Going without pedals, thoughts?

[ProgRockAbuse]

hey all, just started posting again after life getting in the way.

i've started playing in a more classic rock style band and for the first couple of practices, i took a board with a few bits and pieces on. namely a drive pedal, delay, wah, boost and tuner. each week i've been stomping less and less on stuff and just cranking up the amp a little more. i find i can get plenty of sounds using the controls on my tele. it has a 4 way switch and s-1 switch, so with that and the volume and tone, it's pretty versatile.

should i keep a little board with a couple of pedals just in case i fancy adding something?
should i just have one pedal like a boost/eq/drive just for a little gain if needed?
or just guitar>amp and bring it like the old school would?

whats your thoughts, fellow forum folks

[Icarus]

When playing live I prefer to have as little as possible and only what is required. At the moment that means tuner and noise gate for me and thats it, less to go wrong and less things to change the tone(although noise gates are obviously not transparent, they are essential to me).

If you don't NEED a wah, don't take it. Same with any other pedal/effect in my opinion. I like not having to be at a pedalboard at certain times to switch A off and B on or whatever. I even prefer to use my guitars controls for parts where a less aggressive or clean tone is needed rather than switch channels.

[jason41224]

i'm the other way around. i'm terrible at the whole 'roll knob with pinky while seamlessly playing' deal. i need a footswitch to stomp on for my dirty/clean sounds. if i want to be a little less in the mix, i usually roll either my volume or my tone down (for a verse in a quiet song, for example) which helps a bit. can't really do that with a pedal. typically i only use my volume, compressor, delay, and tuner (and Orange FS), but i don't play classic rock so, i also have a wah, trem and boost, with plans to grab a Phaser, a Fuzz and a Reverb. i don't use them all the time (i'm actually pretty disappointed because i really can't find as much use for my trem as i thought)

[Captain Wedge]

Get Rid of Them All!!!


(That's my two cents )

[Bandeapart]

That's crazy talk, it can't be done. It just CAN'T BE DONE!

[Les Paul Lover]

I have 3 pedals, and oh god, are they just good at gathering dust!!!!!!!

I'm still considering getting some time based effects or a booster. But i'll probably end up gathering more dust if I do....

[sizzlingbadger]

I have a wah, delay and EQ, the EQ gathers dust at the moment, but the other two are used quite a bit.

[macg1]

The last few rehearsals and the last show I played were all without stomping about, other than the wah and the flanger. My delay and Scorpio Boost were on 100%, but everything else was controlled from the guitar. I must say, I rather enjoyed it and will keep doing this and trying to get better. I do keep my Taurus OD on the board in case I get the urge to take things over the top. I keep a heavier OD (Virgo Rock OD) on backup for backlined gigs. And I am a big fan of using the Aquarius Fuzz and the other guys for recording and getting different tones. Live I am trying to keep it super simple and loving it.

[Norrin Radd]

I'd consider having no board in my current band IF I could find a better solution for mid song/gig tuning adjustments and switching channels on my RV. I figure since I have to have those two, might as well throw a delay on there too for the loop. If I didn't have to tune, I'd go without the delay and just have a channel switch on the floor.

[nlimbaugh]

I love all the cool sounds players get with pedals. But for me, I'm still figuring out how to use feedback which seems to have a world of sound to be tapped. No pedals yet.

[ryanmaiden]

I just take what pedals I need for the particular gig. I haven't tied myself down with a pedal board, so if I only need a delay, I just take a delay etc. Recently changing to a tiny terror has made me appreciate distortion/OD pedals, never really used them with multi-channel amps, but have got a couple to hit the input hard for searing solos and big power chord chuggathons.

[kmlabs]

Hey dude

I'd say for the stuff you guys are doing just a boost for when you really need a bit more dirt - although that Dual Terror has got plenty of dirt itself!

Personally, I wouldn't like to get rid of my wah; it covers all my mistakes when I'm soloing

[ProgRockAbuse]

Hey dude

I'd say for the stuff you guys are doing just a boost for when you really need a bit more dirt - although that Dual Terror has got plenty of dirt itself!

Personally, I wouldn't like to get rid of my wah; it covers all my mistakes when I'm soloing

mine broke at practice the other week, the perils of removing the rubber dampers to get extra travel and you wear out the switch sooner.

[Captain Wedge]

Hey dude

I'd say for the stuff you guys are doing just a boost for when you really need a bit more dirt - although that Dual Terror has got plenty of dirt itself!

Personally, I wouldn't like to get rid of my wah; it covers all my mistakes when I'm soloing

mine broke at practice the other week, the perils of removing the rubber dampers to get extra travel and you wear out the switch sooner.

You should get one of those switchless wah pedals.
I am thinking about getting a good wah pedal. I have the cheapest version of the Cry Baby, and it kinda sucks. I was thinking about getting the Morley Bad Horsie 2 wah, since it has 2 wah settings that you can switch between, and it's switchless.
Anyone have any comments on this wah pedal?

[basshole]

I use a tuner, a Vox wha, a Signa drive and a Memory man. Some gigs i only use the tuner, some gigs i almost do more pedal tapdancing than playing..

Obviously your amp can't do wha, tuner or echo (unless it's one of those "lego" amps) so i really don't see how even purists have a problem using pedals for that.

Drive is a whole other chapter though. I dare say nine times out of ten a good quality tube amp will hold it's own against any pedal out there. Once driven properly that is!

If you are going just guitar-cable-amp, it has to be a coiled cable!