I Miss... Buying Pedals...And The Simplicity Of It All... And, A Digital Moan !!

JonHosker

Bought three Helix's briefly and never again for me. Simple pedals and valve amp is my choice to play and play...happy days!!

John_A

JonHosker said:

Bought three Helix's briefly and never again for me. Simple pedals and valve amp is my choice to play and play...happy days!!

Think the key word here is ‘briefly’, just like an amp and a pile of pedals it takes some work to get the best out of it 

Grunfeld

I know the problem; I found the answer.  The answer for me at any rate:

Small pedal board.

The restriction is exquisite because you absolutely f*ing have to decide on "the few".

I've learned more, had more fun, got more good sounds, and enjoyed myself more since restriction.

This is totally genuine.  I gig every week so I'm not too precious about things but forcing myself to work the arse off just one OD; get all the sounds I want from just one amp; then realise that okay... I need two echo pedals (on severely limited real estate), has been wonderful.

I have no emotional dog in the race; I've thought about Helix etc. and my conclusion is that too many possibilities would not be as challenging or as enjoyable as choosing "the few" -- the pedals I love.  (For now...)

Teetonetal

GavRichList said:

meltedbuzzbox said:

Teetonetal said:

I wonder what gas actually is?

Boredom? Fear of missing out? Curiosity? Part of the fun?

Mainly boredom for me. When I am at my most musically creative and engrossed in what I am writing, I never suffer with gas.
When I've been inactive and works quiet the gas starts up. 
To be fair the gas is receeding more each year. I've got a bit bored of the endless pedal merry go round

This touches on the truth for me. The less music I’m making, the more I want Gear. Or at least, that’s what I think I want... it’s the quick fix. The reality is that I actually want to be making music. I have more than enough stuff in truth - infinitely more than I did when I was at my most musically successful... what I don’t have is time. Not the kind of time that being a responsibility-free early twenties man child afforded me. Then all I did was write and rehearse, 7 days a week. That’s what took me to all those countries and ticked off bucket list things.... not buying a new pedal. 

Im as guilty of it as anyone on here, but I’m trying very hard to focus on the above truths. Last week I had a really productive week of writing and appreciated what I have. It’s just about finding the time. 

Yup. The less music I make, the more gear I buy, whilst I pretend I need them to make music.

I'm not really convinced it's about analog vs digital but rather musically very active with a point vs musically aimless

RaymondLin

Has anybody mentioned?

They are just prettier to look at too.

JezWynd

RaymondLin said:

Has anybody mentioned?

They are just prettier to look at too.

Now we’re getting to the heart of the matter 

BintyTwanger77

RaymondLin said:

Has anybody mentioned?

They are just prettier to look at too.

I have to “Wow” this board every time I see it... and I have 6 of those on my board.

meltedbuzzbox

@RaymondLin you must have laser precision feet. 
I'd smash all those settings in about 4 to 5 button presses

bingefeller

RaymondLin said:

Has anybody mentioned?

They are just prettier to look at too.

that's quite a lot of knobs to twiddle.  

bingefeller

JonHosker said:

Bought three Helix's briefly and never again for me. Simple pedals and valve amp is my choice to play and play...happy days!!

Why did you buy three?!?

sweepy

I’ve had 2, original floor unit, sold it and bought a rack to go with my Axe Fx2. Now I use a Valve amp and pedalboard again as I prefer the feel of a Valves and a selection of pedals

Wazmeister

@RaymondLin - one of my fave boards ever ! Love it...

For me though folks, it's not so much about gas or disappointment in the product, it's more along the lines of @Jonathanthomas83 great comment about "Ultimately it comes down to this...what is your goal and what do you want to achieve? If you can answer this, there's light at the end of the tunnel."

I've realised that I've got limited time through work, through getting older (I'm 51 today !!) and through the busyness of life itself.

Also, having funds tied up. Im returning the Red Sound GRFR cab (which is the best Ive tried - highly recommended) and cover for it, and then itself frees up £700. The Sale of the Mission Engineering EP1 will generate another £100... A long way to a new Ricky

Im on the face about the Kemper itself; might sell it, just not sure yet as it is so good. Either way, the Helix HX is a keeper...

