Brent Mason's latetest pedalboard (with pics)

[bowlfreshener]

Just got the new Indyguitarist newsletter, and he had this link with a recent pedablboard made for Brent Mason:
http://www.indyguitarist.com/bsm/807/bsm-pb-807.htm

I wasn't sure if this counted as a Tele topic, or if it should be in the stompbox forum...

[FredDairy]

Originally Posted by bowlfreshener

Just got the new Indyguitarist newsletter, and he had this link with a recent pedablboard made for Brent Mason:
http://www.indyguitarist.com/bsm/807/bsm-pb-807.htm

I wasn't sure if this counted as a Tele topic, or if it should be in the stompbox forum...

Makes me glad Cropper is my God.

[telerocker5150]

Originally Posted by FredDairy

Makes me glad Cropper is my God.

thats the ultimate STUDIO board.he has it so big to fit everything that could possibly be used in studio.he plays on almost every major session.

[emailhot]

hey what is a "sparkle drive" ?(top center)what does it do?

[telerocker5150]

Originally Posted by emailhot

hey what is a "sparkle drive" ?(top center)what does it do?

its a ts808 style overdrive. used as a overdriven tube distortion.

[aznrambo481]

So the big box with the switches is just a bunch of... switches? is there something complex in there with presets, etc? I think it'd be a lot cheaper just to make each of the effects true-bypass (most of them are already?)...

[marc sosnoff]

thats not a pedalboard thats a aircraft carrier wow
glad i dont have to carry it

thanks for sharing

[teleclarkster]

Originally Posted by FredDairy

Makes me glad Cropper is my God.

Amen...

[stinkymommasboy]

I got enough trouble with just a guitar and an amp.

[teleguitarist]

Originally Posted by aznrambo481

So the big box with the switches is just a bunch of... switches? is there something complex in there with presets, etc? I think it'd be a lot cheaper just to make each of the effects true-bypass (most of them are already?)...

There were a few reasons for that... Brent switches pedals in and out sometimes and wanted to be able to do that easily. He also just wanted all the switches in a row so tap dancing was minimized. Also, if you get a bad cord or something in the studio it can be a BEAR to find it. This way, he can bypass everything including cables to isolate the problem. There is still a few things I need to do to it, but it is 95% finished and as now in use as his main studio board. He still has a secondary board that will be at the smaller studios and live stuff. There is a visual sound j&h, route 66, one of my boss ds-1 mods, my sparkle drive mod, and I don't recall which chorus... sorry.

[SixStringSlinger]

Makes me feel less guilty about my ideal pedal board.

[aznrambo481]

thanks for clarifying... I wish I had so many pedals that I had to make a box with buttons to use them!

[Grin'n'pick]

It's certainly grown since last time we saw it. I must admit that I shed a little tear when I saw the RC Boost on there, I sold mine today, and now it's gone I don't know why.

[sudancat]

Originally Posted by bowlfreshener

Just got the new Indyguitarist newsletter, and he had this link with a recent pedablboard made for Brent Mason:
http://www.indyguitarist.com/bsm/807/bsm-pb-807.htm

I wasn't sure if this counted as a Tele topic, or if it should be in the stompbox forum...

Got my newsletter also and man that board is huge. I would assume being a studio musician you need something like that. If I carried that on stage with me the band would run me off. I noticed some of the settings on some of his pedals like I have,probably have to try them tomorrow. I am interested in the bypass looper.

[TWANGNUT]

Originally Posted by stinkymommasboy

I got enough trouble with just a guitar and an amp.

WHAT!!! I thought I was the only one!

[toadman]

24x48?!?!?! i've played on stages that big!

[namida]

Originally Posted by marc sosnoff

glad i dont have to carry it

+1

Though I'm sure they're all necessary for him to work on his work.

[sudancat]

How does the bypass looper work? Do you turn on all the pedals and leave them on then use the switches on the looper to engage effects?

[FredDairy]

Originally Posted by telerocker5150

thats the ultimate STUDIO board.he has it so big to fit everything that could possibly be used in studio.he plays on almost every major session.

