Setting up my pedal board

[billstein]

Hi all,

I know a lot of you play in worship groups at church. Last Sunday was my first time in over 20 years. For Christmas I got a new pedal board (Pedaltrain 2). I want to be very intentional in setting up.

So my question. What do you feel is the essential pedals for playing in a worship group? What are those pedals you couldn't do without?

Just a side note. That was the first time I played at any kind of volume. My guitar, amp (Fender Blues jr.) and pedals sounded so good. I was stoked!

Thanks all,
Bill

[playpunk]

Delay.... Delay.... Delay....


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[selfdestroyer]

A nice big reverb? Ambient territory.

Cody

[GrindCustoms]

HM2!

[selfdestroyer]

HM2!

HAHA thats for the song about Revelations.

Cody

[gordo]

Yeah delay.  Reverb is big and most of the guys I've seen are big on doing cool pads and soundscapes using a POG or similar.  I keep it pretty straight forward:
Tuner > Afterlife compressor > Chi-boy Triple Wreck > Guitar PCB DSOTM > Line6 MM4 > Black Horse "The Beast" > TC Nova Delay > Murdog47 EM Drive.

I keep a guest spot open for the pedal-du-jour, which has been the Flintlock Flanger the past couple weekends.  Obviously I run a bit drive heavy but it gives me a huge pallet of tones to work with anything from squeeky clean to soaring leads.  Plus this band will pull out some weird stuff like a Green Day or Edgar Winter tune just to keep everyone on their toes.  The EM (or any good boost...it gets swapped with a Bacon Bits or Chi-boy Sparkle Boost) at the end gives me a chance to either make leads pop a bit, or push the front end of the amp (either a Night Train or Lab Series L5).  Booster sounds really great with the Afterlife and you can get a huge range of sounds with just the guitar's volume and tone knobs.

The current worship music scene has moved on from U2 echo stuff to more exotic "pad" sounds, but there's still a lot of really good guitar stuff in there.  Realistically I could get by with a boost and a delay and a good amp, but where's the fun there?  Plus everybody I play with is using my pedals as well so you could factor in pretty much everything Bean has churned out as being used and usable.

Get a good power supply, and go nuts...there's NO right or wrong.

[Jabulani Jonny]

Hey Bill,
I too play lead at church a couple times a month, as well as running sound and video.  My pedal board is as follows:

Budda Wah-> BluesBreaker Clone (Aion Cerulean)-> Klone (Aion Refractor) -> TS808 clone/ Boost (BYOC OD2) -> Screwdriver clone -> EB Volume Jr -> Pulsar Tremolo-> Multiplex Jr delay -> Tenebrion Reverb -> Ibanez CS-9 -> TC Electronic Nova Delay

I run the Bluesbreaker at a very mild, edge of breakup tone, just a little raspy.  The Klone is slightly more and these two pedals REALLY stack well together.  I have the OD2 setup using the Mosfet drive for a different flavor, but only use it every now and then.  The Screwdriver is used rarely, only when a heavier tune calls for it.  It think in a P&W setting the electrics can really add texture when they're less overdriven and a little more jangly.  Now granted, you'll need drive on the choruses and on the more up tempo songs, but I just can't quite get fuzz to fit well.  I also run into that when I'm mixing other guitarists, so something to keep in mind.   

Follow that up with a nice dose of low chorus and a couple delays.  I have the Multiplex Jr always on, but at a lower volume and feedback.  Really just there to provide a bit of ambience.  I pretty much always run my Tenebrion Reverb because I just love the sound of it.  The TC Nova Delay does the heavy lifting for delays.  It's got tap tempo and can store 9 presets.  The presets are why I got it.  Not only that, but you can find great deals on ebay.  I got mine in mint condition for $120.  At that price, with presets and tap tempo, you can't beat it.  Fantastic unit. 

All that to say, I think the point of the electric is to add texture in a P&W setting and not to be a distraction.  I have to remind myself may times of that when I am tempted to get too "busy".  Using delay and reverb can take the emphasis off of the primary string attack, while still allowing you to add texture and fill in space.  I think that's why delay gets used so heavily in P&W settings.  Oh and use that VP Jr for angelic swells.  Gotta have that. 

