Pedal Line Friday – 3/28 – Andy Hale

Today’s pedal line is from Andy Hale. 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.

Hi – I’ve been a fan of pedals for years and spent most of my teenage years buying, selling and trading to try and really find my sound. I play in a band called Winter Circle. We’re an indie rock band that straddles the line between catchy hook-driven and ambient epic sounding rock.

My pedalboard has gone through a lot of changes but it’s always stayed clean and compact. The Effects Bay site has actually been really helpful in turning me on to some recent pedal purchases including random accessories like the Pedal Riser or even the Pedal Labels.

I bought the pedalboard and case years ago and loved that the board floated inside with a little room for storage underneath. Everything is powered by a T-Rex Fuel Tank that lives in the space just under the board. It’s mostly Mogami (and a couple of Monster) cables connecting everything.

Boss TU-2 Chromatic Tuner – This has been with me for awhile and I have no complaints. I actually own a Polytune but I don’t want to throw off my balance by changing out the pedal that’s served as my foundation.
Ibanez TS9DX – A friend of mine owned this and I traded him a bunch of DOD pedals for it. After some research I realized it had actually been modified by Analog Man. I use it for a lot of of open chords and palm muting parts. I love the crisp and smooth low-end sound while still having definition to notes when needed.
Xotic EP Booster – This is new addition that had previously been held by a Malekko Chorus. I found myself needing an occasional short-lived boost and got this on a whim and a prayer after watching some YouTube demonstrations. The pedal has been surprising in that I don’t have to turn it up much and it provides a nice boost without being destructive or overly noticeable when activating.
Strymon BlueSky – The musical quality of the effect really makes it stand-out to me. It provides amazing texture that can live on its own. I use it in place of a synth for a number of songs. And for easy access I have a StrageTrix Pedal Riser that raises the pedal height.
Wet Stereo Reverb – I run this in Shimmer mode and use it in conjunction with either the delay or the Strymon. The combination seems to get things moving a little more. Like the BlueSky I also have a Pedal Riser here for easier access.
Ibanez DL10 Delay – This has been my favorite delay pedal. There are others I love but I always come back to the DL-10. It has a rhythmic bouncy quality and a no-nonsense three knob approach that makes it super easy. The delay is noticeable but even when turning up the settings I feel in control unlike when using a Line 6 or TimeFactor.
BBE Sonic Stomp – This is an always-on pedal. Our music has a lot of high melodic lead lines and low end palm muting. I feel like this helps to even out some of those parts. It’s a great pedal and actually now a number of years after getting this one it was nice to see the video reviews on the site about it.
Ernie Ball VP Jr. Volume Pedal – I use it for swells on a couple of older songs and keep it around just out of habit. I’m actually looking for a reason to get rid of it but it’s a great solid pedal.

I run a older model Bogner Shiva amp [head version] going into an Orange 2×12. Despite what the footswitch would indicate, my Bogner actually does not contain reverb. And guitar-wise it’s mostly Gibson or older Epiphone (SG, Les Paul Studio, Epiphone Dot).

You can check out my band Winter Circle at http://www.wintercircle.com or Facebook – http://www.facebook.com/wintercircle

Andy Hale