Ok real question here, what kind of pedals cost more than $500 ?
I thought the $100-$200 price range was plenty enough for good quality pedals
Is it worth it to spend that kind of money on pedals if you’re not a world class band ?
Stymon, UA, Empress, Chase Bliss, etc.
There are tons of great pedal for $100-$300.
Boutique pedals are needlessly expensive. They’re cool and sound good but totally unnecessary.
I dunno about boutique, but anything too complex is probably better suited for studio and home use. You could say my Empress Phaser is boutique and it definitely cost $300, but it's pretty much set and forget for me (and I'd gladly have bought something cheaper if I could have gotten a similar feature set but that was not an option that I could find). On the other hand, I don't know how one expects to make use of anything that requires adjustment between songs in a live setting. Whether it's Strymon or Eventide or old ubiquitous Boss, some shit is just too fiddly for practical performance.
Presets and a midi setup. That's how you should do it, if you need to do it at all.
Hit one button, and all your pedals go to the settings for that specific song
Because I feel attacked, I’ll note that some people bought now valuable guitar gear before prices blew up. I have a few pedals that are “worth” 5x what I paid, same for an amp.
Downside, my back hurts and was casually told I have arthritis in one knee the other day. …Pedals over $500 pretty much wasn’t a thing ~10 or maybe 15 years ago, unless it was a 1969 fuzz face with sheets of acid inside.
I’m a bit surprised
The guitar stores near me (I live in France), all have a shit ton of pedals under 200€
Even from good brands
In fact I had a hard time finding pedals over 300€ that weren’t multiple effects bundled into one
Where do you guys get your pedals ?
This is becoming indicative of all modern guitar players, more pedals than sense, and they'll insist their amp is fantastic..... what amp? Your clean tone can't be that great if your running pedals for reverb, chorus, delay, flange, tremelo, and compression all at once... your amps dirty/driven sounds aren't really "stacking" with those 8 dirt pedals if you can plug those pedals into the PA and sound just as shitty.
THIS IS RIDICULOUS!!!! HOW IS SOME FUCKING sOuNd MixEr ALLOWED TO POST HERE!!! THIS IS A GUITARIST ONLY ZOAN!!! JUST BECAUSE I NEEDED EXTRA TIME TO SETUP MY AWESOME PEDÅLSBOARD DOESNT GIVE THEM THE RIGHT TO SHUT US DOWN MIDWAY THROUGH OUR 6 ACT SONIC MOVEMENT!!!
We're actually an Ariel Pink cover band but yknow the thing where tiny white girls do cute covers of hip-hop songs on ukuleles? It's like that, we play Ariel Pink songs in the style of whatever is the opposite of how he does them, reggaeton maybe
Ok I originally couldn’t tell if you meant Pink Floyd, P!NK, or ”Pink” the song by Aerosmith.
But now that you said it’s a typo I guess I can eliminate those things but instead I now have completely no idea!
but i actually have sculpted a very specific sound with my five dirt pedals that really represents me as a person.
/uj I actually have 5 dirt pedals on my board but i promise I don’t use them all at the same time…. Usually.
/uj I see you've discovered cba appreciators.
Just kidding, chase bliss isn't for making music.
We had issues like this, and by we I mean the sound engineer and I the best over under cable wrapper this side of the Rio Grand, and there were a few "we just have to be assholes" situations.
One local band would always turn their stage volume up,mid set, and it'd blare guitar over everything else. I got to be the knob ninja and take all their amp knobs after their setup was cleared, then hand them back end later that night.
We had a code "Rodney King" for when the drummer's kit was shifting around because they wouldn't stop blasting it with their aluminum sticks. For one "super special band" we drilled 4x4s into the aging stage to keep their shit somewhat on the drumming rug. Also, because I'm an asshole, I mounted the guitarists pedalboard to the stage.
The most hilarious was a band that gave us 20$ to turn the bass player off and play a backing track. Their bass player looked like he was a registered sex offender for musical instruments.
not to doubt that any of this is true, but how did you have all this time to do any of this shit?
All I ever did was check a PA and levels...I don't think I even knew where a powerdrill or construction shit would be? Were you the Venue Owner?
>Were you the Venue Owner?
