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OK this isn't about a pedal but check out my first blog.  Upgraded a cheap Tele copy.  Thanks to some advice by some folks here about replacing the neck.   It turned out great.  Plays great.  Sounds great.  Looks like an expensive custom shop guitar.  I love it.

http://rjkmusic.blogspot.com/

I just bought an second amp.  I have a Fender Hot Rod Deluxe and just got MArshall MG50dfx.  Although the Marshall is solid state it sounds great.  It has a very crisp warm clean tone and channel two is crunchy crunchy crunchy.  So I have stereo etc, tc nova mod, tc flashback and a timefactor so I can run stereo.  I was looking for advice, tricks and tips on how to wire this.  I've read about using an an switch and not running stereo,  it can't figure out how to use the same effects in different effects loops.  I've also read that one can run into the front end of one amp then out the loop send and into the pedal board then left out  into the loop return of the first amp and the right out into the loop return of the second amp.   Anyone out there run two amps.  How are you doing it?

Is the low rider tssentially a POG?  How is the tracking on it and is it best for single notes or will it track chords well?

OK so I am revamping my pedalboard.  I started off with a ToneLab LE into a Line6 210, then got rid of the Line 6 amp replacing it with a Fender HR Deluxe, then began making and adding pedals.  I am to the point where I am going all pedals and removing the ToneLab LE from the mix.  My current setup is as follows:

Guitar -> MXR Dynacomp -> TS9 -> Boss SD-1 -> Madbean Glitteratti -> Boss BF-2 -> MXR Phase 90 -> Behringer noise suppressor -> Tonelab LE -> Amp -> Effects Loop out -> Madbean Fat Pants -> Eventide Timefactor -> TC Electronics HOF -> Effect loop in.

I need to additional pedals for modulation (chorus, tremolo, univibe type sounds, rotary speaker), a Wah, volume pedal,  additional delay, and a good distortion.  I have recently purchased a Vox 847, Morley little alligator, a Jekyll and Hyde, and a Flashback delay. 

I am looking at either a MM4 or TC Electronics Nova Mod for modulations.  Also am looking at a good 80's type (think George Lynch, Ratt) type of distortion.   I have been looking at the Wampler Plexi Drive or the Plextortion.

So.... here are my questions.  I could do DIY pedals in place of the MM4/Nova Mod.   
1. What are GREAT sounding chorus, rotary speaker (heard a Tech 21 WOW!), vibe pedals - madbean or otherwise (preferably the MB). 
2. Which is better for that 80s metal tone - the Plexi Drive or the Plextortion (or even the Pinnacle).  What are the DIY/Madbean equivalents of the Wampler?  The Boneyard?

I'm no expert but since the ac30 has an effects loop can a volume box be used?  I have a fender hot rod deluxe and use one and hit works Greta.  the only issue with using one of these is that it works great as sort of a master volume and I can great pretty good tone from the preamp, but if your wanting to overdrive the power amp section like lots of the pros do, then you must use an attenuation between the out of the amp and speakers as others have said previously.  check out this link to see what I am talking about when I say volume box.  http://www.justinholton.com/hotrod/tooloud.html#volumebox  there is a dude that sells these on eBay  check it out here..http://omnisonicvolumebox.com/

Yes! Holy crap indeed.   That is what I said when I discovered that I neglected to ground the input jack.  Fixed that tonight but there is still a little bit of hum coming through, but not the incredible loud buzz that existed before.   It never did that before so near as I can tell I must have never tested it stand alone and always had a pedal in front of the Glitterratti so it was grounded to the pedal before it common ground to my 1 Spot.  ANd yes they are metal enclosures.  I was going for the MXR jack look so I went with Nutrik jacks on those rather than the alphas type.  Lesson learned.

So other than a Voodoo Labs ISO does anyone know of any less expensive pedal power?

So I have been having some issues with my amp and noise/hum/crackle in the past few months.  Turns out, after several visits to repair that my Fender Hot Rod Deluxe had bad screen filter caps and also needed all the plate load resistors replaced (http://www.justinholton.com/hotrod/plateloads.html).  That fixed my crackling problem and the amp was quiet for a few performances but recently the sound guy says, dude your amp is noisy, it's humming, sounds like the ocean out front.  So, I disconnect all my pedals and connect them one by one in the effects loop narrowing each one down and finding out how noisy each is.  The Dynacomp and Phase 90 are the quietest, but when I plug in the Behringer Echo Machine, it hums like a mother.  The Glittaratti and Fatpants I built also hum like mad.  WOW the Gliteratti actualy hummed extremely LOUD (while the others were humming but 10x less volume).  Here's where I am going with this...

