Got Gear?

What goes between Axe & Amp? Sometimes less is more. To Pedal or not to Pedal, that is the question.

Back in the day of the great rock & rollers there wasn’t a vast array and selection of pedals, signal processors and effects loops. Pretty much it was man against amp. In the sound arsenal was natural distortion, reverb tanks, a wha-wha pedal and the holy grail of effects the “Echoplex”.

I’ve seen players using everything under the sun and others with only a cable between their guitar and amplifier. Obviously the sound you desire is a personal choice. I’ve been to both edges of the sound world and have some thoughts on what I feel is a good balance of a processed sound.

It’s been said that 95% of your sound comes from your fingers, the remainder is your guitar and gear. So how much do we cram into that 5% remainder. Here is what I consider the bare minimum of effects you can use to achieve a great sound:

• guitar > tuner > compressor > overdrive > delay > amplifier

That gets the job done effectively. Starting from this basic set up we can add in what I consider essential the “luxury pedals”. You don’t have to have them but they will give you more versatility and range.

• Wha-Wah
• Chorus/Flanger
• Clean Booster
• Sonic Maximizer
• Equalizer
• Noise Suppressor
• Tremolo

There are quite a few more pedal types than these but in my opinion adding them into your setup without a specific purpose up is like gold plating a Krugerand, why bother.

Personally I don’t like to much between me and my true sound so I run a lean pedal board.

• guitar > tuner > wha-wha > compressor > overdrive > delay > sonic maximizer > amplifier

I recently added in the Sonic Maximizer and highly recommend this to all players. This box does the amazing thing of correcting my signal phase so it is reproduced accurately at the speaker. It’s been described as taking the blanket of of your amp.

Recently I didn’t even use effects until I’d become accustomed with what I could achieve with just a guitar and amp. This is a good way to determine exactly what your capable of musically.

Whatever effects you decide to you use keep in mind that more does not always translate into better, keep a balance and you’ll hear the results in your playing.

BBE D82 Sonic Maximizer Plug-In

Product DescriptionThe D82 Sonic Maximizer Plug-In restores the high frequency definition and detail of your sound, while refocusing the low frequencies. It offers all the appliances predecessors, the 882nd and 482nd BBE Sonic Maximizer …

Publish Date: 05/27/2010 11:25

http://cgwebstudio.com/plugin/bbe-d82-sonic-maximizer-plug-in/

Anyone Else Using BBE Sonic Maximizer? - Head-Fi.org Community

I recently hooked my BBE Sonic Maximizer up to my HP setup (M-Audio Fire410 - BBE Sonic Maximizer 482i - Little Dot MKIII - AKG K701) and really makes quite a difference…

Publish Date: 03/23/2008 20:23

http://www.head-fi.org/forum/thread/309787/anyone-else-using-bbe-sonic-maximizer