i'm reconfiguring again. the last iteration was deliberately kind of vanilla because i put it together for a Gretsch Pages jam and those people have just caught up to Bowie, but it's not versatile enough for looping. this isn't complete...the space on the upper right will get an Ibanez PM7 i got for $110 on eBay, and the big space on the left will be filled by a Fender MTG Tube Tremolo from Sweetwater, where i have $100 in Bonus Bucks from buying the Lead II.
i realized that it makes more sense to keep the Black Finger by the amp since it's the end of the chain, and is also absurdly large for a pedalboard. the Hi 5 is my favorite clean boost pedal, but i run the amp (usually an AC15) dirty enough that its low amount of grit is kind of irrelevant. and the Flashback just won't fit on the board because the Fender tremolo is so big, not even run sideways like the Tall Font and Tone Bender. i was going to sell the Tall Font, but discovered that it + the Lead II = the Burma sound. (Roger used a "Big Muff on steroids" and a similarly described tremolo pedal, both built by Boston scene maven Lou Giordano. the Fender trem is adjustable enough that it should be able to cop the Vacu-Trem's rather unique waveform.)
i had a TC phaser like the one shown upthread, but it got rained on (don't ask) and died. it was really nice...a little too nice. it has a very clean sound, but i've discovered that i like my modulation a bit more chewy. the Fender tremolo is surprisingly good; it has a wide variety of waveforms and you can adjust the duty cycle of the square wave setting to get the Vox Repeat Percussion effect. the only drawbacks are that the enclosure is oversized at 5" x 4" and that it draws 200mA of current at 9V.
the concept is that the fuzz and modulation run into the RV-3 so i can do mini-loops with Feedback all the way up, and then into the tremolo so i can feed drones from the RV-3 through the trem to slice and dice them. the fuzz is arranged in ascending order of wackitude. i like to run the signal path in relatively straight lines because it's way easier to troubleshoot than the kind of Situationist street map i used in the early 00s.
i need to get a Nano to do a "stunt board" for things i have to run at the front of the chain but seldom use: an EH Octave Multiplexer for bass notes and an EH Attack Delay i got for Christmas i'm using for backwards tape simulation and Slow Gear shit (not to mention Slowdive shit). maybe i'll run the Flashback up there so i can run delay
through the fuzz and modulation. i have a Fairfield Operator to put the stunt board in a switchable loop.
for now i'm sticking with the Head Rush 2 and Ditto+ for looping, but plan to switch to a pair of the new Dittos that let you store and call up loops. i use an Ernie Ball volume/pan pedal to crossfade the loopers, and will get a Lehle ABY to sum them to a mono output and use my little Solidgold buffer (it's the size of a half-stick of butter) to rationalize the signal.
signal path:
MXR Distortion+ (3d or 4th version enclosure, c.1978)
Wren & Cuff Tall Font Russian (center right, ironically enough)
CMC Effects MK II (Tone Bender)(center)
FuzzHugger 3-knob Great Wall (next to D+ on bottom tier)
LAL 46 Sooper Fuzz
EMMA Discombobulator envelope filter
Mojo Hand Villanova (optical Uni-Vibe)
TC Electronic SCF chorus/flanger (used as flanger)
Fairfield Circuitry Randy's Revenge ring modulator (center left)
(cable crosses under board from center left to upper right)
(Ibanez PM7)
Boss CH-1 Super Chorus
Boss RV-3 Digital Reverb/Delay
(Fender MTG Tube Tremolo)
Earthquaker Ghost Echo reverb
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