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I need a precursor here. For years I did not want any pedals in my signal path. It was all about simplicity, and the fewest
possible points of failure. Guitar, to cable, to amp, the end.
As time moved on I realized
I'd end up with a pedal at some point, so I thought... Well if there's one, why not go batshit and get a whole pile? I knew
the day would come sooner or later, and it happened recently. Here's the story, names have not been changed as there are no
innocent parties.
I did have a few pedals back in the day. The first pedal I ever bought was a Danelectro Fabtone (the real one, before the
mini pedals). I paid like $80 for it, which is more than my amp was worth, and bought it on the recommendation of a guy who
may have never played an electric guitar. Yeah small town music store!
I never really bonded
with this thing, despite selling it, buying another, and repeating this process a number of times. I just never found a usable
sound. I discovered after selling my 3rd Fab that it's actually not a distortion pedal as said hippy told me, but a fuzz.
OOoohhh! Got it now. So now that I know it's intentions that changes my opinion of it. I still don't like it, but I
understand why now. I was expecting it to do something it was never meant to.
I traded the first
Dano for a Boss pedal of unknown flavor. There was a pawn shop that had some gear, so I went to off the Dano and saw a pedal
that someone had painted. You couldn't tell what it was, or what the knobs did. It didn't do much for me short of some serious
sci fi effects. If you turned the knobs a certain way you could make it sound like a space ship taking landing. Traded it
off a month later for something useless probably.
I picked up a Dano Pastrami Overdrive at one point,
and I think I only used it once or twice. I didn't get that one either, and might have a use for it today. But it was a $20
pedal, so no major loss.
Electro-Harmonix Linear Power Booster LPB-1 - Wanted a clean boost. This thing colored my tone like crazy, even
when not on. Junk. It got sold, to a guy who sold it days later. Good theory, bad practice.
Danelectro Cool Cat CTO-2 Transparent Overdrive V2 - *let me catch my breath* I bought this one trying
to find an overdrive to work with the amazing clean channel on my Ampeg. It kind of did the trick, and was cool because it
could double as a boost pedal if needed. Ultimately, it stayed in my toolbox for a few months and got traded off for another
Cool Cat.
GFS GFT-90 Pedal Tuner - Based on the Korg Pitchblack, but about half the price. I picked this one up once I started
gigging more again. I got tired of unplugging to use my Boss TU-12H.
This is the pedal
that started the madness.
After about a month of using this pedal it died mysteriously. GFS was really
cool about it, but didn't have any in stock, so I moved on to something else.
Nocturne Brain Seltzer - This is an amazing pedal! Nocturne pedals are made by Tavo Vega in SoCal. The original
idea was to try and get the tone that Brian Setzer has with his Filtertron equipped Gretsch, Roland Space Echo RE-301, and
his 1963 Blonde Fender Bassman. Part of the magic of Setzer's tone is the preamp of the Roland. For some reason it acts like
a really good mic preamp in a studio, where the amp now "hears" the pickups better. One great side effect is when Setzer goes
from flatpicking to fingerpicking, there's almost no volume loss. Now, I can't fingerpick to save my life, but it's still
a great pedal to have in the chain. I bought this one used, but I only got to spend a few days with it before sending it back
to Tavo for a Dyno mod. The new version of his pedals (Dyno Brains) are more friendly with other types of pickups and amps.
After
spending a few months with this thing, it's never leaving my board. I can't really explain what it does, but it's like stepping
on a pedal labeled "more awesome". Actually I never step on it, it just stays on all the time. Seriously, go buy one. I plan
on adding several of Tavo's other pedals to my board in the near future.
Danelectro Cool Cat CT-1 Tremolo - Traded the CTO-2 in for this one since I wasn't using the OD much. I've always
wanted an amp with tremolo, but decided that since I was getting a bunch of pedals this would be easier. I'm sure there are
better trem pedals out there, but for as much as I'll use it, this one is fine for me. I've only played with it a few times
so far, but it gets a pretty good S.C.O.T.S. sound, and can get pretty close to Link Wray's Rumble.
Overall
I have to say I'm pretty impressed with the Cool Cat series, and wouldn't hesitate to buy another one if I had a use for it.
Well built, good sound, good prices, can't go wrong.
Ibanez DPL-10 - Panning digital delay with stereo outputs. I haven't had the chance to really sit down and dial
this one in, but it's pretty cool so far. It's got a good slapback sound, and I can get some good ambient subtle delay to
add to my amp reverb. That's what I use it for mostly right now, but when I get another original band going it will come into
play much more I have a feeling.
MXR Zakk Wylde Overdrive - Bought this one from a GDP member as well. Now most people see Zakk Wylde and think it's
some crazy super metal distortion. Not the case by a long shot. This is a nice low gain OD with some great tone on tap. Zakk
uses it on top of the amp distortion, to get into that mega metal drive he uses, but the guy really knows his tone. I use
it with a clean channel for a sparkly OD, or with lower gain as a top boost on top of my drive channel. The tone knob really
adds a lot, and sometimes I need some more high end to cut through. That's where this thing comes in really handy.
I
have noticed a little noise when it's engaged, but haven't had a chance to figure out why. Not noticeable when playing, but
it was when I was tuning. I will say I was 8" from my amp, so I probably wouldn't have noticed on a bigger stage.
Fender PT-100 tuner pedal - The GFS tuner crapped out on me. They offered to replace it, but didn't know when
they would be back in stock, so I opted for store credit and this bad boy. First turned it on at a gig, holy aircraft landing
lights. The LEDs are stupid bright, but I guess that will be helpful on outdoor gigs. Working well so far, I'll be back with
more updates after it's been to a few more shows.
Digitech Bad Monkey - Another Tube Screamer clone. Bought it super cheap ($20 I think?) and it's a decent pedal. Nothing
spectacular, but it has some good tones on it. I'll probably keep it around, though I'm looking at a few other OD pedals to
take the lead.
Gator Powered Pedal Tote - Well with all the pedals, I needed a board. I started with a different one, but found
this on craigslist for $25. Too good to pass up!
I tried doing a board on the cheap, but
wound up dropping $80 into it before I knew it. I'm selling all the other stuff since I got this. I really can't recommend
this board enough if you're looking into getting one. It's a touch heavy, but it's solid on the ground, and big enough to
handle whatever I can throw at it. One gig and it paid for itself in my opinion.
I've since
added a Fender tuner, I'll update the pics eventually.
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