Pedal Line Friday – 5/3 – Steve Thompson

Today’s pedal line is from Steve Thompson. If you have a pedal line (doesn’t have to be in a board) for your rig, please email me a photo, bio, description of pedals and routing to pedalline@nulleffectsbay.com. Every Friday I’ll showcase a pedal line submission. Make sure you include any links to your band or music page.

I didn’t know if I should submit my pedalboard as it had been featured on the site in late 2009. The thing is, though, it’s literally a new board now and I’ve cycled out a ton of pedals. Here’s a link to the 2009 feature for comparison:
http://www.effectsbay.com/2009/11/pedal-line-friday-1127-steve-thompson/

Steve, thanks for resubmitting. Also, for the readers out there, I know that boards change, so please DO resubmit if you’re board has changed since your Pedal Line Friday submission!

Here’s a rundown of what’s on the board in 2013 and how I’m using each box:

– Boss TU-2 Chromatic Tuner – This tuner still seems to do the trick. I’ve tossed around the idea of replacing it with a Korg Pitchblack due to the true bypass and readability of that pedal. In reality though, the bypass isn’t too bad on the TU-2.

– Dunlop Crybaby 535Q Chrome Wah – Stock, un-modded 90’s era Crybaby with Q control and optional boost.

– MXR Custom Comp – For a while, I was using an MXR Dyna Comp. The Custom Comp is far more transparent and responds well with any pickup (the Dyna Comp seemed to destroy my guitar’s “sparkle” when using the neck pickup).

– MXR Micro Amp – This is a great clean boost. I use it more for driving my dirt boxes than as an overall signal boost. I feel like, when engaged, this pedal adds a nice little high end shimmer to your signal as well, but not in a way that colors your guitar tone.

– MXR Distortion III – I use this more as an overdrive than distortion keeping the distortion knob almost all the way down. I play through a Fender Twin Reverb ’65 reissue which gets you amazing clean tones, but no real dirt unless you’re willing to crank it really, really loud. I use the Distortion III mostly as a foundation pedal for songs where I want to add just a little dirt.

– Catalinbread Manx Loaghtan Fuzz – This one replaced my EHX NYC Big Muff a few months ago. It can definitely nail the heavy Big Muff sounds, but where it really shines is its versatility. You can get a ton of different sounds out of it and it cleans up really well with the guitar’s volume knob.

– Electro Harmonix POG2 – This will track chords perfectly (or about as close as any other pedal out there). You can get everything from a 12 string guitar sound to an organ to a weird synthesizer type thing. This is one of those pedals that is really only limited by the imagination of the player.

– Electro Harmonix Stereo Pulsar Tremolo – This literally was just added to my board a couple of days ago. It seems to be one of the more versatile tremolo pedals at its price point on the market. You can adjust the waveform shape and actually push the depth parameter to the point of phasing your signal and making some strange ring modulator type sounds.

– Electro Harmonix Holy Grail Reverb – The old “big box” model of the Holy Grail Reverb. I’ve had this thing for years and I’ve never seen a reason to part ways with it. I LOVE that the reverb knob acts more like a blend control than just the amount of reverb added to you existing signal. Once you set the dial past noon, you begin to replace your dry signal with the reverb signal. With the dial maxed out, you get JUST the reverb signal which is great for atmospheric swells and other fun applications.

– MXR Carbon Copy – This is a true analog delay with optional modulation. With the regen knob past noon, things can start to get really crazy. If you max out the regen knob you can basically get a ton of white noise and control the pitch of that noise with the delay knob. This is another one of those pedals that really is limited by the guitarist’s imagination (and how many hands he or she has).

From here, my signal goes into the vibrato channel of my Fender Twin. It may seem like I have a paid endorsement from MXR or Electro Harmonix, but that’s not the case! I just think they make some reliable, creative, and fun pedals!

I released an album last August called God’s Justice. I use most of the effects in this article on that album in some capacity. You can check out previews on Amazon or stream the entire album from Spotify.

Thanks guys!

– Steve
http://www.stevethompson.net/