Pedal Line Friday :: Stephen S.

Style:
I play all fingerstyle acoustic on Cape Cod (Massachusetts). I mix in my own instrumentals with older Piedmont-style blues and fingerstyle arrangements of more well-known songs from the past 50 years. I also include a lot of Celtic music and a bit of country. Over the past 50 years, I've gone through too many preamp/pedal combinations to count. This is my most recent setup which seems to get me the right combination of decent acoustic sound that can still be heard in a noisy pub.

Guitars:
I used an old Taylor and an old Larrivee guitar (1990's). Each has K&K Double Helix soundhole pickups. I also use an old Gibson Chet Atkins solid body classical with a Barbera pickup.

Small gig setup:
I go directly into the K&K Pure XLR preamp to the Yamaha mixer, then to a Bose S1 Pro. I use a clip-on tuner.

Larger gig setup:
If I am using the acoustics with the K&K's, I use a Sunrise SB-1 preamp to bring up the level. Then to a Fishman Aura 16
If I am using the Chet Atkins, I bypass the Sunrise and go straight into the Fishman Aura 16 (the Barbera has plenty of gain).
Then to a polytune tuner.
Then to a small Ditto looper (I use a loop for a sound check and then use it later so I can add some slide).
Then to the K&K Pure XLR and the Yamaha mixer.
The Beat Buddy just goes directly to the mixer.
If it's a larger venue, I will use a Bose S1 Pro and a Bose L1 Compact to get more sound out there.

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.