I must say that this board below really inspired me for its simplicity;

@challen ;

TTBZ

How about just using the Kemper as a digital pedal platform? That way you get the fun of pedals with the convenience of digital. In theory at least.

lukedlb

Happy gear/birth day, Warren. As long as the gear helps you achieve the sound you’re trying to wring from your fingers and strumming hand, you’re on the right path. All else is just FX, icing on the (birthday) cake. 
Hang on, don’t you already have a rickenbacker?

Jonathanthomas83

Happy birthday @Wazmeister! Have a great day!

TTBZ said:

How about just using the Kemper as a digital pedal platform? That way you get the fun of pedals with the convenience of digital. In theory at least.

Yep, works in practice as well as theory, it's what I do and I love it! It's a case of finding a profile that works as a good platform - the usual suspects you'd expect, work. And by that I mean that if it's a good platform as an amp, it's usually nailed on to be a good platform as a profile too.

Musicman20

Happy birthday! May you buy many pedals!

RMJ

Happy birthday @Wazmeister !!

impmann

This thread has got me thinking.

I have a board the size of Rutland right now, controlled by the magnificent Gigrig G2. On that board there are a couple of pedals that are utterly 'me' and the rest are there to add flavours occasionally...

I'm not gigging right now due to work constraints. I am using it for recording - when I can be arsed to drag it over to Jack's for a session... more often than not I just grab a couple of flavour pedals.

I'm doing a couple of gigs soon - one is a reunion of an old band (simple stuff where a good drive pedal is all that's needed) and the other is a birthday bash where I'm covering ground from the Stones to Floyd via some Free... in other words, a drive or two, a delay box and a leslie sim is all that's needed. Am I going to drag the uber board to rehearsals etc... am I shite. Am I going to gig it? Unlikely. What will I use? My M13, probably...

So what is the point of it?

And that's where I'm at - its an *epic* set up, but it owes me an eye-watering sum and its only ever used at home, takes up a lot of floor real-estate and frankly... its a waste of money.

So will I sell it all off...? Its a thought... and with the coffers being more than a little tight at the moment (unexpected dull costs), it could free up *a lot* of funds... and will I miss it? I dunno - I know I'd never be able to afford another...

Tricky dilemma...

BintyTwanger77

@Wazmeister Happy Birthday! Always interesting seeing the paths you go on with guitar gear. Yam alroight cocker!

BintyTwanger77

impmann said:

This thread has got me thinking.

I have a board the size of Rutland right now, controlled by the magnificent Gigrig G2. On that board there are a couple of pedals that are utterly 'me' and the rest are there to add flavours occasionally...

I'm not gigging right now due to work constraints. I am using it for recording - when I can be arsed to drag it over to Jack's for a session... more often than not I just grab a couple of flavour pedals.

I'm doing a couple of gigs soon - one is a reunion of an old band (simple stuff where a good drive pedal is all that's needed) and the other is a birthday bash where I'm covering ground from the Stones to Floyd via some Free... in other words, a drive or two, a delay box and a leslie sim is all that's needed. Am I going to drag the uber board to rehearsals etc... am I shite. Am I going to gig it? Unlikely. What will I use? My M13, probably...

So what is the point of it?

And that's where I'm at - its an *epic* set up, but it owes me an eye-watering sum and its only ever used at home, takes up a lot of floor real-estate and frankly... its a waste of money.

So will I sell it all off...? Its a thought... and with the coffers being more than a little tight at the moment (unexpected dull costs), it could free up *a lot* of funds... and will I miss it? I dunno - I know I'd never be able to afford another...

Tricky dilemma...

I have a core of 5 pedals: Cali76 (always on), Brothers, Mobius, Timeline and Big Sky. My Rat clone gets used as well, so really a core of 6, though I could live without it. I use these pedals for 95% of the sounds I like. The other pedals are for occasional weirdness, strange more obscure sounds, and the dilemma I have is whether the 5% of strange sounds I occasionally use are worth the expense.