Out With The Old, In With The New: Reassesing My Guitar Effects Pedalboard.

Ok, now that 2009 is here, there are a few changes in order. I'm parting with a few old friends only because they no longer serve their purpose. Time to switch things up a bit.

I'll still keep my Seymour Duncan Twin Tube Classic pedal, Boss TU-2 Chromatic Tuner, Boss CH-1 Super Chorus (for now) as well as my Barber LTD low gain pedal and Dunlop Wah/Volume pedals. So those are still my key tones for what I need when I return to playing guitar on a more regular basis.


T-Rex Replica Delay Pedal
I've been doing some research and I'm impressed with the products from T-Rex Engineering. They are a step up from Boss pedals and a little on the high dollar side. But I've been tolerating my Boss RV-3 Digital Delay/Reverb pedal to the point where it just doesn't make sense to keep anymore. I like the more modern ability to tap tempo the delay. This saves me from contstant on stage adjustments in which I have to hear the delay (echo) rate audibly in order to set. The T-Rex Replica is just what I've been looking for. I don't really use Reverb these days since the places I play already have inherant reverberation in the room. Adding more just adds clutter to my sound. This would be different if I played more outdoor gigs. Plus I have reverb effects in my amplifiers.


T-Rex Moller Overdrive/Clean Boost Pedal
I love the control that you get from this pedal. I've been sort of hunting for an in between "grey area" overdrive pedal. The Barber LTD is great for low gain tone but it's not enough "umph" or "to push over the cliff" factor. Plus it sort of lacks low end bass, kind of like the TS-808's. The SDTTC pedal takes care of what the LTD wants to do, but still there's a wide gap between the channel 1 and channel 2 overdrives. It would be nice just to have something soaring SRV/Hendrix stuff while still retaining my Strat sparkle. What's cool is the mix control. This way I can blend as much or as little affected signal to my desire.

I hear that John Mayer, David Gilmour, Pete Townsend, Mark Tremonti, and Steve Lukather use these pedals (brand not necessarily the actual pedals mentioned). Not that this has any affect on my using these pedals but as stompboxes go, that's saying something as opposed to using some rack effects.

I'm keeping my Boss Chorus pedal only because I can't justify spending over $200 for a chorus pedal, especially when I use this effect sparingly. I like the my chorus pedal only because I can mix my dry-chorus effect. So it's not an all or nothing pedal.