Brand-specific pedalboards—the Boss guitar pedals build

I started a new series last week for brand-specific pedalboards. It’s a series because today I’m adding the second entry that I’m cleverly calling Brand-specific pedalboards—the Boss guitar pedals build. I’m a marketing genius! I could have started the series with Boss pedals for several reasons. Obvious reasons for me would have included the fact that my first two guitar pedals were Boss pedals—I still have them both—or that Boss is a brand most guitarists would have heard of. I don’t like being too obvious or predictable though. So here we are with the second entry in the series. Let the continued dreaming of perfectly designed pedalboards continue. … Brand-specific pedalboards—the Boss guitar pedals build

Guitar

Roland releases a whole heap of awesome

Yesterday afternoon Roland let slip that a few new products would be unleashed at NAMM. Actually, they’ll be unleashing a fair amount of innovation this year if all goes well. Unleash is their new thing. I like it. In particular, I like the look of the newly released Eric Johnson Blues Cube Tone Capsule and the BOSS ES-8 Effects Switching System. I was lucky enough to see them working first-hand at the Roland pre-NAMM launch. Pictures below! … Roland releases a whole heap of awesome

Scarebear

52 pedals, week 1—BOSS DM-2W Delay

Every year I like to challenge myself to find 52 different guitar related items from a theme. Two years ago it was 52 guitars. Last year it was 52 amplifier heads. This year I’ve decided to write about 52 different guitar pedals. Knowing this would be the theme, I decided a few days ago to ask folks on social media for suggestions. I just didn’t let people know why I was asking. Evil right?

I asked the same question on Instagram. One suggestion I ended up with was delay. Many individual models of delay were suggested, but I decided to focus on one of the more recent models—the DM-2W—because it’s a very nice blend of old and new.

Let the next 52 article series begin. … 52 pedals, week 1—BOSS DM-2W Delay

Guitar

BOSS RC-1 Loop Station

I currently have the BOSS RC-2 Loop Station. It’s an awesome pedal. But it looks like it’s been replaced by the all-new BOSS RC-1 Loop Station. One knob by the looks of things. I’m sure that’s not how the names are worked out, but this pedal looks seriously easy to use on account of that one little knob. You’ve gotta love that.

Of course the basic way this pedal is used is the same as all the other workhorse pedals BOSS makes. Stomp on that sturdy little box and go! The pedal unit has been iconic in design and sturdiness for well over 20 years. When it ain’t broke … … BOSS RC-1 Loop Station

Guitars

Lick of the Day collaboration

A few days ago I posted a very quick riff I’d called From Go to Woah! that I’d created using IK Multimedia’s AmpliTube on the iPad. Not long after posting that riff to SoundCloud Dave from the Lick of the Day website asked if he could record a solo over it. I said “Sure” and sent Dave my exported WAV and MP3 files from AmpliTube.

Before I could say “Yngwie Malmsteen is a ferociously fast guitar player who has a fascination with Ferraris and Rolexs” Dave had created his solo, laid it over my backing track and released it as his latest Lick of the Day with video and tab for all to enjoy. Dave’s solo track is entitled Don’t poke the Scarebear. Obviously, I love it. … Lick of the Day collaboration

Guitar

My home made IKEA pedal board

When I say I’m not a carpenter, I mean it (I did make that claim in my previous post). That’s part of the reason it’s taken me so long to add anything to this website. Even though I found a truly awesome online resource for the creation of your own pedal board (using some preassembled IKEA components) it has taken me months to build my own pedal board. But I like my Gorm Pedal board (Gorm is the name of the shelf unit I needed to buy from IKEA) and I had a great time building it.

Taking months also allowed me to slowly build upon my pedal collection. My wife assures me my collection is now complete. I’m sure she’s right. Let’s see what my pedal board—and collection—looks like now.

I did take an entire series of photos during the process, but they’re pretty much along the lines of those in the original post I was referencing above. Completed, my pedal board looks like the image in this post’s intro—because that is my pedalboard.

If you like colour—I’m trying to keep colour off this particular website—you can see this photo on my photography website. It’s sturdy, matches the colour scheme of my guitar room and has two power packs under it to power all of the pedals at once. No batteries here!

Here’s a quick rundown of my new pedal collection. Top-left going clockwise.

Boss Loop Station RC-2
Joyo Vintage Phase
Joyo Classic Flanger
MXR Fullbore Metal
Joyo Vintage Overdrive
Artec Vintage Power Wah
Joyo JT-55 Pedal Tuner
Joyo Ultimate Drive
Boss Chorus CE-2
Joyo Tremolo
Joyo Digital Delay

Lucky 11. When I started building the pedal board I didn’t have the Artec Wah or any of the Joyo pedals. I started buying them on eBay for very little money. Almost all of them are new and the most I spent on one pedal was $40.00. The last four pedals I got for $100.00. I was very pleased with that purchase. I believe outside of the Boss pedals everything else on the pedal board is true bypass.

So there you have it. It took me months, but I now have hours of entertainment at my feet. I’m really impressed with the new pedals actually. I might write a bit about them individually. I know when I was researching the Joyo pedals I found it difficult to find much in the way of useful information. I’ll try and add to that collection of not useful information.