Pedal Line Friday :: Tony A.

I play bass in the band SERVICE. I actually just re-did my pedalboard ahead of our western U.S. tour in May 2026, scaling up to a larger board to allow more real estate for additional noisemakers. Anyway, let's dive in...

From my bass, I'm first going into the tried and true Boss TU-3 tuner pedal. I've used a TU-2 or a TU-3 for as long as I can remember and it's essential as a tuner, a mute and a buffer. You really have to be a maniac to break one of these.

Next I go into an Earthquaker Devices Cloven Hoof fuzz. I've been using various Muff-style fuzzes on bass since...well, forever. This is my favorite one to date and has been my go-to fuzz for years. It feels like it's just made especially for bass. It gets super gnarly and lets notes sustain for days. I think EQD may have discontinued this one, and I'm here to say they should bring it back!

From there I go into a Proco FatRat. This one is relatively new to me, though I've been using Rats on bass since literally day one. It feels incredibly sturdy and the versatility is nice, though I personally like it with both switches set to Stock and the Distortion set low for just some light grit that I can click on and off as desired.

Next is a Tech 21 Sansamp Bass Driver DI. This one stays on all of the time because it makes any setup sound incredible. I will typically send the Sansamp's XLR out to front of house (FOH) if the venue allows.

Then I go into a Boss PS-6 Harmonist. I don't utilize this for harmonies at all actually, despite its name. It has a very cool feature called "S-Bend," which is a momentary switch that does a basic version of the two or three octave pitch shift either up or down that a Digitech Whammy does, but with a much smaller footprint.

Finally, I go into an Electro Harmonix Bass Mono Synth. This is a fun toy with a ton of awesome synth tones, that I honestly just use mostly for between-song stuff.

I do also have a much smaller secondary pedalboard, which houses a Digitech Jamman sample/looper pedal. We have numerous synth samples stored within the Jamman, which I'm able to quickly activate and pause as needed. The output of the Jamman goes into a Catalinbread Belle Epoch, which is a fantastic EP-3 Echoplex-type delay. It can be used to add a subtle echo and warble to the loops, or it can send everything into full-blown freakout mode. This all goes to FOH.

That's it. Come see us on tour out west for all of May 2026 with the Darts.

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SERVICE

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Submit Your Pedal Line!

About a million years ago, I used to run a blog called EffectsBay. On that blog, the most popular feature I would run was Pedal Line Friday. This is where readers of the site would send pics of their pedalboard and a short (sometimes long) write-up of routing and thoughts about specific pedals and the reasoning why they liked it, etc. Readers. loved this. It was a great way to learn about new applications or techniques regarding pedals. It also brought a little inspiration and knowledge about pedals you were not familiar with. It also brought a great sense of community - people like sharing and absorbing cool things, right? It was a super popular feature, and I loved putting them together.

All you have to do is send a pic of your pedalboard (or pedal line - it doesn't have to be on a board) along with a short (or long) write-up of the board. We want a list of pedals (manufacturer/model), routing would be great, and, most importantly, why you use those particular pedals. Also, this is a great way to promote your band or musical project - include that information as well!

You can send the pic and the write-up to pedalline@rattlesnakecables.com.