Thats a lot of Danelectro, jwj!
Ok, so here's a quick run through of the set-up, starting with that power pack, as it was a bit of a stroke of luck with it fitting my needs so well. I initially bought it as the one I have been using has a hard-wired, but quite short power cable- this one has an iec connector, so I dont have to worry about extension cords messing the floor up anymore. As it happens the chorus pedal needs 12v, which I didn't plan to have covered, but fortune had it that there are two 12v out on there too, one AC and one DC. With all the appropriate cables, plus a mini jack for Proco and Electro Harmonix pedals I feel like I really lucked out!
The signal chain runs like so...
1.Digitech Bad Monkey- A tubescreamer type overdrive, which is surprisingly classy sounding for the price you'd pay for one. It has 'high' and 'low' controls for better matching to the bypassed tone, and despite being
Digitech, is an analogue unit. It also does a good job of boosting the Distortion just after it.
2.MI Audio Crunch Box- Handmade in Australia, the makers make some pretty big 'It's a Marshall in box!!' claims. I was just looking for a quality distortion which matched well with my slightly picky amp (it's not me, it's the amp
), but to be fair, the best way to describe it is pretty much JCM in a box. The drive character is the classic Marshall type, but the balance or frequencies do seem to shift the response of my Fender amp much closer to that of a Marshall, with both the characteristics which mean I would be unlikely to use a Marshall as my main 'voice', but also which mean that in the right setting, it's not hard to rock out.
3. MXR Distortion III- Well, they call it a distortion, but it is really an overdrive with a sound similar to that of the Bad Monkey but with just the usual vol, tone, dist controls. As such the slight cut in the lows remains, and the character is of a slight mid hump, with smoothed off highs. While those elements upset guitarists looking for the most 'natural' sounding drive possible, they do make for a great lead sound, so I have it set to a touch of drive and a volume boost. This means it adds a little bluesy sustain when jumping from clean sounds, and also adds just a bit more drive to whatever else is being used before it to keep things in proportion.
4.Boss CE-2 Chorus- One of the classics! I very nearly bought an Analogman mini chorus here, but a price difference of something like £160 meant that I forewent the true-bypass option and settled for this. I also have a CE-5 Chorus Ensemble, which is a more modern sounding pedal- the one I have is one of the earlier analogue ones, and sounds great, but is a bit more of a late 80's/early 90's LA session-guy sound. The CE-2 is a simpler pedal, and is a more early 80's sound. It's horses for courses here, as most people hate chorus either way, but I have always found it subtly useful, and both units will have a home with me for as long as they last. For now though, it is the CE-2 which has pride of place on the 'ones to Velcro down' list.
5.Ibanez AD-9- Another classic unit, although this is the reissued one. Again, I was looking at the MXR Carbon Copy, but was very impressed by this one in the same shop. As this came up on Ebay at about half the price of the Carbon Copy, my mind was made up! It deserves its classic status, and really makes for a more 'real echo' sound than the digital unit I was using before. While digital is the way to go for all manner of typical delay uses, my main requirement of an echo pedal is, yup, a true to life echo sound, and I have found this to do a better impresson than the exact digi replica. So much so in fact that I will probably move my other delay on, but I hope to work out how to get a comparision soundclip up before I do. And that colour? Well, I was nary too keen at first, but it does have a nice lustre, and to be honest, I quite like its cheery little countainance grinning up at me from the floor! That and the baby blue CE-2 make quite a happy couple.
So thats the lot- the idea behind this rig was to make a small, simple, board which was portable, and versatile enough to make the most likely requested sounds just a tap or two away. As set I have four levels of drive (including clean sounds and the drive boosting the distortion), a nice versatile modulation effect, and a great sounding delay which has just enough range to make it easy to get to most delay effects. Simplicity is the key here, and good behaviour- the sound are all quality and quite grown up, with no chance to get bored and step on the crazy switch! That is in its own way also a bit of a let down of the arrangement, but mad distortion and wobble effects would only add weight, size, and result in more tellings off than happy customers anyway!
Any imperfections? Well, yes the afore mentioned buzzy distortions and wibbly effects, but I shall be saving a few distortions and fuzzes from the Ebay storm which is now a-brewing, and with power sockets to spare now, I can always pop them at the front of the chain for one-offs. If I need a wah, I would rather carry it separately and add it in, as they are really bulky and make for big ol' boards. The only real one would be size- although I couldn't find a readily available (and of reliable quality) chorus any smaller than the Boss, there are a million MXR sized overdrives (the MI Audio Blues Deluxe in particular), at least one of which must be a match for the Bad Monkey, and that MXR Carbon Copy is, of course, MXR sized, so I might have saved a good deal of width with smaller pedals, and had a few less buffers in-line too. However, cost takes precidence, and assuming I kept the buffered CE-2 in-line, I have saved £100 already over my other choices.
So there you have it- I'm keeping an eye out for a case or bag to keep this in, so I'll pop up some pics once it is all installed, and have a shot at a soundclip running through the default settings.
Thanks for humouring me, you've made a guitarnut very happy. ;D
), but to be fair, the best way to describe it is pretty much JCM in a box. The drive character is the classic Marshall type, but the balance or frequencies do seem to shift the response of my Fender amp much closer to that of a Marshall, with both the characteristics which mean I would be unlikely to use a Marshall as my main 'voice', but also which mean that in the right setting, it's not hard to rock out.
