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How many of you have simplified down over the years? I've been trying to get down to like 5 pedals, and constantly get ideas for "oh this would sound sick" but then get overwhelmed, especially when playing and singing. Recently, I've been trying to get down to 5 pedals+a tuner and make more use of pedals with tons of options, but bending down to change settings kind of sucks. (i.e. I fucking love my Bitquest, and use the reverb, flanger, and ring mod a ton but never work them into songs because I'd rather leave it at one setting during a set)

I need to reassemble and take pics of my board, but I think I've got it down to tuner->OCD->Harmonic Percolator->Meteore->Xotic SL Drive->Bitquest, i just feel like I'm missing options with the BQ last, and I kinda need modulation but don't want to fuck with another pedal.

I'm a bass player. I could really get down to one fuzz and a reverb or delay. And a tuner. Son3 minimum

Amp with a range of breakup, reverb. Delay would be a lovely bonus, but I could do with just those first two.

That's definitely where I'm trying to get to. I've been playing with just amp dirt, the OCD and the BQ a lot lately, but it's hard to get my plexi to the point of useful breakup at normal volumes.

Hmmm. Tricky!

If we excluded some songs from our library I could probably get by with Fuzz-E-Cat (oscillations and videogame sounds) > TAFM (main fuzz) > Raptio (iRerror without Raptio? GTFO!) > BitQuest (verbin' and ring modin')

What's left:
PitchFactor (used for two songs: harp and synth)
RM-1N (used for two songs: Fuzz and drone)
Singing Tree (because even cleans must have texture)
Buzzz (to enter beast mode)
Ditto X2 (two songs have looped riffs in the background + reversed randomness in between song)
Nemesis (more for flavor than necessity at the moment)
Meatbox (BEEF!)

i went from this (fall 2014):



to 7 pedals now.

i don't have a current picture but it's tuner > ct5 > slate > fuck > tafm> tonal recall > empress verb

i have warped vinyl too (the V2 now) but i've been dreaming up a table top synth setup with the warped vinyl and some other delays and verbs. a lot of the time i feel like my guitar board could go without one of the ss/bs pedals and the ct5, which could go nice on a table top.

downsizing was totally necessary because when i was at critical mass i was getting acute anxiety if i didn't have at least 3 of them on. 5 gain pedals colin? seriously?

bewatersound wrote:was getting acute anxiety

This is my thing too, in a general sense when it comes to pedals. Bought a switcher at the beginning of last year and grappled with getting the wiring right months. Then when I got it finally set up, I had so much anxiety about something going wrong and how much of a pain in the ass it would be to troubleshoot it. Sold the switcher.

Every time I set up a board with 8-10 pedals, I immediately get antsy when I'm done. Trying to get down to the bare essentials... it just makes me feel better for some inexplicable reason.

bewatersound wrote:i went from this (fall 2014):

downsizing was totally necessary because when i was at critical mass i was getting acute anxiety if i didn't have at least 3 of them on. 5 gain pedals colin? seriously?

Dude that's exactly where I'm at. I've sold off literally like 150+ pedals over the past year or two, and the only thing I need a massive number for is the noise sets I don't even tend to do anymore. For Bass VI/guitar I just don't use that much stuff? I end up feeling the need to drench everything in effects and 90% of the time I'm playing punk or hardcore where it doesn't even make sense. The overwhelming anxiety of "holy shit I'm not using this $300 Eventide as well as I could" kills me.

I guess my current board is the bare(ly) minimum - it goes env filter > fuzz > chorus > fuzz/dist > flanger/phaser, but it's lacking at least an octaver at the front and a reverb at the back, no tuner. I dont wanna think about the least amount of synths n shit makes me sad. Don't wanna be too specific about the individual pedos either, as that changes all the time.

I know this would add a pedal and you would still have to bend over but you could get a pedal order switcher. They're easy to make.
I plan on getting to 8-10 pedals and staying there. That might even be too much.

if i absolutely had to, i could get by with just my amps. but im kinda sitting where you're looking to be. i sing and play guitar in my main band as well as for my softer solo stuff. i've never been big on using pedals but sometimes they're essential, that being said my board is fuck, tuner, reverb, aby. i intend to expand a tiny bit, ct5 and maybea delay but that's it. so yeah, i think you're making the right decision.

Dirty amp and a ring mod.

If I like the amp well enough, just amp depending on the project. I guess it is just project dependent.

With synth, just delay.

bare essentials? bass vi > tuner > boost > space echo > amp. if i could add one thing to that setup, it would be a big muff.

Guitar -> Tuner -> Amp

Ideally the amp has both distortion and reverb.

I've got some extra pedals that I've been using to play sometimes so I don't have to bring my whole board. Started as a way to use less pedals. Now it's becoming an excuse to buy more extra pedals.