How Many Of You.....What to do Here?

Bellycaster

I'm curious what you gigging guys do and maybe need help to create an alternate smaller P.B set up.

OK here goes.

If you have what you would call your "Large Board", do you nick pedals from it for a Smaller Board for Smaller Gigs or say, if you are in more than One Band and you use your Large Board for one band, then take only 3 or 4 pedals from it onto a smaller board (with it's own PSU) for your other Band.

You might mix and match pedals on your big board if you play in bands that require different sounds.

OR, do most of you build a board for each project, so to speak?

I  have an Audition pencilled in for a Britpop/Indie BritRock Band during the Christmas week, and it is a BIG "IF" at the moment. I'm just wondering whether to have an alternative "stripped down" set up if I get in for convenience reasons and whether to add in one or two new flavours of OD on my other stripped down board.

My big board was built for Melodic Rock, Blues Rock and/or Funk/Soul Music in mind, but for this set up I'd like to do away with the FX Loop and have an all in one MOD Effect in front of Amp (Bogner Goldfinger 45), like the Zoom ms70cdr that @Kebabkid has, for the very few occasions I'll need it (Think Stone Roses), I have my Wah already too.

My amp also has Volume Boost when the FX Loop is not used, so that's a problem solved too.

I think my Bogner Blue and Suhr Rufus covers a lot of the OD/Fuzz sounds and my Amp's Gain is good too.

What other OD's do you recommend for Britpop/Britrock/Madchester category.

Think Manics, Stereophonics, Blur, Pulp, Feeder, Oasis, Radiohead, OCS, Supergrass, Stone Roses.

Just chucking this out there as it is all pending if I actually get in, it's only down to 2 of us at the moment.

I don't want to do away with my main board, just have a board for this gig, should I get it.

I'm probably just looking for an excuse to get new toys ;-)

Thanks for your help and I'd love to know what "Set Up's" you Multi Giggers have.

digitalscream

My advice would be to start one of two ways:

1 - With your main board, and figure out as quickly as possible which pedals you're actually using and trim accordingly.

2 - Start from just a basic OD/drive pedal (a two channel one like the Bogners would probably be good), and only add stuff if you find you actually need it.

I'm a big believer in never taking more than you need to a gig. As a guitarist, very little makes me roll my eyes more than a guy turning up with a huge 20+ pedal board with 10 different flavours of OD, then using one drive pedal and a wah all night. Plus...big pedalboards can be a bit unfair on your bandmates on cramped stages.

Practicality wins

meltedbuzzbox

digitalscream said:

1 - With your main board, and figure out as quickly as possible which pedals you're actually using and trim accordingly.

this

Bellycaster

Cheers, something to chew over. There are lots of ways I could do it I suppose and I am genuinely interested in hearing how you full time multi Giggers chop and change or build new set ups, a chance to flaunt your wares,so to speak.

:-)

John_P

I try to keep my main board practical and as it's based around a g system I have a couple of banks of patches to cover the particular amp I'm using with that band.  
I have another couple of boards that are smaller and have a minimal setup that I use for rehearsals or dep gigs where I want an even quicker setup.  

Whatever you go for, I would personally avoid needing to take pedals from one set up to use in another - at some point it's inevitable that you'll turn up to a gig with something missing.

Kebabkid

@Bellycaster - as you know J, for my mini-board, I take my 2-3 pedals from my main board because I can't afford a 2nd or replica board, but it's not ideal as when you do that on a regular basis, the Velcro can come off and the connections on my Lava patch cables can come loose. If you can, try and get a separate 2nd board or if you can find a decent multi-fx (Mr.Marr uses the Boss GT100), have that-the problem with the latter is getting decent overdrives out of the thing.

If looking at a 2nd smaller or occasional board, it might be worth compiling it from Mooer or Joyo pedals, but as I know you have a cracking main board with top stuff on it and great sounds, it depends if the sounds from these cheaper pedals work for you and come up to scratch.

The Zoom MS-70 CDR is a good Swiss Army Knife pedal but it's live functionality is not without its issues, but the fx are decent, plus it doubles up as your tuner.

Re:overdrives, I actually think with some experimentation, what you already have could work for you, especially the Bogner Blue, which is a versatile beast. If you're missing a jangle factor low gain or need a gnarly tweed or mid gain Marshally sound, the Catalinbread Formula 5F6 will cover that as will the Wampler 65 Deluxe OR/ a mini board of mini pedals like the 3 Xotics (SL, SP & EP) could also be a good starting block but I'd say, stick with your own board for now and good luck with the audition!!!

Bellycaster

Thanks @Kebabkid and @John_P

I'm doing what I usually do here, I throw myself in at the deep end maybe I'm inventing a problem where there isn't one or I'm over thinking it and worrying too much about nailing the exact tones as the records. I do have a very versatile P.B and along with the other responses on the other thread it certainly looks like there is a wealth of pedals and tones and it could get expensive.

