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| Although it might look a bit complicated, my setup is really quite simple. At the front-end of the chain is the Boss TU-2 pedal tuner (#7), although I sometimes run my Wah pedal (#6) in front of it when I need it. Normally, I disconnect the Wah because it really screws up the tone. There is a true-bypass mod you can do to solve the tone issues, but I've been too lazy to do it.
From there, my pedal board is separated into two distinct "channels" (clean and distorted) by the Boss LS-2 (#5), which serves as a glorified A/B switch. The "green clean" A-channel (green light on the LS-2) is routed through the Route 66 (#4, which I use primarily for its compressor, although I occasionally kick in the overdrive function), the Digitech XMC Chorus (#9) and my old Boss DD-3 delay (#8). The Route 66 is by far the best, most natural sounding guitar compressor I've ever used. The "red hot" B-channel (red light on the LS-2) is routed through a Tai Jekyll & Hyde (#2), the Full-Drive (#1), the Boss Tremolo (#3) and the Line 6 delay modeler (#10). I don't use much gain, but for really fat, moderately distorted tones, I usually run the "red" distortion side of the Jekyll & Hyde into the "green" overdrive side of the Fulltone, which adds a lot of even-ordered harmonic content into the mix. The result is a very rich, full sound with lots of sustain while not being overly distorted. For basic overdrive, I generally just use the Full-Drive (although I sometimes use the overdrive channel of the Jekyll & Hyde instead). I included the customized ProCo distortion pedal (#11, modified by local amp guru Brad Frederici) in the photo because, while it's no longer part of my permanent board, I still like it and use it semi-regularly. I also occasionally break out my Line 6 MM-4 modulation pedal (pictured below with other goodies -- most seldom used -- from my pedal collection) if I need phaser, flanger or more exotic effects like Univibe or rotary speaker sounds. | ||||
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