So I've been playing guitar off and on for just over 30 years. I've got around seven electric guitars, three amps, a box pedals and various other bits and bobs. And guitars and amps I've owned and sold.
But it has taken the last month for me to buy two of the staples of many a player.
I finally bought my first Tube Screamer (well a Mooer copy) and an EQ pedal.
Rather bonkers I've gone so long without either. But I finally saw the need (unlike the many frivolous purchases of years past) and they've helped me find THE sound. The EQ pedal arrived today and bunging that in the loop of my Blackstar HT5 has been a revelation.
So was wondering. Anyone else spent their playing life never using something others would see as essential? What gear have you never even tried? What gear did you come very late to as I did? What do you never feel the need to try?
In my case I realise there is a couple of amps in my past I'd wish I had never sold; especially now knowing what a TS and EQ pedal can do for them.
Comments
Clean boost
EQ pedal
‘Transparent’ overdrive
Overdrive used to ‘push’ an amp
Tried all of these and found them uninspiring at best, or actively interfere with how I want to sound at worst.
I wouldn’t say I’ll never find one that works for me, but up to now I really don’t understand what so many people see in them.
"Take these three items, some WD-40, a vise grip, and a roll of duct tape. Any man worth his salt can fix almost any problem with this stuff alone." - Walt Kowalski
"Only two things are infinite - the universe, and human stupidity. And I'm not sure about the universe." - Albert Einstein
I also never really got on with chorus or compression, but have forced myself to try them recently and have managed to enjoy them (although the Rothwell Love Squeeze was sold to me as a compressor for people who don't like compressors, so...).
I bought a TS10 in 97 and got a Fulldrive 2 in 01. Currently have the mosfet version.
I've had or at least tried most of the 'must have' stuff. Two ommisions, I've never tried a Tonebender in any form or a Rat.
Came out with a Rat.
I've never got on with TS style ODs.
They've become my 2nd favourite type of overdrive.
I've never used an EQ pedal before but found it easy to dial in what I wanted. I just moved each control up and down to discover what flavour it was, it was then easy to decide how much of that flavour I wanted. Kinda like adding spice to a meal.
I got the TS pedal - actually a Mooer Green Mile - because my HT5 doesn't quite do modern metal. I had been looking around at maybe buying a different amp, something like a 6505 MH. But I like the HT5 and it's rock and clean sounds, so changing amps did seem extreme.
I'd tried the various pedals I owned and none boosted the OD channel in a way I liked. Nor did my high gain pedals like the OD200 float my boat into the clean channel. What I wanted was the HT5's OD channel, but more, like it naturally went into full metal territory.
So given how cheap a Green Mile is I thought I'd give it a go - have seen plenty of people use TS style pedals to achieve this. And yes, it did exactly what I wanted. I get a really good chunky metal rhythm tone using it into the HT5's OD channel. It sounds like the HT5 naturally does metal - rather than a complete sound coming from a pedal. The only thing missing was some top end in the tone, which is why I got an EQ pedal. The pedal I bought also has a volume control so it's really useful for taming amps with tricky volume tapers.
And as an added bonus the Green Mile sounds lovely as a low gain tone into the clean channel with no change of setting.
Still might buy a high gain amp though, because you know, GAS.
Compressors mainly (strangle the crap out of everything)
TS style (Thin and weak)
Delay... God I’ve tried but it’s probably me cos everyone else like them.
The OD200 is also a big pedal, and the TS I bought is a mini pedal. So better fit on my board.
I think it's on House is Rockin' ( long time since I thought about this ) by SRV where you can hear the TS go on and off and you get it's a relatively small change in sound but just enough to lift it in the mix ( although as he was in a recording studio there may have been other ways to achieve this!) and I've seen people use them live to similar effect. I remember doing a gig where the guitarist in the other band had a Boss Blues Driver for gain and it was horrible. I then played a couple of gigs with a chap who had one and I thought oh this is going to sound terrible but it was just doing that add some edge to cut through the mix thing and was great.
I suppose the moral of that is it helps if you know what you are doing. As I never know what I'm doing I've favoured pedals that are there to mask my inability as a player instead.
Ah well, i see it as something ticked and move on.
Just enough and it can make you shine.
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