Pedal Line Friday – 12/2 – Bruce Arensmeyer

Today’s Pedal Line Friday submission is from Bruce Arensmeyer. 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.

Also, remember to enter the Electro-Harmonix Lester K Give Away. You can do that here.

Pedal Line Friday – 12/2 – Bruce Arensmeyer

Hi All, Here is a pic of my recent board setup. I seem to be constantly tweaking things to get an even better sound. But right now, I have been totally happy with this arrangement for about 6 months. I run a Rivera Venus Deux Head through a V-Boutique cab loaded with a 1979 Altec 417-8H Speaker. (Think Santana) This speaker and head combo are unique and really sound great both clean and dirty. I have 2 strats. One is 2002 Highway One with single coils (Fender Hot Noiseless with Seymour Duncan Screaming Demon single humbucker in the bridge, and I use this for clean sounds. My other guitar through this setup is my Fender Custom Shop with 3 mini-humbuckers (Seymour Duncan SM-3’s) for heavy to dirty sound. Board is a SKB Stage Five and power supplied by board and a One Spot. My cables are all Bullet Cable slugs that I can cut and fit to length. Excellent sound and I bought extras kits due to them getting scarce. Use 2 Lava Cables to run between Effects Loop though.

Signal path is as follows:

1.  T1M  2 to 1 splitter with buffer to push signal and to swap quickly between guitars.

2.  Sonic Research ST-200 Tuner. Works great and quick.

3.  BBE Bench Press Compressor.  This is a Ross style clone and I own 2 because they are simple and yet extremely good. I purchased both for around $50 each back when they were cheap to buy. But the word is out now and I have seen some very high prices on the web for these. Highly recommend if you are market for a simple yet awesome compressor to set and forget.

4.  CMAT Mods Super Signa Drive.  Absolutely my most go to and favorite pedal other than the RAT. Use for light overdrive and to boost the signal before the drives to give more grit and really get the leads to shine.

5.  Voodoo Lab Sparkle Drive. Another great overdrive that I crank up for medium-high overdrive tones. The clean knob is highly effective and necessary for my setup.

6.  1988 Rat. Completely original and the oldest pedal I have ever purchased. Fantastic distortion and fuzz type sounds if needed. It is noisy, but that is why I bought the Silencer. Would kill if stolen!

7.  TC Electronic Spark Boost. This is a great tiny footprint clean boost to increase volume without adding grit. I use when I like the sound but the drummer is getting too happy!

8.  Electro-Harmonix Silencer. I use this sparingly and only with the RAT or when stacking overdrives. Works great but will clip signal if playing soft or slowly.

9.  Ernie Ball Volume with T1M Mod.  This is a awesome volume pedal that has been modded. Tim swapped the pot, added a buffer and on/off switch, (Which is always on),and really cool Blue LED’s underneath to light it up on stage. Well worth the money and I would do again if needed. I would recommend highly anything from T1M.

10.  Signal out to amp from volume pedal.

11. From Buffered Effects Loop:

12. Rockett Pedal Josh Smith Dual-Tremolo. This is a great tremolo that I mostly use for lighter music and leads. The adjustable volume boost is great and helps get the Trem out in the mix. Pricey and a bit large, but worth every penny.

13. Visual Sound Dual Tap Delay. I didn’t have the cash for a Strymon Time-Line and when doing research, came across this pedal. It has a great sound and I use it about 80% of the time playing. Added a separate Tap Temp Switch below due to the feel of the Tap on the Pedal. I like this much better. For a simple to use and great sounding dual delay, highly recommend, especially for price. I use dotted eights mostly and combine triplets on channel 2 for really full sounding leads. Think Hillsong or Jesus Culture style music.

14. Strymon Blue Sky Reverb. This is my one Strymon pedal that is most definitely worth the price. I use a plate reverb lightly combined with the Venus Deux and it sounds dreamy. I also use the Shimmer mode on Favorites to get a keyboard like sound. I use this sparingly, but it gets the most positive comments from listeners asking who was playing keyboard?!

15. Digitech Hardwire DL-8 Delay/Looper.  This is my looper for self-practice (I own 2) and I use the delay once in a great while after the Tremolo and Reverb to get interesting sounds. Found new online for $40.00 on Reverb and couldn’t let it pass. Was going to get the TC Electronics Ditto but this does so much more.

16. Signal out to Amp! Hope you guys like the setup and feel free to ask questions about why pedals are in the path that they are in.

I also use Pedal Labels on all my equipment to make sure my big feet haven’t knocked things out of whack. Love the professional look and inexpensive price on the labels. Cheers!