Your favorite pedals

Trivia: Who remembers the ending of Little House on the Prairie? What happened in the last episode?
A) They bury Charles Ingalls after he died from tuberculosis
B) the town folks Blow up the entire town of a Walnut Grove
C) Nellie Oleson buys Walnut Grove and gives the deeds back to all the families
D) Laura sits down and begins writing about her memories of the first episode and it begins again.

I'll go ask my 80 year old Mom. Be right back. :beer
 
That’s interesting. I can’t tell whether it would be the perfect sweetener or “I don’t know if it’s on and it’s all in my head” :ROFLMAO:
Depending on how one chooses to use it, I can see what you mean as it only puts out +3 of boost. Regardless of the max output, what it does do to the sound is pure magic in my opinion 👌
 
Depending on how one chooses to use it, I can see what you mean as it only puts out +3 of boost. Regardless of the max output, what it does do to the sound is pure magic in my opinion 👌

I went on a YT deep dive on it. Super interesting. You use it stand alone or pair with a comp too? Always on?
 
I’m building a pedal board again (which I know will end in misery) and since I havent had my ear to the ground in pedal hell for a while I’m curious what you guys are using and/or your current personal faves.

So personal top three by type:
  • Overdrive
  • Fuzz
  • Modulation
  • Reverb
  • Delay
Rules:
  1. Must be in production currently
  2. Not a multi fx unit. (can be multiple of that specific type, but no all in ones like an HX FX)
  3. Say Stomp one time and…

Bitch Slap Slapping GIF by absurdnoise
Boss GT-1000Core. No, seriously.

OK, but to answer the subquestions:

Overdrive: Boss OD-1X, DS-1X, and BB-1X for digital, oh look, those are all in the GT-1000Core. For analogue? Too many great ones to even get into it. Also, completely dependent on context.

Fuzz: toss up between the One Control BFJe Rocket Grey Fuzz and the Analogman Sun Face NOS NKT275. Honorable mentions to the Boss FZ-1w and Emanating Fist Dope Priest

Modulation: That's not one category.
Tremolo, Hamstead Signature.
Uni-Vibe, Horrothia Effects Berkeley.
Chorus and Vibrato: Digitech Nautila for digital, and Walrus Audio Julianna for analogue
Phaser: no opinion, don't use it
Flanger: the Nautila does flanger, also the Walrus Audio Chameleon
Ring Modulation: Z.Vex Ringtone

Reverb: for algorithmic reverb, the Boss GT-1000Core, specifically for the Ambience algorithm, the most natural reverb I've ever heard in a pedal, otherwise a toss up between the three convolution reverb pedals: Logidy EPSi, Poly Effects Verbs, Tasty Chips Integral

Delay: literally does not matter, so pretty much any digital delay that permits you to set exact tempos and timings. Delay is delay.
 
Drive/dynamic pedals I will likely never part with:

- J Rockett "The Dude". Can do some 80s pop-rock as well, but its main pupose is D-style amp-alike drive. IMO the best bass and treble control of any pedal I ever owned, they're not just adding/substracting "shhhhh" or "oooomph" but allow you to really shape things.

- Friedman BE OD. One trick pony IMO, but a great one. There's possibly better MIAB pedals, though. The BE OD is compressing a lot, likely the reason for it to be comparatively noisy, but it might also be why it sits in so well in many contexts.

- OCD-alike pedal, in my case a clone (Mooer Hustle Drive). An on/off love affair, but I think this time it will stay on the board because it's a fantastic workhorse, no matter the style.

- RC Boost, in my case the original collects dust because of its size, right now there's two clones on my board, I might add a third one. Best utility "gain-ish" thing there is IMO. Does a gnarly but sometimes useable drive on its own, can be used to boost things or just to add some more drive and the bass/treble controls make it super versatile.

- Mooer Yellow Comp. Diamond Compressor clone and I have zero bad feelings because the original is way too expensive. My go-to lead boost for both clean and dirty sounds, keeps the attack intact, adds some of the "fleshy" decay part of the sound. Has a sort of tilt EQ, which is really nice when recording, for live I have it dialed ever so slightly on the brighter side of things.

I heard I'm not allowed to say what I'm using for delays and reverbs - but IMO it's the best combination the market has on offer right now. And I just love having delay and reverb in one unit because these two either compliment or exclude each other, hence, anything allowing me to avoid the stepdance between them is just great. I would defenitely recommend this over pretty much anything else (unless board estate and money are no objections). But you will never know as I'm not saying what it is.

And I'm using an MS-50G for some things. For my use case, it's *the* perfect pedal. Serves for all the non essential things I may occasionally (in fact, quite rarely) use. ATM it's set to cycle between a touch filter, a phaser and a really nasty fuzz, might as well be a flanger, rotary or univibe on occasion. But it really only makes sense in case a) you don't need all these in best quality (the modulations are quite decent, though) and b) you can run it in its own switcheable loop (otherwise bypass would be tough to realize in patch cycling mode), hence it's not what I would exactly recommend to all people, it's really depending on a lot of things. For me it's great because I'm getting all of the above out of minimal pedal estate.
 
The Empress ParaEQ (Super pro deluxe, whatever...most expensive version) seems like a useful pedal in tone shaping and slamming the front end of an amp with ridiculous boost level up to +30dB.
 
The Empress ParaEQ (Super pro deluxe, whatever...most expensive version) seems like a useful pedal in tone shaping and slamming the front end of an amp with ridiculous boost level up to +30dB.

Wouldn't leave home without it! Mine goes first in the FX loop.

20240410_085815.jpg
 
I went on a YT deep dive on it. Super interesting. You use it stand alone or pair with a comp too? Always on?
I use it with a budget compressor while I decide between a Wampler mini ego and a Keeley mini comp. I’m leaning towards the Wampler for the blend knob and other features. Still watching and reading reviews. Regarding the secret preamp, I wanted it for what it does to the overall sound, I really dig it. Definitely a secret sauce type thing. I know others are also recommending the sex drive pedal as well. So many choices, I love it 👍🏻
 
Picking "in production" effects are tough. I had to review my original list and delete a few.
  • Overdrive
    • JHS Morning Glory
    • DOD 250
    • Klon KTR
    • RD Effects Pellucidrive v2
    • Heather Brown Blessed Mother
  • Fuzz
    • ZVex Fuzz Factory
    • JHS Cheese Ball
  • Modulation
    • Walrus Polychrome
    • Boss CE-2w
    • ZVex Instant LoFi Junky
  • Reverb
    • Chase Bliss MOOD MkII
    • Keeley Caverns v2
  • Delay
    • Boss DD-200
    • Line 6 DL4 MkII
    • Chase Bliss Thermae
 
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