Pedals for recording guitars thru amps

[vvv]

Inspired by here.

I would be up for a thread about cool and unusual pedals.

The problem with a lot of the web pedal sites is, the bandwagon threads - I will never buy a OCD, for example, or (another Tubescreamer or clone) for that reason. Or spend ZVEX money, much less a Klon fortune; why? (And I sure don't wanna "compete" with the pedalslutz - I got more mic's and shite to buy!)

And yes, I admit there's lotsa cool info out there, too, especially if you are interested in the off-path and boutique.

Me, I like the unusual and treasure the cheap and unique-or-at-least-interesting, so lemme start with a cuppla examples (US$150 to much, much less) of what I mean, as I hope to inspire like replies, by FX'd guitars being recorded, by us.

Hmm - how about gain pedals (all less than US$100 offa the Ebog)? Assume a relatively "clean" amp ...

(And yep, I do love my Rat and 'screamer stuff and Tubeworks and Fulltone and Visual Sound and Muffs and yadayadayada, but y'all know about that. And ya can't have 'em.)

How about the Rocktron Austin Gold - subtle to wacky, it's a great color. And the box made from alum. channel is, eh, kinda cool. (Look for the Shortimer Delay, too.)

The Peavey Hot Foot - I don't know why these never took off, it's one of the best FET-type Marshall kinda things I've heard. Fragile pots, tho', and they prices are going up ...

MXR 78 - OK, name brand, but not a popular pedal, I know not why. Mebbe it's because you gotta forget about what you want it to sound like, and work with what it does sound like, which is a cool grind kinda thing, like a gained-up 70's SS amp that has a tube (mebbe) somewhere ... And, it can sound like Foghat!

Dano's whatevahs - I have a couple of the cheapos, Black Coffee, and a Octave thing and a Metal thing - they all suck and I'd not use 'em onstage in public, but like the ugly lover, in the privacy of my bedio, they suck real nice.

[kslight]

I've owned a lot of pedals on both ends of the price spectrum but the ones that actually have stuck around are my BYOC rat and tube screamer/boost, and an old EHX double muff. For sorta crazy I also like the JHS pandamonium, which would have been a real expensive (ripoff) pedal but I got it in a trade...supposed to be a bass pedal, with fuzz and SVT preamp in one...it does something interesting on guitar (moreso than bass)...and I would never tell anyone it's worth $315...nor should they support JHS for moral reasons (Google it).

Though sometimes you just have to kick in the dirt channel when a pedal won't do..

[vvv]

The BYOC stuff has intrigued me and I've nearly bought something a few times.

So, what else?

Well, the Oil Can Delay by Visual is just a awesome basic, analogue-sounding delay, altho' I use the aforementioned Shortimer on my board because it is more adjustable.

The cheapest Dunlop wah, I mean, the US$40 new one, is perfectly fine for recording with, and a worthy investment in spice for the other guy yer recording.

Do try the EHX Bass Muff on guitar; was I gonna buy one Muff it would be this ...

[standup]

Got a devi ever hyperion fuzz a year or two ago, it's rather insanely over the top. I like putting tremolo before it -- the gain is so ridiculous that you cannot hear any tremolo when you hit a chord, then the tremolo creeps in as the chord fades. Fun sound. This week I ordered a "Torns Peaker" which is supposed to be a lower gain devi ever device.

I've got a TC "hall of fame" mini pedal, it's half width, one knob and $99. You download reverb programs into it via your phone, some of which are pretty wacky and might be good for recording one song sometime. I'm still looking for a deep spring surf-worthy program for it, but one will probably turn up. The main drawback is the amount of soak available tends to be on the subtle-ish side.

[Sean Sullivan]

It's funny how dialing in a sound changes your playing...I think pedals can be very inspiring. I've owned a lot of pedals over the past 10 years, but right now the ones that I have that areinspiring:

Retro-Sonic Chorus: pretty much a Boss CE-1. Awesome chorus, but I love using ge vibrato side for a fast leslie sound. It's great for leads and after every gig someone comes up and says "what was that sound you used on that song?" and they're always shocked it's a chorus. Who the fuck uses chorus!

Sanner Fuzzrite: Ed Sanner, who built and designed the original Mosrite's, built these by hand for Front Porch Music in BaKersfield. Amazing, mean sounding fuzz that's great for garage rock. I use it at pretty low gain settings because I have...

Wattson FY-6: Superfuzz clone that has a bit off an octave up to it, but it can still handle power chords without turning to mush. Awesome for leads or heavier fuzz.