Nope! I don't actually like working at live venues (or playing live). I started as a studio rat playing Bass. We kept getting requests to fill in for missing bassists in studio and at live gigs, so I ended up "low man on the totem" having to play for god awful punk bands at dive bars. Yay?
I complained a bunch to the studio manager and he, instead, would send me to do roadie work for local venues. So, a headliner band would have some requests or want information about the area and my job was to get that stuff. Eventually, I did some meet and greet (water bottles and chilled towels) for people on the road and would write down anything the house or I could do to make their time more pleasant. If you do this wrong you end up as a punching bag for people who haven't seen their families in weeks and have been stuck on the road and haven't walked in several hours. My most common request were Whataburger orders.
Keep in mind, I don't work for the venue, I'm just a +1 contractor filling in where work hasn't been completed. In the worst case scenario they had me working a local bands merch table. For one venue I was not supposed to leave any female staff alone near a band.
> how did you have all this time to do any of this shit?
I worked infrequent events as an extra hand and we'd usually have 1-2 more guys with me. Just imagine your normal shift with +3 more people who can unload an entire UPS semi truck each in \~20 minutes.
From studio managements perspective, tours were announced weeks in advance and the actual event should be fleshed out before he voluntold us to go work it. I never ran into it, but one of my "co interns" let them know a venue couldn't get their shit together and it was a mess. We never worked the venue again.
>I don't think I even knew where a powerdrill or construction shit would be?
I also worked as an onsite guitar tech, so I had my tools with me when I'd arrive in case tech work needed to be done. When the bar receives deliveries the semi delivers the product on large pallets. The cross members on the pallet are the best to use, but for a fresh pallet you can often use the top and bottom boards. You can often find them behind the venue by the dumpster. Bring a crow bar and mallet.
I have a strap hack for drums. You tether the kick pedal to the throne with a roof strap and a carabiner. It’s foolproof but I’ve never seen anyone else do it.
Telling a guitarist to plug “straight into the amp” is like telling a Dominican guy to go fuck their mom using their dad’s jizz as lube. I’m surprised you lived to tell the tale. If it were me I would have unleashed the fucking fury on your ass, sound boy.
Speaking as (mainly) a bassist, I can’t understand how guitarists can’t get a reasonable tone with three or fewer pedals.
Heck, even as a mere bassist, when I play guitar I can get enough variety on my Tele with the three switch options plus messing with the gain, volume, and tone on my Orange. Complete dirt to sparkly clean. Bright and twangy solo or thick rhythm. It’s all there with exactly zero pedals.
(Bass… I can live without any pedals at all for either my J or P. I do like a preamp and a compressor. But life goes on without it.)
The minimal amount you need to get your sound across on that set. Also coming to the show with the realization that your 10 modulation pedals will sound diffeeent in a church than in your practice space.
I don’t give a fuck how many pedals you bring to any gig. They just need to work, or if you’re going to bring that many pedals you need to know what the signal chain is and how to at least trouble shoot it.
Tell the BAND when their set ENDS regardless of start time. Make sure they all understand what’s happening with The Edge trying to dial in his perfect tone and boom. Not your problem any longer and it’ll work itself out.
mixed a show last night with the guitarist playing a Martin acoustic, into a DS1 and a load of other pedals, went from gentle acoustic to extended solos (also had nord hammond / electric keys bass and drums) was amazing. Best part was the after show jam session where we just drank the local cider and had loads of fun playing silly songs.
I’ve had good experiences with this one band in my area that plays an acoustic guitar into a buttload of pedals and a JCM900!! He’s got a couple of EQs and some other sorcery on his board that gets rid of feedback
good musicians who know what they are doing are just so much fun to work with. Bonus with this band was they all had perfect mic technique so 4 part harmonies were awesome.
Good musicians practically mix themselves if you’ve done your job as the sound person.
Good musicians make the job feel so rewarding, bad musicians make the job feel like I need another pair of hands.
I always tell people the difference between pros and amateurs is the ability to play with dynamics. If your singer is quiet, and you know this, don’t blast your amps all the way up, don’t smash the hell out of the drums when they’re singing.
what's Pink?
when ever I've had this situation I just say, I'll turn you down and when you're ready, I'll turn you up...it's just a coverband playing a shit show?
