Finally building my Pedal Board

[fishbiscuit]

I've been slowly assembling my pedal board and wanted to get your thoughts on my setup. 

Currently it is ---- Guitar > TC Electronic Polytune 2 > Xotic SP Compressor > Morley Steve Vai Bad Horsie 2 Wah > Analogman Silver Mod TS9 > EH Big Muff Pi > TC Electronic Flashback Delay > TC Electronic Ditto Looper

I'm getting ready to mount my pedals to my PT-2 Pedaltrain but might add one more pedal before I do.
Thoughts are: MXR Phase 90 '74 reissue, Xotic Effects EP Booster, possibly another TS9 mod, EH Mini Pog.

My board is 'inspired' by Trey's setup.

[fulltone1989]

I've been slowly assembling my pedal board and wanted to get your thoughts on my setup. 

Currently it is ---- Guitar > TC Electronic Polytune 2 > Xotic SP Compressor > Morley Steve Vai Bad Horsie 2 Wah > Analogman Silver Mod TS9 > EH Big Muff Pi > TC Electronic Flashback Delay > TC Electronic Ditto Looper

I'm getting ready to mount my pedals to my PT-2 Pedaltrain but might add one more pedal before I do.
Thoughts are: MXR Phase 90 '74 reissue, Xotic Effects EP Booster, possibly another TS9 mod, EH Mini Pog.

My board is 'inspired' by Trey's setup.

Nice! You've got some great pedals. Trey always does OD's -> Comp which is good for adjusting gain with your volume knob and helps smooth everything out. The OD's also see your picking dynamics so that would be my first suggestion. Fuzzes like to be early in the chain too, same with wah. You might want to play with the order of wah and fuzz bc sometimes they don't play well together. For Trey stuff, I would suggest another TS9, and definitely the Micro POG - great organ type tones in there.

I saw you have a Frontman 100W and IIRC those are solid state, and I don't wait to sound like a cork-sniffer but tubes are the way to go for Trey Tones. Hot Rod deluxes or Silverface Twins are all over Craigslist and are great values, I loved my HRD for awhile and if I could go back I would just keep using it and save all the cash I wasted chasing different tube amps (except the Mark III and my Fuchs  ), it's a really great pedal platform. Loud too. For the price of a new TS9 Silver mod and a Micro POG you'll get close to a Hotrod deluxe on CL and could probably find one if you're patient.

Welcome! StrangeDesign.org is a highly groovy place.

[fishbiscuit]

Thanks for the input on the signal chain.  I notice that in this current setup that the Big Muff Pi and the wah don't play well together at all.  I'm going to move my compressor around and check some different setups before I mount my board.

Besides the Micro Pog and its big brother are there any other great octave pedals with and expression pedal or expression input besides the Digitech Whammy?

On the amp - after my board is finished its what I'm working on getting next.  Currently its just a loud clean channel.  I first thought I just needed a really loud amp but now I'm looking at some of the smaller tube combos in the 25W - 60W range.  If I where to get something tomorrow I would lean toward a Fender Deluxe Reverb Reissue but I'm going to start keeping an eye out on eBay and CL to see whats out there.

[Heady Jam Fan]

Thanks for the input on the signal chain.  I notice that in this current setup that the Big Muff Pi and the wah don't play well together at all.  I'm going to move my compressor around and check some different setups before I mount my board.

Besides the Micro Pog and its big brother are there any other great octave pedals with and expression pedal or expression input besides the Digitech Whammy?

On the amp - after my board is finished its what I'm working on getting next.  Currently its just a loud clean channel.  I first thought I just needed a really loud amp but now I'm looking at some of the smaller tube combos in the 25W - 60W range.  If I where to get something tomorrow I would lean toward a Fender Deluxe Reverb Reissue but I'm going to start keeping an eye out on eBay and CL to see whats out there.

As far as an amp...
I think there are three camps for jam bands: Fender, Dumble, Mesa MK (all based on Fender amps anyway)
IMO they are also in that order for compression and midrange (Fender having the least).
Most of the time, Dumble style amps will be the most expensive, but I have no idea what your budget it.

Nothing is going to be bigger (sound-wise) and cleaner than a Mesa MKIII, but its heavy!
At the other end of the spectrum is the Fender DR: big enough to have some headroom, but light enough to carry easily and loud enough for most gigs that won't have an FOH putting a mic on it anyway. I wouldn't personally go smaller than a DR though.

If you want the headroom, but without the compression and mids, a Fender Twin might be a good choice. There are lots of other options in between a DR and a Twin too.

