Caevan O’Shite

I've actually found them more and more useful, I have several that I love and there's at least one more that I will definitely be getting as soon as I can . That sounds great and I like his backing-track choice, as well! In particular, the wide range of the Volume control and the VERY wide range of the Gain control!

Hats-off.

In both cases, we still did play together- for years with the covers (and some originals) band, and also that one-shot dua=o performance. We just didn't do those particular songs, and others. In that covers band, I sometimes even made out charts, diagrams, tab, notes on details customized for the other guitarist(s), the bassist(s), even the singer(s), for some of the songs. I say customized because I had the individuals in mind, as well as their respective instruments! No notation or "Nashville" stuff, but info that outlined the changes, recommended fingerings and positions, etc. etc. I was all into stuff like using a capo and a given key like Townshend did on some songs, etc. etc. etc. My next band will have ME ultimately in charge, though with plenty of room for everybody's input. And the emphasis will be primarily on originals; that'll be the whole point. And THAT will all also heavily influence my pedal and other gear choices.

Well, I can barely do it, for some pieces, with A LOT of hard work and focus! An example- well, two examples- that covers band wanted to add The Who's "Love, Reign O'er Me"; and a guy I did a one-time duo performance with for a benefit performance, asked me to learn The Who's "I'm One", he playing acoustic guitar and singing, myself handling the electric guitar parts. In both cases, I was stoked! I launched myself into learning the correct ways to play everything, nail the tones, with all the nuances and feedback and volume swells... 💫💖✨ And in both cases, they bailed on me, not trying to learn the songs themselves. I was all dressed-up with nowhere to go! I have need of fewer pedals chosen for very specific cover songs, so some that were staples for the covers band are going to be set aside on standby. I might even sell a few, but... probably not. I have an array of pedals, and will get a few more, to get my own personal signature sounds and work with my playing techniques. Some are definitely NOT the usual suspects and are not seen so often on most player's 'boards! I love a good flanger or phaser, and I'm coming back to chorus after decades of being sick of it. I'm very fussy about flanger and chorus pedals, so I have outstanding ones! However, I do not use flanger, phaser or chorus all the time- they're best kept to special passages that benefit from them and thus stand-out and really 'pop', rather than so often drenching everything in modulation and filtering to the point of it causing nausea... !

I've certainly enjoyed a number of classic pedal and amp combinations with my Strymon Iridium standing in for vintage Marshall and Vox voiced amps. And the pedal-settings that work well with the Iridium, also work well with my tube-amps while requiring very little or even no adjustments of the controls on the pedals. I love that! You can kinda sorta do that with Pedal Genie. It's not an inexpensive proposition, and an 'in for a penny, in for a pound' commitment. A bit much for me, but I'm sure it's a lot of fun! So it was partly or mostly the amp that you were trying the pedal through? What pedal, what amp? It sure is! I've gotten pretty good at figuring out what to expect, what will suit me well and what will not, based on all that; I've come to know what to listen and watch for that will relate to my playing, guitars, pickups, amps, other pedals... I'm rarely disappointed once I make such a purchase. But I've belabored the matter a Hell of a lot by the time I pop for it!