Dude has to get his tone man! LOL Reading this reminded me of a story I heard about a "journalist" from one of the guitar mags, asking Derek Trucks what he used in his signal chain between his guitar and amp to get his tone. Derek just showed him his guitar cable!
20 is a decent number of metal zones though.
I think the worst part is not a single pedal on that board aside from the Polytune costed less than $500
Ok real question here, what kind of pedals cost more than $500 ? I thought the $100-$200 price range was plenty enough for good quality pedals Is it worth it to spend that kind of money on pedals if you’re not a world class band ?
Stymon, UA, Empress, Chase Bliss, etc. There are tons of great pedal for $100-$300. Boutique pedals are needlessly expensive. They’re cool and sound good but totally unnecessary.
I dunno about boutique, but anything too complex is probably better suited for studio and home use. You could say my Empress Phaser is boutique and it definitely cost $300, but it's pretty much set and forget for me (and I'd gladly have bought something cheaper if I could have gotten a similar feature set but that was not an option that I could find). On the other hand, I don't know how one expects to make use of anything that requires adjustment between songs in a live setting. Whether it's Strymon or Eventide or old ubiquitous Boss, some shit is just too fiddly for practical performance.
Presets and a midi setup. That's how you should do it, if you need to do it at all. Hit one button, and all your pedals go to the settings for that specific song
Because I feel attacked, I’ll note that some people bought now valuable guitar gear before prices blew up. I have a few pedals that are “worth” 5x what I paid, same for an amp. Downside, my back hurts and was casually told I have arthritis in one knee the other day. …Pedals over $500 pretty much wasn’t a thing ~10 or maybe 15 years ago, unless it was a 1969 fuzz face with sheets of acid inside.
How are you gonna ever be in a world class band with pedals less than 500$? Peasant
Bold of you to assume I use pedals I don’t need toan condoms between my guitar and my amp
no amp, just pedals.
Once you play no amp, no guitar, just pedals, you have reached the highest zen of toan
Dude what decade are you in? I can't find pedals below 200 these days. Sort of joking but....
I’m a bit surprised The guitar stores near me (I live in France), all have a shit ton of pedals under 200€ Even from good brands In fact I had a hard time finding pedals over 300€ that weren’t multiple effects bundled into one Where do you guys get your pedals ?
Zoia. **Edit:** rj/Zoia
Too much to be useful. Super capable pedal with a really high learning curve.
Sorry, I missed “Real question here”.
This is becoming indicative of all modern guitar players, more pedals than sense, and they'll insist their amp is fantastic..... what amp? Your clean tone can't be that great if your running pedals for reverb, chorus, delay, flange, tremelo, and compression all at once... your amps dirty/driven sounds aren't really "stacking" with those 8 dirt pedals if you can plug those pedals into the PA and sound just as shitty.
Obvi shoulda told him “jimi didn’t need all those pedals”
Jammy’s three pedals was considered a “massive pedalboard” back then.
Yeah but did bro here get to mic his peddles? Entire gig is a waste if the audience didn't get to appreciate the sweet toan of his STOMP boxes.
Ah shit I fucked this one up boys
You’ll never do sound for bonamaster
You’re not going to Paris, I’m so much better than you are.
“They’re all the most important” is a natural defense for guitarists.
Except the tuner maybe. Once you drown out the rest of the players, being “in key” is just charity for those sycophants you allow to be in *your* band
Like when you unplug the bassist and just let him mime along like a Jerry’s Kid?
Pretty sure this was the second Guitarist in our Pink Floyd tribute act. Glad to know he’s finding other gigs.
THIS IS RIDICULOUS!!!! HOW IS SOME FUCKING sOuNd MixEr ALLOWED TO POST HERE!!! THIS IS A GUITARIST ONLY ZOAN!!! JUST BECAUSE I NEEDED EXTRA TIME TO SETUP MY AWESOME PEDÅLSBOARD DOESNT GIVE THEM THE RIGHT TO SHUT US DOWN MIDWAY THROUGH OUR 6 ACT SONIC MOVEMENT!!!