Then you also have to consider the voicing of the power tubes. Bigger amps will run on 6L6's, which have lower lows and higher highs while smaller amps will often run on 6V6's. I think 6L6's have a bit too broad of a frequency range for me, but if I use them, I definitely prefer a Celestion speaker like a V30 or CL80 with a midrange focus. My Mesa MKIII runs on 6L6 & EL34 or just EL34's - I use the EL34s if I'm playing through my EVM12L speaker.

I also am not a big fan of the RI Fenders. I would hold off for a Silverface IMO. An SFDR ranges from $900-1200.

Right now I'm really enjoying my SFDR with a Celestion CL80 speaker, but I love my Mesa MKIII too - its just less portable.

So I didn't give you an answer because its really subjective and there is a wide range between a DR and MKIII, but hopefully some of the variables I mentioned will make the choice clearer. The best thing to do is bring your guitar and pedalboard to guitar shops and play some amps (especially used ones).

[Hoody]

One thing I would add, is that the Mesa's are a lot harder to dial in and get set up right.  They're much, much more responsive to subtle tweaks of any control knob, and its like a domino effect.  You change one, you gotta change the rest.

Conversely, the Fender's are really, really easy to set up.  They basically designed them to sound like Leo thought they should sound like and gave the guitarist few options in messing around.  even the range of the few dials you do have will not go nuts.  Ch. 1 on most of these Fenders (Deluxe Reverb, Bassman, Princeton, Bandmaster, etc.) have 3 knobs, volume, treble, bass.  And it will always sound good.  But less options to really articulate your own sound.

[fishbiscuit]

I've been slowly assembling my pedal board and wanted to get your thoughts on my setup. 

Currently it is ---- Guitar > TC Electronic Polytune 2 > Xotic SP Compressor > Morley Steve Vai Bad Horsie 2 Wah > Analogman Silver Mod TS9 > EH Big Muff Pi > TC Electronic Flashback Delay > TC Electronic Ditto Looper

I'm getting ready to mount my pedals to my PT-2 Pedaltrain but might add one more pedal before I do.
Thoughts are: MXR Phase 90 '74 reissue, Xotic Effects EP Booster, possibly another TS9 mod, EH Mini Pog.

My board is 'inspired' by Trey's setup.

So I've changed my signal flow based on the suggestions and the Big Muff is now working with the wah.

Guitar > TC Electronic Polytune 2 > Analogman Silver Mod TS9 > EH Big Muff Pi > Xotic SP Compressor > Morley Steve Vai Bad Horsie 2 Wah > TC Electronic Flashback Delay > TC Electronic Ditto Looper

It feels like a slightly different sound but I like it, really considering dumping the Big Muff for another Silver Mod TS9 and from other rig posts I'm also looking at the Dry Bell Vibe Machine.

[Heady Jam Fan]

One thing I would add, is that the Mesa's are a lot harder to dial in and get set up right.  They're much, much more responsive to subtle tweaks of any control knob, and its like a domino effect.  You change one, you gotta change the rest.

Conversely, the Fender's are really, really easy to set up.  They basically designed them to sound like Leo thought they should sound like and gave the guitarist few options in messing around.  even the range of the few dials you do have will not go nuts.  Ch. 1 on most of these Fenders (Deluxe Reverb, Bassman, Princeton, Bandmaster, etc.) have 3 knobs, volume, treble, bass.  And it will always sound good.  But less options to really articulate your own sound.

Your right the Mesa is innately harder to dial in than a Fender simply because it has more knobs. It also works and feels different than a Fender, so its a weird transition.

I think I mentioned above how I dial in my SFDR by setting the bass knob first just listening for the point when the noise floor jumps (and thus, the amp comes to life), then all you have to do is set treble to taste. I think there are also similar approaches to a Mesa that simplify it. IIRC, Mesa manuals suggest dialing in treble first, but I tend to find the amp comes to life with the mid knob at noon, so I start there.

I dial in the bass next: its pretty easy because the Mesa has plenty of punchy bass, so I just ignore the pull-knobs (one adds bass in general and its just too much / unnecessary compared to the fine-tuning of the bass knob, the other extends the lowest frequency even lower, which we definitely don't want). The bass knob sounds fine anywhere between 0 & 3 on the dial: 0 is tight and sounds good in a recording or even band, but not as much playing alone, while 3 is getting on the muddy side and an apt bass player might say "get off my turf."

