Do I Have Too Many Pedals?

[CHUNKYNECK]

I buy pedals based on what songs i want to play. Saves alot of unnecessary purchases and leaves more cash free for must have pedals if i want to add some new songs to the list. I'd be lost without my vibe and an octave pedal is handy. Other than that you have a good start.

 

[kboman]

To answer the question in the thread title: No. There is no such thing as "too many pedals".

so im probably going to pick up:

Electro-Harmonix: Big Muff Pie & Holy Stain
Way Huge Electronics: Ring Worm Modulator

anybody have any other pedal suggestions? i mostly play in churches and i get a lot of "try to sound like the recording" or "do whatever crazy thing you want" like the do whatever people.

Apparently the current BMP reissue is not held in particularly high esteem by Muff veterans. There are loads of clones, variations and interpretations out there, I have two non-EHX Muffs myself. Gilmourish.com recently did a rundown of a bunch of these pedals from a David Gilmour perspective: The Buyer’s Gear Guide : Big Muff « Gilmourish.Com – guitars, effects and amps that may be helpful.

Otherwise I'd suggest maybe a volume pedal, some kind of pitch shifter, a tremolo unit and a tap tempo delay pedal. Strymon make pretty expensive pedals but they are almost all the best money can buy in their respective category.

Happy hunting and welcome to the asylum!

 

[rwhammond]

great. thanks everyone for all your help and suggestions! going to be picking up a new head and cabinet (this weekend hopefully) so i think ill try out a few more pedals as well.

 

[snaredrum]

yeah, the current big muff is fine if you want to sound like Jack White, not so much if you want a "classic" fuzz noise.

 

[Batman]

seriously.... no such thing.

i need more.

. . .and I still think this is a smaller collection than what Austin has OFF of his board!

No such thing as too many pedals!!!!

I've got to get a picture of my current board. . .11 pedals on the board and 3 currently off.

Korg Pitchblack --> Boss BD-2 --> MXR Script Re-issue Phase 90 --> Keeley Modded Rat --> Batman modded TS9 --> Batman Modded Boss SD-1 --> MXR '78 Badass Distortion --> Fulltone OCD v1 --> MI Audio Crunch Box --> MXR Micro Chorus --> MXR Carbon Copy

Off the board are a Big Muff Pi, a Muff Fuzz I built and an EHx LBP-1

 

[gibsonguitar1988]

Repeat after me:

YOU CAN NEVER HAVE TOO MANY PEDALS....EVER.. Period! And anyone who says otherwise can, well...you know.

That's just breaking through the first level of pedal-obsession. You aren't even an amateur pedal junkie yet.

Batman - I actually have went back to a bigger board, so now the pedals off the board "reserve" is getting smaller.....slowly. But I still have more off the board than OP does altogether!

 

[Rich]

I don't think you can have too many pedals, but I think it's possible to have too many hooked up at once to the point that you spend more time tap dancing than playing. I probably have over 30 of the critters and do use them all (mostly at home) but, with my band, I have seven on my board and one of those is a tuner. It's not like I purposefully limited the amount that I use with the band, it's just that those were the only ones that I found myself actually using.

 

[Alligatorbling]

i like to cycle mine, i usually mix and match 6 or 7 of them and use that setup fro a while, then ill run a different setup for a while.

 

[gibsonguitar1988]

I don't think you can have too many pedals, but I think it's possible to have too many hooked up at once to the point that you spend more time tap dancing than playing. I probably have over 30 of the critters and do use them all (mostly at home) but, with my band, I have seven on my board and one of those is a tuner. It's not like I purposefully limited the amount that I use with the band, it's just that those were the only ones that I found myself actually using.

I use 15 myself.. It's a good amount. I find I need that many to do my gig and to pull off all of the recorded tones necessary. I can play and tap dance at the same time no problem. I love tap dancing. But I find that I've got my board memorized very well and I think it is just fine.