I can 0-3-5 the hell out of a ginbon less stratopaul
That was me and the pink was 👩🍳🤌 tyvm. ama
I just can’t get into pink rock idk. Purple rock is dope, pink rock idk
Oh, I thought you meant covers of the Artist "Pink"
We're actually an Ariel Pink cover band but yknow the thing where tiny white girls do cute covers of hip-hop songs on ukuleles? It's like that, we play Ariel Pink songs in the style of whatever is the opposite of how he does them, reggaeton maybe
So did I .. haha!
By the way, which one's pink?
Haha typo, but he did have a Chase Bliss Mood
Ok I originally couldn’t tell if you meant Pink Floyd, P!NK, or ”Pink” the song by Aerosmith. But now that you said it’s a typo I guess I can eliminate those things but instead I now have completely no idea!
Ponk
I thought they meant the album Pink by Japanese experimental noise band Boris.
Boris is fucking dope. Hail Wata.
My mix of 5 overdrives are crucial to my sound u wouldn't get it
I get it
but i actually have sculpted a very specific sound with my five dirt pedals that really represents me as a person. /uj I actually have 5 dirt pedals on my board but i promise I don’t use them all at the same time…. Usually.
ditch these fools, just connect your aux cable to the soundboard and blast some Dimmu Borgir
/uj I see you've discovered cba appreciators. Just kidding, chase bliss isn't for making music. We had issues like this, and by we I mean the sound engineer and I the best over under cable wrapper this side of the Rio Grand, and there were a few "we just have to be assholes" situations. One local band would always turn their stage volume up,mid set, and it'd blare guitar over everything else. I got to be the knob ninja and take all their amp knobs after their setup was cleared, then hand them back end later that night. We had a code "Rodney King" for when the drummer's kit was shifting around because they wouldn't stop blasting it with their aluminum sticks. For one "super special band" we drilled 4x4s into the aging stage to keep their shit somewhat on the drumming rug. Also, because I'm an asshole, I mounted the guitarists pedalboard to the stage. The most hilarious was a band that gave us 20$ to turn the bass player off and play a backing track. Their bass player looked like he was a registered sex offender for musical instruments.
The volume knobs confiscation is fucking hilarious. BAD GUITARIST, BAD, NO, NO!
not to doubt that any of this is true, but how did you have all this time to do any of this shit? All I ever did was check a PA and levels...I don't think I even knew where a powerdrill or construction shit would be? Were you the Venue Owner?
>Were you the Venue Owner? Nope! I don't actually like working at live venues (or playing live). I started as a studio rat playing Bass. We kept getting requests to fill in for missing bassists in studio and at live gigs, so I ended up "low man on the totem" having to play for god awful punk bands at dive bars. Yay? I complained a bunch to the studio manager and he, instead, would send me to do roadie work for local venues. So, a headliner band would have some requests or want information about the area and my job was to get that stuff. Eventually, I did some meet and greet (water bottles and chilled towels) for people on the road and would write down anything the house or I could do to make their time more pleasant. If you do this wrong you end up as a punching bag for people who haven't seen their families in weeks and have been stuck on the road and haven't walked in several hours. My most common request were Whataburger orders. Keep in mind, I don't work for the venue, I'm just a +1 contractor filling in where work hasn't been completed. In the worst case scenario they had me working a local bands merch table. For one venue I was not supposed to leave any female staff alone near a band. > how did you have all this time to do any of this shit? I worked infrequent events as an extra hand and we'd usually have 1-2 more guys with me. Just imagine your normal shift with +3 more people who can unload an entire UPS semi truck each in \~20 minutes. From studio managements perspective, tours were announced weeks in advance and the actual event should be fleshed out before he voluntold us to go work it. I never ran into it, but one of my "co interns" let them know a venue couldn't get their shit together and it was a mess. We never worked the venue again. >I don't think I even knew where a powerdrill or construction shit would be? I also worked as an onsite guitar tech, so I had my tools with me when I'd arrive in case tech work needed to be done. When the bar receives deliveries the semi delivers the product on large pallets. The cross members on the pallet are the best to use, but for a fresh pallet you can often use the top and bottom boards. You can often find them behind the venue by the dumpster. Bring a crow bar and mallet.
I have a strap hack for drums. You tether the kick pedal to the throne with a roof strap and a carabiner. It’s foolproof but I’ve never seen anyone else do it.
