What do you use in front of, and in the loop of your Diezel

[Me]

Hello!

What FX thingies do you people use with your rig?

Until recently I basically went:
guitar -> wah -> herbert -> g-major in parallel or serial loop (depending how waxy my ears are) -> cab
I was then happy after the Diezel purchase that I had a good sounding rig with nice sounds. (still want a new cab though ) Then a few months ago I got a Zvex fuzz probe for added filth that goes before my wah. I've since discovered the world of exciting analog stomp boxes!!!

I never really liked the compressor/chorus/flange of the G-major that much and so have always used it almost exclusively for reverb and delay (hence why I'm happy to put it in my parallel loop), but went with digital FX as it saves a lot of tap-dancing for regular patch changes and all neatly went in my old rack rig setup I had for years.

Anyway, back to my point.... there's a whole world of pedalboards out there I know not much about. There's clean boosters, things like the Z-vex Super Hard On (that I heard Mesa Triaxis' didn't like much, so never had any desire to try one with my old rig), pedal compressors (those analogman ones look nice), and various tubescreamery things, and obviously nice analog phasers/flangers/fuzzes/uni-vibes/analog delays/etc. and things like the EH memory man and Dr. Scientist Sunny Day Delay, which do delay things that I can't do with the digital delay of the G-major. I had (naively?) thought that boost type pedals were only for people who's amps didn't have enough gain. Now I know that they sound different so that's not quite true.

So basically what do you guys and gals have on your pedalboard? What do you use them for? When? What sounds nice? Which channels of you diezel do you use them with, when? What phlangers and fazers do you put in the loop or before the amp input? What kinda style do you use that sound for (jazz/death metal/radioheady stuff/classic rock - to give me a better idea of the tone you're trying to get)?

Basically, what's on your pedalboard, why, and how?
NOTE: pedalboard porn pics definitely allowed!

I've just ordered a nice Dr. Scientist Cosmichorus so I can put it in my Herbert switchable loop, or after the wah (depending where it sounds best) for splendid analog jangly swirl. The g-major just doesn't seem to do that vintagy analog sound, or else I'm crap at programming it and would be better of with a small box with knobs on! Most of the time I'll still probably use the Diezel dry, or just with digital reverb and delay, but I'm quite happy to click an extra pedal or 2 for a few patch changes with exciting effects now and then!

Sorry for the long question, but playing Ch.2 minus mode for hours with and without my fuzz made me go all vintage stomp box-y! Hang on, where's my acid and flares gone...

 

[duesentrieb]

FX I'm currently using with my Herbert:
board: modded Vox Wah (TBP) and a Columbus
rack: wireless, Rocktron Intellipitch (just for Harmonizing) and a G-Major (chorus, delay, reverb) both serial loop

Currently I'm rebuilding everything - and the result will be (90% finished)

board: same Wah, Bad Monkey (almost clean boost), Columbus
rack: wireless, midi-rack-looper by Kitty Hawk (loops amp input) with the following units:
Digitech CF7 (awesome chorus!), Digidelay (I rarely use delays nowadays), Marshall Reflector (for solos), Boss Harmonist (just need a harmonizer for two songs), maybe my old DynaComp for certain clean sounds along with the CF7.

The Kitty Hawk also switches the +/- on my Herbert via midi/Columbus.

 

[JohnRageOn]

Guitar-->RMC Wizard Wah-->BSM Fireball-->VH4<--Korg DL8000R (Parallel loop)
<--TC Electronic C Comp (Channel 1 insert)
<--Korg DTR-2000 Tuner (thru)

I only use TC C Comp on Channel 1 when I want to achieve an Andy Summers type of clean (rarely)
and the BSM pedal with Channel 2 when I want to go in boosted 70s Marshall territory.

 

[duesentrieb]

Well, which channels:

I'm using channel 2 without any fx. In both modes.
Ch1 normally with chorus on certain songs, maybe the Dyna with it . . . and the Wah . . .
Ch3 with some reverb. Just some though . . . sometimes the Wah during solos.

