Serious Question from a Gear Hound.

[KingsXJJ]

Hi all,

I have a lot of gear including pedals. I’ve tried a lot more than I kept.
Modelers too.
I love Plexi and JCM800 tones. I’ve got a variety of pedals that cover that well.
I love delay as an effect. I have a variety of those as well that sound sweet.
I have some modulation pedals as well. I use them sparingly.

My question to other Gear Hounds is what pedal blew you away and changed your world?

I’ve left out what gear I have and have tried purposefully. I don’t want this to be a post seeking validation or causing disagreement. I’m seeking “this blew me away” and some this is why…

I’ve played for more decades than I care to admit. But I’d love to hear some thoughtful and inspiring experiences.
Please share! No judgement here. Just because I mentioned that I have some bases covered doesn’t mean I’m not open on them….

Thanks, J.

 

[Alex Kenivel]

MXR Carbon Copy.

Opened my eyes to the world of self oscillating anything and creating sound and notes from seemingly nothing. I went from playing drums/guitar to twisting knobs. I wore out that pedal and needed to send it back to Dunlop to get fixed.

 

[spawnofthesith]

EQD dispatch master - haven’t had one in years but it is seriously a magical GOAT pedal. Worthy of every ounce of praise it gets

Tru Tro. 3x - the one that got away. Incredible. Never should have sold especially for what they go for now a days. Fortunately the micro tron IV from mr. Beigel is a very suitable replacement in a more size and power friendly package

EQD afterneath - simply nothing like it, especially the v3

Boss RE-202 - beat pedal investment I’ve made in a while that has continued to amaze for years post purchase

 

[Shredder777]

A pedal has never "blown me away".

Learning that I like SD-1 more than Tube Screamers kinda blew me away. I had always heard they were the same, but the sd-1 was much tighter and surgical feeling.

I think in late 90s, the NS-2 run in 4cm kinda blew me away. Never used a noise gate with a loop? That might blow you away.

I have never found a distortion run into an amp that sounds as good as an amp's channel. Only boosts with mild drive and tone shaping.

Have never found a pedal preamp that sounds as good as the amp's built in preamp. I mean if you don't like your amp's preamp, then maybe.

Standalone reverbs and delay pedals? If they add any latency, then its never worth it to me to use them over whats in your FX processor.

Sorry I can't help, but I sometimes get an infatuation with a pedal but in the end I stop using it or look for a better alternative.

 

[joebloggs]

I've tried many ODs, but I keep coming back to my Horrothia Teeth, Tumnus Deluxe and Kingsley Page v2 combination with a clean boost in front...It's been like that now for a couple of years. I am getting some Past Fx stuff, but that is for something specific. The Tumnus, Horrothia etc is my own sound, and when you find something great... You stick with it.

 

[ucnick]

I am pretty much full timecwith my Fractals anymore. But the one that is the closest to "blew me away" is the J Rockett "The Dude". It kicked my Zendrive to the curb. Back when I was using pedals, that is. Once in a while for the heck of it I break out the ol' board, plug into a tube amp, and blast away...

 

[TSJMajesty]

Nothing that I imagine you haven't used, but the Boss CE-2. I was hooked.

 

[KingsXJJ]

Nothing that I imagine you haven't used, but the Boss CE-2. I was hooked.

Waza, Current or Vintage please Sir?

 

[Dave Lewis]

One that blew me away from the moment I plugged it in is The Electro Harmonix Mel - 9 .
It’s been on my board ever since .
It’s one of my desert island pedals .
I couldn’t live without it .

 

[jellodog]

For delays: The Keeley Halo, stereo, in terms of pure sound and features.

Would have liked it a slightly bigger enclosure though.

 

[2112]

Crybaby 535Q. Wah with a boost!

BOSS DD-20. First "super delay" I ever had. Introduced me to delay styles, looping and self oscillation.

EHX POG2. Turns single note lines into monolithic riffs.

Way Huge Swollen Pickle. The first fuzz I ever understood, and a pedal that opened up my eyes to layering "gross" sounds in the studio.

Eventide H9. Consolidated my collection of factor pedals into a single unit and added loads of new sounds to my rig. Used it extensively in the studio and live.

Hologram Microcosm. Plug and play ambient inspiration machine. Great sounding verb & looper too.

 

[laxu]

Strymon Volante always makes me happy. El Cap V2 if you want smaller and more straightforward.

For drive pedals, the Hudson Broadcast clone I built is really cool. It's not on my main board atm because it's not MIDI switchable, but it has a cool sound to it.

 

[Eagle]

Hi all,

I have a lot of gear including pedals. I’ve tried a lot more than I kept.
Modelers too.
I love Plexi and JCM800 tones. I’ve got a variety of pedals that cover that well.
I love delay as an effect. I have a variety of those as well that sound sweet.
I have some modulation pedals as well. I use them sparingly.

My question to other Gear Hounds is what pedal blew you away and changed your world?

