How many dirt pedals on your board?

Guitar Heel

Guitar Heel

Demented Trick
I'm getting ready to go through another pedal purge. I'm frustrated, because either my ear isn't good enough, or my playing nuanced enough (or both) to hear substantial differences between my 20 dirt pedals. I have an ARC Soothsayer (Rat clone) that I love. It sounds incredible. So I'm placing that on the new small board (thread to come later), with my 7 other favorite pedals. I'm trying to figure out how much dirt I really need. My Red Llama, the Rat, and my Big Muff clones all seem to share a lot of the same space (note: I didn't say "sonic space," because I don't write for GP).

Right now, it's the Llama and the Rat, with the Llama on a low gain setting, and the Rat on high gain. I'd like to add another, but I need something that sounds different enough (to me) to make it worthwhile. How many are you guys running?
 
nuke_diver said:
If an OD counts as a Dirt pedal I would say 3, a CC TOD, a Wampler Sovereign and a Pharaoh Fuzz
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yeah, I'm counting ODs, and Boosts if they're really boosted I guess. I mean, I have an EP that I use for...um...tone enhancement, but I don't use it as a dirt pedal at all.
 
Depends on the board, depends on the gig. My main board is meant for my Bogner Shiva and has NO dirt pedals on it, as the dirt in the Bogner is so damned good. My travel board has a Wampler Pinnacle and a DOD OD250 clone as a mild OD, but I'm not happy with the DOD in that context and may swap it out. I don't have anything appropriate to swap it out with, though.

My other dirt pedals are an original Boss DS-1, Line 6 Dist. Modeler, and a Marshall Bluesbreaker clone that I never cared for, frankly. Maybe I'll try it here, though.
 
jelloman said:
Are you gonna sell that mission control looking brown thing whose name escapes me?
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That's one of the few that I'm leaning toward keeping. I'm going to have several death matches as the week goes on though, and we'll see who comes out alive. I've always used the big board that Dad and I built as my main board, but I'm transitioning to a smaller board most of the time now. So, that'll hold 8, and they don't necessarily have to be small (Pedaltrain Jr). I'll be keeping pedals that won't necessarily fit so that I can mix and match as my tastes change, but a few need to go.

As of now, I'm leaning toward selling the following:

Vick Blackbird
Vick Midnight Sun
Mojo Hand Bluebonnet :embarrassed:ntome:
BYOC Silver Pony
Fat Sandwich
Red Llama
Caline Pure Sky

Leaning toward keeping (but we shall see)

Vick 73 Rams Head
Vick Tree of life (will probably keep, as it sounds killer)
AmpTweaker tightboost
AmpTweaker Big Rock Pro (mission control thing)

Definitely keeping the following:

Box of War
Soothsayer
Speakeasy (which I don't really use for dirt, like the EP)
EP (for whatever board the Speakeasy isn't on)
Foxpedal Wrath (also a Rat, but for the other board)
Foxpedal Kingdom
Boss Blues Driver (Keeley)
Boss DS-1 (Keeley)
 
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Chad said:
:mad:

I thought you loved that one?

Which one of the Vicks do you like the best?
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I do. For some reason, I just can't hear enough of a difference between that pedal and several others. Subtle differences, sure, but not enough to justify keeping it (or some other). But this is going to be a fluid process. No decisions have been made.

The Tree of Life is my favorite Vick. I really like the 73 too, but will likely only keep it if it (or the BOW) winds up on the main (small) board. If the BOW winds up on the big board, then it's likely gone too. They're just so similar.

I'll keep several to swap out for the sake of variety even if they're not immediately in use... I just don't need this many.
 
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Guitar Heel said:
I do. For some reason, I just can't hear enough of a difference between that pedal and several others. Subtle differences, sure, but not enough to justify keeping it (or some other). But this is going to be a fluid process. No decisions have been made.

The Tree of Life is my favorite Vick. I really like the 73 too, but will likely only keep it if it (or the BOW) winds up on the main (small) board. If the BOW winds up on the big board, then it's likely gone too. They're just so similar.

I'll keep several to swap out for the sake of variety even if they're not immediately in use... I just don't need this many.
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Yeah I unloaded some pedals a while ago because they were too similar. How is the 73 compared to the BOW? I loved the BOW but it was too mushy for me. When I was playing the bridge pickup, it would sound like a neck pickup if that makes any sense.
 
Chad said:
Yeah I unloaded some pedals a while ago because they were too similar. How is the 73 compared to the BOW? I loved the BOW but it was too mushy for me. When I was playing the bridge pickup, it would sound like a neck pickup if that makes any sense.
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Yeah, those are the two I was comparing. The 73 is definitely a little edgier. I like the squishy. :) The 73 has a nice feature though, in that you're able to scoop or boost the mids, or keep them flat.
 
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