 

[Me]

...and the BSM pedal with Channel 2 when I want to go in boosted 70s Marshall territory.

What does the BSM "do"? As in how does it sound different from just upping the gain on the channel? Is there a reason you went for the BSM rather than the hundreds of other boosters out there?

 

[JohnRageOn]

The BSM Fireball is a replica of Range Master pedals with germanium.
The first time I heard the pedal was on a Marshall Major and it nailed that Blackmore tone.
I rarely use it though.

On Vh4 channel 2 with channel gain on 12 o clock and the boost on it is generated a Rainbow/BadCo/Thin Lizzy type of tone.

 

[madhouse]

My VH4 rig is like this:
Guitar (mainly PRS Custom 24)->Tuner->Crybaby95Q->Menatone Red Snapper (TS type OD)->Amp->Amp Efx Send 1->Boss PS-5 Pitch Shifter->POD XT Live->Serial Return

I use the Crybaby 95Q because it is switchless.

The Red Snapper was a surprise for me. When I switched from my Marshall DSL to the VH4, I planned to remove the Snapper from my pedalboard, but just for fun I decided to try it with the VH4.... and WOW! On channel one, of all things, with the Snapper gain up it produces an incredibly tight crunch tone that cuts through my band's mix extremely well. The VH4's channel two offers great crunch too, but (I'm almost ashamed to admit it), the Snapper/channel 1 combo gives me a great option for a rhythm sound. While at first I thought it'd be heresy to put a box in front of this amp, but as was said earlier you can get different tones that way, and as I found out it's worth experimenting.

I use the POD XT Live in the loop for effects (mainly chorus). The effect quality is average, but the convenience is hard to beat, because it acts as my midi controller and a volume pedal while providing all the effects I'll ever need.

My band covers a wide range of rock from classic to modern, so I like this rig because it provides a lot of tonal flexibility without having to do any tap dancing.

 

[Anonymous]

Pedalboard is a custom made Trailer Trash with A/C power outlets built onto the board.
Sennheiser digital wireless receiver mounted on board to Radial Loopbone in. Out of ch one Loopbone to E/H Blackfinger compressor and back into Loopbone ch one.

Out of ch 2 of Loopbone to Boss EQ to Wah and back to Loopbone ch 2 in.
Out of Loopbone on a separate line to Strobostomp tuner.

Out of Loopbone to Goodrich hi in, low out volume pedal to amp input.
I am thus able to bypass all effects and come into wireless receiver to Volume pedal out and still use the tuner without it being in line.
In the parallel loop of my Diezel's, I use a T.C. Electronic M-300 only for dynamic delay. While I have a couple of chorus, trem, phase and flanger programmed settings, I rarely, if ever, use them. With this set up, I can play any style and not worry about effects negatively affecting the amp's tone. The compressor uses two 12AX7 tubes running at 300 volts and has both an opti compressor and the regular guitar style compressor settings available which being tube driven, actually enhance the guitar sound when engaged.

I like the amp to have it's own sound and be barely affected by external tone pedals, when at all possible. This set up has proven to be the best compromise I have tried so far.

That is it.

 

[Sacha]

These in front:

This in the loop:

 

[hunter]

These in front:

VERY nice. I can see that you value the quality of your signal.

Say how did you get those Spectraflex patch cables cut to custom lengths?

 

[Me]

These in front:

What do they all do then? I see the subdecay noise box. Cool, I'd like one of them. I know what that does and when you might use that. I figure with a fuzz like that you use it with ch.1 or it sounds mushy? What are the other things for and when/how often do you use them and how do they change your sound? Exciting details please!

Do you guys use your compressors much, or like someone else said, is it just a touch on clean occasionally when the mood takes you?

