Too many pedals.

[Murray B]

Basically you've currently got far fewer pedals than you will have in the future. Accept it as your destiny and move on.

Love it...

My name is Murray and it's been 6 months since I last bought an effects pedal...

I had a fairly basic set up that met all the sounds I needed - then I joined another band:

Result - I now need some modulation every now and again and there's no space on my smallish board to fit a mini pedal...

Solution 1 = more (smaller) pedals!

but... I don't like the sound of them as much so solution 2 = bigger pedal board, perhaps even a custom board for each band, I already had a pedal set up for the acoustic guitar and the bass so this is an obvious logical choice!

Now I have room for more pedals...and the small pedals are useful for a stripped down small pedal board if I ever get to fly to a gig ever again...

(I'm wondering if this will ever happen with the combination of Brexit and Covid- maybe the Orkney Folk Festival might have us back one day...best keep the lightweight set up, just in case )

And so it continues...the spare room is getting rather full.

I have 4 tuner pedals - that's ok isn't it?

[Arpangel]

I have 4 tuner pedals - that's ok isn't it?

Of course it’s OK, I have three tooth brushes, and they always come in handy.

Eventide

Time

Factor

Eventide Time Factor? why didn’t you tell us you were selling it? It’s only fair we should all give first refusal to forum members, that’s actually quite cruel.

[Wonks]

Of course it’s OK, I have three tooth brushes, and they always come in handy.

I didn’t know you only had three teeth.

[Arpangel]

Of course it’s OK, I have three tooth brushes, and they always come in handy.

I didn’t know you only had three teeth.

That’s a whole new perspective, of course, we could have a set of pedals for each guitar (or keyboard) we own, that’s a good way to justify owning so many, purely on a convenience footing, you could even have pedals just for gigging, and studio, that way you don’t have to keep disconnecting pedal and PSU's, I’m already doing this, it works well.

[Wonks]

Quite a few people I know have different pedalboards for different situations. And with so many good, cheap Chinese clones of classic analogue pedals available for £20-£25, it doesn't have to cost too much to do so.

[Arpangel]

Quite a few people I know have different pedalboards for different situations. And with so many good, cheap Chinese clones of classic analogue pedals available for £20-£25, it doesn't have to cost too much to do so.

Yes, I’m thinking of trying those Behringer ones, also the Mooer ones, but what I’m really looking for is an all in one solution, a small synth, with every synthesis option built in, every effect built in, and a fully featured audio recorder and editor, built in, that weighs a few ounces, is battery powered and that can be played in bed, on a pillow.

[Random Guitarist]

I can certainly identify with this having recently sold a pedal. It had sat on the office shelf for 15+ years without 9v troubling its slumber. I only plugged it in to test it, but I was still reluctant to put it in the post. On any sensible level it's ridiculous to want to hang onto these things, but the emotions are a different thing.

I have pedals I know I will never use again. but they are still on a shelf. Swivelling round on the office chair I can see 16 pedals from where I sit. Maybe 4 of them I will use again. I can pretend that they will be a source of inspiration some day, but I kind of doubt it.

The only other possibility is if I make up a secondary pedal board. But that makes no sense. I would build a chain of pedals that I rejected from my main pedal board.

I am convinced now, it's time to sell, or maybe create a small pedal board . . .

[Arpangel]

I can certainly identify with this having recently sold a pedal. It had sat on the office shelf for 15+ years without 9v troubling its slumber. I only plugged it in to test it, but I was still reluctant to put it in the post. On any sensible level it's ridiculous to want to hang onto these things, but the emotions are a different thing.

I have pedals I know I will never use again. but they are still on a shelf. Swivelling round on the office chair I can see 16 pedals from where I sit. Maybe 4 of them I will use again. I can pretend that they will be a source of inspiration some day, but I kind of doubt it.

The only other possibility is if I make up a secondary pedal board. But that makes no sense. I would build a chain of pedals that I rejected from my main pedal board.

I am convinced now, it's time to sell, or maybe create a small pedal board . . .

