Just a bit of a gear reflection.
Mesa Boogie Mark V - I use all 3 channels on this amp.
Channel 1 is set to FAT mode, but I still keep it pretty clean. I just prefer the roundness from FAT versus CLEAN.
Channel 2 is set to CRUNCH mode. I do like EDGE mode, but it is a little spikier than I want for this music. MARK I mode is no bueno.
Channel 3 is set to MARK IV mode, and honestly.... I'm having a very hard time moving on from it to any other high-gain sound. It is honestly perfect. I love it, and based on modellers at least, I prefer it over any of the IIC+ variants out there. IIC+ seems to make humbuckers sound like single coils in the low-end, and I don't like it.
Those are my typical settings for channel 3.
I don't use the reverb in the amp at all. If it was more like the original Orange Rockerverb MKI, then I might! That thing was killer.
Pedals:
First on the board is the Lehle Mono Volume. In these 3 songs I don't do many volume swells, but the volume pedal serves that need. It also acts as a very high quality buffer at the start of my board. I don't have any fuzzes to worry about in terms of buffering, so this is all good.
After that, my BB535 wah. Not the 535Q, which I also have. The BB535 is a little more synth-like in its tonality, and it has 90's mojo. I love it.
Then it is Boss DD-500. I am using this as my master midi clock for both of my delays. But I also use two presets on it. A very basic digital delay, with the feedback quite high, and I really like the way this pedal cuts through in that respect. The other sound is the analog mode, kind of a DM2 type of thing I suppose, but with tap tempo.
After that, I have the Source Audio Nemesis. This I use almost exclusively for analog delay. It has a very nice and interesting loud 1st echo kind of effect, so I can really play against it and bounce patterns off that echo, but keeping the feedback fairly low. You hear that during the intro to track 2. The intro to track 1 is the DD-500.
After that I go into the Meris MercuryX, but I'm only using one preset on this. It is a custom synthy shimmer sort of sound that I dubbed 'Wash Cleanse' which is the octavey reverb you hear during the intro to track 2. I don't use it at any other time right now, but I have a bunch of sounds programmed that I love. Especially this one particular 100% wet thing I setup, that I really want to use for another track we are working on.
After that, good old Boss RV-5. This is set to Modulate mode, and the tone is at about 1 o'clock and the decay/time is at about 2 o'clock for a nice long tail. Mix is just under noon, which keeps my guitar coming through without completely washing it out. Honestly.... this sound is pretty much THE SOUND that all other reverbs get compared to for, and they have to stand up to it. Many have failed.
I use a Polytune 2 Mini on my board for my tuner. Everything else is just how I'm playing, picking, dynamics, etc etc.