[billstein]

HM2!

Yes, of course! That's the missing piece in my worship arsenal.

[alanp]

Agreed on the Tenebrion, Johnny, it really does sound good

My current board is Afterlife -> Cosmopolitan -> Sea Urchin (sea flea) -> Doppelganger -> Pennyroyal -> Flintlock -> Tenebrion. So, compressor-distortion/fuzz/drive-delay-amazingphase-chorus-flange-reverb.

Thinking of replacing the Pennyroyal and the Flintlock with the Clone Theory.

[playpunk]

Sorry, the phone doesn't allow for much. There is a huge thread on TGP on P&W Boards, and a crazy hyperactive facebook group - Gear Talk p & w. A typical high end setup would be guitar > tuner > Comp > 3 or 4 low to mid gain drives > volume pedal > Timeline > Bigsky > amp(s).

I am running: Polytune>Dual Fuzz > Od820 clone > Duplex > Kingslayer> Multiplex JR > Rub a Dub. Strat & Ac4 micced with sennheiser e609.

You will see some crazy rigs guys run in church, tons of matchless, morgan, bad cat, jackson amps, sometimes in stereo, huge boards with midi integration.... Jeffrey Kunde, Nigel Hendroff, and James Duke are the three guitarists that pretty much drive everything.

Nigel Hendroff rig rundown:

http://youtu.be/D0Drl0K4Auc


Jeffrey Kunde Rig Rundown:

http://youtu.be/Fl-GSvsQtNA

James Duke - this is a little older.

http://youtu.be/V_Ea7MZed5E

These guys have blogs and instagrams and such too with detailed descriptions of their gear. I hope this helps.

[Jopn]

I was a worship leader for many years, but I can't answer this question without knowing what other instruments you're playing with and what "part" you're going to be playing.  If it's just you, or you and a bassist, my recommendations are going to be WAY different than if you're guitarist #3 in a 12 piece worship team.

Are you only playing electric, or a combination of acoustic and electric?

[Justus]

I play primarily for my church's worship team as well.  I don't have a whole lot.  Right now I've got a Morley Tremonti Wah, Korg Pitchblack tuner, Ibanez TS-9 (soon to be replaced with my Greenbean build), and my amp, which is a Mesa F-50.  I'm the only electric guitar, and we have piano, bass and drums.  I could really use a delay pedal, lol!

I started researching various gear last summer when I began playing again and stumbled upon the DIY pedal forums.  It's interesting, so instead of buying pedals I could use right away I've been learning and building (albeit at a very slow pace).  My plan is to eventually have this as my signal chain:

Line6 G50 > Morley Tremonti Wah > Korg PB Tuner > Decimator G-string (guitar in/out) > Greenbean > Snarkdoodle > Sunking II > Engineer's Thumb > "Klon" Buffer > AMP IN > FX Loop Out > "Klon" Buffer > Morley Volume Plus > Decimator G-string (Decimate Noise)> Sea Urchin w/ Tap Tempo > Chorus > Warhead Univibe > Nom Nom Phase 90 > 6-shot EQ > "Klon" Buffer > FX Return.

[billstein]

 Wow guys. Thank you so much for all this help.
I have a couple more questions.
1. I see that most of you are using a volume pedal. I have an Ernie Ball Jr. MVP. Any tips on mounting that to the pedal board.
2. I notice that some of you are putting your volume pedal behind the dirt boxes. I always assumed it went at the front of the chain. Is there a reason why you're placing it where it is?

[BaklavaMetal]

Well, if you put a volume pedal before dirt, it acts as a guitar volume pot, it doesn't lower the volume but cleans up the sound. If you put it after dirt then you are controlling volume of a distorted sound. 

[gtr2]

My normal essentials list would be.... (besides a tuner)

Light OD, Heavier OD, Volume pedal, Tremolo, Delay, Reverb

Just take off the rubber feet on the EB VP Jr. and attach velcro on the bottom.

Josh