Pedal Line Friday :: Alfredo O.

My board is kind of built around 2 different worlds.

My AxeFx II is the clean, more, let's say, controlled side of my rig lol. The pedals are the part where I can get weird, break rules, and sometimes make the guitar not sound like a guitar anymore.

Here are the pedals and lineup:

1.  Horizon Precision Drive

This is first in line. I use it to tighten everything up, especially with low-tuned stuff. It cuts some of that loose low end, gives the pick attack more bite, and helps fast palm mutes stop when I want them to stop. The built-in gate is a huge part of that, and it's set to the max...

2.  Horizon Clarity Compressor

This one is basically my signal conditioner. I don’t use it to squash the guitar. I use it to keep what I’m sending through the rest of the board, and into the AxeFx, a controlled and consistent signal. Then the compressor inside the Axe can do its own thing with the presets I've created. One keeps the signal together going in (The clarity comp); the other shapes it after (the comp in my AxeFx presets). The Clarity Compressor is under the riser of my board and always on. 

The power conditioner is called Gator GTR-PWR-12.

This is also under the riser. It has two variable voltage knobs to go from 4 to 9 volts, which I have set to about 6.5 volts, powering the Phaser pedal and LoFi using that feather for these pedals only.  I found that lowering the voltages for these pedals made them have a tasteful dying battery effect. The LoFi acts like a gain reducer, while the phaser just sounds gentle and battery on low, but sounds good; it's like a sweet spot.

3.  Chase Bliss Tonal Recall

This pedal is insane. I know it's technically a delay, but I barely think of it that way. It can get dark, warbly, ambient, unstable, almost broken-sounding. I mainly use it to exaggerate other effects and create movement. I still feel like I haven’t even discovered half of what it can do.

4.  Tallon Electric Banshee

This was a recent addition, and I fell in love with the square-wave fuzz and octave voices. It can make the guitar sound like some creepy organ from another planet. The Chop feature is also stupid fun.

5.  Tallon Electric The Noise

Pretty much my “let's get weird” pedal. The Rise control changes how quickly the pitch moves up one or two octaves, and then the rest of the pedal just takes you into ugly, funky territory. I'm definitely not a noise-pedal nerd, but this thing makes weird sounds that are actually musical.

6.  BOSS PS-5 Super Shifter

I use this for harmonies and octave stuff. One of my favorite settings is a -1 octave with the Balance around 10:45 or 11 o'clock. It leaves enough of the real guitar underneath, but adds this subtle thickness, bass, low, and rumble that you can almost feel in your hands and hear when u play (without artifacts)

7.  EHX Small Stone

Simple. Classic phaser. I just love the sound of it. Personally, I've always liked its character more than the Phase 90.

8.  Ibanez LF7 Lo Fi

I mainly use this like a weird EQ pedal. Bass cut, mids pushed, almost radio-like. Great for intros, leads, or anything where I want the guitar to suddenly sound smaller and nastier.

9.  Two DigiTech XP-100 Whammy/Wahs

These are probably the most personal pedals on the board. I've had them for over 15 years. The gray one handles most of my pitch shifting, detuning, and darker wah stuff. The red one is more wah, envelope filter, and harmonizer territory. Between the two of them, I've basically got twelve different sounds ready to go.

10.   The long gray controller is my MIDI Commander, which runs the AxeFx II. I still use plenty of effects inside the Axe, but those are usually the polished sounds: reverb, delay, filters, cleaner ambient stuff, and sometimes a saw/sqaure/Trangler wave Synth.

The stompboxes are different.

They are basically there to make mistakes on purpose, haha.  It's what makes music fun for me, man. That and a bunch of musical inspirations and other artists out there.

That's the whole idea behind my pedal board to. I like having a rig that can be super controlled 1 sec and completely fall apart in a cool way the next.  It's basically the AxeFx giving me polished tone and control, while pedals give me accidents

Happy accidents lol... I need both.  

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.