 

[A-T]

Boewe Les Paul > VH4 > parallel loop Line6 Echo Park.
thats all
i use delay just for some solos sounds
i know ist very boaring board
but ist enough for me
i play all kind of music with my set up

 

[Me]

i know ist very boaring board
but ist enough for me

You don't have to use other stuff you don't need, just to have a cool pedalboard. I don't really think I need much more stuff with my Diezel. I just thought it would be interesting to find out if there are things I might find are really cool to have, I just don't know I want, especially things like boosters that I've never used or experimented with before! I figured it would be interesting to find what kinds of stuff people have to enhance their Diezels sound. This is probably a bad idea overall though as I currently only have a new cab (definitely) and a subdecay noise box (for extra special fuzz tone luxury) on my proper wish list. I'll probably start a whole new chapter of G.A.S. with money I don't have from this thread.

 

[A-T]

@Me have you try a Big Muff from Electro Harmonix ?
you can get very smooth sustain sounds with it great for special solos

 

[Me]

@ A-T

The guitarist in my old band had one ages ago. Sounded pretty good, but I wasn't *that* fussed by it at the time. I'm kinda happy with my diezel sounds for that though, or my Fuzz Probe for a dirtier distortion. Was interested more in things that make the diezel sound different by pushing it harder or compressing/eqing the guitar really and how that changes the diezel sound, rather than using a different distortion entirely. Is the EH BM a fuzz or distortion? My fuzz probe is enough fuzz for me! I double tracked a guitar part the other day with that into my ch1 and it sounded huge in a splendid Pumpkins-esque way.

I was very interested to hear peoples talk of getting nice different sounds with clean or nearly clean boosts. Sounds like people don't really use them that much though so I don't need to add one near the top of my wants list. I had been wondering how a ZVex super duper 2 in 1 (or SHO) would sound and if that'd be a cool thing to try. To be fair it doesn't sound like I'd get my money's worth though from what people have been saying they use with their diezel.

 

[Sacha]

Yes fuzz goes on channel 1. i use compression on cleans, od as lead boost on channel 3, eq to tweak in my sound a bit (strengthen the mids and cut some bass), the rest are pretty self explanatory. all the cabling is evidence audio from mark at lavacable and the switching / loop switcher are axess electronics (Great stuff).

These in front:

What do they all do then? I see the subdecay noise box. Cool, I'd like one of them. I know what that does and when you might use that. I figure with a fuzz like that you use it with ch.1 or it sounds mushy? What are the other things for and when/how often do you use them and how do they change your sound? Exciting details please!

Do you guys use your compressors much, or like someone else said, is it just a touch on clean occasionally when the mood takes you?

 

[eddiespaghetty]

@ me,

I tried a lot of overdrives (Keeley, Fulltone, Barber ...) with my Einstein and ended up to use a RC-Booster from Xotic, which I could highly recomend, especially for clean and crunch channels and sounds. I even don't use the Xotic BB-Preamp (which I used often with my Marshall) anymore - no need for additional gain. I also tried the Fulltone Boost, but, as I said, the RC cuts very well with Eini. I sometimes take the Analogman's Sun Face Fuzz or an Analogman Bicomp for specieal needs.
I'd like to have a Marshall/Plexi sound once a while. Any suggestions for that with an Einstein or any suggestion for another good overdrive which goes well with Diezel-Amps? I haven't found any yet.
eddie

 

[Me]

Yes fuzz goes on channel 1. i use compression on cleans, od as lead boost on channel 3, eq to tweak in my sound a bit (strengthen the mids and cut some bass), the rest are pretty self explanatory. all the cabling is evidence audio from mark at lavacable and the switching / loop switcher are axess electronics (Great stuff).

Cheers for the answers.

@ ENDITOL: Is that quite distorted o/d as lead boost? Or just slightly blusey? Or just an O/D pedal clean with a hotter level to push the diezel more? Or both? Does this sound nicer than just turning up the gain on the Diezel, or is it to "get a 4th channel" in effect?

