Tuesday, November 22, 2011

Thinning the herd of pedals



I'm currently in "pedal purge" mode and had the pleasure of trying out cmatmods Signa Comp earlier in the month after receiving it in a trade for my MXR Carbon Copy (which, btw is a great analog delay, but based on current needs, it seemed silly to have both this and my t.c. electronics Nova Delay). While a solid compressor pedal with minimal to no hiss, I did wind up selling it on craigslist after a friend helped me realize based on the guitar I play and the setting I play in (church), the benefits were minimal.

Other pedals on the chopping block include my Keeley modded TR-2 tremolo pedal and my Crybaby Classic wah pedal. Both don't see much use and I hope to find them a good home soon.

Who else will be on the chopping block?
I'm flirting with the idea of selling off all/most of my non-dirt pedals and just springing for a used M9 by Line 6:
This could be a compact and elegant way to have access to playful/non-essential effects and I've only heard great things about this unit. There's even a looper and tuner on this thing!

In the end, these past few months I'm just really trying to understand the gear that I do have, instead of the constant stream of trying new pedals, re-selling, buying etc, which is great as I'm really trying to be faithful with. I hope this isn't only a temporary conviction with this specific hobby/interest, but something that I can really absorb and apply holistically, because I really need God's strength to overcome some serious hoarding/collecting tendencies, as my boxes of comic books in our office that need to be donated or sold would agree.

2 comments:

  1. Man, I go through this all the time. Too much to learn about the gear I have already. That tremolo has to be fun. I don't have one of those yet. I guess I should take a hint from you though and start clearing some stuff out instead of hoarding/collecting more stuff that might be fun, but I will not have time to learn about it sufficiently, nor learn about what gear I have already. BTW, your pedalboard looks great. I would have kept the MXR CC though. :) I love mine, but really miss my tap digital delays I have had.

    I think I could really be happy with the
    Pitchblack
    Tim
    Volume
    Nova
    (MXR CC)
    RV-5
    and maybe even the POG.

    I would NOT get the M9. Its versatile, but not what you really want bro. I think we are similar enough in our pedal tastes for me to speak for the both of us. :)
    Still using the Blues Jr? I love mine, but save it for special occasions when I really want amazing tones. Otherwise the SCXD gets me by...it sounds really nice too. Great post Hsiehdy.

    ReplyDelete
  2. @forgivenick: Good to hear from you! I did wind up picking up an M9 and while it might not exactly match the sounds of some of my pedals, I'm happy with how I've tweaked the settings for the time being. The funny/sad thing is out of the pedals I now need to sell off, they would make a pretty killer worship board. Current chain is looking like:

    T1M Mini-buffer
    Pitchblack
    MicroPOG
    Tim
    Dirty Little Secret
    Volume
    M9 (trem, digital & analog delays, reverb)
    RC Booster

    I noticed you keep it really simple with the drives and opted for no clean boost. What's your current set up?

    And yea, still using the Blues Jr. Not unloading that any time soon, unless it would be to downsize ;)

    ReplyDelete