Pedal Line Friday :: Nick N.

The board is ever changing, as boards always do, and I have big board/small(er) board iterations based on what amp I'm playing through.

In signal order, all in front of clean amp:

EAE Limelight, JHS buffer, JHS Compressor, Moth Electric A. Incorrupta, SUF Demogorgon V2, Union Tube and Transistor Nevermore, Ernie Ball volume pedal, Eventide Pitch Factor, Red Panda Particle, Eventide Time Factor, SS/BS Fuck Overdrive, Source Audio Nemesis, Mr Black Bloodmoon, EHX 720 Looper.

Like I said, this is an ambient doom board for running into a clean amp, in recent cases either a Bogner Goldfinger 54 Phi or a Verellen Loucks (doesn't have FX loop, otherwise I'd use amp dirt more).  I often like having multiple delays and individual pedals instead of multi fx because of a) modularity.  If things break, or if I need another slot for something else for a project, I can remove and replace one thing and have a bunch of other mainstay effects.  b) stacking different kinds of delays can have a more pleasing effect of ambient sound that you can scale up or down more easily by adding/subtracting levels of echo. c) I like to "play" my pedals a lot-twist knobs, warp sounds in real time, etc. 

As far as gain goes, foundational or boost/tightening od into a couple different flavors of distortion, depending on song or part.  Also, more stacking for more sludge!  the A Incorrupta is a highly evolved Rat-style and the SUF is a flavor Muff with mids.  The Nevermore is there for volume boost, the volume for swells and level control for more dynamic control.  Because of the envelope controlled 'broken amp' sound, I put the Fuck Overdrive after some delay for distorted repeats, and before others to make switching less sonically jarring.  The Fuck also often functions as a main gainstage because it's one of the greatest sounding drives ever built.

All that said...

I downsized and consolidated when I got my Orange Thunderverb 200 because that amp distortion is legendary.  The ultimate doom amp.  And it has an FX loop so I can use that glorious distortion all day, every day. 

Front of amp signal, in order:

Bogner Wessex V2, Source Audio Foxton, Fairfield Randy's Revenge, Union Tube and Transistor Nevermore.  Once again, foundational or tightening OD, the Foxton (clone of the Foxx Tone Machine) for octave fuzz molten dooming.  Glorious into a dirt channel.  The Randy's Revenge is a stellar ring mod, delightful for both clean and distorted channels (more often clean.  Makes things really haunting), and then the Nevermore for a volume boost on clean channels or for more dirt saturation.  

FX Loop:

Ernie Ball volume pedal, basically for both swells and master volume control because I like subtlety, Red Panda Tensor for ambient/twisted loops, the Particle because the flavor of the random is beautiful with these echoes that sound like they're breaking, plus all the other pitch/LFO wildness which I'm now freer to exploit, the Eventide H90 in contradiction to my earlier sentiments about liking modularity.  But space/weight can also be an issue and it replaced the Pitch Factor, Time Factor, AND the Microcosm I had (not pictured, but was a staple of the board) because the H90 can now do granular effects.  I love granular effects.  It can't do all the Microcosm did but it can do enough, close enough, to cover how I used it, but it couldn't replace the Particle, which is too unique.  Plus with the combination of MIDI control and the number of knobs on the H90, I can change sounds a lot faster than with the bigger board (which was also inefficient that way) and still 'play' the sounds a bit, it just takes a little time to program everything as such.  And the need to change/kill effects faster was a necessity of another heavy band I joined.  The board is probably 10lbs lighter now with far fewer large, heavy pedals and not needing two power supplies.

Guitars most often used (currently):

Reverend Descent Baritone RA (tuned A-A)

EBMM Albert Lee HH (standard)

EBMM Stingray (drop C)

My main project is doomgaze band Bonney Rubble, a creation with my wife (vocals).

My newly joined project is a post metal band called It Haunts.  I'm also a solo artist, composer, mixing and mastering engineer.

Bands / Projects

Bonney Rubble

It Haunts

Listen on Spotify

Social Links

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.