The “C” pedalboard is a board with a very simple designed layout. I use this board mostly for around the town/out of town country shows or fly dates, hence the name, “The Gunslinger.” In fact, if I need to fly, its small enough to take on the plane as a carry on and fits into a cool satchel type carrying case. Even though it is small, the board still packs a massive punch. Here’s the signal flow rundown.
Compressor>Distortion>Overdrive>Tuner>Modulation>Delay>amp
1) Keeley 2-Knob Compressor:
The Keeley Compressor is an amazing comp. It really nails the country tones. It has just the right amount of squish with tons of headroom.
I usually have the compressor on all of the time. I love the sound of it, but it also acts a bit like a line driver too depending on where the L is set.
2) The Waldorf – Peachfuzz MXR Distortion+ Mod
This is one of the best pedals I own. This pedal is a highly modified MXR Distortion+ pedal that’s also been repainted and relabeled. A great friend of mine, John “Waldorf” Bullock, modified it with one instruction: the pedal needs to nail the Top Gun Theme guitar tone. Amazingly, he was able to nail that tone, and a lot more. The pedal also can hit the Mesa Boogie cooped mids and is very responsive when the guitar volume knob is rolled back. This also stacks nicely with the Analogman King of Tone.
*I should also note that I’m running this at 18volts.
3) Analogman King of Tone
Yes, the “Unobtanium” King of Tone pedal by Analogman rounds out the drive section of the pedal board. The Red side handles the blues type tones and, rolled off a bit, handles the jangle type drive. What make the King of Tone, well king, is that unlike other overdrive pedals, this one flat out nails hard to get classic country and blues AMP tones that are very hard to replicate. Classic Eric Clapton, Merle Haggard, and Allman Brothers Fillmore East come to mind when I play this one.
The Yellow side is always on. I have it set to emulate the “amp slightly breaking up” tone. The only time its off is if I need a big, fat clean tone.
*I should also note that I’m running this pedal at 12volts.
4) Boss TU-2
You can’t go wrong with a Boss TU-2 Tuner. They are industry standard and are on more pedal boards that you can shake a stick at. They are accurate, sunlight and club-light friendly and the output/bypass option lets you do some pretty need tricks if you need to.
4) The Jam Pedals “Beautiful Crash” Multipedal
Jam Pedals are THE best kept secret of the pedal market. Out of Greece, this is one of the first custom jobs made outside of the Europe market.
From Right to Left:
A) Master Bypass
B) Waterfall Analog Chorus: closest in comparison is the analogman chorus pedal. Truly inspiring
C) RetroVibe: A spot on UniVible Clone
D) Delay Llama: This killer Analog Delay is always on as a slapback.
5) TC Electronic Flashback Delay
When I was searching for a main delay pedal for this board, I needed to stick to a few parameters. It must have:
dotted Third Delay option
Tap Tempo
MXR Size Box
digital in nature
Killer long delay for solos.
This really is one of the most effective delay solutions on the market. Not only does it get that classic 2290 sound, but really amazing long delay. It also has, built in, a theoretical “tap tempo” where you hold the button down and whilst strumming the tempo on your guitar strings, the pedal picks it up! Very useful. Only downside is that holding down the button cuts your signal completely. So if you need to do a Tap Tempo mid song, this may prove challenging.
6) Pedal Power ISO-5
Underneath the Jam Multipedal sits a Voodoo Labs ISO-5 power supply. This is dead quiet and a great solution for the small pedal boards.
***If you’re ichin’ to hear the pedal board in action, I’m leading worship at NPBC this Sunday! See you there!
