I Left the Stompboxes Home Last Night

[DaBender]

Plugged my Strat style Hamer Daytona into my 1961 Ampeg Reverberocket. My wife came to the gig and remarked several times that she could hear my guitar really clearly, and it blended well with the other instruments, and the volume seemed just right.

I usually play mostly straight but kick in some delay or grit for solos. I really miss the delay, but it's kind of fun to go old school once in a while.

[Budda]

Uh-oh!

You're gonna get hooked on the Amp Tones now!

;)

Have you tried running the Amp into Overdrive a little, and controlling the Clean to Mean with your guitar's Volume Knob?

It's a whole other world of expression and tone. Those Volume and Tone Knobs can do some stuff.

[polishcomedy]

The lesson is get rid of those Boss pedals!

[tazzboy]

What pedals were you using?

[DaBender]

I have a little Boss BCB-2 pedalboard, and I used to load it with a Blues Driver, a DM-3 analog delay, and my SD-1, which has the "808 mod". I also have a vintage Concert without reverb, so I recently replaced the BD with the new '63 Reverb pedal. Of course, it would only take a second to swap the BD back in. I just about never bring any pedals to jams, and I do make use of the volume knob whether I have the pedals with me or not. If I can get the tremelo working right in my Reverberocket, I'll still have a cool "special effect" on tap (besides the excellent on board reverb).

[tazzboy]

Yeah OK I see why you would like the tone better without the pedals.

[dalandan]

i would try going with just the delay then. slapbackback.

your set-up sounds pretty good either way.

[k tone]

Everyone always slags Boss and I do not know why. After much experimentation I recently put my HM-2, CE-2, and MIJ DD-3 (I have had them for over 20 years) back on my board replacing a Maxon OD-808, an EHX Small Stone Phase, and an EHX SMMH. I A/Bed through the board with all of the Boss pedals bypassed vs. straight into the amp and there was no discernable difference.

The good news is now I have enough pedals to build another board!

[DaBender]

I don't recall saying that I liked it better without the pedals. What was interesting was my wife's several comments, with her not knowing there was anything unusual about my setup. As I said, most of my playing is done with the pedals switched off anyways, with exceptions made for slide, for solos, and for certain tunes where a different feel seems appropriate. One of my favorite players has always used a big Boss setup, and I certainly have never felt like I need to check out a million overdrives to find the one that is "just right". Heck, we're talking about intentionally distorting a signal.

And, I thought the DM-3 was held in extremely high regards in most circles, the prices on ebay sure seem to indicate that that's the case. At any rate, changing things up is always fun. Some nights the SG makes for a whole different deal.

[Waynel]

Originally Posted by DaBender

I don't recall saying that I liked it better without the pedals. What was interesting was my wife's several comments, with her not knowing there was anything unusual about my setup. As I said, most of my playing is done with the pedals switched off anyways, with exceptions made for slide, for solos, and for certain tunes where a different feel seems appropriate. One of my favorite players has always used a big Boss setup, and I certainly have never felt like I need to check out a million overdrives to find the one that is "just right". Heck, we're talking about intentionally distorting a signal.

And, I thought the DM-3 was held in extremely high regards in most circles, the prices on ebay sure seem to indicate that that's the case. At any rate, changing things up is always fun. Some nights the SG makes for a whole different deal.

Yeah, my wife, my friends have all said the same thing to me. They hear so many guitarists with so many effects, hearing a straight setup is actually something "new" to them.

[k tone]

I agree with you Dabender. Boss sometimes gets a rough ride by the boutique crowd but if you look on most pro boards you will see at least a few of them.

[rockycreeker]

Yep - you need to ditch all those pedals, box em up an send em to me!!!