The balancing act of streamlining & versatility in your rig

[rustywire]

Credit to jwar for his BST thread redirecting my thoughts to streamlining, slimming-down, thinning the herd w/e you wanna call it.
Finding a handful of your favorite go-to sounds that fill your ears with happiness (or a desirable kind of fury )
My noise rock|lostwavylectro|whatevergaze cornerstones are Harmonic Percolator, DMM & Uni Vibe. The 4th is either phaser, flanger, wah. Fuzz|delay|modulation|filter.
With those 4 fx & a stringed instrument I am going to have fun and focus on writing riffs, not which pedal to stomp next.

Hey guys! So after much thinking, I've decided I want to downsize permanently. I just do not need all the shit I have. It's nuts. I'm not really enjoying what I have because I have so fucking much and it overwhelms me. I know I could just pull stuff when I want to play it and whatnot, but we all know that's not going to happen. I have horrible OCD. LOL!

I want to get myself to a point of having like 8-10 amazing pedals and that's it.

This is kind of the path I've chosen to arrive where I'm at, although 8-10 total fx is not a hard cap I want any part of. Maybe for a total, singular setup but not a total selection to choose from! Variety is the spice of life, and while I prefer a selection favoring high quality > quantity spices ...sometimes it's the not-so-amazing flavors to prove the better choice, so I want a few wildcards on hand. They're most useful when in a rut. Going at a pedal that fights you to get the one sweetspot sound buried inside. Can be as fun as it is frustrating, challenging.

I strive for 2, 4, 8, 20, 40+ minutes of hearing incredible sounds from a handful of familiar effects I know how to control, with minimal redundancy, lead by my own creativity. And I want to think about it as little as possible in the moment, just kind of feeling things out by ear to keep it exciting, interesting. Step on 1 switch, twist 1 knob. Maybe.
Then the next 2, 4, 8 etc include something a bit more...chaotic to mix things up.

We're fortunate to be into this stuff at peak variety. It's easy to get overwhelmed, overthink things and become distracted. Some people have great success in getting the results they want with complicated, heavily-involved setups and I'm humbled by that ability as I suffer in those circumstances! It's kinda fascinating tbh.

YO FAM
Where you at with your gear?
What're your cornerstones? Simple, complicated whatever!

[Chankgeez]

It depends on what sounds I'm trying to get. Which changes at any given moment.

Staples include: Klon/klone, DOD 250 clone w/ the LED clipping, Green Ringer clone, flanger, delay, clean boost and lots of fuzz.

I could get by with just those, but would supplement 'em with other pedals depending on the circumstances.

[infamousalien]

I never had a massive collection of pedals. Sometimes I keep one or two odd effects around for fun but mostly just what I use every time. It's just two fuzzes and a flanger right now. Getting rid of both of those fuzzes and looking for two new ones soon. I realized last year I don't really like delay or reverb in my set up too.

[HighDeaf1080p]

King of Tone > PHI Echolution > Amp. How's that for efficient?

[gnomethrone]

I had been getting pretty excessive with a dual effect chain into 2 loud amps but my drummer's moving out of state and I think I want to simplify for whatever is coming next.
Simple setup as of yesterday:
Rub-A-Dub reverb - > OCD - > PHARAOH -> DD5 -> rv3
I use the DD5 for weird feedback knob twisting and the Rv3 is set to a massive dark plate verb. Im waiting for the next batch of teej's generation loss which will probably go at the end of all that.

[JonnyAngle]

I think a PT JR is the perfect size. I limit myself to 8 effects and feel like I can get any sound I want.

I also feel that there needs to be adequate space between pedals. I have massive feet (9) and always smash like Godzilla walking through Japan.

I'm pretty constantly swapping this for that but the main theme stays the same
Filter, dirt, dirt, dirt, Flange, reverb

[voerking]

i really only use pedals when i'm playing alone. with my band, or the occasional improvised show, i usually just use a volume pedal... and maaaaybe a boost.

once in a while i start trying to add pedals into the mix, but it's almost always a distraction.

[rustywire]

Good replies, fuzz fam.

@chank
I can dig it. Good to have variety when you wanna be in 312 bands

@infamousalien
I hear ya. I think my peak was 29 different pedals, mostly in the 150usd range. It occurred to me I would only use a few at a time & sought out highly interactive pairings; prefer having 15 pedals in the (mostly) upper price tiers to choose from.

@highdeaf1080p
Hella. For what type of musics tho?