I should experiment with what I already have first I think

I could certainly think of building a board more suited to 90's in the long term though I suppose. I would definitely rather have separate set ups I guess as I don't want to keep yanking out the patch cables and messing with the velcro etc.

Thanks.

photek

I try to keep it as simple as possible. I use 2 main drive pedals that work well in their own and together so I have 3 main sounds plus a boost afterward for volume jumps.

I also dropped a chorus and phaser off the board as a univibe pedal in the mix sound a bit like them anyway so one pedal replaced 2.

Maybe try and find pedals that work for everything with a bit if adjustment.

mike_l

Use what you need.

Do you need 2 (or more) dirts? Can your amp cover clean/dirty/boosted?

How many variations of phaser/flanger/chorus do you need?

Do you need more than on delay?

I have various "grab-n-go" pedals, which sound good in most situations (Boss sd-1, MXR Phase 90, Micro flanger, Microchorus, Boss DD-6) all of which can make a useful small set-up.

Bellycaster

@Photek

What type of Boost do you use for the Volume Jumps. something like an MXR Micro Amp? End of Chain, I assume?

@Mike_l

My P.B is very versatile, I love it. I think I may have been a bit anal regarding exact overdrive tones and the size of the PB, those things are what probably started me on this. 

My 2 Bogner Pedals can cover a lot of ground and they cover the Volume Boosts and Gain Boosts. My Amps Volume Boost is sacrificed when you use the FX Loop and I use the FX Loop for my Delay and Chorus.

When you grab and go with a selection of pedals, Mike, do you run them on Batteries or daisy chain or One Spot something like that? I was just interested in what your powering options were. I like to have a PSU to power multiple pedals, obviously the one on my board is staying where it is, so I'd have to buy another one for a smaller board.

Thanks guys.

mike_l

Depends, a jam night it'll be batteries, quick set-up/take down get out the way, going round someone's house for a jam, then a one-spot* and daisy chain.

 

*It's actually a Boss adaptor, but same thing by a different maker.......

photek

@Bellycaster Bearfoot Baby Pink Booster does the boosting for me chap.

ICBM

I have a big pedalboard which I never use any more, and previously I had a smaller board with fewer of the same pedals and a couple of different ones on it. Now I have a Zoom G3.

I still keep a couple of single pedals with batteries in for 'pocket rig' purposes too.

Voxman

I have both a conventional pedal-board (Boss BCB60, holding 6 pedals plus tuner) but am updating this to a similar but larger  Behringer PB1000 to hold my V847 wah, MXR noise clamp, RC-3 looper and perhaps a second delay and second distortion (haven't decided yet).

But I also have a Vox Tonelab LE.  

Both set-ups have pro's and con's but the big advantage of the TLLE is that I can set specific patches for different guitars and different types of music, that I can recall easily and tweak quickly (it has real knobs!) if I need to.  

Sometimes I'll want the simplicity of a pedalboard for straight blues, classic rock etc, but if I'm using different guitars and playing music where I need a much wider range of tones, delays, modulations etc that I can get into and out of fast, the TLLE is brilliant particularly as its quick & easy to go in/out of stomp box mode & switch certain pedals, reverb, delay, modulation on/off within any patch.    

Kebabkid

@Bellycaster - don't forget you can ride the guitar volume knob too and get additional sounds.

Bellycaster

Thanks lads, that Vox Tonelab sounds great @Voxman.

Voxman

Bellycaster;444796" said:

Thanks lads, that Vox Tonelab sounds great @Voxman.

But not the newer TLEX..they sound good but nowhere near the gig functionality or connectivity of the discontinued TLLE. Other mfx units like the Zoom G3/5 have more effects and latest modelling. But so far I've not found anything more giggable at a manageable size.

Cabicular

I have big and small pedal boards but for maximum flexibility I can't se past the M13 and a couple of expression pedals

I'm in 4 bands and each band has 2 or 3 scenes (i.e. banks of 12 pedals)

They sound pretty good if you are willing to put the time in and understand the charactistics of the underlying pedals

DesVegas

If you need all your pedals then use the large pedal board .. you'd be surprised how sometimes it's easy to tuck that large pedal board away and it still be useable on stage... besides, it looks good and you get to find other undercover pedal heads™ so much easier.

i'll get my coat

failed_astronaut

@bellycaster - let's see what you're using now, you know, for science.

Incidentally, I used to mix and match depending on the situation and travel arrangements (if I was driving - big board, if I was getting a lift - little board) and I got royally fed up with wrestling with 3M velcro every week. Now I'm running two small boards - Police covers board (G3x and drive pedals) and a second board for everything else (drive, boost, wah, delay, tuner). I'll add a mod pedal or something like the Zoom MS if/when needed.

And like you, when a new band situation comes along I automatically think I need new gear but I've realised now that 99% of the audience won't care what you sound like.

DesVegas

^yes, but that remaining 1% makes up for almost 20%

I've changed my mind, Two small boards is better then one big, i would have my second board with the pedals i can tweak up near my hands and the stompers down below .. maybe the tweakers through the fx loop to see what can be mixed in