Simplicity vs complexity in pedals

[symbolique]

With you there Colossus, my most complicated pedal is a Empress Superdelay. When I try to set the presets (5) and then use them live it always fails. I do have multiple knob pedals, but they stay fixed for the most part.

I prefer playing than DJ'ing.

[bigchiefbc]

I would say that I have no real preference one way or the other. If I find a pedal that does exactly what I want, I don't care if it has 1 knob or 10. My favorite chorus of all time is the Boss DC-2, which has no knobs at all, just four preset buttons. I have 2 and 3 knob fuzzes, but also 5 and 6 knob ones as well. My BMS has 10 sliders, but I think the controls are amazingly intuitive, and I can more or less know where each slider should be just by thinking of what sound I want out if it.

[Wes Mantooth]

Bring on the complexity! I don't play with any like-minded musicians so everything is at my own pace. I love messing around with complex pedals, especially with noise/drone stuff. The only time I really don't get down with complex pedals is when they cost too much for what I'm using them over for. So to me it's more value than complexity.

[sonidero]

No knobs or twenty, you just gotta sit crosslegged in front of your amp and turn it up and mess with the Pedlols until you reach that Higher Place of Being...

[trace]

The only time I really don't get down with complex pedals is when they cost too much

This. But generally, mo knobs mo betta.

[misterstomach]

simplicity.

[Helter]

I think it really depends on the pedal for me. I like simple dirt and complex everything else. Plus all the "whatever sounds best to me" gets factored in.

[theAntihero]

I usually like simplicity, sometimes when a pedal has too much going on its less fun to use.

[Uncle Grandfather]

but something just clicks with me when I see 3-knobs:

I like complex pedals that are simple to use.

[cedarskies]

I have yet to meet a pedal with too many knobs.

[zRobertez]

I like simplicity on pedals, but some effects I need da knobs! Like delays. I want toans of control. Or something like the organizer (looking over at my board, it is the most knobbed pedal I have atm) six knobs might be a bit much for some things, but I think each one here is important and controls something that has a very significant impact on what it is capable of turning your guitar into.

No knobs or twenty, you just gotta sit crosslegged in front of your amp and turn it up and mess with the Pedlols until you reach that Higher Place of Being...

[leaves turn]

The simplest pedal on my board has 5 knobs. I like options.

[friendship]

I love having lots of options, but when it comes down to it I end up more often using the stuff that's easiest/quickest to get a great sound out of, which coincidentally or not tends to be the simplest stuff. I used to want every sound in the world, but now I tend to focus on refining particular/peculiar sounds, probably because I'm getting old and boring.

[patrick]

i think there's something special about turning on a pedal with just 2 or 3 knobs and falling in love with the character of it
rather than having endless controls to achieve the sound you're looking for.

[behndy]

5-20 knobs is a pretty wide range, though i feel like a pedal with more than 5 is more than most folks are interested in - in general for most pedals. i know lots of the ILF crew can happily handle up to 10 though. (TWSS)

for live use with my band i don't use many controls at all - set and forget for the most part.
studio use is a different animal, as are other types of music.

thisssssssss BUT. that's why i do love the more complex pedals like the Strymony. get all depthy in there then then have a patch saved per song and the DMC controlly thingy to wrangle multiple boxes with one footswitch and RARRRRR ULTIMATE SET IT AND FORGET IT RARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR.