Fundamental Shift Towards Pedals (Away From Guitar Amps)

[MJKlein]

Don't mind me - I'm just talking out loud. Been having fun playing around with pedals, something I was never really into before.

Instead of investing in new valve amps, like I normally would do, I have been investigating amp pedals and amp-in-a-box tech. I bought 2 cool pedals from this site: https://goat-design.jp/en/product/#blue_series namely the Sustainor and the Stereo Chorus.

People who know me and know my history will understand why I chose those pedals, which are reverse-engineered from the original Scholz R&D company originals.

I recently bought the makings of a nice pedalboard, based on the Harley Benton Spaceship Power 60. It's a great platform and the GOAT Blue series pedals sound amazing. I've been experimenting with other pedals/sounds just as the Digitech Brian May and also using the Brian May VOX MV-50 as a pedal with the line out going to my amp. I installed the pedals on the board, including a really interesting and versatile guitar wireless system: https://www.thomann.de/intl/the_t.bone_ ... al_set.htm That wireless system has 32 presets, with gains, outputs LED colors, cable tone, all configurable. Very cool. Transmitter battery lasts for hours. I also purchased the JOYO Oxford pedal which supposedly emulates and Orange amp, the type on which I built my career (such as it is).

For amplifying the pedalboard, I've been using 2 small VOX speaker cabs that I mounted on stands, and powered with the HB Thunder 99, a really nice Class D power amp pedal. It sounds great actually, but now that I've basically proved at the concept works, I've upgraded to the Line6 Powercab 212 Plus. 500w stereo with speaker modeling and also supports IRs. I will be playing with that for the rest of the week to try out the speaker emulations with the amps on the pedalboard.

When my Raymon Guitarworks Red Special Limited finally arrived, Raimon had included a treble booster because the build took several months longer than was quoted. I have room on the pedalboard for that device also. I have plans to get a loop switcher from Morningstar so I can switch between the sounds and FX. I also am considering an Eventide H90 and some other discreet pedals such as compressors.

Why not just use a Line6 Helix or some other all-in-one solution. That certainly is on my radar. While I do like the idea of the Helix and it's an amazing piece of kit, I also do not need 50 amp types. I only really need 2 or maybe 3. Normally the Orange (I mean a real, value amp head) is versatile enough to do whatever I need. With the GOAT Blue series I also have a vintage "Boston" type guitar sound that works for a lot of purposes beside doing Boston covers. The Red Special does get those Brian May tones if you have the right amp for it. The treble booster is pretty much essential for that. My thinking is that the H90 and perhaps one or two more pedals would probably cover all the effect that I need. Most certainly the Helix can do almost anything but I might not need that much horsepower. Knowing me though I'll probably get it just to see what I can do. The cool thing about the Helix is that it can control the Powercab too. The Powercab is also MIDI controllable and that means the Morningstar switcher can make it do things along with the H90 as well. There is actually too much capability and it gives me a headache thinking about it.

For the time being I am using the GOAT Blue and Oxford pedals and see what they can do. It takes time to fiddle with them and get them sounding good. Fortunately I have an open invitation at a local club every Sunday where I have been enjoying goofing around and trying out different pieces of gear with the local musicians. This Sunday I will debut the Powercab with the Oxford. I may also try the Red Special with the new setup and although it may not produce "authentic" Brian May sounds with that rig, the Red Special is a fantastic guitar in it's own right and it has a rich vintage guitar sound. Here is the link to a Google Photos album of the Red Special: https://photos.app.goo.gl/ifkkncbvt5hHeLSN7

I'll update things as they happen.

[Karnage]

I have one valve amp (Fender Blues Junior, heavily modded) with a small pedal board (3 drive pedals, tuner, delay, mod pedal and solo boost) as one setup used mainly for country, blues and rock n roll, then for other things (many heavier) I use a Boss Katana 100 Gen3 with GA-FC, two switches and an expression. The Boss I take to open mics for anyone to use, with 4 basic sounds labelled on the foot switch (Clean, Grit, Crunch, High Gain) and a solo boost switch. The drive pedals with the Fender are a TS-9 (modded to be a higher gain TS808), a Dytone Ooh Drive II (cleans up completely when backed off) and a Fender MTG Tube Distortion (gritty as hell).
I've used many things over the years. These are both fun setups with different aims. I think you have to work the Boss hard (editing wise) to get great sounds, but they are in there. The 'Pushed' amp model is particularly responsive for a modelling amp in that price range. The Line Out sounds a bit better than the amp through the speaker too.
So many approaches can work these days, it's a lot of fun as a guitarist!

[MJKlein]

@Karnage it is a lot of fun, but also time consuming! Your dual rig setup sounds like you have everything well covered. How long did it take for you to get to the point where you settled on what you're using now?

I think the reason I went with the Powercab is twofold: The tone doesn't depend upon the characteristics of a guitar amp (and subject to change over time as components age), and I didn't want to be limited by the SPL of the guitar amp.

[MJKlein]

I forgot to mention that I've never been a pedal guy. I didn't own any guitar pedals prior to going this route. I have never used a Tube Screamer or any of those other drive pedals before. I never felt the need to use anything with the Orange amps. The effects were added by the mixer at the console.

[Karnage]

@MJKlein I have morphed setups somewhat as my requirements have changed and new things have become available. Bear in mind I also worked for one of the UKs bigger retailers for some time (manager at GAK for 7 years), giving me chances to try many things!

