The photo above shows the arrangement of my two "Floor" positioned Pedalboards.
Effects pedals dedicated to
"Pitch Shifting, Envelope Following & Wah"
are mounted on the board to the "Right",
while pedals dedicated to
"Drive, Volume, Harmonies & Modulation"
are mounted on the board to the Left.
The Pedalboard below sits atop my "Amp Heads";
These Pedals are SPECIFIC to the "Amplifier(s)", are ALWAYS "On", and set the "Baseline" for Reverb, Delay, EQ, Volume, & Stereo Imaging.
"Pitch & Wah" Board;
The signal comes straight from the "Guitar", and enters the "Morpheus Bomber";
The Morpheus Bomber is a "Pedal Controled Pitch Shifter". It is capable of Pitch shifts over a "Five Octave" range, "Two Up" and "Three Down", WITHOUT "Glitches"!
It can "Do" these pitch shifts "Polyphonically", meaning that it can shift more than "One note" at the "Same Time". In fact, you can "Shift", WHOLE CHORDS, with NO GLITCHES!
Try doing THAT with a "Digitech Whammy". The "Short" answer, is that YOU CAN'T!
The "Next" pedal in the chain is an "Electro Harmonics" Micro Q-Tron;
The "Micro Q-Tron" is an Envelope Follower/Filter, producing "Auto Wah Synth Sounds".
The third and final signal path on "This" board, is to an Early 70's "Colorsound Wah Wah";
This is in fact, my very FIRST PEDAL! I bought it "Used" at a Garage Sale, in 1978 for $12.50, when I was 18 Years old.
The "Colorsound Wah" has the unique feature of having a very "Long Throw". It has a much "Wider" frequency range than a "CryBaby" Wah.
You CAN "immulate" the sound of a "Crybaby" with the "Colorsound" IF you control how far you "Rock" the pedal, but you can also do "Wide Sweeps" on the "Colorsound' that the "Crybaby" can't reach.
To get an idea of what the "Colorsound" CAN do, listen to Brian Robertson's Guitar Solo on the Thin Lizzy song;
"Don't Believe a word".
From "Here" the signal leaves "This" board, and enters the "Main" pedalboard.
"Drive & Modulation" Board;
The signal arrives on this board at a "Saturnworks" 3-Way active Splitter;
THIS pedalboard is basically "Central Command", and the "Heart" of this board is located
"Front Row Center".
It is a "Three Way Switch" made by "Bright Onion Pedals";
The "Three Way Switcher" selects between
Three DIFFERENT "Drive Loops";
✓ A "Clean" tone enhanced by a "Zoom AC-2" Acoustic Simulator, which provides "Level, Bass & Treble" controls, as well a "Reverb", "Selectable Acoustic Simulation", and a "Silent Tuner";
After the AC2 Acoustic Simulator, and within the "Clean" channel Drive loop, is an Electro Harmonix Pico Platform Compressor/Limiter;
I added a compressor to the "Clean" channel to help bring out the "Presence" in relation to the other two "Distortion" channels which already have a degree of compression due to the natural clipping effect of "Their" circuits.
This goal was accomplished, as well as "Increased Trailing Sustain", and a better fuctioning "Noise Gate" too!
✓ A "Guyatone TD-1", REAL
"High Voltage Plate"[200v DC]
Tube Distortion Pedal that produces AUTHENTIC "Vintage Tube Distortion";
Not ONLY is "This" the FIRST "Real Tube" distortion pedal ever made[early 80's], but it is ALSO one of the FEW EVER "Made" utilizing REAL "High Voltage Plate" distortion.
One thing that "This" Distortion pedal lacked, was any kind of adjustments for Equalization, and the TD-1 needed some push in the mids to cut "The Mix", so I introduced an "EX" brand 7-Band EQ pedal into "This" loop to resolve that;
and found that a "Mild" bump in the 5 kHz & 2.2 kHz range brought in some "Air" to the "Highs", while a more "Aggressive" push in the 500 Hz range gave the TD-1 a nice "Middy Growl". These changes resulted in a noticeable improvement in overall "Presence", and a more "Vocal" tone.
✓ A "Boss MT-2 Metal Zone" distortion pedal, modified to "My Specifications" by Chad Matthews[of "CMAT Mods"], using components purchased from Monte Allums, but like I said, "Tone Modified" to MY "Specifcations", and NOT HIS;
The mod includes offering three different "Flavors" of Gain via a "3-Way" Clipping Diode toggle selector switch to engage either; 1N34A "Germanium" Diodes["Warm, Smooth & Compressed"], LED "Light" Diodes["Dynamic & Crunchy"], or bypassing of BOTH of these "Diodes" altogether for an "Overdrive" type of gain structure.
A further "Upgrade" was replacing the "Factory Electrolytic" Caps to "Metal Film" and "Tantalum" Caps for a Reduction of "Noise", and Enhancment of "Clarity and Presence".
This pedal produces BONE CRUSHING "Over The Top" Supersaturated and Scooped Distortion in FULL "High Definition" Glory!
Each of the Three Drive Channel "Loops", has it's OWN dedicated
"Donner Noise Killer"
Noise Gate in their signal path;
this gives me the ability to set the Noise Gate "Threshold" for the optimum performance requirement for each of the Three "Gain Stages".
[Thus concludes the "Drive Looping", via the "Bright Onion" Pedal.]