Which pedal do you use for that? I haven't found my distortions mix very well if I use 2 distorted things and generally just add mud and/or feedback since it's kinda clipping a thing thats already been clipped! But then again I don't have any low gain distortion stomp boxes. I have fuzz or nothing really, and that just works great on clean, with anything else just being muddier.

I'm worried I might be sounding a bit like an annoying child saying "Why?" to half the answers, but I just want to know if I'd gain anything by buying a booster/od pedal and why people use them on amps with more gain than I need! (It's tricky to try them all myself as taking my rig to a shop is an arse, and I live in a town where most pedals are all the bog standard non-boutique fare, where they don't seem to sell clean boosts or fuzz pedals even, just 14 year old kids favourite super high gain things, mass produced tat and floor mount modelling things... I think I bought nearly my entire rig without hearing it first!!!)

Seems to be compression only occasionally on clean then, and no other channels from what people are saying. That kinda makes sense.

@ eddyspaggetty: I saw a demo video of the Xotic RC booster on t'internet. They were using one with a little Z-vex nano head. It sounded very nice. I used to have a Z-vex nano head. It was cool but when I got the Herbert there didn't seem much point as I could get the sound I was looking for better at any of the volumes I wanted, so it went to ebay. Was tiny and cool though! Especially when friends thought it was some kinda joke toy amp, then heard this tiny little 1 watt amp crap all over their beloved amp!

 

[sden]

My setup is also rather minimalist. Most of the time a PRS Custom 24 - Korg DT 10 Tuner - Dunlop Wah - Einstein Combo - parallel loop: Akai Headrush E2
Recently I sometimes use a Boss Blues Driver as Clean Boost.
Thats it. But sound great!

 

[Sacha]

Yes fuzz goes on channel 1. i use compression on cleans, od as lead boost on channel 3, eq to tweak in my sound a bit (strengthen the mids and cut some bass), the rest are pretty self explanatory. all the cabling is evidence audio from mark at lavacable and the switching / loop switcher are axess electronics (Great stuff).

Cheers for the answers.

@ ENDITOL: Is that quite distorted o/d as lead boost? Or just slightly blusey? Or just an O/D pedal clean with a hotter level to push the diezel more? Or both? Does this sound nicer than just turning up the gain on the Diezel, or is it to "get a 4th channel" in effect?

Which pedal do you use for that? I haven't found my distortions mix very well if I use 2 distorted things and generally just add mud and/or feedback since it's kinda clipping a thing thats already been clipped! But then again I don't have any low gain distortion stomp boxes. I have fuzz or nothing really, and that just works great on clean, with anything else just being muddier.

I'm worried I might be sounding a bit like an annoying child saying "Why?" to half the answers, but I just want to know if I'd gain anything by buying a booster/od pedal and why people use them on amps with more gain than I need! (It's tricky to try them all myself as taking my rig to a shop is an arse, and I live in a town where most pedals are all the bog standard non-boutique fare, where they don't seem to sell clean boosts or fuzz pedals even, just 14 year old kids favourite super high gain things, mass produced tat and floor mount modelling things... I think I bought nearly my entire rig without hearing it first!!!)

Seems to be compression only occasionally on clean then, and no other channels from what people are saying. That kinda makes sense.

@ eddyspaggetty: I saw a demo video of the Xotic RC booster on t'internet. They were using one with a little Z-vex nano head. It sounded very nice. I used to have a Z-vex nano head. It was cool but when I got the Herbert there didn't seem much point as I could get the sound I was looking for better at any of the volumes I wanted, so it went to ebay. Was tiny and cool though! Especially when friends thought it was some kinda joke toy amp, then heard this tiny little 1 watt amp crap all over their beloved amp!

It's like a sweetened tubescreamer so with the gain low it's more of a gritty clean boost. I've also got the gain pretty low on channel 3 - 9 o clock or so. I also sometimes use the clean boost side of a zvex box of rock, sounds killer!