Advice on my next Pedal

[Scoggs]

So, I am currently really enjoying my setup, and I think I made the right choice with the Baja Telecaster as my first serious Electric Guitar buy. I've played mainly acoustic for 11+ years and was having the hardest time matching my ear to an Electric that I could get as warm and open as I was use to hearing.

I researched, played extensively, saved up, and in a short amount of time bought the following:


Guitar/Amp:
Baja MIM Telecaster w/ Custom Shop Pickups (in-series 4th position, with and S-1 button for phase)
Fender Blues Junior Tweed

Pedals:
Keeley Katanna Clean Boost
Aqua Puss Delay
Blues Driver Overdrive
Ditto mini Looping pedal



First off, I absolutely love the Keeley Katana. It's pretty much always on and gives a great glassy tone. Paired with the Aqua Puss you get a semi strat sound (stole this setup from John Mayer). The Blues Driver I use mainly as a Lead boost. With the master volume on my Blues Junior wide open I can get it to bite back an boost it with the keeley, which results in a great blues tone.

Now I'm looking to add to my setup and I'm looking for suggestions. Pedals I've looked at include: Q-Tron, Keeley Compressor, Big Muff, MXR Phase 90, several wah's/volume pedals, etc. I haven't had any play time with these, but I've watched numerous demos and I'm always left with more questions. Something I want to eventually invest in is another looping pedal with drum track functionality, but I'm not sure where to look. Compressor pedals leave me kind of confused with their purpose, so maybe more information there. Basically, I have a sound that I like and want to know which avenues to explore to grow that sound.

Thanks in advance,

- Chris

[moon]

Tremolo pedal?

[fazool]

MXR Phase 90
MXR Dyna Comp compressor

[blue]

A chorus is one of the obvious places to look. A vibe as well.

If you get the BBE Mind bender, you get "vintage style" of both. Meaning you only have two knobs, speed and depth. But both of those go far beyond the vintage pedals I've used in terms of range. They don't go to 11. They go to 12 at least.

You can find them new for around $70 on Ebay with free shipping from reputable sellers.

Here's just a run of the mill demo. It's hard to find demos on these where they don't push the envelope and turn them into a gimmicky one trick pony of a pedal. Subtle usage is key to my taste

[mr. beaumont]

You mention Mayer, but overall, what kind of music are you playing?

[ataylor]

I don't know much about pedals, I only own one (Memory Toy delay) but I am really liking what I've seen and heard of the new MXR reverb pedal. Here's a really cool demo video the company did:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LAeWwMC2EaI

[Paleolith54]

Originally Posted by Scoggs

So, I am currently really enjoying my setup, and I think I made the right choice with the Baja Telecaster as my first serious Electric Guitar buy. I've played mainly acoustic for 11+ years and was having the hardest time matching my ear to an Electric that I could get as warm and open as I was use to hearing.

I researched, played extensively, saved up, and in a short amount of time bought the following:


Guitar/Amp:
Baja MIM Telecaster w/ Custom Shop Pickups (in-series 4th position, with and S-1 button for phase)
Fender Blues Junior Tweed

Pedals:
Keeley Katanna Clean Boost
Aqua Puss Delay
Blues Driver Overdrive
Ditto mini Looping pedal



First off, I absolutely love the Keeley Katana. It's pretty much always on and gives a great glassy tone. Paired with the Aqua Puss you get a semi strat sound (stole this setup from John Mayer). The Blues Driver I use mainly as a Lead boost. With the master volume on my Blues Junior wide open I can get it to bite back an boost it with the keeley, which results in a great blues tone.

Now I'm looking to add to my setup and I'm looking for suggestions. Pedals I've looked at include: Q-Tron, Keeley Compressor, Big Muff, MXR Phase 90, several wah's/volume pedals, etc. I haven't had any play time with these, but I've watched numerous demos and I'm always left with more questions. Something I want to eventually invest in is another looping pedal with drum track functionality, but I'm not sure where to look. Compressor pedals leave me kind of confused with their purpose, so maybe more information there. Basically, I have a sound that I like and want to know which avenues to explore to grow that sound.

Thanks in advance,

- Chris

If there is one fairly "standard" pedal that you don't have, it's probably a wah.

Advice? Don't buy any more pedals for a while. Quite a while. To play the stuff you reference, you have everything you need. The Katana is a fabulous clean boost, and the BD-2 is vastly under-rated. I'd just play them until you're being held back from doing something you want to do because you don't have that option on your board.

This from a guy who has a half-dozen pedals on his board and has bought scores over the years. If I had it to do over, though, I would absolutely not go in search of the "next pedal".