I didn't mean to contradict you, Larry, just to kick the ball around and point out various examples of things and ideas. You were NOT wrong, not at all; it's 'all relative'. And talented people like YOU do things the way that works best for what YOU do. Makes the world go 'round. I bet you're FAR better at doing what you do, than I would be if I tried to step into your shoes! I don't sing much, and I don't know a lot of songs. Of the ones I've learned, I've forgotten many! I bet you're a better lead player than me, too! Me, I play to my strengths, if you will- which is also just doing what I want to do. It's admittedly an easy way out! I myself once again really need to knock the rust off from any talent I may have. And some of my needs have changed- I selected and used gear specific to the various covers that a band I was in was adding to the set-lists; years before that, an all-originals band that I was in had some expectations of what did and didn't fit their style and image, though I was pretty free to do what I wanted, overall... If I get out of the house with it again, and even a few years or more before, the requirements of stage-volume levels and available space have changed. The power and useable, toneful volume of my my amps have changed- no more cranking a Fender Twin or Carvin Vintage 33 for overdrive and distortion, now it's lower-powered amps along with pedals for that. A DM/MFX unit would be a smart and convenient way to go, but as usual, I have my own workarounds... In that one covers band (we also did some originals, but that took a back-seat more and more), I had to adapt to what the other players brought to the table concerning how close or not-so-close to the original recordings of those covers it was going to be. I often changed keys, came up with parts that were sort of similar to the originals yet not exactly the same, perhaps recognizable enough to the average audience member... even pretty much re-arranging a given piece, to make it all work. My strengths helped me there! My various pedals, or newly chosen ones, helped a lot there, too- I could either nail the original sound, or bust out something completely different to make it fly on its own wings in strange winds. I am capable of working up authentic, faithful covers- but it DOES take a LOT of hard work and focus for me to do so! What comes naturally to me, is easier, and creative; while the results of working hard on a cover can be VERY satisfying, in spite of all the work and much more time spent to do so. Currently I'm kind of dormant, and looking at doing MY thing, if you will, MY way, and that means that some of the pedals and amps and that DM/MFX that I needed before, are going to the sideline. I'll probably have fewer pedals total on a rearranged pedalboard. Blah blah blah... Sorry! Forgive my rambling...

What kinds of analog, individual pedals are used the most often by electric guitar players? Most likely, Fuzz, Octave-Fuzz, Overdrive, Distortion, and various types of Boosts. All of those, ESPECIALLY Octave-Fuzz and Fuzz, are generally very poorly and inadequately replicated by digital modeling, exacerbated by AD/DA conversion. Digital Fuzz, Octave-Fuzz, OD and Dist do not respond to and interact with the player's "touch", their guitar's volume-controls and pickups, and other pedals and amps in the same ways as real-live analog pedals. The available textures are missing. A diminished experience and palette, for sure. I also loathed digital chorus, flange, and phaser effects. Hard puking ingested jagged plastic chunks NO. (Some individual pedals that use digital processing for phaser and/or modulation effects are much improved on previous generations, "YMMV". For example, Winston didn't care for the video-demos of the Strymon Zelzah, citing a perceived "digital sheen"- while I thought that I'd enjoy it... ) The digital reverbs and delays on many DM/MFX units are often rather bland and generic. I will admit and even heartily state that these are all VERY HIGHLY subjective from one player to another to another. Some may hear and feel little or no difference between a multi-effects unit's digital-models of, say, a Fuzz Face, a Tube Screamer or Sparkle Drive, and my various all-analog Fuzz pedals and my Origin Effects Halcyon Green Overdrive. To me, the differences in feel, sound, interactive details, and features are nearly profound. Could I get by with a digital-modeler/multi-effects unit that has models of Fuzz and Overdrive pedals? I used to- and the differences prompted me to begin building a collection of individual 'real, actual' pedals. At first, I placed some such pedals in front of and (in the case of some delay, reverb and modulation pedals) even after my DM/MFX unit (a DigiTech GNX4), which in turn went to headphones and/or DI to PA and monitors. I later began adding a real-live tube-amp in parallel to the DM/MFX unit (the two were not connected to each other in any way); this sounded HUGE onstage or from anywhere in the audience! But I digress... I eventually sidelined the DM/MFX. And since then, I've also begun using and really enjoying a Strymon Iridium, which is an amp digital-modeler and speaker/cab/mic/room IR device. Along with many of my favorite pedals fore and aft, the Iridium can very satisfactorily replace both my amps and a DM/MFX unit, if going DI. Now, there ARE, especially among some that have been fairly recently introduced, some DM/MFX units that are VERY sophisticated, some of which even allow you to model the actual amps and pedals that you personally have. They are also very expensive, Am I a Pro? I'm not a Pro, but I played one on stage last night... (OK, it's been a long while, actually) No, I'm not a Pro, in my estimation. But whether I'm playing for myself through headphones, or with a full band on a stage in front of an audience or in any other space, I deeply, deeply enjoy having excellent tone and interactive qualities literally at my fingertips; it's very therapeutic and nourishing for me. I can very much relate to THAT! And I play fingerstyle 100% of the time, as well. Amps and effects that interact with all that are very rewarding to me. The more I can change tones and sounds and textures with my fingertips and guitar-controls, instead of via the footswitches and knobs of amps, pedals, or DMM/MFX, the better. Here, here! Hear, hear! Alternating and stacking such pedals can reward the player with rich and varied tones and 'feel'. One of the things which distinguishes the Kronos Quartet (whose concerts & records I mix,) from all other "classical" string quartets is their willingness to explore non-conventional timbres. I have run them all through Tube Screamers, octave dividers, chorus/phasers, lots of delays, & my personal fave, the Leslie simulation. We're now doing all our effects in software, but we started out with pedals & rack units. Violins especially take to distortion very well. I have a friend and Friend via Facebook who plays sax. She builds and deftly deploys extremely sophisticated, large pedalboards. She sounds AMAZING. I can relate! I bet you'd like, maybe even love my sound if we jammed. I bet you'd hate using my gear. Front-and-center at a concert one night, after a little friendly small-talk here and there with Warren Zevon, a very tall, very inebriated gentleman leaned over to show Mr. Zevon his wallet's lengthy string of photos of his snowmobile- impressing everyone all the more by dumping his beer all over Warren's pedals and shoes. Startled and cringing, an exasperated Mr. Zevon exclaimed to me "D'eghgghhg!! You get it!!"