Yeah, I know this... However, Cropper played on some pretty major sessions for a recording company somewhere in Memphis back in the 60s, without any of that stuff!

[Home Grown Tele]

Originally Posted by sudancat

How does the bypass looper work? Do you turn on all the pedals and leave them on then use the switches on the looper to engage effects?

Thats what I do with mine. It eliminates the "stompbox two step" you need to do with a bunch of effects on a board. The biggest advantage to using a looper is you only have whatever effects you are using in your signal path and all the others are isolated. Cuts down on line loss and tone issues when you aren't using any effects.

[Home Grown Tele]

Originally Posted by FredDairy

Yeah, I know this... However, Cropper played on some pretty major sessions for a recording company somewhere in Memphis back in the 60s, without any of that stuff!

That would be Stax Records. Unfortunately session demands have changed considerably in the last 40+ years. Most of that stuff was recorded when fuzz tones where new (and wah wah's didn't even exist) on 2 and 4 track decks. Session players are expected to have multiple effects these days.

[getbent]

Originally Posted by FredDairy

Makes me glad Cropper is my God.

Like Clint Eastwood says!

[FredDairy]

Originally Posted by Home Grown Tele

That would be Stax Records. Unfortunately session demands have changed considerably in the last 40+ years. Most of that stuff was recorded when fuzz tones where new (and wah wah's didn't even exist) on 2 and 4 track decks. Session players are expected to have multiple effects these days.

It's a sad sad world we live in, pedal boards and reissue Stax on Mclemore and College.

[sudancat]

Originally Posted by Home Grown Tele

Thats what I do with mine. It eliminates the "stompbox two step" you need to do with a bunch of effects on a board. The biggest advantage to using a looper is you only have whatever effects you are using in your signal path and all the others are isolated. Cuts down on line loss and tone issues when you aren't using any effects.

Is this different than having a pedal modified to be true bypass?

[Bluesbob]

I see that straight 9-Volt plug sticking out of the front of the Boss tremolo and I think, "that's gonna get damaged". I know it has a strain relief but I was wondering if anybody makes pre-formed right-angle power supply cables with plugs attached. Anybody ever see them? It would make things a little easier to keep from getting stepped on and damaged.

[blue water girl]

Originally Posted by FredDairy

Yeah, I know this... However, Cropper played on some pretty major sessions for a recording company somewhere in Memphis back in the 60s, without any of that stuff!

Steve Cropper actually just took a look at Brent's new board when he was in Sound Check and told Brent he loved it. Brent won't use it for anything live and some studios won't accomodate it. He is really happy that he can stop "riverdancing" so much as the guys in the studio call it when Brent has to hop around his pedalboard. (he also likes to joke that he is playing twister) It's also going to cut down on the damage to the pedals that sometimes occurs when he switches his them in and out all the time, it is hard on the pedals and this will solve that problem as well.

If all Brent was called on to record was Sitting on the Dock of the Bay type guitar he wouldnt need such a set up, but the Nike commercial he just recorded didn't want that sound for some reason..........nor does the latest movie soundtrack he just began working on.

[Ignatius]

Originally Posted by FredDairy

Yeah, I know this... However, Cropper played on some pretty major sessions for a recording company somewhere in Memphis back in the 60s, without any of that stuff!

[dibber124]

Session players have to make it their #1 priority to give the producer what he wants, if not you are not hired again, period. If having a huge pedalboard helps get the job done I would not knock it. Honestly, I love Brent's playing, but some things he has played are not anything I would ever want to listen to again. Considering that he almost starved when he first came to Nashville, he can play anything and with as many pedals as he wants. Just my .02

[ibobunot]

Originally Posted by FredDairy

It's a sad sad world we live in, pedal boards and reissue Stax on Mclemore and College.

And over at the gear page this board got a big yawn...

"Interesting....Sorta low tech, but the switcher might be what saves it"

"Just proves you don't need the best pedals"

"wonder how may of them are stock?"

