Pedal Power

9/24 - I haven't shown you my pedal board. I'm a hobbyist so its pretty basic Overdrive, EQ, Reverb and Trem. I also put in an A/B switch to keep the tuner out of the loop. I went to Ikea and bought a Gorm shelf and upright and made my own board. I debated different methods of attachment and finally settled on velcro.

So I have the A of the A/B switch going to a Boss TU-3 tuner. There are so many quality tuners out there. I settled on the Boss because its built like a tank, you can see it in sunlight and it can be a power supply if need be.

B goes to a Boss BD-2 Blues Driver. The Blues Driver has a nice warm tube like distortion/overdrive tone but will get nice and crunchy when pushed. I had it for a while before deciding to get the Keeley Phat Mod. I'm still experimenting but the mod is grittier like you're really cranking your amp. The Phat switch gives a beefier, low end sound.

Next in line is a Danelectro Fish & Chips EQ. Dollar for dollar (I paid $15 at a guitar show) this is the best EQ on the market.

I think my favorite effect is reverb, that classic 60's wet echo type sound. Its easy to overdo reverb, a little goes a long way. Really livens things up. The Holy Grail is a natural choice. I liked it in the store and I really like the deal I got on eBay on a used one. The Spring setting at 11:00 works just fine.

Last in the line is a Danelectro Tuna Melt Tremolo. For me its special use only - think the opening riff to Gimme Shelter, or almost any CCR or Blvd of Broken Dreams by Green Day.

For power I bought a Power Pad II. What I liked most about the power pad: no 60 cycle hum, courtesy AC jack (so I can use the power jack that came with the Holy Grail), 8 x 9V outlets. I did not add a power strip for now.