I'd want to try running the two Super Champs together in 'stereo', trying out some stereo pedals with 'em... Got any Leslie-sim effects, pedals or otherwise? If so, you'll love how that sounds in stereo...

I wouldn't have taken that as your "dissing" the EHX Crayon pedal, not at all! Just kickin' the ball around, speaking and making recommendations from experience! That Tech 21 Double Drive 3X does sound very versatile! And you scored a great deal om that one! A bit of a 'sleeper' among such pedals, huh? There's also the JHS Crayon, so named as being a smaller, simplified relative of the JHS Color Box. These two EHX and JHS pedals seem a bit similar in concept and topology in some ways; I think that the EHX Crayon sounds and acts more like a clean-boost and/or out-and-out overdrive pedal, while the JHS Crayon sounds and acts more like a mic-pre channel-strip circuit from a recording-console that can be overdriven and get fuzzy. Similar enough ideas and uses, different sonic personalities. All three- the Tech 21 Double Drive 3X, EHX Crayon, and JHS Crayon- seem to be excellent, useful, versatile pedals; which one would best suit a given player would depend entirely on their given wants, needs, and tastes! All three seem like they'd be great on their own, or for stacking before or after other pedals, too.

I didn't know much about the EHX Crayon; now that I've looked into it a bit more, I can see that it's a pretty versatile variation on overdrive pedals. It aughtta be a pretty useful tool to have on hand!

It's probably pretty repairable, in spite of the less than ideal PCB-mounted construction. Are you sure that the jack itself needs replacing? I'm not meaning to second-guess you. I've replaced some of those years ago, but also simply carefully re-touched the solder-joints on some, with the addition of a tiny amount of fresh-solder and/or flux, followed by a careful cleaning. Even if the pads and/or traces on the PCB are damaged, those can be repaired, too, with a small bit of wire and soldering. Been there, done that!

Have fun!

"I'm not buying any more pedals." Haahh! Sooo very often, 'famous last words'... I can relate to both 'it was on sale/open-box/demo/blem/great deal on a used specimen'; and also, 'a really cool pedal that I'd really wanted for a very long time'... ANYWAY, tell us more about that Crayon pedal! And your plans for it!

