While I was too busy to blog in March, I got busy with revamping my pedalboard with green. I just called it the Green Movement. Sounds silly but I wanted my pedalboard to be constructed with green pedals. I started searching for them actively based on my tone needs. And voila, I managed to do it, almost.
After some tweaking and testing, this is how the pedalboard (signal chain 1) looks like:
The Double Down splits the signal into 2. Signal chain 1 starts with the EHX Russian Big Muff Pi Reissue that replaces the Bumble Buzz. She’s one beast in military green that is hard to tame but man she sounds fierce. Taming her from the back is the Hudson Broadcast-AP in military green too. She’s a boost and a drive, and she can fuzz too. Then, I chanced upon the Kasleder House of Blues in olive drab. She came after I swapped her from my initial purchase (ThorpyFX Team Medic). She has two amp circuits inside, the Dallas Arbiter Fuzz Face on the left (yes, she fuzzes too) and the Dallas Rangemaster Treble Booster on the right. She’s a great drive and fuzz pedal. The signal goes into the EHX Freeze whose sustained tones I believe I need in my music. And I’ve turned her green with stickers. The green continues with the Behringer UV300. I don’t quite like vibrato tones so I tweak her to sound close to the tremolo. The signal now feeds into the wonderful GFI System Orca, a delay pedal with presets and other functions, and she sports a nice dark green. Signal chain 1 ends with the BOSS RC-10R in bright red, a fantastic drum machine with looper functions. I may just be naughty enough to turn her green. The signal will be amplified through the classic Fender Pro Junior IV.
Signal chain 2 runs from the Double Down into the DOD Tuna FX12, a tuner with two outputs. Output 1 goes straight into the VOX MV50 AC (with the Blackstar HT-110 cab) for her authentic VOX drive tones. Output 2 goes into the TC Electronic Hall of Fame Mini Reverb before feeding into the Orange Crush Mini (with the Orange PPC108 cab) to create the ambience to support my main board and the Fender amp.
And, I have decided to run a separate signal chain just for my 1988 Fender Eric Clapton Stratocaster in Torino Red. I discovered that the Clapton’s onboard active drive and boost circuits rendered all the drive and boost pedals on the board redundant. So I decided to plug her straight into the Fender Pro Junior IV to leverage on her onboard circuits. I have also added the fantabulous Chase Bliss Audio Tonal Recall Blue Knobs in between to provide the Clapton with delays and even tremolo. This pedal is a beast with lots of tricks. I may take my time to explore her full potential with the Clapton or I might just sell her off for a small profit.