@gnomethrone
Yeah I've tried dual amp setups. Found I prefer 2 types of distortion at once or 2 types of clean at once as opposed to a clean & dirty amp playing the same notes. Cant wait to get my Generation Loss too!

@jonnyangle
YES. S P A C E between pedals is crucial for me, even with the set & forget ones. I have big box pedals with internal transformers, they can play not-so-nicely with each other when too close to each other.

@voerking
What kinda music?

@vidret
I think I prefer having 1 swiss army knife & a few single/dual function exceptional-yet-versatile-at-this-preset set&forgets which can be transformed to another set&forget with a quick knob twist. I also like using traditional pedals to produce unorthodox results & vice versa, to mix things up.

I gave this topic considerable thought when putting together the BILF small board entry.
Purposely didn't include any of my 'main board' fx, tried to see what I could come up with for streamlined variety.
Misty Cave > SB7 Synth Bass > v6 Muff > BitQuest > PC2A Compressor.


That SB7 is the cheap wildcard, I think it set me back $50. The BitQuest is unique, def...because of everything it can do and do well. I've never been a fan of digital multi-fx over specialized individual fx...but everything the BitQuest does, it does well...maybe because it doesn't try to do everything.

[Chankgeez]

I can dig it. Good to have variety when you wanna be in 312 bands

I always wanna be in 312 bands. There're just too many musical styles & genres. I can never choose just one (or 311).

I'm all over the place in my tastes. Variety, baby, variety.

[Snufkino]

I've always had the attitude that less is more, and I prefer to squeeze everything I can out of the pedals on my board. Having neglected TGP has helped me stop the toan seeking bollocks.

Guitar - headstock tuner, onboard mids boost and fuzz
Floor - fuzz!
Board - pedlolz (4-5)
Amp - Amp (w/reverb)

So even with no pedals I always have my fuzz and reverb, which is essential. Mids boost is hella lovely too.

I'm almost done with non-fuzz pedals, just contemplating something practical like a compressor, or a boring-ass tuner pedal. Something I never thought I'd use.

[Inconuucl]

I try to keep my board streamlined, but I always have a bunch of pedals on the side to play with. Playing at home and with other people is essentially entirely different endeavors for me.

[D.o.S.]

You're all a bunch of cowards who are afraid of maximalism.

[psychic vampire.]

Bipolar brain loves selling shit. Was telling a friend last night how like, 6 or 7 years ago I sold/gave away everything in my room except like, a pillow, overalls, shorts, pants, a few shirts, computer, bass, fuzz pedal, amp, synth. Got rid of my shelves, and mattress even. Right now, after a short pedal binge i am looking at my purchases and honestly I can think of 4 to 6 pedals that are on the chopping block.

I am playing in two or three "bands" right now, so it is easy to keep some effects, but i'd rather pare that down to cheaper shit too.

I could do a bass board that was just Blower Box->Fuzz (megalith clone or oxide)->Timebender/other multi-delay bullshit->one other thing, and be happy for bass. Get a latching footswitch for the GK 800rb's boost. Maybe a flanger or my particle as that last thing.

But it becomes easier to justify a crap ton of things in solo electronic music and i am tryna force myself to realize a second timebender and two Midiverb II's and the preamps on my mixer will cover more ground than as many pedals as i have, especially with my Ensoniq DP/4 and a patch bay.

You're all a bunch of cowards who are afraid of maximalism.

Then again, i have this, but for real i don't like forming nostalgic/sentimental attachments with most pedals, but i am afraid to part with this Ct5 that i am not gelling with and then immediately regret it or something.

But let's say Fretless T-40->DOD Flanger/Chorus->Blower Box->Megalith Clone->Particle->Timebender->GK 800rb could do everything I might ever want.

Just gotta sell my shit and get a flanger.

[kbit]

You're all a bunch of cowards who are afraid of maximalism.

Yepp

[OddKnowledge]

I went through a bout of GAS right after I joined this board. I had a board with about 10 pedals on it and barely touched most of them unless I was jamming alone. It turns out that I don't actually need much to play my own songs .

I streamlined for the sake of keeping things simple for playing shows. Don't have time to figure out which of my patch cables decided to give out on me in the middle of a set. I also don't want to base a song on a sound that I can only get from one specific pedal and can't replicate any other way.

Lately, I've been inspired by some guitarists who make a lot of sounds using a simple minimal set up. I'd rather just explore a few pedals really deeply and know how to achieve a lot of sounds reliably. I only need a drive and a delay and a couple utility pedals, so I've settled into a chain of tuner > drive > delay > wildcard spot > freeze.

All of my GAS now goes to filling this wildcard spot.