Brother Winston said it well above. Furthermore, vintage/Rangemaster-based pedals are really more of a 'mids/upper-mids' boost, that cut-off much of the low and low-mid frequencies. They tightened up the flub and reduced the mud of cranked-up early tube-amps. And they oftten DO contribute some or even a lot of quasi-fuzzy grit, dirt and bite, depending on their transistors, and control-settings. Many often also contribute as part pf the 'clean-up' process when using the guitar's volume-knob(s) and ones picking-attack "touch", in turn being part of the ''dirtying-up' when the guitar's volume-knob(s) are turned up and picking-attack is stronger, as they can boost the input to the amp and add some of their own dirt. It's never been confirmed for sure, but some of Clapton's tracks on the classic "Beano" album with John Mayall & the Bluesbreakers may have been done with a Dallas Rangemaster Treble Booster. (Humbuckers.) Tony Iomi used a treble-booster of one type or another quite a bit on a lot of classic Black Sabbath recordings (and concerts?). (P-90's and Humbuckers.) Brian May famously used a preamp/treble-booster device made by his friend and Queen bassist, John Deacon. (Single-coils with a wide array of series/parallel/phase options.) Rory Gallagher often used treble-booster pedals. (Single-coils.) I favor very vintage-y germanium-transistor treble Booster types; mine can be clean or dirty in and of itself, can add a bit of chime and compression of its own along with pushing the amp harder for that, and also can be a full-range boost as well as having five different cot-off frequency points to choose from, two of which are the same as those classic Dallas Rangemaster Treble Booster boxes. I like it for what I think of as a sort of a 'karate-chop' overdrive tone for chords, riffs, and fills, that can also clean-up very nicely. It's especially fantastic with Marshall and Vox voiced amps! I like to alternate that with fatter, fuller overdrive tones for leads.

Just curious, Jenny- Would you be using a 'Treble Booster' type more for rhythms, chords, riffs 'n fills- or, more for leads and such? Or, fairly equally for both?

So, @picker, how'd you make out there with that Strat, those hot rail style 'buckers, and any pots and capacitors?

You got him safely home where he belonged, alright. 💫🙂✨

Remember the Steinberger TransTrem, around 1984?

I really enjoy having my Keeley RSGPM and my Fulltone CS Ranger (germanium Rangemaster Treble Booster type) together, to alternate between BIG, FAT overdrive with generous amounts of distortion and fuzz shoveled in with a LOT of bass and mids, and 'Karate chop' tone emphasizing mids and upper-mids, between those two pedals, respectively. I do NOT stack them one into the other, however- the RSGPM is too gainy and aggressive for that, it gets carried away and prone to unpleasant noises. Oddly, in spite of its HUGE lows and mids boost and being somewhat uncooperative with 'cleaning-up', it somehow manages to evoke a feel and character kinda sorta like a Treble Booster in a way. They make a great tag-team. Speaking of THAT, my fantabulous TS-flavored Origin Effects Halcyon Green Overdrive and (soon to be mine) equally fantabulous Klon-flavored OE Halcyon Gold OD make an incredible 'one/two/both stacked' pairing! I would love to compare the Muse Driver and the Halcyon Gold; I suspect that the H Gold will win out for me, personally, though I expect that I'd love the Muse, as well. I just might have to obtain a MD to compare with the HGOD, just for the fun of it; and then I might have to find a good home for the Muse...

I saw whatcha did there...

Indeed he does. I'm very pleased with my 'Retro Super Germanium Phat Mod', which seems to be a more aggressive and bigger, fatter, less refined (more brattitude, less capable of 'cleaning-up') cousin of this new Muse Driver pedal... My RSGPM has a fuzzier edge melded in, and is almost a distortion pedal without sounding like 'Metal distortion'. This new Muse Driver evokes 'Jeff Beck Tone in a Box', to as much a degree as that could be- that is, Jeff himself would probably have enjoyed this pedal, I think it would have fit in with his approach very well...

