What pedals do I need?

[DragonGuitar]

I'm in the process of building my first real pedalboard. I want it to be relatively small, and portable, so that it's convenient to take with me, be it to band practice, a gig, or if need be on a plane. Nothing too complicated, I don't want to get lost in tons of effects and switches. So it needs to be practical, and have all the essential effects, but nothing unnecessary.

So, what is necessary, and what isn't? The pedals I'm definitely getting are: delay, wah (what do you think of mini wah? Does it equal a full sized wah?), chorus, and a tuner. The chorus I am going to get (TC Dreamscape) also includes flanger and vibrato effects, so I don't need to get separate pedals for those, and I will have access to them if I need. I also have a footswitch for my amp that has a built in solo boost, and I will need a pedal power.

There are other effects I am considering as well, but I don't want to have a huge board to lug around. Everyone says to get an overdrive, but do I really need one, considering I have a solo boost built into my footswitch? Will OD help tighten up the sound, give more clarity? I am also considering a phaser, but is it really necessary, especially if I already have a flanger? Also thinking about compression, 10 band EQ, and a noise gate (could I find a a pedal that has EQ or a compressor and a noise gate built in?). Which of these do I need, for a compact board that has a sort of classic instrumental rock or prog metal tone? And, would you recommend anything else as well / instead? Also, what actual board should I get to put everything on (one with a bag / case would be nice).

 

[budda]

The Sansamp Flyrig?

 

[TheWarAgainstTime]

In addition to the things you said you were already set on, I'd get an overdrive, gate, and reverb. An OD will tighten the amp and add attack, the gate will do the silence thing, and a reverb will add a nice, different dimension for leads and cleans.

I'd check out the Maxon OD808, ISP Decimator, and TC Electronic Hall of Fame. All of them can be found used for $100 each and are super solid, great-sounding pedals. The HoF is especially flexible with the toneprint options.

For power, an isolated power supply will be best since each pedal will be getting its own power rather than daisy chaining them. The T Rex Chameleon, Voodoo Lab PP2+ or MXR Iso Brick will do nicely I've got two PP2+ units and they're built like tanks and super quiet.

 

[DragonGuitar]

The Sansamp Flyrig?

This looks interesting, but I think I would rather build a "real" pedalboard instead of multifx, at least right now.

 

[DragonGuitar]

In addition to the things you said you were already set on, I'd get an overdrive, gate, and reverb. An OD will tighten the amp and add attack, the gate will do the silence thing, and a reverb will add a nice, different dimension for leads and cleans.

I'd check out the Maxon OD808, ISP Decimator, and TC Electronic Hall of Fame. All of them can be found used for $100 each and are super solid, great-sounding pedals. The HoF is especially flexible with the toneprint options.

For power, an isolated power supply will be best since each pedal will be getting its own power rather than daisy chaining them. The T Rex Chameleon, Voodoo Lab PP2+ or MXR Iso Brick will do nicely I've got two PP2+ units and they're built like tanks and super quiet.

Thanks for the recommendations on the overdrive, gate and power supply. The reason I may not get a reverb (for now) is because my amp has spring reverb built in, and its also just not my favorite effect, or a huge priority for me (I like delay better).

 

[TheWarAgainstTime]

I feel that I never really cared to get a reverb pedal when I had my Mark V because the built-in reverb on it was pretty good. It wasn't until I got my G Major, which I intended to mostly use for delay, gate, and EQ, that I really got into using reverb since I had so many options in the same unit. Now I'm a total reverb freak and have been saving up to justify a Strymon Big Sky

 

[youngthrasher9]

If you're on a budget, Joyo makes a quite respectable pedal power supply brick. As far durability, you could easily bludgeon someone with it and then use it afterwards.

I also own the dreamscape, it's a great pedal.

T.W.A.T. gave very agreeable recs. for more effects.

 

[MajorTom]

The simple answer is all of them, you want every pedal ever made on your board, it will make you look that much cooler, not to mention there is a direct relationship between the number of hot women you will hook up with and the number of pedals on your board, the more pedals, the more hot women.

Why do you think I use two pedaltrains 60L's?

 

[DragonGuitar]

So, would I need a compressor for a sort of instrumental shred type tone (ala Satriani for example)? Would having one make legato / tapping smoother, or pinch harmonics easier? Or would there be enough natural compression already from the gain on the amp, maybe using an attenuator, and a drive pedal?

 

[DragonGuitar]

Also, keep in mind this will function first and foremost as a gigging board. For studio I can always throw a few more pedals in the chain and / or eventually throw together a bigger, more comprehensive pedalboard for studio.

As for the actual board, I am most likely going to get a Pedaltrain Classic 2 24.

 

[budda]

Ok, flyrig is out! Haha. For any of these gigs (as you'll be flying) do you get a backline amp? In which case you'll need to know if you get an amp with a footswitch and/or solo boost at all.

This would be my fly-in board:

PT JR, T-rex fuel tank Jr for power.

Polytune mini, Boss DD-3, TC Hall of Fame mini, MXR Micro Amp. I don't know if you regularly use chorus/flanger or not, but since I do not I wouldn't need anything that does it.

 

[Petar Bogdanov]

So, would I need a compressor for a sort of instrumental shred type tone (ala Satriani for example)? Would having one make legato / tapping smoother, or pinch harmonics easier? Or would there be enough natural compression already from the gain on the amp, maybe using an attenuator, and a drive pedal?

Using compressors before distortion gives you a low-gain tone, but easier to play. The classic shred tone is just straight high-gain. The best thing for making unpicked playing easy is a good setup by a luthier or an educated individual.

 

[MatthewK]

I have the mini cry baby. Sounds fine to me, but I'm not a wah connoisseur by any means. I've kicked it off my board though as I don't find wah terribly useful.

I have the pedaltrain mini and I actually wish I would've gotten an even smaller model. I currently use a tuner, tube screamer, phaser, chorus, and analog delay. I could and probably should scrap the phaser as I feel the chorus is more versatile and useful. Tube screamer is a no brainer. I went back and forth on it, but yeah, there is a reason for its ubiquity. Delay is my most used effect by far. Fun and inspiring to play with and endlessly useful without ever seeming like a gimmick.

The most disappointing effect for me was reverb. And in retrospect, the whole concept of reverb going through a guitar amp seems kind of backwards.

For power I use a 1spot. Very happy with it.