At what point do you say -- enough is enough..

[Progressive_disclosure]

I don't have experience with any Lichtlaerm overdrives, but I have their Key and the Gate noise gate, and it's absolutely awesome.

Maybe @Orvillain 's friend was unlucky and received a dud.


Maybe I just got lucky and received a "good one".


If you had an issue with one of their pedals, I'm sure they would make it right.

Yeah I might take the plunge anyways, just a matter of time. I’ve been trying hard not to get into hoarding mode with ODs, but the double whammy of EQ/clean boost and Klon in one package is very tempting.

 

[dronerstone]

My main problem with dirt pedals is by the time I set them up to work with my amp they all sound pretty much the same.

Also the classics are classic for a reason and it's been a long time since the dirt pedal du jour interested me.

At some point, everything is a Tube Screamer or Fuzz Face.

 

[Sascha Franck]

No idea whether it'll be enough, but while I had a really hard GAS attack regarding (mostly affordable) dirt pedals around 2 years ago, I really feel like consolidating right now. I always kinda knew it, but it became more and more apparent during the gigs of the last years that I rather want to stick with a handful of pedals that my fingers know pretty well.

Along with that I came to the conclusion that I want my main riff/lead tone for anything "typical" to come from an amp (well, a digital one). This is covered already (found some pretty perfect matches within the Tonex universe and I'm not expecting any issues should I perhaps go for a Stadium or whatever).
Which leaves me with these pedals I want for a pedal platform base tone:

- Very smooth low gain. Right now a Wampler Triumph is serving me pretty well, but I may have a look for a KoT clone or such. But I really dig the 3-band EQ of the Triumph.

- Some dumble-ish drive. I could possibly get that from an amp model, too, but the J Rockett Dude I already own does a very nice job. So that should be covered.

- Some fuzz working in a buffered (aka FX loop) environment. That's where I will have to spend some time looking (need to try a DOD Carcosa). For the time being, when I need a fuzzy-ish tone, I'm using a TC Magus Pro, but it only sounds fuzzy with quite a lot of gain. It also cleans up incredibly well but not in the way great fuzzes do (there's less "character", so to say).

And that's really pretty much it regarding baseline dirt tones. What I always use to kinda embellish all of them is an RC kinda boost (for me, the Mooer Pure Boost is doing a better job than the original, which I own as well) and sometimes a compressor (another Mooer, the Yellow Comp, is doing great for my needs). The RC boost is also working kinda well on its own for some old-fashioned gnarly RnR tones that I sometimes need to deliver for some gigs.

As far as anything else goes, I would love some modulations and some weirdo things for fun (think POG, envelope filters and such), but I really don't need them much in my live setups and for the time being the good old rusty MS-50G does a really decent job (especially in front of a little dirt, which kinda "analog-izes" things).

Especially during the last months it became very apparent that I just don't like hunting down things much anymore, so I may as well just stop for quite a while once I found a decent fuzz.

 

[FuzzyAce]

Especially during the last months it became very apparent that I just don't like hunting down things much anymore, so I may as well just stop for quite a while

That's pretty much where I am too. I may get another fuzz or 2 as time goes on, and I have an old red fuzz face that needs rebuilding. But, I'm more keen on getting my guitars to perform a certain way than anything else. So, that'll be something ongoing as long as I play, and everything starts there anyways. I'll still fool around with cabs and amps too, because it's fun.

 

[Sascha Franck]

But, I'm more keen on getting my guitars to perform a certain way than anything else.

That's something I'm much more into these days, too. But I'm even more into getting *me* to perform a certain way.
Oh yeah (yawn*), this is partially about "tone is in the fingers" - but it's not exactly that, it's more about finding a good/great sound and commit yourself to it and then trying to push it as far as you can, utilize it for all kinda things and so on.
When listening to, say, players like, say, Paul Gilbert or - possibly even more so - Greg Koch, one will notice that they're getting pretty much anything they need out of very, very simple sounds. Sure, in case they can, they do enhance things a bit, they also usually use top stuff - but when you have Greg Koch and throw a Fender-ish amp with any kind of non-heavy drive in front (and perhaps some delay) at him, he'll be every bit Greg Koch as much as it gets. And nobody would ever notice any sound-related flaws.
These guys switch things on, see what it sounds/feels like and then do their thing - which completely translates to them playing their curated setups. There's hardly much pedal step dancing or wild things in their configurations, and you also rarely hear them complain about whatever sounds they may need.

I don't think I'll ever even remotely touch that level of self-consciousness, but it's the direction I want to focus on much more than on just another modeler, pedal, guitar or whatsoever. I can get each and every sound I may ever need for the rest of my life already, so hunting down more stuff is pretty pointless. Sure, there's also "want" vs. "need" - and as said, there's some things I could do with, but there's really no pressure.

 

[FuzzyAce]

That's something I'm much more into these days, too. But I'm even more into getting *me* to perform a certain way.
Oh yeah (yawn*), this is partially about "tone is in the fingers" - but it's not exactly that, it's more about finding a good/great sound and commit yourself to it and then trying to push it as far as you can, utilize it for all kinda things and so on.
When listening to, say, players like, say, Paul Gilbert or - possibly even more so - Greg Koch, one will notice that they're getting pretty much anything they need out of very, very simple sounds. Sure, in case they can, they do enhance things a bit, they also usually use top stuff - but when you have Greg Koch and throw a Fender-ish amp with any kind of non-heavy drive in front (and perhaps some delay) at him, he'll be every bit Greg Koch as much as it gets. And nobody would ever notice any sound-related flaws.
These guys switch things on, see what it sounds/feels like and then do their thing - which completely translates to them playing their curated setups. There's hardly much pedal step dancing or wild things in their configurations, and you also rarely hear them complain about whatever sounds they may need.

I don't think I'll ever even remotely touch that level of self-consciousness, but it's the direction I want to focus on much more than on just another modeler, pedal, guitar or whatsoever. I can get each and every sound I may ever need for the rest of my life already, so hunting down more stuff is pretty pointless. Sure, there's also "want" vs. "need" - and as said, there's some things I could do with, but there's really no pressure.

I would hope every player wants to keep improving and become more in tune with themselves. It goes without saying in my mind. The guitar is just an extension, and customizing to your needs will only help to improve your playing.