The treble is the trickiest because their are three places to adjust it (aside from the GEQ). I adjust the presence last, but want to mention it first here. I'm sure someone will disagree with me, but I think the consensus is that the presence knob is pointless and harsh beyond 3 on the dial, plus it adds some noise. The amp is pretty present, so its fine to set it at the minimum, but if you feel you need just a bit more liveliness and 'air' in the band mix, nudge it up a little.

I think the treble pull-knob (bright) really makes the amp feel lively and 'right-there' in the mix, but I usually think its too much and can be harsh. I wish it was a variable control, but its not, so I usually leave it off and just adjust the treble knob, which sounds good between 3 & 5 on the dial to me.

Then you can use the GEQ for 1 of 3 things: fine-tuning your general EQ, as a lead boost itself, or fine-tuning the lead channel.

But, considering the above, it makes dialing in the Mesa simpler:
Mids at 5
Bass 0-3
Treble 3-5
Presence 0-3

The volume knob on the clean channel really only effects the feel of the amp because it won't overdrive. However, if you plan to use R2 (the crunch channel), setting the volume between 7-10 is the only range that has worked for me (otherwise the volume jumps switching to R2). Unless, of course, you have the R2 mod with a separate volume knob. I don't. This jump in volume is what people complain about most often as far as trouble dialing in their MKIII.

The lead channel is tricky too, but I'm going to avoid that for now I haven't mastered it by any means and I think I 'misuse' it when I play jam. Right now, I'm using an EQ pedal as a lead boost. I think its tough to dial in a cleanish lead: I either find myself a bit too dark in the high-highs or way to bright if I use the treble-boost pull-knobs for the lead channel. A distorted lead is really easy to dial in, but then I can't use it for Trey's cleanish leads.

[Heady Jam Fan]

I've been slowly assembling my pedal board and wanted to get your thoughts on my setup. 

Currently it is ---- Guitar > TC Electronic Polytune 2 > Xotic SP Compressor > Morley Steve Vai Bad Horsie 2 Wah > Analogman Silver Mod TS9 > EH Big Muff Pi > TC Electronic Flashback Delay > TC Electronic Ditto Looper

I'm getting ready to mount my pedals to my PT-2 Pedaltrain but might add one more pedal before I do.
Thoughts are: MXR Phase 90 '74 reissue, Xotic Effects EP Booster, possibly another TS9 mod, EH Mini Pog.

My board is 'inspired' by Trey's setup.

So I've changed my signal flow based on the suggestions and the Big Muff is now working with the wah.

Guitar > TC Electronic Polytune 2 > Analogman Silver Mod TS9 > EH Big Muff Pi > Xotic SP Compressor > Morley Steve Vai Bad Horsie 2 Wah > TC Electronic Flashback Delay > TC Electronic Ditto Looper

It feels like a slightly different sound but I like it, really considering dumping the Big Muff for another Silver Mod TS9 and from other rig posts I'm also looking at the Dry Bell Vibe Machine.

I've used/owned Muffs before and they are cool, but kinda one trick ponys: they don't clean up and I wasn't a big fan of chord-work with them turned on. They are also pretty scooped and I prefer a midrange boost instead. A Rat is a decent replacement if you want more distortion than a TS, more bass, less noise but better cleaning up that a Muff.

[fishbiscuit]

Update:  so here is my current pedal chain after messing around with placement.

Guitar > TC Electronic Polytune 2 > Analogman Silver Mod TS9 > EH Big Muff Pi > Morley Steve Vai Bad Horsie 2 Wah > Xotic SP Compressor > TC Electronic Flashback Delay > TC Electronic Ditto Looper

Next pedal(s): Digitech Whammy V, then either a second Analogman TS9 or a Rat.

Of course the search for the tube amp is still underway.

[Heady Jam Fan]

Nice, I'll bet that if you get a Rat, you only end up keeping either the Rat of the Muff. They will cover similar ground I think - somewhat different flavor though and the Rat cleans up better when you roll the volume back on your guitar.

[fishbiscuit]

Nice, I'll bet that if you get a Rat, you only end up keeping either the Rat of the Muff. They will cover similar ground I think - somewhat different flavor though and the Rat cleans up better when you roll the volume back on your guitar.

I may only need to keep the Big Muff on the board if I want to do Smashing Pumpkins covers 

[Heady Jam Fan]

Nice, I'll bet that if you get a Rat, you only end up keeping either the Rat of the Muff. They will cover similar ground I think - somewhat different flavor though and the Rat cleans up better when you roll the volume back on your guitar.

I may only need to keep the Big Muff on the board if I want to do Smashing Pumpkins covers 

! Yep lol