rickmeister4's Reviews
15 reviews Back to rickmeister4's Equipboard
166
Great piece of affordable kit!
In short, the Ibanez Tube Screamer 'Mini' is closer in sound to a reissue Ibanez TS808, but really a tube screamer is gonna sound like a tube screamer no exception. I prefer the 'Mini's' tone more than my TS9 which is a bit more compressed sounding and less low end EQ (Tube screamers don't have a lot of lows to begin with). I recommend the Tube Screamer mini to guys and girls who are new to dirt pedals and peeps who are on the ongoing pursuit of guitar 'tone'. I keep my Boss SD-1 on my board for its grittiness, but would happily replace it with the smooth subtle tones of a TS mini in a heartbeat if my Boss pedal ever broke down (which is near impossible). Size doesn't matter ;P
166
I can't Imagine my pedal board without an ES-5 ever again
The Boss ES-5 is the solution to all my pedal board problems; I use all 5 loops (all boss pedals except my wah) and even have a tuner as a mute switch at the output of the ES-5 to add versatility, I do this because you can assign the none numbered switches on the ES-5 unit to do 'Momentary' hold switches for effects like my Boss Flanger and Tap Tempo directly from the ES-5 (no external tap tempo required). I haven't even scratched the surface of this unit but you are only restricted by your imagination. Seriously if you want all pedal loops on with one switch you gold, or if you want to change the loop structure and add parallel loops you can do that too! This thing even has Midi, which I can tell will be useful to me down the line. People with stereo rigs however might wanna look at the Boss ES-8 as the ES-5 is all mono loops (I use my Boss DD-7 with A input A output only). I can no longer imagine my live board without an ES-5. :)
166
My No.1 (Guitar)
I have used Stratocasters pretty much all the way from the begging of my musical journey, first it was a knock-off Casino Stage series Strat, then a Chinese Squire Bullet-Strat, then a Mexican 60th anniversary Standard Strat, but I knew in my heart I wanted a real deal American Strat! Enter the American Special Stratocaster! Now let me tell you why I have bonded with this piece of musical equipment; the neck is fantastic and smooth like silk, being a maple neck, the frets are Jumbo frets, so they won't bald out on you when you do lots of bends. But the Texas Special Pickups are where its at for me, I know mid heavy single coils won't be for everyone, but as a lead guitar player, that also strums out clean over a loud band, those pickups can really cut through the mix just right, if the twang gets too much, just roll back a bit of your tone knob and you and your audience won't walk out with sliced ear canals. I'd recommend the USA Special Strat to anyone, but then where would the individuality be? I wish I were the only one to own it so I'd feel Special too :P
166
The most affordable and versatile amp Head!
The Egnater Tweaker is a very versatile, very tweakable and Very loud amp! At only 15 watts, this thing can really push some air in a 4x12 Marshall cabinet (I use it through a Hiwatt 2x12 which is equally practical). The settings on this amp can be set to a Marshally crunch channel, or a twangy Fender clean channel. I have to tell ya, I play with a very loud drummer and most of the amps I have used in the past could not keep up with the volume, especially set clean, the Egnater Tweaker has clean and gain tones in spades and the volume to have your guitar heard! Plus being a tubed amplifier, turning up the volume/gain knobs gives a magnificently warm/organic compression sound. I recommend the Egnater Tweaker to guitar players who want to dabble with different amp tones, or cannot decide between the Fender tweed sound or Marshally low mid sound. Get it, then tweak it to your hearts desire!
41034
all speaker systems being equal, 15 watts is about half the SPL of 100.... the difference between 15 and 50 is minimal
166
That is true, I'd say it all comes down to tubes and speaker combinations :)
41034
even tubes don't make a huge difference in perceived volume assuming the amp is biased correctly
166
Well I didn't think too much of it when I first purchased the Egnater, but yes, you are right jimmarchi1. Wattage does not have a dramatic impact on volume (after a bit of research), that is a dying urban myth, I cannot see the point of getting a higher wattage amp if a 15 Watt Egnater Tweaker is as reasonably loud as a 50 watt say Marshall? please correct me if I am wrong :)
166
Flanger to get the job done!
The BF-3 is a great digital flanger that is easy to set up (given you play around with the settings for an hour maybe first). The buffer in the BF-3 can cut a bit of your highs off in the clean sound, but with overdrive and distortions you wouldn't notice it, I recommend throwing the BF-3 in the amps effects loop or even putting it in a true bypass loop to protect your 'Tone'. I played through other flanger pedals and this one is the one that can do Flanging and other modulation effects the best! the gate/pan mode can be used as a Tremolo in mono and sorta a Uni-vibe in stereo amp setups. the ultra mode is great for wacked out Flanging. But the Standard mode and momentary mode (which is standard mode with, well the momentary application) is where this pedal sits better for my application, if you set the 'Res' knob low and the 'Rate' knob high you can easily get chorus sounds, even Phaser with the right settings. If you're unsure where to start with your modulation pedal search, I recommend the BF-3 or any flanger with (a manual knob which is essentially the delay time), even if flanger isn't your thing, you can cop some other modulation pedal sounds from this one effect alone.
166
The most versatile and compact of the digital delays!