"Nice handles"

Different worlds...

[getbent]

Brent Mason could play through a box of milkduds and make it sound like the greatest thing I've ever heard. I know Reggie Young uses pedals aplenty and between Reg & Brent... well that is some fine pickin' indeed.

I'd bet Crop would read this thread and say "Whoa, don't be puttin' my name in with that opinion!"

Thanks for the note Blue Water Girl and send our best to Brent. I just played two Alan Jackson songs today at a festival and dang if some of those licks will make your hand cramp. Brent is the real deal fo' sho'... anything he decides to do I will give a long listen, whistle under my breath and say... "that shore listens good."

[RCinMempho]

Originally Posted by Bluesbob

I see that straight 9-Volt plug sticking out of the front of the Boss tremolo and I think, "that's gonna get damaged". I know it has a strain relief but I was wondering if anybody makes pre-formed right-angle power supply cables with plugs attached. Anybody ever see them? It would make things a little easier to keep from getting stepped on and damaged.

The Visual Sound One Spot comes with some right-angle 9v power plugs. They may sell them separately.

[FredDairy]

Originally Posted by blue water girl

Steve Cropper actually just took a look at Brent's new board when he was in Sound Check and told Brent he loved it. Brent won't use it for anything live and some studios won't accomodate it. He is really happy that he can stop "riverdancing" so much as the guys in the studio call it when Brent has to hop around his pedalboard. (he also likes to joke that he is playing twister) It's also going to cut down on the damage to the pedals that sometimes occurs when he switches his them in and out all the time, it is hard on the pedals and this will solve that problem as well.

If all Brent was called on to record was Sitting on the Dock of the Bay type guitar he wouldnt need such a set up, but the Nike commercial he just recorded didn't want that sound for some reason..........nor does the latest movie soundtrack he just began working on.

God was just being nice when he said he liked that new board.

And, "if all Brent was called on to record was Sitting on the Dock of the Bay" we'd have lost one of the greatest recordings of all time! It's sometimes sad that all Otis Redding and Steve's work gets lumped into that song, which was really unlike anything they had both previously done, even if that song was a masterpiece. That's studio "art", playing something for a Nike commerical is nothing more than making a quick buck.

[blue water girl]

FredDairy - your comments are very enlightening and meaningful.

[ibobunot]

Originally Posted by FredDairy

playing something for a Nike commerical is nothing more than making a quick buck.

Your talking to Brent Mason's wife (blue water girl) have a little respect...

[getbent]

Originally Posted by FredDairy

That's studio "art", playing something for a Nike commerical is nothing more than making a quick buck.

being a professional musician is both art and craft both equally respectable and worthy. Being able to play on all the great songs that Crop played on was certainly a joy, but he didn't do it for free. He played because he loved it and got to do it because he got paid.

If you ever talk to the old session guys half the time they didn't even know when a song was a hit.. they were cutting songs right and left.... Talk to Bob Bain some time or when TT was alive... they did it because they loved it, but they got paid...

In your post there is air (maybe I'm misreading) of seeing working on a Nike ad as less noble than playing a session on a song that you co-wrote that become a classic. I would bet that guys like Cropper (who played with John Belushi in the Blues Bros) give it there all regardless of the song or the band or the situation... that is being a professional.

Work is work. Sometimes it turns into a classic song that has been used in movies and ads and becomes iconic. Sometimes its original intended purpose is to sell shoes or shirts or glasses or whatever...

Notes on a page... sometimes the notes make magic, sometimes not, but for a working musician, those notes need to make enough money to keep going.

[FredDairy]

Originally Posted by getbent

being a professional musician is both art and craft both equally respectable and worthy. Being able to play on all the great songs that Crop played on was certainly a joy, but he didn't do it for free. He played because he loved it and got to do it because he got paid.

If you ever talk to the old session guys half the time they didn't even know when a song was a hit.. they were cutting songs right and left.... Talk to Bob Bain some time or when TT was alive... they did it because they loved it, but they got paid...