1. I think my build issues are I used plastic enclosed jacks and did not ground the sleeve on input.  If I run wire from sleeve to ground, I think they will be quieter.  Can anyone verify this?
2. I am looking at Power Supplies like a truly isolated pedal board supply like the Voodoo Labs.  Can anyone point me to a less inexpensive, but good pedalboard ps that will eliminate my annoying hum?  Anyone knwo anything about any of these?

http://logsdonaudio.corecommerce.com/Power-Supplies/
http://www.joyoaudio.com/en/product/show_174.html

Thanks!

Just posting because I want to make the cut, er well, I don't want to be cut I should say.  I admit I am mostly a lurker, but I have posted from time to time.  I don't think I'll be cut, but I am hoping that my posting will help my cause.  I AM NOT A LURKER, I AM A HUMAN BEAN!  (Ok bad movie reference/poor humor)

Aw man!  I got ripped.  My last order I didn't get any Jolly Ranchers.   But I do recall thinking that was such a cool idea when I place my first order and it shipped with those sweet pieces of candy heaven.  I must also comment that PPP has great customer service and that special touch.  I had an order that was delayed (more than I would have liked, not any fault of PPPs) due to the fact that I ordered a color that they don'r produce often so they wait a bit until they get a full order so they can coat them all at once.  I was informed and I understood.  I also had a problem once where something messed up on the website and a discount code wasn't working. Connie was very responsive, very nice, and applied a refund for the discount amount with no hassle at all.  Unfortunately that was the order they skipped the ranchers on.  Overall, I agree with yinz here.  PPP rocks!

I'd be curious to know what the pedal godz here have to say about this too.  I have built the Glitterratti, and the GGG ITS8 and both were very noisy for me until I got a better power supply.  I recently picked up a Boss SD-1 (Super Overdrive) because I liked the way it has sounded at GC.  Put it on my pedalboard and it is noisy as all get out, even with the NS-2 on.  I've read about that particular pedal being noisy but holy utility belt batman!  Now if I keep the drive at 5 or below, no problem.  As soon as I turn up the drive to get more grit and sustain, Oh the noise noise noise noise!  So I have learned to kick it on and play and kick it off or I just use it a solo boost.

Does it help to shield?

Here are a few of mine. 

The first is my "Go To"; a 1994 MIM I picked up on CL.  A gold hardware "Deluxe" model with gold hardware.  I am not sure what the bridge pickup is, I think an early Seymour Duncan hotrail, the mid and neck position are Texas Specials.  Sure sounds great.  I love the tone this thing has and the pearloid pickguard with gold hardware. 

The second is an ESP LTD EC-256.  Les Paul tone but without the thickness and weight.  It is relic'd so she looks aged and well played.  All Mahogony body, neck through.  Each of the pickups can be tapped to single coil by pulling out the tone knob.  Gives this a nice variety of tonal character.

Here's my pedal board.  I've got a few empty spaces.  Wanting to add a Compressor, Boost, Distortion (I have three overdrives and a TS808 clone not on the board) and Reverb pedal.

Chain goes like this:
Guitar -> Echoplex Boost (Madbean FatPants) -> Boss AW-3 -> TS-9 -> Boss SD-1 -> Custom Preamp (Madbean Glitterratti) -> Boss BF-2 -> MXR Phase 90 -> Behringer NS200 (noise suppressor) -> VOX Tonelab LE -> Line6 DL-4 -> Behringer EM600 (Echo Machine) -> Fender Hot Rod Deluxe.

Used to have the DL-4 in the effect loop of the amp but the output is line level and the DL-4 expects instrument level so there is a volume increase when the pedal is engaged even with trails enabled.  I am looking to add a reverb and an EbTech Line Level Shifter in the effects loop, placing the EbTech first to shift the level then into the delays followed by the reverb back in to the EbTech back into the effects loop.

Love each of the madbean builds.  They were fun to build and sound great.

Just to be clear, I am very pleased with the guitar.  I can even understand the wait for support due to the lack of phone support.  They did make it right and stood behind the product and I like the guitar.  What I am unhappy with is I feel like I was duped.  If I am told that what you see on the website is what you get, then I should get what I ordered.  Again, the guitar is quality especially for $200, It sounds great, it plays great, but it does not have the mint green/cream combo and the neck is not gloss.  The color, the neck feel satin/gloss/natural can be important to some.

The replacement.  MUCH BETTER!  She's pretty

The first guitar - bad neck