. With the ITS8 off, it makes the clean channel a nice blues clean, and the lead channel a good heavy blues dirt.

I've tried adding other pedals like delay, chorus, and compressors, but it just doesn't sound as good as using the amp's on-board reverb with the ITS8 straight into it.
 

Benji Peterson

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Joined
May 2, 2011
Messages
840
Location
Joplin, MO
I spent a few years going through various stages with large pedal boards but sold them all off for my Axe FX II. The Axe FX II is easily the best investment in amp/effects gear I've ever made. Life is simple, ANY tone is super easy to achieve with limitless possibilities at your fingertips, and it's super easy to integrate into any rig. 90% of the time I play them through my Genelec 8040a monitors in my studio room but it's portable enough to take anywhere. I still have my Orange Rockerverb 100 MK II w/DIVO and 412 cab for the 'real amp' stuff but with every update the Axe FX II gets closer and closer to the real thing. Since getting it I haven't spent much time thinking about effects or pedals.
 

skerwo

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Joined
Aug 5, 2008
Messages
235
Location
Bavaria, Germany
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My actual board since a few years. I´m running into a german made JTM45 clone combo, modified for superb clean tones. The Nova System gives me all I need except the Wah, I use all ODs and distortion from the NS.

The Tech 21 Blonde is a backup for amp problems or a solution for small venues where you can´t use the power of a JTM 45.
 
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spkirby

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Joined
Feb 3, 2004
Messages
1,272
Location
UK
Out of all my pedals, there is one indispensable ingredient in my tone...for me, quite simply the best OD ever!

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Jack FFR1846

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Joined
Feb 17, 2008
Messages
2,177
Location
Hopkinton, MA
I'm still using a Digitech RP250 fx pedal with a EB Jr volume and occationally a boss DS-1 distortion in front. I really need a dotted eigth delay, so am considering either going to a Line 6 HD500 or just trading my hardwire DL-8 (got in a trade) for a pedal I can use. I'm slowly getting away from always matching the original artist's tone when playing their songs.
 
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