In your post there is air (maybe I'm misreading) of seeing working on a Nike ad as less noble than playing a session on a song that you co-wrote that become a classic. I would bet that guys like Cropper (who played with John Belushi in the Blues Bros) give it there all regardless of the song or the band or the situation... that is being a professional.

Work is work. Sometimes it turns into a classic song that has been used in movies and ads and becomes iconic. Sometimes its original intended purpose is to sell shoes or shirts or glasses or whatever...

Notes on a page... sometimes the notes make magic, sometimes not, but for a working musician, those notes need to make enough money to keep going.

Yes, there is a slight "air" in my post regarding playing on a Nike commercial as being less important than playing on an Otis Redding session. Brent Mason is a phenomenal guitarist, and I'm not taking anything away from him by saying that either. I'd love to be good enough on guitar to cut it as a studio musician. But I turn off commercials, and I get goosebumps when I put on an Otis Redding album.

A Stax session is a completly different situation than what you're explaining as studio work. I don't know how many "notes on page" sessions those guys did back in the 60s and I'd be willing to bet none! I don't think those guys just cut a song to cut it. Cropper had said they'd go to work like a butcher or a banker. Get in in the morning and hang their coats up and go to work 5 days a week. But he'd also pull an 18 hour day, because he loved what he was doing. I had read that all the players and Otis felt that after they recorded Sittin' that they had finally got him his #1. Then Otis dies and Steve does what he calls the hardest thing in his life, finishing up the "Sittin'" session, without Otis. That's meaningful!

Sorry to offend the Brent Mason fans.

[getbent]

Fred,
Your first post on this thread... and your last. What does Steve Cropper have to do with Brent Mason's pedalboard? Besides reading some stuff about Steve what do you actually know about his preferences regarding guitars, effects or doing session work? I see that you get 'goosebumps' listening to Otis Redding, did the Blues Brothers Albums have the same effect?

Is your post really that there is less value in players who use pedalboards? or is it that there is less value in someone who didn't play for stax? or is it that the folks at stax only did soulful music and never sold out to the man? again, I'd ask what the heck does that have to do with a pedalboard or Brent Mason?

It is typically good form to at least announce when you are going to do a thread hijack. Even when for a higher moral purpose.

[tiktok]

Originally Posted by Bluesbob

I see that straight 9-Volt plug sticking out of the front of the Boss tremolo and I think, "that's gonna get damaged". I know it has a strain relief but I was wondering if anybody makes pre-formed right-angle power supply cables with plugs attached. Anybody ever see them? It would make things a little easier to keep from getting stepped on and damaged.

Visual Sound does. I picked up one of their daisy chains just yesterday for that same reason--$9.99 at Guitar Center. They also include one with their "Combo Pack" (One Spot, daisy chain and a few adaptors for 9V only pedals and such).

[FredDairy]

Originally Posted by getbent

Fred,
Your first post on this thread... and your last. What does Steve Cropper have to do with Brent Mason's pedalboard? Besides reading some stuff about Steve what do you actually know about his preferences regarding guitars, effects or doing session work? I see that you get 'goosebumps' listening to Otis Redding, did the Blues Brothers Albums have the same effect?

Is your post really that there is less value in players who use pedalboards? or is it that there is less value in someone who didn't play for stax? or is it that the folks at stax only did soulful music and never sold out to the man? again, I'd ask what the heck does that have to do with a pedalboard or Brent Mason?

It is typically good form to at least announce when you are going to do a thread hijack. Even when for a higher moral purpose.

Original post was a joke, sorry it must have gone over your head. I'll watch my hijacking form from here on out. Your long history of studio musicianship was the hijacking point. But I bit that, and I guess I'm as guilty of hijacking too. I don't put less value in players who use pedal boards, but I prefer to see someone play straight into an amp. All the questions your asking me have nothing to do with the pedal board of Brent Mason. But, my original post did, in a sarcastic joking way.

[Spidercaster]

It's always a good idea to add one of these to indicate you're just joking around.