I’ve left out what gear I have and have tried purposefully. I don’t want this to be a post seeking validation or causing disagreement. I’m seeking “this blew me away” and some this is why…

I’ve played for more decades than I care to admit. But I’d love to hear some thoughtful and inspiring experiences.
Please share! No judgement here. Just because I mentioned that I have some bases covered doesn’t mean I’m not open on them….

Thanks, J.

No pedal but amps yes.

 

[Orvillain]

MXR M300 Reverb. I love it. Definitely a keeper. Sounds better than a lot of reverbs, and you get 3 knobs. The Epic and Mod modes are killurrrrrrrhhhh.

Line6 DL-4. Was a foundational pedal for me. When I was using one in 2007/2008, it really laid the groundwork for what I look for in delay tones.

Boss RV-5. Again, foundational. The mod mode is all over all of the music I've recorded for the last 17 odd years.

Dunlop 535Q wah. Super synthy, and sounds tanfastic!

It's going to sound silly, but my first ever pedal was an Ernie Ball Volume Pedal Jnr. It really constructed how I think about guitar. These days I use a Lehle Mono Volume, but the same thing. I do a lot of repeating 8th and 16th note patterns, where I'll slowly bring the volume in. It is a different approach to reaching down and using the volume knob on the guitar; which I do also, but not as much as the pedal approach.

 

[Jarick]

Delay blew my mind. First one I had was a Danelectro Dan Echo, and it was super cool. The Carbon Copy is really good too.

I think a good reverb pedal would be fun. I'd look at the MXR or Boss, but that would be a way to add dimension.

Then a good fuzz pedal would really change how you play potentially. It's so different than regular distortion.

 

[Boudoir Guitar]

The ones that blew me away weren't magic, just my first instance of using a type of thing.

(1). Boss Turbo Overdrive OD-2 was the first overdrive pedal I used. Up until then I had been running Super Strats into stuff like Metal Zone, or RAT, or my Fender 85 amp with gain turned up pretty high. I got a 50s reissue Strat and still couldn't quite find the magic I was looking for in terms of "how do people play open chords and stuff with distortion?!?!?" with the 85 amp. the OD-2 was a lightbulb. I eventually traded the Fender for a JCM800 1x12 combo and I basically set the amp, and used the OD-2 as my "lead channel". Been meaning to grab one off Reverb for cheap just to see what it actually sounds like.

(2). Alesis Quadraverb GT -- was the first time I heard reverbs that weren't spring reverb in an amp. Unfortunately, I was not smart enough to figure out how to get creative with delay + EQ or anything to learn a lot more, but did finally get some "subtle" delays I found more useful than the "sounding like Leon Todd" delays I was shooting for earlier which...sounded terrible with my skill level at the time. I was no Leon Todd.

(3). Alter Ego Delay -- First real experience with how much better delay can get when you have some control over modulation and EQ.

Would actually be mildly interested to hear what I could do with an OD-2, Quadraverb GT and Fender 85 today...not enough to spend the money needed to do it. But would be cool.

 

[TSJMajesty]

Waza, Current or Vintage please Sir?

OG

 

[maguchi]

A Carvin VLD1 Legacy Drive. It blew my socks off!

 

[JasonE]

A drive pedal that really surprised the heck out of me is the PRS Horsemeat. I stayed away from it because of the name originally. I was curious and decided to pull the trigger on it. They use the overly used term "transparent" in the advertising. That usually turns me off right away. I have to say, this is the first drive pedal that I would call truly transparent. You can really hear the differences in guitars and amps with this pedal. The treble, bass and voice knobs really let you dial in some nice tones with pretty much any guitar and amp.

 

[Aelred]

BAT Coven: My first "boutique" pedal was a Black Arts Toneworks Coven, a colorsound OD combined with a Muff fuzz. Up until then I'd had a TS9, SD-1 and maybe something else.

I was trying to compensate for dinky little amps at low volume. That pedal was revelatory (instant Doom! Drop D! Sabbath!) - and led me to buy all sorts of ODs and fuzz boxes that are on my shelves - AmpTweaker, Spaceman, Analogman, Wampler...

The Coven is still in the signal chain. One of the LED's is now dodgy, so I'm considering buying another.

But it really led me to start thinking about better amps. Black Arts Toneworks pedals and Orange amps = goodness and much fun.

EQD Dispatch Master: see the above comment in the thread for an excellent description of it. As with my comment above, this led me to buy all sorts of delays and reverbs - Avalanche Run, Afterneath (v1 and 3), Transmisser(!), Polymoon, Mercury 7, Reflecting Pool, Volante, Timeline, Cloudburst... All of which are great and I mostly use the Volante today, but the Dispatch Master has something very sweet nothing else quite has.

Strymon Ultraviolet: bought on a whim when I had some extra cash from a trade-in deal on a couple of guitars and amps. I had no idea I like Vibe and now love it.