Pedal Line Friday – 10/25 – Michael Wolf

Today’s pedal line is from Michael Wolf. 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.

Hello! I’m “Misisipi Mike Wolf”, a singer/songwriter and outlaw/honky tonk band leader originally from Mississippi but currently based in Northern California. I average around 170 live shows a year, about half of those being showcase gigs with mostly original material and the other half being multi-set bar band gigs (lots of ’60’s Bakersfield and 70’s Outlaw stuff).  I need my board to have the typical color palate for that genre and also I need it to be compact enough to fit on postage stamp size stages as well as light enough to carry with an amp and guitar in one trip from the vehicle.  Oh, and as a full time working musician I am on a tight budget, so I am always looking for maximum bang for the buck.

My music can be found on ITunes and cdbaby (http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/misisipimikewolfandthemi) and can be heard on many popular tv programs like “True Blood” & “Justified”.

My current “A” guitar is a late nineties butterscotch Fender Telesonic). All pedals powered by a 1Spot with a 8 plug chain.  I am sponsored by Monster Cable so I use their leads to and from the board.

BOSS TU-3 – Perhaps the only pedal on the board I actually know how to use properly!

MXR Dyna Comp (Monte Allums mod) – Not a useable pedal before the mod, but it is quite nice after the Monte Allums upgrades. The super squash of the stock is tamed, it’s about fifty percent quieter, and most importantly is that it no longer colors or dulls the tone. Basically like a boutique comp for under $100. Also pictured is a CS-3 that was modded by Brian Wampler in 2003. I rotate the two depending on my mood. The CS-3 is much more Nashville squishy and still a little noisy, but has bell like sparkle. Wish list is the Wampler Ego, but that has to wait.

MXR Phase 45 Script reissue  – A must for a seventies country board. The Phase 90 was a bit too dramatic for my tastes so I’m giving this one a whirl. Yeah, it does add a bit of distortion at high volumes, but it does the job for the Waylon stuff.

BOSS GE-7 EQ (Garmopatmod) – I don’t know why anyone wouldn’t have an eq pedal on their board. It gives one so many tone options at their feet. I can make adjustments on the fly without walking back and forth to the amp, I can quickly adjust for a different guitar if I need to, and the GE-7 has advantage of the level control so you can secretly crank up your volume without the drummer and the bass player knowing.

Durham Sex Drive – Very transparent clean boost with some subtle compression options and just a hint of dirt if you want it. I play CLEAN. Maybe too clean, but I just dig that Roy Nichols clean tone. I play a lot of smaller rooms that don’t allow me to crank the amp, but this pedal can push the tubes just right without any coloration. It is by far the spendiest board on the pedal but it is worth it.

BOSS TR-2 Tremolo (Analogman mod) – The volume drop problem is solved. Maybe the tone is better than stock, I haven’t a/b’d it, but the volume issue concern is certainly solved. A little cheaper than the Keeley mod and well worth it if you are looking for a decent trem for under $150.

TC Electronics Flashback Delay – I had the Line 6 DL4 and loved it, but it took up too much real estate and required its own power supply which can be tricky in some of the hole in the walls that earn my living in. The Flashback offers almost as many delay options and I think a good argument can be made that they are generally a little truer than the DL4. I’d like to be able to switch delays mid song, but I can live with not having that option. Plus the Toneprint downloads are value adds that are fun to play around with at home.

The board itself is a cheap piece of plywood with duct tape edges that I haul around inside a medium Fed Ex shipping box strengthened with, yep, more duct tape. It has served me well,  costs about $5 and doesn’t look very desirable to backstage thieves (knock on plywood).