[blue]

Originally Posted by ataylor

I don't know much about pedals, I only own one (Memory Toy delay) but I am really liking what I've seen and heard of the new MXR reverb pedal. Here's a really cool demo video the company did:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LAeWwMC2EaI

I'm glad you put up this demo. I've been thinking of replacing my old Holy Grail reverb. Love the performance. Hate the fact that it only works with a wall-wart. Hard to justify replacing a working pedal, but I may do just that.

[JeffreyAK]

I've had a bunch of pedals over the years, but the one like the most and use the most nowadays is my Boss CE-5 chorus. My recently acquired Boss DD-500 delay is very cool, but I have not figured out how to really make music through it yet, other than use it as a looper. I have a wah, but I rarely use it, and my amp has good reverb and plenty of distortion if I want it, so I don't need pedals for those.

[BTF]

I've got pedals to spare, but I must admit I'm jonesing for this blighter!:



I haven't wanted something so bad since I heard the old Maxon OD-880. Just imagine the chaos using this thing in front of an audience of drunken yahoos would cause!

[wrathfuldeity]

Originally Posted by Scoggs

So, ...Basically, I have a sound that I like and want to know which avenues to explore to grow that sound.
- Chris

Without a reference to that sound, its hard to give a suggestion. However, ime/imo one of the most useful and versatile pedals...tone wise... is a good eq. Graphic for general tone shaping, parametric for the icing and pultec eq for the final presentation. And eq can be pre, post or in the loop

Concur with a previous poster about not buying anymore pedals for awhile and exploring the capacity of the pedals you already have and the interaction between the git, amp and pedals. As others have noted...currently have 10-12 pedals on the board and another 8 or so in the drawer. Though often the best tone...is no pedals. Imo the essential classic pedals are reverb, tremolo and delay...and an eq. Second tier would be od, distortion, compressor, chorus, wah. Lastly things like a mu, t-box and other stuff.

[Scoggs]

Originally Posted by mr. beaumont

You mention Mayer, but overall, what kind of music are you playing?

Grew up listening to Beatles, Zeppelin, The Who, etc. Acoustic roots lean me more toward finger picking styles with a planted hand (Knopfler). Definitely stole a bunch of acoustic styles from Mayer, most obvious would be Stop This Train/Heart of Life. Jim Croce is also pretty awesome. I guess acoustically I lean more into the Chet Atkins/Tommy Emmanuel/Knopfler/Croce/Albert Lee side of things, and I'd love to translate that to electric.

Picks and thumb picks are not foreign at all and I adapt them well. Now if I can just learn to tuck a pick and play finger and thumb... the struggle is real. If you've ever heard Greg Koch play for Wildwood guitars, then you've heard where about's I'd like to be in 10 years. If I could take his style, chicken picking and all, transpose it to Rock/blues, and warm up his tele tone to cut some of the twang.... I'd be in heaven.

[Scoggs]

Originally Posted by Paleolith54

If there is one fairly "standard" pedal that you don't have, it's probably a wah.

Advice? Don't buy any more pedals for a while. Quite a while. To play the stuff you reference, you have everything you need. The Katana is a fabulous clean boost, and the BD-2 is vastly under-rated. I'd just play them until you're being held back from doing something you want to do because you don't have that option on your board.

This from a guy who has a half-dozen pedals on his board and has bought scores over the years. If I had it to do over, though, I would absolutely not go in search of the "next pedal".

I think your right on here... In other threads I've been recommended Compressors and Fuzz mostly... The only thing that has really stuck out that I feel I could benefit from as far as song composition is the DigiTech Trio. Very intriguing pedal.

[mr. beaumont]

Originally Posted by Scoggs

Grew up listening to Beatles, Zeppelin, The Who, etc. Acoustic roots lean me more toward finger picking styles with a planted hand (Knopfler). Definitely stole a bunch of acoustic styles from Mayer, most obvious would be Stop This Train/Heart of Life. Jim Croce is also pretty awesome. I guess acoustically I lean more into the Chet Atkins/Tommy Emmanuel/Knopfler/Croce/Albert Lee side of things, and I'd love to translate that to electric.

Picks and thumb picks are not foreign at all and I adapt them well. Now if I can just learn to tuck a pick and play finger and thumb... the struggle is real. If you've ever heard Greg Koch play for Wildwood guitars, then you've heard where about's I'd like to be in 10 years. If I could take his style, chicken picking and all, transpose it to Rock/blues, and warm up his tele tone to cut some of the twang.... I'd be in heaven.

Compressor sounds like someting you might dig, for the chickin' pickin.'

I also think every rock player should have a wah, because they're so dang fun, but that's just me.

[Scoggs]

Originally Posted by mr. beaumont

Compressor sounds like someting you might dig, for the chickin' pickin.'

I also think every rock player should have a wah, because they're so dang fun, but that's just me.

Forgive my lack of knowledge, but some wah's also serve as volume control correct? Any suggestions of good Wah's to look at. Thanks!