I find this just works best. I've tried smaller and bigger boards than this, and I find this is the amount I need to be able to do my gig. Pedals are my tone factory and where my tone comes from. Mainly different flavors of distortion and overdrive and using different ones for each song and changing guitars every song to get the original tone. I'm a busy guy onstage changing guitars and tap dancing and playing. But I wouldn't have it any other way. I play big stages pretty much exclusively and I don't do the bar/club thing and pretty much only do festivals, parties, events, etc where I have a big stage to play on and have no problem bringing 5 guitars and 1-2 amps and my board. I find that I prefer that environment the most. Most of my shows are outdoors and I only gig in the spring/summer.

I think everyone has different needs and one cannot dictate for all what size board they need or how many is too many. I spend a lot of time explaining my board to people who say I have too many when it's really not their place to say so and they aren't in my shoes... "But so and so doesn't need them and he only uses 5 pedals and he's a great player". But he ain't me. And playing has nothing to do with it.... It's about what you need to do what you do. Every gig is different and as I've said many a time - gear isn't one size fits all.

BTW - my rant is not directed at you - but rather a general rant... Some people like to tell me I have too many and compare me to others that have less.... They can KMA!

 

[firesgt911]

At one point I had 24 pedals on board a and 7 on board b. Both running together. And that wasn't including the bookshelf full. I'm down to 13 total now. I feel naked with this few.

 

[Rich]

I use 15 myself.. It's a good amount. I find I need that many to do my gig and to pull off all of the recorded tones necessary.

Mainly different flavors of distortion and overdrive and using different ones for each song and changing guitars every song to get the original tone.

That sounds like a lot to haul around and why I bought a Strat style guitar with a humbucker that I can coil split in the bridge. I could bring a Les Paul, a Strat and whatever else but one main guitar and a backup does it for me. We play mostly originals and the covers that we do play we mutate into our own style anyway so all I need is my main rhythm sound plus a couple of variations (mostly different pickup combinations) and a volume boost for leads. That covers it all for me aside from a few "special" effects like a flanger and a couple of others. If you're into it and/or playing in a cover band and don't mind carrying all that gear, that's cool; if I were more motivated or had roadies, I'd bring more stuff too but, to quote Krusty the Clown, "I'm a lazy, lazy man."

 

[snaredrum]

my most recent board shot. 12 including the gigrig. not pictured is the tremolo that is yet to be made for me.

too many? well... i can't lift the board on my own, but then i'm disabled. three would be too many

 

[GrouchyDog]

A Hiwatt and a flying V with 3 P90's? There's more tone there than most pedalboards could ever hope to have...

 

[snaredrum]

A Hiwatt and a flying V with 3 P90's? There's more tone there than most pedalboards could ever hope to have...

 

[Rich]

my most recent board shot. 12 including the gigrig. not pictured is the tremolo that is yet to be made for me.

too many? well... i can't lift the board on my own, but then i'm disabled. three would be too many

Holy shit! SWEET Reverend Ron Asheton V!!! I want one BAD!

How do you like it? Tell me about it!

 

[ReWind James]

It's been a while since I took a pedalboard photo, but it looks a little like this:

Replace the Musket Fuzz with a Muff Diver Finale (set to Tone Bender / Cornish mode) and that's pretty much it now.

 

[BoogieMan_SC]

HELL no...you're just getting started. I haven't counted, but I have to be approaching 16 or 17...it's the special sauce!

 

[2009LPGT]

No such thing as too many pedals. The problem is a lack of pedal board space, lack of quality patch cables, not enough 9v power supplies, lack of disposable income and not having enough creativity to say something interesting with it all!!!

...but, no such thing as too many pedals!!

 

[River]

seriously.... no such thing.

i need more.

Yes, Bling, you need more.

 

[st.bede]

I guess eventually a person could have too many pedals. Since I can not find a criteria to use that would allow for the statement "too many pedals" to be true, I can not make such an assertion.