This was my first 'Real' guitar effects pedal that started my unhealthy addiction to well, guitar pedals. Great for short delays, even better for longer delays and anything in between! I'm addicted to the Modulation setting and the reverse and analog setting are good fun to use as well. At the end of live shows, I usually set the Feedback knob on full and twirl around the delay time crazily to get wacked out spacey effects (with all my gain effects full bore). I use the Boss FS-5U for the tap tempo option which makes setting tempos a breeze with it, I recommend using the DD-7 this way because setting the tempo with the DD-7 by holding the pedal down for 2 seconds can kinda' kill the groove, especially turning it back off (you have to hold it for another 2 secs!). Another neat feature is the Hold Mode, which is useful to have for songwriting riffs and rhythms alone in your room, for live application it falls short, especially if your not good at keeping in time with tapping it on and off. Out of all my pedals this is the one pedal that will never leave my board and I never plan to replace it, the DD-7 has my sound and I cannot recommend it enough!
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166
Great Overdrive pedal!
Warm and dynamic overdrive, great for boosting an amp or distortion pedal, sorta' the blanket over the amp sound. :)
166
Neat but not perfect
I used this pedal to switch between 2 'Turbo' channels in my Boss DS-2 Turbo Distortion, it was perfect for that application, but I found it clunky pushing it on and off when I had a very crowded pedalboard, but for the minimalist, this pedal would work great with smaller rigs! :)
166
Use it for all your unlatching needs!
I use the FS-5U with my Boss DD-7 perfect for tap tempo!
166
A Tuner and Muter in One!
This is the industry standard in the tuning pedal market, sure there's the Korg or the TC Electronics, but let me tell you a story on why I chose boss; I didn't believe in using tuner pedals and for years I relied on my less than reliable ear during gigs aswell as using cheap $30 headstock tuners that went missing as soon as I leant it to my bass player for any amount of x reasons during gigs or rehearsals. Enter the Boss TU-3 which was what I saw all the pros using in the music circles I gigged in. I thought, alright why not, and now I have a kickbutt pedalboard tuner + mute switch that comes greatly in handy for gigs, sometimes I won't even use it for tuning. Hit it as a mute switch and I can go straight to my keyboard during switches of instruments in songs. Very Durable as well did I mention.
166
Extremely Useful and Versatile pedal
I use this pedal with my Boss BF-3 and Cry Baby Mini (set in A/B mode) for 3 main reasons; 1. it helps keep the signal clean from bad buffers, the boss Bf-3 (I put it in Loop A) has a nasty tone cut in my main signal so throwing it in my loop helps keep my clean tone sparkly. 2. Pedals like the Cry Baby Mini (I put it in Loop B) may be a bit hard to switch on and off live, so using it in the LS-2 loop makes it easy to call upon it without any fuss 3. if you have two effects you love using but don't play well together like the way I use a Flanger and a Wah, its good to switch between the two without tap dancing the flanger on/off to the wah off/on, with the line selector the job is done with One switch! Plus being able to boost or cut the volume of each line allows for extra versatility, I put a bit of volume boost in loop B with my wah, so when my wah is not active in the loop I can still use Loop B as a Clean boost to push my Distortion pedals! Your results and use may vary, I recommend this pedal to musicians who are experimental with their effects and amps setups.
166
My go to Overdrive!
I've bought and used a lot of Overdrives pedals, but I always come back to my trusty Super Overdrive, its got the right amount of medium crunchiness to push all my distortion pedals and a nice dynamic for when I play it through my clean tone with my Strat through an Egnater Tweaker head. I recommend this pedal to all my music circles, although they all use Digitech bad Monkeys and Tube Screamers, I'll be the lone wolf that finds his sound with the cheap and inexpensive Super Overdrive! The only other Overdrive I still use is the Boss OD-3 which I also recommend, but the SD-1 has that addictive midrange that pushes sooo very nicely into a crunch/distorted Marshall voiced amplifer! The SD-1 will be on my board until the end of time :)
166
The classic Wah, only more practically sized
I've used a Dunlop Cry Baby 535q Wah right from the begging of my musical journey, it was one of my very first pedals. But sentimentality aside I knew my sound was changing and my pedals were growing more in numbers and hauling a giant pedalboard + a giant wah around gig to gig can grow old quickly. Enter the Dunlop Cry Baby Mini, Bam! All those issues went out the window. 3 settings inside the wah, High, Middle and Low will allow the user to find their own wah sound, for extra usability I use this pedal in loop with my Boss LS-2 Line Selector to give my wah sound an extra push in volume and it makes it easier to switch it on and off with the LS-2 switch more so than the Cry Baby Mini's !Click!, Though that one minor quibble aside this pedal Rocks!
166
The distortion pedal to end all distortion pedals!
Alright I might be hyping this pedal up more than I should be hyping up a little clunky piece of sonic equipment but hear me out; I've been a gigging guitar player for close to 7 years now and I've played through the best of them and the Worst of them, emphasis on the worst. Let me bring up 3 points that makes this pedal perfect for me and probably perfect for you as well :)
1. If you play through tube/valve or solid state amplifier, this thing will sound consistent and dynamic all through the neck on a Stratocaster, though bear in mind if you have a crappy amp, it will sound like a good pedal going through a crappy amp so let that sink in.
2. This pedal will hold all your picking dynamics and still chug when you dig in.
3. Everyone in my music circles uses one and they sound awesome!
Okay that last point shouldn't count, but... when it comes to making music, you may find your journey there easier with a little box of distortion!
166
First effect pedal I ever bought, last Wah I'll ever need to!
This Wah was the first pedal I ever bought (excluding a distortion box) that gave me 'My' lead sound. Well priced and packed with features I haven't even scratched the surface of to this day. Don't bother with the other sig wahs, get Your tone with the 535q :P!