Help me brainstorm for my pedal board!
Posted: Tue Jun 25, 2013 3:32 am
So I've been working on rearranging my loadout and am hoping for some ideas and second opinions. Originally I had wanted to replace my reverb unit with something smaller and quieter, but some tweaking today helped me realize it's versatility, as well as a few features I hadn't adjusted before. I play post-doom/sludge, but I really enjoy sparse clean/acousticky passages, as well as ambience, space and soundscapes, so half my board is echoes and reverb. Here's where I'm at now:
I've got a standard issue Geiger Counter. I love how ridiculous it is, but I don't usually leave my amp set clean, and it doesn't stack well. I find that more often than not when I'm jamming, it has this high pitched quality that isn't overpowering the rest of the effect, yet is always present and can get pretty irritating. It makes me not want to leave it on for prolonged periods of time. I'm also not using the downsampling capabilities much, which was a big reason for my buying it. And perhaps I'm not particularly good at dialing it in, but lately I've had trouble finding settings that retain a lot of low end; the tone control seems to tame the high end and move the midrange around more than boosting the low end. There are a handful of cool sounds that I can use, but ultimately I'm afraid I can sell it and pick up something that could find more use, like maybe a more standard fuzz or a different bit crusher with more sampling controls / clean blending?
The other big thing is my whammy. It's a v4, so it has all of those interesting artifacts on the octave and harmony up settings, but for some reason the octave up settings don't get used much. I got one of the Napalm pedals blenda, which helps when using the octave down retain some clarity, as well as giving me the option to clean blend with the droptune mode, which can give some cool static detune sounds. However, this combo takes up a large area of my board, and I find myself using it pretty rarely. I'm not entirely sure that there's a pedal out there to replace it, as whammy functions are relatively unique and I prefer the sound of natural harmonies between 2 guitars than programmed harmonizers. I think the only feature I'll really miss is being able to play an octave down and do those "motorcycle sounds" by returning to regular pitch.
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So here's where my gas is leaning, but my primary concern is picking up things that will be used regularly, so some of these may not be realistic ideas:
A RAT-like pedal... Many of the post-rock / sludge bands use them on top of lightly driven amps to really bring the heavies, but I'm so fond of my amp's distortion I think something a little more versatile might be called for. For sure, something that stacks with amp distortion well, and low end retention/boost is a MUST. My bassist buddy blew his amp out today, so we spent the better part of an hour running his Alpha Dog into my amp to coax out some Sunn O))) tones. Just because I like crazy shit, oscillations may also be a plus.
The other side of dirt is something relatively tame, but that can push my amp to the point that it sounds VERY fuzzy. A simple 2 knob Devi Ever like a Punch Hate or similar circuit might suffice, but I guess some more playing might be in order.
A Boss PS-3... Jeff Caxide of Isis uses one, and I love their open spacey tunes. The draw of this for me is that the envelope with the delayed pitch shifting sounds different than anything I can do with my whammy and an echo, however I can get cool ethereal octave swells with my Timebender, so I'm afraid that it won't get the use it deserves.
Originally I wanted an IE Frantabit, but after seeing the Geiger Counter in action, I figured I'd get more use out of a fuzz. I'm thinking I'd only really be able to use the downsample to make clean parts sound cool, and maybe crush bits for interesting reverby soundscapes, but I'm still afraid it won't get much use. I've considered getting a simple ringmod for similar reasons, something cheap that might spice up clean/ambient parts. I like the bell-like tones that seem to grow from ring mods.
That's all that comes to mind now... FEED MY GAS!!
I've got a standard issue Geiger Counter. I love how ridiculous it is, but I don't usually leave my amp set clean, and it doesn't stack well. I find that more often than not when I'm jamming, it has this high pitched quality that isn't overpowering the rest of the effect, yet is always present and can get pretty irritating. It makes me not want to leave it on for prolonged periods of time. I'm also not using the downsampling capabilities much, which was a big reason for my buying it. And perhaps I'm not particularly good at dialing it in, but lately I've had trouble finding settings that retain a lot of low end; the tone control seems to tame the high end and move the midrange around more than boosting the low end. There are a handful of cool sounds that I can use, but ultimately I'm afraid I can sell it and pick up something that could find more use, like maybe a more standard fuzz or a different bit crusher with more sampling controls / clean blending?
The other big thing is my whammy. It's a v4, so it has all of those interesting artifacts on the octave and harmony up settings, but for some reason the octave up settings don't get used much. I got one of the Napalm pedals blenda, which helps when using the octave down retain some clarity, as well as giving me the option to clean blend with the droptune mode, which can give some cool static detune sounds. However, this combo takes up a large area of my board, and I find myself using it pretty rarely. I'm not entirely sure that there's a pedal out there to replace it, as whammy functions are relatively unique and I prefer the sound of natural harmonies between 2 guitars than programmed harmonizers. I think the only feature I'll really miss is being able to play an octave down and do those "motorcycle sounds" by returning to regular pitch.
---
So here's where my gas is leaning, but my primary concern is picking up things that will be used regularly, so some of these may not be realistic ideas:
A RAT-like pedal... Many of the post-rock / sludge bands use them on top of lightly driven amps to really bring the heavies, but I'm so fond of my amp's distortion I think something a little more versatile might be called for. For sure, something that stacks with amp distortion well, and low end retention/boost is a MUST. My bassist buddy blew his amp out today, so we spent the better part of an hour running his Alpha Dog into my amp to coax out some Sunn O))) tones. Just because I like crazy shit, oscillations may also be a plus.
The other side of dirt is something relatively tame, but that can push my amp to the point that it sounds VERY fuzzy. A simple 2 knob Devi Ever like a Punch Hate or similar circuit might suffice, but I guess some more playing might be in order.
A Boss PS-3... Jeff Caxide of Isis uses one, and I love their open spacey tunes. The draw of this for me is that the envelope with the delayed pitch shifting sounds different than anything I can do with my whammy and an echo, however I can get cool ethereal octave swells with my Timebender, so I'm afraid that it won't get the use it deserves.
Originally I wanted an IE Frantabit, but after seeing the Geiger Counter in action, I figured I'd get more use out of a fuzz. I'm thinking I'd only really be able to use the downsample to make clean parts sound cool, and maybe crush bits for interesting reverby soundscapes, but I'm still afraid it won't get much use. I've considered getting a simple ringmod for similar reasons, something cheap that might spice up clean/ambient parts. I like the bell-like tones that seem to grow from ring mods.
That's all that comes to mind now... FEED MY GAS!!