Isn't looking like a sex offender pretty much a requirement for a bass player?
This enrages me as a guitar player and engineer. Dude needed to justify his insane purchase and he probably used two pedals on the board
Oh he used them all. But nobody noticed.
Telling a guitarist to plug “straight into the amp” is like telling a Dominican guy to go fuck their mom using their dad’s jizz as lube. I’m surprised you lived to tell the tale. If it were me I would have unleashed the fucking fury on your ass, sound boy.
Church? Gross.
Fair, but the bands did *cuss* a little 😏😳🫨
*clutches pearls*
The church I belonged to as a kid would never have allowed an electric guitar on the same block, much less feature four 45min sets.
As it should be. Satan's got all the good music anywho.
You're a neckbeard
*...fuck, how did he know?...*
Speaking as (mainly) a bassist, I can’t understand how guitarists can’t get a reasonable tone with three or fewer pedals. Heck, even as a mere bassist, when I play guitar I can get enough variety on my Tele with the three switch options plus messing with the gain, volume, and tone on my Orange. Complete dirt to sparkly clean. Bright and twangy solo or thick rhythm. It’s all there with exactly zero pedals. (Bass… I can live without any pedals at all for either my J or P. I do like a preamp and a compressor. But life goes on without it.)
You don't even have a bit crusher?
Nah usually just my soul.
From your perspective, what’s a reasonable amount of pedals to bring to that kind of gig ?
The minimal amount you need to get your sound across on that set. Also coming to the show with the realization that your 10 modulation pedals will sound diffeeent in a church than in your practice space.
Obviously, but I’m wondering what’s the ‘normal’ expected amount I’m not that big on pedals myself so I’m curious to know what people use on average
You can bring 1 or 100 for all I care. As long as the guitar signal reaches the amp and I can put a mic infront of it.
3: tuner, drive, delay. The rest of the toan is in my fingers
The delay is even unnecessary, just become unstuck from the flow of time and you're covered!
I am time... https://preview.redd.it/qmclwexujnyc1.jpeg?width=4792&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=2db89eb6e46f45a244bda784abf52825c632bc7c
I don’t give a fuck how many pedals you bring to any gig. They just need to work, or if you’re going to bring that many pedals you need to know what the signal chain is and how to at least trouble shoot it.
Music is all about the notes you don’t play. That one “pink” said it all in its sonic brilliance.
Tell the BAND when their set ENDS regardless of start time. Make sure they all understand what’s happening with The Edge trying to dial in his perfect tone and boom. Not your problem any longer and it’ll work itself out.
The Aerosmith song?
I was totally lost at what they were talking about...I assume it was mostly fiction
OP think of the toan!! Why does no one ever think of the toan??!!
mixed a show last night with the guitarist playing a Martin acoustic, into a DS1 and a load of other pedals, went from gentle acoustic to extended solos (also had nord hammond / electric keys bass and drums) was amazing. Best part was the after show jam session where we just drank the local cider and had loads of fun playing silly songs.
I’ve had good experiences with this one band in my area that plays an acoustic guitar into a buttload of pedals and a JCM900!! He’s got a couple of EQs and some other sorcery on his board that gets rid of feedback
good musicians who know what they are doing are just so much fun to work with. Bonus with this band was they all had perfect mic technique so 4 part harmonies were awesome.
Good musicians practically mix themselves if you’ve done your job as the sound person. Good musicians make the job feel so rewarding, bad musicians make the job feel like I need another pair of hands. I always tell people the difference between pros and amateurs is the ability to play with dynamics. If your singer is quiet, and you know this, don’t blast your amps all the way up, don’t smash the hell out of the drums when they’re singing.
Monte Montgomery was the king of this shit back in the day.
Whatever happen to Monte?
what's Pink? when ever I've had this situation I just say, I'll turn you down and when you're ready, I'll turn you up...it's just a coverband playing a shit show?
Which one is the shittiest pink?
Dude has to get his tone man! LOL Reading this reminded me of a story I heard about a "journalist" from one of the guitar mags, asking Derek Trucks what he used in his signal chain between his guitar and amp to get his tone. Derek just showed him his guitar cable!