Recording Pedalboard v Home Pedalboard v Live Pedal Board

[skullservant]

So I was thinking about this last night, and getting a little frustrated with my pedal board to the point where I just pulled everything off and started messing around different pedals in different order, which I seem to do pretty often.

Then I started thinking a bit more about most of the pedal board pictures that I've posted in the pedal board thread seem to be the pedals that I screw around with at home, and rarely the one that I actually record with. Honestly when I record, I use about 3 pedals. Then I was thinking even more that the one I record with would be drastically different from what I would use live, of course, because I've got more flexibility at home.

So, I guess in this thread I'd like to start a discussion about how (if at all) your pedal boards change context in different settings.

[DarkAxel]

I only own the pedals I use on my board in my band, so I have one pedalboard

I even purchase pedals thinking mostly about using them in the band

[goroth]

For me recording and live are one and the same thing. I don't want to have sounds on record that I can't reproduce live.

Home is another kettle of fish! There I'm using pedals that for whatever reason aren't on the main (gig/recording) board. I rarely change my main board, but at home I like to keep things new and change the order of stuff and play with combinations I normally wouldn't play with, just to see what sounds and riffs I can come up with. If something is super awesome on the home board it may get promoted to the main board, or if something is really unique I might grab two, one for the main board (that stays in the rehearsal room) and one for home.

Basically, main board is for creating a specific set of sounds, and home board is for going nuts.

[skullservant]

Yeah, I'm finding myself in a similar situation, Goroth. I had for YEARS been recording direct into my computer which is an entirely different beast from recording through cabs, which I've got the ability to do now. While I was in college I literally would just use a DOD Death Metal with a reverb before it and a looper after it and was perfectly fine. But my home board has grown into this crazy beast that I don't record with, just screw with each night for about an hour. It's very, very weird. The home/recording board gets really nice sounds out of it sometimes, but its overly complicated for when I actually record

[goroth]

You've got a fair few different musical projects though don't you Skully?

[skullservant]

A LOT of musical projects hahahah
Maybe that's where the confusion on my part is coming in- I've been doing a lot of looping with the huge board, and then recording black metal with 3-4. Realized I didn't have an actual distortion pedal anymore last night which TOTALLY threw me off. NEEDS MORE DEATH METAL.

[zRobertez]

I have one board that I use for everything. Its always changing but I tend to keep it stagnant for ~2 months when I start recording something or there's a high density of playing out/practices.

Sometimes at home I whip out some older pedals I don't keep on the board. I only have like 4 that are just sitting in my closet that get brought out from time to time. Mostly things ive made/owned forever

[Disarm D'arcy]

I have single board and my overall setup is rather steady. In the past year, I've replaced my Second Voice with a FoxRox Octron and added a Boomerang III and Korg Kaoss Pad on the side. I record, play live and fiddle at home with it and wouldn't want to do it another way. Actually, I've noticed that a pedal that is not on my pedalboard gets very little if no use.

[GardenoftheDead]

My home/screwing round board isn't too dissimilar from the board I played live with. Tuner + Dirt, Flange, Delay and wild card spot.

Recording I usually record direct using Guitar Rig because of a combination of living situation, free time and insomnia.

[Jwar]

All my pedals are at home.

[coldbrightsunlight]

Yeah me too. The band I'm in doesn't get to play much and even when we do I only use a couple of pedals so I don't bother having a board. I generally have a home board for jamming that I can plug in whenever I want to play and it doesn't change that often, and when I'm recording I grab whatever pedals I want for a part, don't have a consistent setup because I like using different sounds recording and it's easier if I can pick any of my pedals lying around instead of using a set board all the time.

If I was in a serious band I'd probably have a small board for the band that never changed and had exactly what I needed for songs and nothing more.

[Tristan]

Interesting topic.
I was thinking about a somewhat similar issue concerning pedalboards, what came out for me is that I sort of identify myself with certain sounds so I basically feel the need to always have certain type of pedals on my boards, whatever band or situation I'd be playing in.
For years I've been working with only a small setup consisting mostly of a volume pedal, octaver, phaser, distortion and delay and I could do quite some things with that but now that I'm hoarding pedals it doesn't seem to stop, I don't know where I'll end up.

[jrmy]

Oh, fer sure. For live use, I like to have a couple of levels of fuzz, one or two ODs, and some very specific modulations/delays. In all cases, I like to muck with the levels as little as possible.

For my home/recording board (more of a pile, really) all bets are off, and pedal orders/levels are typically reset completely on a song-by-song basis.

[Ghost Hip]

My pedalboard changes every half hour. Thats a bit of an exaggeration, but when I am recording I am constantly taking pedals off and on the board. I don't worry much about reproducing stuff live... a fuzz is a fuzz and a delay is a delay. In my personal use the particularities of each pedal are better heard recording. Not that I don't strive for the best or craziest tone I can get... but it is the music that matters most and really anything will do. Sure I can kick on some octavia for a solo... but I could still play the solo with just my Super Tri Fuzz or Umiom distortion.

My live pedalboard is pretty consistent. Phaser->octavia->distortion->Super tri-fuzz->overdrive->pre amp->delay/reverb. Hardly ever changes. I could get by with a phaser, one dirt, preamp and deluxe memory man though. That alone gives me the ability to create some unique sounds to wow people with.

At home, I usually just have a fuzz, pre amp, delay, and reverb. At home I am working on songwriting and finding new chords and progressions, etc. Sometimes I'll think... what happens when I play my mustang through my neverdrive into a mini overdrive.

Recording... like I said. It changes from track to track. Mostly just taking in and out fuzzes, a buffer, or phaser. I spend a lot of time finding the right texture. And when I record bass... fuck man... that takes me a long time to figure out what sort of bass tone I want in a song. Muffled? Trebly? Fuzzy? Clean? Dying? Attacky? I think I spend more time on the bass in my songs than anything else... outside of vocals. All my songs are pretty cohesive despite me swapping things out, probably because I direct in everything.

I mean songs are in different keys, which forces me to sing differently. Sometimes I go high, and other times I go low. Which mean my voice will occupy a different portion of the sonic space. This means I may want to use a more midrangy fuzz here, or a dark fuzz here... You can't control that shit live, so I go on stage with the necessities and hope for the best.

[fishtankdork]

my home and live board are the same. home just gives me more practice with my live board, its kinda like an instrument. when i record i just pull out all my pedals and plug whatever im feeling in. my home/live board is pretty diverse so chances are i can make do with something if i have to recreate a sound of a pedal thats not with me.