This post is to demisistify the elusive “tone quest” most guitarists embark upon some point in their career.
Great guitar tone comes down to five factors :
1) The “fingers, ”
2) the guitar,
3) the cable,
4) the effects (the pedal board)
5) and the amp.
I recently was asked by a good friend to recommend a veritile pedal board setup that he could use for a cover band (and yes he has numbers 1-3 and 5). I feel, not only does this work as a unit, but this setup in THIS order will allow the best and most versatile setup:
Boss TU Tuner: The invariable Boss tuner, almost every other professional touring pedal board inevitably has this on it.
CAE/Dunlop Wah Pedal: Relatively new to the scene this is a can cover most classic to modern wah tones and also will not suck the life out of your tone.
Boss Compressor CS-3: This digital compressor works for both guitars with humbuckers and single coil pickups. Other Ross or Dyna style comps tend to be finicky with humbuckers.
****(the Boutique Drive Section: This is really where boutique pedals shine. The following two pedals, I’ve seen, to be the most tour worthy overdrives. there are however countless other candidates as well.)
Zen Drive: A nice saturated boutique style drive made by Hermida Audio that can be the meat of most edgy rock rhythm tones, or catch that searing lead guitar tones especially when stacked with the Timmy pedal (below)
Timmy: this is one of the best pedals every made, as it provides an open, amp sounding overdrive reminiscent of a Marshall Jubilee head. These are not hard to come by but the wait list is fairly long, however www.harbormusic.net usually has stock every few months. And, at a 129$ price tag, it is a no brainer as it stacks in and out very well.
MXR Mirco Amp for Boost (Undeniably the most under rated booster!) I’ve had these for years and just now I’m seeing them in Kings of Leon and Tool setups. They really offer a great clean boost, and also a warm boost as well. Potentially this pedal could fall at the beginning of the chain too.
Visual Sound Visual Volume (in active mode): This simply is the best volume pedal as in its “active mode” it offers a 5Db boost to your signal for the rest of the chain. also it is stereo in and out. (I have two)
Line6 M9: Line6 is known well for its modern sounding modulation effects and as a multi unit, this is bar none one of the best as it covers everything you’d need for a cover band, including the famous Line6 delay.
Voodoo Labs Pedal Power 2: Clean Power for all the pedals, and a AC in for that Line6 transformer…
As you can tell, I’ve not really recommended too many crazy boutique pedals, especially in the modulation department. I feel for working guitarist, the best money spent is in the overdrives. Everything else it is difficult to tell the difference in a live venue between boutique and Boss/Line6 mass produced units.
