Bob Balch’s pedal board of Fu Manchu

I’m super excited to write this post today. I’ve been talking to Bob Balch of Fu Manchu and PlayThisRiff.com over the last month or so, and I asked if he would be interested in submitting a photo of his pedals and I would write a post about it. Bob took it to the next level for the EffectsBay.com readers and provided two videos on his pedal line. He talks about logic of placement, and goes into a light demonstration on how the pedals sound.

Here is part 1:

Bob mentions Creepy Face Fuzz Pedal (the blue pedal on the right). Creepy Fingers is the effects company owned by Brad Davis, the bass player of Fu Manchu. It’s interesting that Bob likes the Boss NS-2 on the right side of the wah, the NS-2 would be providing a buffered signal to that pedal, which would make sense for a more drastic wah sound.

Also another interesting change is the addition of the BBE Soul Vibe to the line up. In the past, Bob would run a MXR Phase 100 in the amp’s effects loop.

In this next video, Bob really goes into the BBE Soul Vibe and the EHX Memory Man with Hazarai

Pedals mentioned in these videos:

Creepy Fingers – Creepy Face Fuzz Pedal
Boss NS-2 Noise Suppressor
Dunlop GCB-95 Crybaby Wah
Boss TU-2 Chromatic Tuner
BBE Soul Vibe
Electro-Harmonix Memory Man with Hazarai
all on a Pedal Pad board

While Bob is in the legendary stoner rock band Fu Manchu, he also runs PlayThisRiff.com which is a super cool site where members get access to how-to video lessons by Bob and other rockers. Lots of riffs, lead technique and different styles of in the vein of riff/stoner rock. There is also a forum there were you can ask questions (and Bob is active in the forums). Subscription is only $10/mo, which is super cheap for what you get. I highly recommend it.

If you’re unsure, be sure to follow PlayThisRiff on Facebook and Twitter, because Bob pulls a daily ‘member only’ video out and makes it’s free to the public. By following him, you can really get a taste of what PlayThisRiff.com has to offer.

Additionally, Bob is now offering private skype lessons. I may have to get on this myself. Basically, it’s a private guitar lesson over skype. Apparently lag time isn’t bad at all (I guess that depends on your internet capabilities). Every lesson he’ll tab out and you’ll get audio recording. Pretty bitchin’.

Here is a video explaining this further:

I want to say thanks to Bob for providing this great footage/explanation of his pedal line up!