The pedal following the "Bright Onion 3-Way Switch" is a "Donner Boost Killer" Volume Boost pedal, used primary for raising the volume level for "Lead Passages";
The next pedal in the signal chain is a "Boss HR-2 Harmonist";
This pedal is capable of producing up to two "Intelligent Harmonies", or "Octave" accompaniments "Above and/or Below" the notes being played, plus can be set to produce a decent "Chorus" effect as well. Another effect is the ability to simulate a "12-String" Guitar.
Now the path travels up to the "Upper Tier", and the next effect inline, is a "Yamaha FL-10MII" Flanger from the "Early 80's";
This unit is very versatile, capable of anything from subtile almost "Chorus" effects, to "Wild", even to the point of "Self Oscillation".
It produces a "Warm" 80's Analog Bucket Brigade "Tone", as far as "Flangers" go, which is understandable because that is exactly what it is.
From the Flanger, the signal goes to an Ibanez CSMINI Chorus Pedal;
This chorus offers a bit more "Shimmer" than most other chorus units, blended with a nice warm "Analog" tone. The controls are "Straight Forward", 2 Mini Knobs adjust Depth, & Blend[labeled as "Level"], which together gives you the ability to adjust the Intensity, and a larger Rate Nnob that lets you vary the speed from "None" to, well, don't "Go There" TOO Fast!
"Next" in line, is a "BBE Soul Vibe" Univide/Rotary Speaker Simulator;
This is my "Robin Trower" in a BOX!
This thing produces EXCELLENT "Bridge of Sighs" or "Long Misty Days" tones.
You can also pull off David Gilmour's sound on "Breathe", as well as Jimi Hendrix's "Machine Gun".
The Soul Vibe Adjustments are very straight forward;
[1] "Speed"[Self Explainatory],
&
[2] "Intensity" which blends the effected signal with the original signal. The Soul Vibe has the ability to be VERY "Intense", and the "Intensity" knob gives you the ability to go as "Mild to Wild" as you please.
The circuit is ALL Analog and utilizes the same "Photo Cell Principles" as the vintage "Uni-Vibes", but with a design change to improve "Consistency", and "Dependability".
The photo cells are firmly housed inside the walls of a "Secondary Enclosure", and rigidly mounted within, unlike many "Other" Photocell based Univibes, so the positions of the LED and the photocells can't change, making for consistent performance and rugged dependability.
Furthermore, the LED lamp will not measurably lose luminosity over its extremely long life span.
Moving to the left is my "MXR Phase 95" pedal;
The "Phase Effect" has created some of the most "recognizable" moments in rock, so "Diverse" it can be heard on recordings from Lynyrd Skynyrd to Van Halen, and even many Country songs,
["Are you sure Hank done it this way?"]
and THIS "Little Jem", with it's 4 MXR "Model Modes", covers it ALL!
Dropping back to the "Lower Tier", the signal hits a Boss "SL-2" Slicer pedal;
Boss calls this an
"Audio Pattern Processor Pedal",
for ME, what it "Does" is;
[1] a HUGE VARIETY of Excellent Quality "Traditional & Harmonic" Tremolo effects,
and/or
[2] very "Tweakable" Arpeggiators, that can create anything from vintage "Moog Synthesizer" effects, through "Indie Rock & Techno" Synth Patterns to accompany your guitar notes.
So a "Tremolo" Pedal DOESN'T HAVE to be "Predictable & Lackluster" after all!
Going up to the "2nd Tier" once again, we hit the last pedal on "This" board, and it covers a LOT of "Territory".
The "Electro Harmonix Deluxe Memory Man with Hazarai",
[Long name huh?];
It is "Officially" a Digital Delay Pedal, but not only can it cover "Digital" Delay, but also
"Real Time Reverse Delay",
and simulate "Analog & Tape Delay" too.
It can also go "Off The Grid" into EVERYTHING from "Synth" sounds to "Ring Modulation", Self Oscillating "Doom Drones", to Old School Hollywood "Flying Sausers".
In fact,
"Many Blogs & Sites"
and "Boat Loads" of YouTube Videos
can be found on the internet dedicated to sharing ALL of the "Discoveries".
This is DEFINITELY, a
"Pedal Tweaker's Dream"!
This Pedal is "Aways On" at the pedal "Itself", but I have it "Looped" via a combination of "Two" control units made by "SaturnWorks";
a SaturnWorks "A/B Switch",
&
a SaturnWorks "2-Way Splitter".
This gives me "Two" benefits;
✓ Easy access to "Engage" & "Disengage" delay effects, which I use
Frequently,
&
✓ Allows the "
Note: If you "Made" it completely through the path of the "Main Board",
Congratuations!
You are now ready to journey through one "Final" board. This "Next" board is MUCH more "Simple"!
Preamp, EQ & Stereo Doubling Board;
The pedals on "This" board supply "Ambience, Tone & Stereo Imaging" for the Amps & Speaker Cabinets with;
Plate Reverb & Delay, supplied by the Wampler "Ethereal" ambience pedal,
Two Band Parametric Mid EQ via the Orange "Two Stroke", Dual Mid-Band Equalizer Pedal,
A custom made High Plate Voltage Tube Preamp;
to apply a touch of "Even Harmonic Overdrive" and "Final Fine Tuning" of overall "Bass, Treble & Volume",
Signal Splitting with a Donner "ABY Box",
&
Isolated Delay supplied to the second Amp & Speaker cabinet accomplished by the Electro Harmonix "#1 Echo" Digital Delay pedal.
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