parhelia_0000's Metal Pedalboard

I've done tons of studio recordings starting from 2018 up until now, and if there's one critical studio gear that I cannot live without, it would be a DI box. This allows you to split your guitar signal into your regular amp tone and a DI tone where you're recording your raw guitar sound into a line-level signal, giving you tons of opportunities to reamp your guitar sound however your heart desires.

The Radial JDI is a fantastic piece of gear that I'd recommend to any and all studio engineers. It's a passive DI box, meaning you don't need to use a power supply to use the DI box, and it features a solid Jensen transformer inside the DI box. Pretty amazing stuff. The sound quality of the DI box is great too, as I get the full clarity of my guitar pickups being recorded into my DAW.

When I need to record DI guitar tracks, I reach for the Radial JDI.

So I'm in the process of building a rack rig, and we all know front-end effects require a switching system one way or another. However, the RJM products tend to be quite pricey, and the Voodoo Lab GCX requires proprietary MIDI cables with pins 1 and 3 removed as well as specific SPDIF programming in order to work with other MIDI controllers.

Enter the Voodoo Lab HEX. This is what I consider to be a poor man's RJM Mini Effect Gizmo. It features 6 series loops, with loop 1 isolated via the Input/Send/Return/Output design. The dimensions of the HEX is designed to be a half-rack unit, but it works just as well when placed on a rack shelf or underneath a pedalboard.

It does the job pretty good. So far this switcher hasn't failed on me, and it is pretty rock solid. I would trust this unit for live gigs for sure.

Having said that, it's not a perfect switcher. Switching loops in/out could be a bit quieter as it tends to produce a loud "tick" when loops are being toggled, and personally if loops 2-6 are wired in series, then I don't see much of a point in having loop 1 isolated into the I/S/R/O fashion. A bit dated design if I may say, but these are minor things that aren't that big of a deal-breaker for me.

The overall weight of the HEX is on the lighter side. Whether you see it as a pro or con is up to you to decide.

Overall, I think this is the perfect value switching system for stompboxes when you're tight on budget. It only costs $400 CAD and will give you 6 loops to switch in and out, and you can rackmount two HEX's with a mounting bracket if you want to.

Solid 4 stars for me. Very good effort, Voodoo Labs.

I'm a prog power metal guitarist who also does ballad and ambient guitar instrumentals as well. The common problem with clean tones is that without a compressor pedal, they tend to sound weak and inconsistent, making the guitar tone hard to cut through the mix, let alone fight the noise gates that cut out the sustain trails.

Enter the Keeley Compressor Plus. This is a no-nonsense compressor pedal that can do many things great, I got 3 of them and never regretted it! It not only does dynamic clean tones well, but it also does very tight compression as well, making it a viable choice for anyone who's looking to dial in that Tosin Abasi-style slap/thump guitar tone.

What I really love about the Keeley Compressor Plus is the Humbucker/Single Coil selector switch. This is a game-changer as it allows you to adjust the noise floor of the compressor depending on the types of pickup you're using. This way, you can really hone in on the perfect settings that you like to use the most.

Stop wasting your time with other compressor pedals that give you subpar results, get one of these. You won't be disappointed.

For a long time I've been using the Electric Eye Audio Mud Killer overdrive for my high-gain metal tones, and while it sounded great with the Friedman HBE, I struggled to get it to sound bright for my guitar tone, and it was starting to show its age.

Enter the Fortin 33. A signature pedal made for Frederik Thordendal of Meshuggah, this pedal SCREAMS modern metal - it eliminates all the complexities of a clean boost pedal and condenses everything down to one boost knob with its own proprietary EQ curve. The result? Tight, chuggy metal tones that give life to my Synergy Friedman HBE.

Now, do bear in mind, you may want to consider raising the low's a bit on your amp if you're playing 6 or 7-string's, as the Fortin 33 pedal will shelve out a lot of low-end from your amp.

Having said that, the midrange aggression and brightness boost is nothing like anything I've ever heard in the past. This pedal has officially replaced the Mud Killer in my rack rig, and I'd be more than happy to use it in the foreseeable future to come.

Well done, Mike Fortin. We got a new winner. #BillPrimoApproved