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Tone Talk

Three pedals I'd never put on a board again

LF
@lo.flannery
6 weeks agoAsked in Tone Talk
List, with reasons. 1. Wah. Yes I know. Hear me out. I haven't used a wah on a session in five years and every time I plug one in for fun I remember why. The bypass is bad, the sweep range is wrong for almost every modern song, and the cocked-half-wah trick that everyone learned from the Brown Sound is a tonal cul-de-sac. If I need filter motion I use an envelope filter or automate a parametric in the mix. Cleaner result every time. 2. The MXR Carbon Copy. Specifically the original Carbon Copy. Beautiful pedal in theory, the modulation is gorgeous, but the moment you put it in a band mix the repeats vanish under any drive. I've replaced it with a TC Flashback and a Strymon Volante and I haven't missed it. People who love the Carbon Copy are playing it solo. In a band it's invisible. 3. Most boost pedals. Not all. But 80% of them. A clean boost into a tube amp does one thing: it pushes the front end harder. If your amp doesn't want to be pushed harder, the boost just makes things louder. I use a Klon for this and a Klon is not a boost, it's a tone shaper. A true clean boost has earned its slot on exactly one board I've ever built. Who's about to disagree, go ahead.
4 replies

4 replies

  • TW
    @thelma.weller6 weeks ago
    Wah is right. I haven't owned one in a decade. If a part needs that sweep I write a different part. Carbon Copy I have no opinion on, never used one. Boosts I half-agree, I keep one for the rare moment a solo needs three more dB and the Twin's already wide open. Once a year.
  • DK
    @dani.kowalski6 weeks ago
    Carbon Copy in shoegaze is exactly what it's for. The fact that the repeats vanish IS the effect. They turn into a wash, they don't pop, they don't compete with the melody. You're describing the feature like it's a bug. Different goals.
  • MA
    @mira.alves5 weeks ago
    Boosts mostly. Wahs I'll defend, but only in their right context, which is a small one. Most wah purchases are nostalgia. People buy them because they grew up with them, not because the song needs them. Honest answer is most pedalboards are 30% nostalgia by mass.
  • KT
    @kobu.tinker5 weeks ago
    The clean boost into a tube amp thing is technically incorrect. A clean boost increases the level into the first preamp gain stage which changes the harmonic content of the breakup. It's not 'louder', it's 'louder AND warmer AND with more even-order distortion'. Whether you want that is a different question. But it's not a no-op.

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