That's unfortunate... Especially for the price- it's inexpensive. Pretty compact, too- downright small even. I'd say you're all set there, then. I'd expect the ART and Mackie units to pretty much be sonically indistinguishable.

THAT- the reinstated MORPH function- would be an OUTSTANDING improvement! I have not yet delved into MIDI control. Yet. On the one hand, I have been so pleased with the Iridium's "Punch"/Marshall and "Chime"/Vox Models and IR's, that I have been more likely to purchase another, additional Iridium than to go searching for another such Modeler/IR device. On the other, that MORPH feature definitely has a special allure for me... The Kemper PP has a single, mono XLR Output, am I correct? Seems odd, being as there are Left and Right 1/4" Unbalanced Outputs... It also seems odd that there's a single, mono Input, as well... ? As for 1/4" Unbalanced outputs, it is VERY well worthwhile to use a passive, transformer-coupled Direct Box to convert its 1/4" unbalanced Inputs to balanced XLR Outputs. I can HIGHLY recommend the inexpensive ART DUALZDirect 2-channel Passive DI. It would do you VERY well; you'd have to spend A LOT MORE to get anything appreciably better.

Likewise, that Cunningham Zonk/MK1 Fuzz sounded FANTASTIC, ESPECIALLY set to its (Tonebender) MK1 Mode. But originally listed for $499, and used specimens- IF you can find one for sale- very likely priced for hundreds more... ?! Hard pass. Conversely, that JHS/ROSS Fuzz was a surprise there, I wouldn't have expected to like it as much (for being a YT Vid demo, as opposed to actually playing through one). I see that used specimens can be had for pretty reasonable prices; it SOUNDS (in this video) like 'more money'. All this said while I'm very unlikely to be considering buying any fuzz pedals, with very few, very specific exceptions...

Excellent! Very, very good tips on how to deal with that issue. I myself ALWAYS, ALWAYS and FOREVER am adjusting my guitar's volume-control[s] (or, using a volume-pedal, or a 'volume-swell' pedal), and also my "touch", my picking-dynamics. So, ALL of THAT has to be considered and factored-in, as well. I might have a piece where my guitar's volume-knob[s] rolled-back frequently or all of the time, and another where it's fairly uniform with little or no changes. I have to somewhat average-out the overall volume-range, or take all that in mind for a given programmed patch on a Digital-Modeling/Multi-Effects unit. A good sound-person can and will compensate, if and when necessary. 'S been a while 'n a half since I gigged, but I remember it being done, and done well... If going completely DM/MFX DI to PA and Monitors, I've really enjoyed monitoring through my own full-sized headphones (I'm one of those contrarian luddites that detests using In-Ears). Some real-live pedals, with or without a DM/MFX, will spring a volume jump (or drop) on you, as well as various virtual pedal models and effects within a MFX unit. Sometimes I not only live with that and/or compensate with my guitar's volume-knob[s] and my "touch", I'll even take advantage of and rely on said jump as a boost for leads and such. For example- surprisingly- there's a large volume-jump when I engage the Chorus Mode of my old TC Electronic Stereo Chorus/Flanger, especially when used in stereo; it's also very FAT, and WIDE in the stereo-image. Great for leads! And I also don't have that or any chorus effect on all the time, either, so it's good for jumping out a bit. Conversely, .there's a psycho-acoustic phenomenon that takes place when a tremolo effect is engaged: the human ear perceives tremolo as an overall drop in volume, regardless of the actual volume-level of the 'peaks' in the amplitude-modulation. Sometimes, a volume-boost is helpful to have along with the tremolo-effect. Other times, one might want there to be a perceived drop within the band-mix there, to seem to recede into the background a bit.