Pedal Line Friday :: T. Wesley

Hi! I'm back with my "Portable Rig" board and will explain why it's that...

Under the Pedaltrain board powering all the pedals is a Truetone 1Spot Pro.

Guitar signal goes into the top of the Ernie Ball "Super Bee" VPJr combo volume/tuner pedal. When the pedal is rocked back to cut the volume completely, it turns into a tuner with a large, bright, easy-to-read-on-a-dark-stage display. Next up is the Supro Boost, going against all conventions that say to put your boost after your drive pedals. Since there are no drive pedals on this board, I can put the boost anywhere I want! Important to note is this pedal operates an 12V rather than 9V, so I don't lose out on being able to use all the available ports on my power supply.

Next after the boost is the JHS 3-Series Chorus, which I leave set to Chorus (I don't care for the Vibe sound it has). It's fairly close in chorusing effect to the BOSS CE-2, and the addition of the Volume control means it's easy to make up for any volume drop when it's on. After that is the Supro Tremolo, and I keep it set to Harmonic though its Amplitude setting sounds good as well. The real sleeper aspect of this pedal is its Drive control, which can be used to add grit to your sound without adding too much volume. Then we go on to the MXR Phase 90, perhaps the most classic phaser pedal in existence, and handy with that giant rubber sheath on the single control knob - it's easy to adjust with your toe!

Following the Phase 90 is a BOSS DD-7 Digital Delay, which I keep set to Analog mode because that's the sound I prefer from it. Propped up above the Phase 90 is the DD-7's expression pedal (i.e. tap tempo), a BOSS FS-5U, which once I put the board where it needs to be for my band's set will go down right in front of the board. Like my other board, following my main delay is a reverse delay, in this case a reissue of the classic Danelectro Back Talk. This one sounds even better than the Mojo Hand on my other board, and even without the octave up effect, it cuts through a mix for a distinctly psychedelic flavor to whatever I'm using it on. If I'm plugging into an external amp with reverb on board, this is where I send my signal to the amp.

Because of the amp I use here, I need a reverb pedal, and I chose the J. Rockett Boing! It gets a fairly convincing old-school spring reverb sound at higher settings, but I tend to keep it relatively low just to add space and feel unless I'm playing surf music. If I'm using an external amp without reverb, this is where I'll send the signal out.

Last but not least we have the Vox MV-50 Brian May ultra-portable amplifier! With a simple, three-knob setup (gain, tone, volume), this thing is a total sleeper of an amp. Capable of driving a cabinet as big as a 4x12, it produces a ton of great tone in a tiny package. It's not that much bigger than a BOSS pedal, and though it was a challenge securing its power supply to the underside of the pedalboard, it's worth it to be able to show up at a gig with this pedalboard, a 1x12 cabinet and a guitar and be set up & ready to rock simply by adding one Rattlesnake snakehead guitar cable and a sweet, sweet Rattlesnake speaker cable. This is my main rehearsal rig because of its extreme portability.

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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.