The Blues Junior I've had for over 15 years, most of the mods (speaker, tone stack, power supply) were done a little over a year after getting it. The Tubescreamer was modded at that time too. Those mods were done to suit the Nashville B-Bender Tele I got in 1999. While I've changed the cab and output transformer since, those had much smaller effects. The additional drive pedals came later to add variety, which they have certainly done.

My 'heavy' setup has changed more. Started as an H&K Tubeman through the power stage of a Laney LS15 into a custom cab with some pedals. Very good responsive sound, but the Laney I originally bought in the '90s was suffering more and more and getting unstable.
I then used a DV Mark DV60M head for some time, but using that with pedals while sounding good, was somewhat of a messy setup. The pedals in front of the amp needed powering separately from the ones in the loop. Even 'isolated' power supply units failed to get as low noise result as two separate less expensive models.

I had used the Fender setup at open mic nights, but it needs a lower workload - hence the Boss Katana taking that job and replacing the DV Mark as the simple setup for such events. There is often limited floor space, so the GA-FC wins over the floor based processors in our use case. The Boss amp is often stacked on the bass amp. Small British pubs don't offer lots of space!!

[MJKlein]

While that sounds like a lot of work while reading it @Karnage, it certainly sounds like you had fun along the way. It must have been nice to have access to all those things to try out! I've been out of the game so long that everything is new to me, lol. Come to think of it, I don't think I've ever seen a Blues Junior.

I myself have been having pains with power supply noise. Today I was able to sort that out once and for all. I get what you mean about thoe power supplies.

Lots of people swear by the Katana. I played one in a local shop and it sounded good. Lots of different presets to start with.

I just decided that what I really need is the Helix, in the end. It's strange because Line6 did the first digitial modeling amp, and I have owned 2 different versions of the world's first modeling amp, the Redmere Soloist. My current one is being overhauled in Boston by Grady Moates and should be finished any day now. In the meantime I'll be getting the Helix and building some new rigs (one Brian May type for the new Red Special I recently acquired) and the others probably pretty much like Orange. The Helix can incorporate the GOAT pedals with the dual stereo FX loops so I'm going to quit messing around and just do it.

Today I did some testing and with the Powercab barely cracked it was ungodly loud. I can't image how loud that thing will be on stage. After spending hours listening I've settled on the Creambacks emulation, no IR. I'm sure I'll change my mind again but having so many options is a good thing. The Oxford pedal is OK and it sort of sounds like an Orange but I think it would be happier driving a guitar amp instead of a clean power amp. But the Powercan sure does sound great.

[Karnage]

There are so many fun routes to take. In the past I have used the Flextone II Plus by Line 6 which was very practical. Sounded way better through the PA than it did on stage! Setting up a sound was incredibly quick. Much quicker than any recent Line 6 product I’ve tried, partly because it has a more focused set of options. The possibilities of recent Line 6 products seem endless!
Going back even further, I had a Power Plant by ART - a preamp that was before digital modelling, but sounded like a hot-rodded JCM 800. Used an FX processor and a power amp I built myself along with two cabs. Monster! Had a massive MIDI footswitch. The FX processor took so long to program!!! ‘Okay guys, have a cup of tea and leave me to it’ sort of thing!!
At home I have a Spark 2 which is great fun and a brilliant Bluetooth speaker.
Who knows how long before I change something? I’m going to rip the guts out of an old wah pedal to merge the expression pedal and one switch at some point to make it more practical.

[MJKlein]

Tbh, my favorite amp is my NU>X Mighty Air with the bug transmitter. Portable, battery powered and stereo with Bluetooth, that thing goes everywhere with me.

I pulled the trigger on the Helix Floor. I'll be clearing off my pedalboard in the new few days to make room for it. I'm going to mount it with the GOAT pedals, the wireless pedal and also a mains power filter unit underneath the pedalboard frame. Should be fun!

There really are so many fun routes one can take! Expensive routes too!

[MJKlein]

The Helix arrived and I dove into it right way. I was able to use the 4 mono/2 stereo FX loops to integrate my GOAT Blue series pedals (wow, they sound great in the Helix!) and subsequently process them with the Helix. I also have incorporated an external vintage hardware treble booster with one of the mono FX loops. That thing sounds amazing with the Red Special guitar.

Now I have to get a much larger pedalboard platform so I can mount the Helix along with the GOAT pedals and treble booster. It makes things larger and more complicated but if I can mount them together I can make the wiring more permanent and dress it properly.

The Helix also does MIDI so (even more complexity!) using an outboard loop switcher for more FX such as the H90 is also possible, as is switching FX presets via MIDI from the Helix. What have I gotten myself into? lol Not going there (yet), but it is a possibility. The Helix does probably 97% of what I need it to do. But that GOAT Stereo Chorus is just so 1978 and the Helix chorus doesn't sound quite like it.

[MJKlein]

I need to update this post:

This is the latest version of the pedalboard: https://photos.app.goo.gl/dBnWdQSUnxBxf9rE8

As you can see, I have both the GOAT Blue Series re-creations of the Rockman Sustainor and the Stereo Chorus, I also have the new MXR Rockman X100 pedal on the board. I have a switch dedicated on a preset to changing the modes on the X100 and it was a major pain in the neck. Who designs a pedal with a bi-polar 6V supply and then makes ground -6VDC? MXR, that's who.

The pedalboard is so big now, with the Helix on it that I'm using a Wing Compact mixer bag for it! But the bag is awesome and works perfectly! I used this pedalboard over the weekend on a gig and it sounded incredible.