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I can't be the only person who has a pile of awesome pedals and suddenly finds myself wanting to scrap it all and start over.
I feel like I have mosquito covered pretty nicely right now, but not a whole lot of hugeness…that may be more fuel for the baritone/bass vi fire...

I am curious about where the team on here starts when rebuilding a board once the urge to destroy has passed…

Well, I wound up scrapping just about all of my dirt pedals...after buying a new amp.
I went from American (100W SF Fender) to British (50W Selmer) and it was a game changer. My #1 for almost 2 years now.
When you find "the amp" I think the desire to destroy & rebuild wanes, greatly.
Ever since the switch, I've tried as many pedals as I can, just to see how they mesh, even become extensions of the amp.
The ones that mesh, stay. And I haven't been tempted to part with them.
The ones that do not...get a chance with my bass amp and PA. And MPC.
If they do not bond....they go up for grabs, in search of new ones that do.
I try to avoid hoarding, and I've gone from about 25 pedals (with 5-10 in use) to 19, soon to be 18, 7 currently in use with the guitar rig.

Since getting the Selmer, there's been no desire to destroy&rebuild a new guitar rig.
Same goes for my bass amp, an Oliver...and the MPC.


When you're feeling like you want something different....try changing around the signal chain's order, rather than completely ditching what you have.

I feel like that a lot too. Sometimes I hate that like all my songs depends on certain pedals, it makes me not being able to try out that many new ones.

I've actually completely changed my pedal board this year, without ever having the intention to. Part of it is that I've started earning more, but I think the biggest reason is that I stopped trying to have a varied, usable board that could recreate classic tones, and instead started focusing on what I like and what suits my playing. Suddenly it's a lot of ott-pedals, instead of a Sun Face, wah and a straight delay.

I just build a new board and keep the old one.

I've used the same rough voicing of amps for 20-some years. If it's not clean, I don't want it.

My taste in what I like sound-wise hasn't changed much either - if I hear something new and cool, I decide if i want to have it. If so, yay.

I have only rig apocalypsed once, and that wasn't because of choice, it was a 'sell it or live under it' scenario. I bought equivalents back to a point where it's almost all represented.

The big change in gear these days is that nothing is unobtanium in practice in signal processing, and there's far, far more than the Boss and Alesis catalogs to drool over ala 1992. The amount of cool dirt is astounding to a point where I don't believe I could start over, and I don't want to - but I'd buy the same damn stuff all over again and then some in 90% or more of my pile.

Sometimes I am like that, then I look at my pedals and figure out out of the roughly 10-12 I use and own, I'd still keep at least three, so... I couldn't do a full purge anyway

but I don'T have a huge pile of pedals to begin with

I've probably flipped almost everything in the last year: amp, most pedals except for a couple favs and my guitar even. Feels good to mix things up.

The only things I haven't sold are my Big Muff and a compressor.... and a tuner if you want to get technical.....

Thx guys. I think the challenge is 3 fold.
- I am fairly tired from work, and need to shake it up, reset the signal path. Just need to fuck around with what I have.
- I have been going back and forth with very different guitars. May need to look at two different signal paths.
- I want teh bottom end…may need to detune/go for a baritone.

I'll start with getting off my lazy ass and redoing my signal chain…

-D

rustywire wrote:Well, I wound up scrapping just about all of my dirt pedals...after buying a new amp.
I went from American (100W SF Fender) to British (50W Selmer) and it was a game changer. My #1 for almost 2 years now.
When you find "the amp" I think the desire to destroy & rebuild wanes, greatly.
Ever since the switch, I've tried as many pedals as I can, just to see how they mesh, even become extensions of the amp.
The ones that mesh, stay. And I haven't been tempted to part with them.
The ones that do not...get a chance with my bass amp and PA. And MPC.
If they do not bond....they go up for grabs, in search of new ones that do.
I try to avoid hoarding, and I've gone from about 25 pedals (with 5-10 in use) to 19, soon to be 18, 7 currently in use with the guitar rig.

Since getting the Selmer, there's been no desire to destroy&rebuild a new guitar rig.
Same goes for my bass amp, an Oliver...and the MPC.


When you're feeling like you want something different....try changing around the signal chain's order, rather than completely ditching what you have.

I identify with this so much. Finding the right amp (and cab/speakers) can be perfect way to lay foundation for everything else. I went from being a pedal to an amp guy real quick when I found something I really loved. That said, that search can take some time and some startovers as well so who knows

Well, You just have start from somewhere and build the whole signal path starting there.
It doesn't matter where. Perhaps from changing to a baritone, 8 string guitar, 8 string bass or a bass vi, or any bass (piccolo bass or baritone piccolo bass if You feel really adventurous). Or if You have thought hard about that target sound and know a good amp and pedals for that then start there and find You axe of choice? Start with what You are fine with and continue from there.

And yeah, changing from guitars to a bass or a bass vi is a real game changer option. And I promise You it will be an AWESOME decision in the end. (typically multiple bass guitars has been the thing in my metal bands ever since '97) But all that kind of changes take a little time to work out.

Personally I think everyone should get a Bassman or Bassman-derived amp. At least one! There's something for everyone.
A simple non-master circuit with a good deal of clean headroom serves as an ideal cornerstone...whether using it as a clean/edge of breakup/breakup platform to build on (IMO).
The more Tonally different the channel voices are from each other, the better.
Love the tone but not loud enough for you? Try new speakers/cab arrangements.

Options

With electrically amplified acoustic instruments, the amp is as fundamental to the complete chain (circuit even) as the instrument you're using as a signal source...and the speakers/cab as delivery mechanism, too.
If you can find all 3 variable that speak to you as-is, you've won. Even 2 outta 3 is exceptional.
Then it's just a matter of adding seasoning to taste, and expanding the palate of potential sounds through effects.
But those strong fundamentals are hard to replace once you've had a taste.

Def agree with Bassus about trying different instruments with your existing equipment.
Gotta be thorough though, all your various settings will likely need to be dialed-in, anew...and then there's the aspect of technique...playing with a pick vs without etc...

It's really difficult (for me) to get bored with this stuff...the 21st century music/gear world is your oyster!

oh yeah…definitely not bored…more of a realization that I started in one direction [low gain boosts + delay + some modulation] and through picking up a few things along the way that were intriguing I've found myself a little off the map. I need to get in there and remove what isn't helping, and there is a part of me that wants to be less than surgical in my approach. Take everything I have, set it to the side and do something different. I think in reality it may be more about selectively removing few things and adding some high gain fuzz and an octave down.

I am appreciating the tone of the thread though, and the "remix what you got" sentiment…

yeah, when i get like that, i found out it helps just trying new signal flow

feelings like this made me try reverb and DM-2 in different places, before Mini and Elements... and I've never been a fan of that. but it's so fresh for me that i came to love it