It is true, certain pedals have a deep emotional connection, I bought some just as I was moving into my new place, and they sat in their boxes for weeks, owing to building works going on, so I was really anticipating using them, so all that goes through my mind, it bonds you to things, emotional and important associations.

[ManFromGlass]

It’s true. I just got a Boss SE-50 up and running and the sound took me right back to younger days.
And
An old toothbrush is perfect for getting the dust out of pedal crevices!

[Arpangel]

It’s true. I just got a Boss SE-50 up and running and the sound took me right back to younger days.
And
An old toothbrush is perfect for getting the dust out of pedal crevices!

MFG, you know that SE50 I bought recently from a "reputable dealer" it had a fault, presets wouldn’t hold in memory, had to change the battery, all is now fine.
But it just goes to show that they hadn’t tested it, they would have seen on fire-up that the screen was all hieroglyphics.

[Wonks]

It had obviously been used by the dealer’s mummy.

[Arpangel]

It had obviously been used by the dealer’s mummy.

That’s bad Wonks, I expect better from you!

[Wonks]

OK then; it was all part of a pyramid selling scheme .

[Drew Stephenson]

It had obviously been used by the dealer’s mummy.

That joke is older than the pharo...

Sorry. I'll see myself out.

[Wonks]

It had obviously been used by the dealer’s mummy.

That joke is older than the pharo...

Sorry. I'll see myself out.

Tut tut.

[ManFromGlass]

n common?
And
The clip that held the battery in mine was bent so the battery was loose. Easy fix. Hieroglyphs now back to english after the factory reboot sequence..

[SecretSam]

You could always donate some of the excess pedals to poor people in Africa. I would be happy to accept them on the continent's behalf.

[Wonks]

And obviously we'd have to take all your money, house and other possessions away first to make you poor so that you could accept them.

[Arpangel]

And obviously we'd have to take all your money, house and other possessions away first to make you poor so that you could accept them.

"Boss saves the world!"

They can join Behringer and their keyboards.

[Music Wolf]

You just need to visit a guitarist forum such as The Fretboard. You'll find out very quickly that you don't have too many pedals, you actually have too few. You'll also discover that;

The pedals that you do have are 'wrong'
You don't have enough guitars
The guitars that you do have lack 'mojo'
You need better cables to join your pedals together
Your amplifier is wrong
You need a new guitar but you'll also need to change the pickups (without even trying the ones that are already in it)
After a week your new guitar will be wrong for you and you'll need to sell it (to save time, place the advert to sell the guitar before the guitar arrives).

[Arpangel]

You just need to visit a guitarist forum such as The Fretboard. You'll find out very quickly that you don't have too many pedals, you actually have too few. You'll also discover that;

The pedals that you do have are 'wrong'
You don't have enough guitars
The guitars that you do have lack 'mojo'
You need better cables to join your pedals together
Your amplifier is wrong
You need a new guitar but you'll also need to change the pickups (without even trying the ones that are already in it)
After a week your new guitar will be wrong for you and you'll need to sell it (to save time, place the advert to sell the guitar before the guitar arrives).

That’s all so true, against what I’d like to believe!
Mind you, most guitarists I know have been happy with what they have, a friend has had his Les Paul since 1982, his new acoustic was bought for him about three years ago, by his wife, he’s happy with it.
He has "no" pedals, he has never used them, preferring to get the sound he needs by using his amplifiers, an old Mesa Boogy, a Pignose, and a JC120.
It doesn’t seem to matter, he sounds the same through all of them!
Another friend has had his Strat since I’ve known him, about 30 years, he has a big old Peavy amp, and a Zoom 9030.

[Sam Spoons]

He has "no" pedals, he has never used them, preferring to get the sound he needs by using his amplifiers, an old Mesa Boogy, a Pignose, and a JC120.
It doesn’t seem to matter, he sounds the same through all of them!

That clearly can't be true (for a certain definition of truth) but may go some way to explaining why to me, a guitar player, all synths sound the same

[al_diablo]

I realised my pedal board is all wrong and actually what I need is a Kemper

[ManFromGlass]

Seems Mr Spoons may have gone missing. He has not been heard from since posting the phrase “all synths sound the same”
The only suspects are every synth player who follows the SOS forums!
'