The others I have...Retro-Sonic Delay (slap back), Death By Audio Interstellar Overdriver, Divided By 13 Dyna-Ranger, Wren and Cuff Tall Font Russian Big Muff are more standard and obvious but the other 3 are a little extra ompf to boost my playing

[kslight]

Coincidentally Josh from JHS was on my flight this morning..

[Jim Williams]

These boxes are rather simple so I built my own. I have a collection of classics I built from schematics from Fuzz Central. I used cheapo $6 colored Bud style boxes, CTS pots, Switchcraft jacks and Keystone battery clips, they are indestructable.

I have a Roger Meyer Octavia, A 3 knob germanium Colorsound, a Foxx tone machine with the best octave split ever, a germanium Fuzz face (had an original I bought in 1968 that I later sold) and some custom jobs with selectable germanium/silicon diode strings.

I also have a rebult Cry Baby with a Fasel inductor, low noise Toshiba transistors, Wima 2.5% .01 polyprop film filter caps, etc. I use a trimpot to set resonance.

I don't use clean boost pedals as all my guitars are active with clean boost built in.

[comfortstarr]

I built the BYOC TS clone. It's pretty darn awesome and really darn awesome on bass. They now have a "Large Beaver" for bass that I'm tempted to try.

[vvv]

Who the fuck uses chorus!

So some time ago I'm using a DOD chorus on stage with a touch of delay and some distortion - guy comes up and asks, "Was that a guitar synthesizer?"

I never admit to a lie, so I can't tell ya what I said in response ...

So, DOD effects are much-maligned.

Whatever.

I like their chorus pedals, delays, multi-FX, and their compressors, their flangers, etc., mebbe because they are just, somehow, a little "off". And yep, I use them live, too.

NOTE to Jim Williams - damn! I wish ...

standup: ever read about the Billy Corgan controversy with D. Ever? Hilarious.

comfortstarr: the name alone demands you build one and report back!

[Nick Sevilla]

ELECTROHARMONIX.

[kslight]

Ever read about JHS and Devi Ever? That's a reason why I don't support them...


DOD/Digitech are not that bad at all...I mean I wouldn't buy everything they make...but I like the fx25b and I got a set of Istomp pedals really cheap awhile back...pretty useful.

[wren]

I've heard the Zoom Ultra Fuzz referred to as a "poor man's Fuzz Factory but more useful because you can actually make it sound the same on different days." And that's about correct in my experience (disclaimer: I've never owned a Fuzz Factory but I have monkeyed with one once or twice).

The Danelectro French Toast is an AMAZING-sounding fuzz. I really wish it came in a different form factor. But it's the most fun $30 you can spend, I think.

The Ibanez AW7 is a mediocre-sounding auto-wah, but it has a switchable built-in fuzz/distortion circuit that sounds beautifully awful and not entirely unlike an EHX Microsynth that only sweeps its filter in one direction. AW7 with built-in distortion + ebow = guitar synth.

And if you want a quick way to destroy a guitar signal or make it sound like an amp is blowing up, the Ibanez FZ7 is a great, cheap way to do that.

The Ibanez Weeping Demon is a great wah if you don't want a wah. And what I mean by that is: if you want a Crybaby or a Vox, go buy a Crybaby or a Vox. But if you want an interesting-sounding, endlessly tweakable wah-like foot-controlled filter, it's awesome.

If you're looking for a good, performance-friendly, versatile analog delay and don't need it to self-oscillate, I highly recommend the BBE Two-Timer.

And finally: I still have a Zoom G2 that I use quite frequently, and I'm still amazed at how amazing it sounds. Crappy distortions, but everything else sounds passingly good to fantastic. I'm sure whatever new version of it they have is good, although I have no experience with it. Its reverbs and delays are particularly nice: if you ever find yourself wishing for a few more verb and delay flavors for guitar you could do a whole hell of a lot worse, and you couldn't even come close to doing any better for the price.

I'm sure I'm forgetting a few - I'll think on it some more...

[vvv]

+1 on the Ibanez Tonelock stuff. I have a cuppla ones for bass I keep on my pedal board, and they all cost around US$20-25 used.

They sure aren't hi-fi!

[kung_fu_elvis]

I have a Danelectro 'Grilled Cheese' fuzz... I think the title is pretty apt.

What I enjoyed was running a Boss OD-3 in front, and dialing the overtone of the dano pedal to a certain note to encourage feedback.