# 5 or 6 effects...



## dodgechargerfan (Mar 22, 2006)

If you had to limit your effects chain to just 5 or 6 TYPES of effects, what would you choose?

Let's say that a wah or other type of expression pedal could be in addition to the 5 or 6 as in you can have them, but they don't count against the total number of effects.


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## Cups (Jan 5, 2010)

A fuzz, a phaser and a delay are the base of what I'd use. Every thing else is gravy.

That being said my main board has a Boss GP 10, an iStomp and a TC X4.


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## davetcan (Feb 27, 2006)

Right now I'm down to a RMC 10>tuner(although not needed)>Iron Bell>ep booster>sl drive>sl drive>volume pedal>amp with a G major in the loop, and it's the best tone, for me, that I've ever had. If I don't feel like lugging the G Major around I can easily switch in my DD-20. Amp is always set clean and I use the drives for different levels of dirt. G Major has a built in tuner so I don't need to waste a space on the board if i don't want to.

Just have 3 settings on the G major - short delay, longer delay, and delay with a touch of chorus, and I stick a midi mouse on my board to switch between the 3. 

If you've been watching the emporium I've gone through a ton of OD's and Distortions recently trying to find "the one". I couldn't displace the SL so just bought another. Have one set medium low and one medium high.


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## Milkman (Feb 2, 2006)

All I need is Od, distortion, delay, modulation.

Other stuff is once or twice over the course of an entire show.


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## bzrkrage (Mar 20, 2011)

Need? Tuner, OD with boost, fuzz, modulation (prob phase.) good delay & reverb.

Have? About 2 of each on the board + L6 M-9 for bonus mod/delay/verbs.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


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## Budda (May 29, 2007)

Glad I dont need an OD pedal  (give me the right amp and im set).

Delay and reverb are all I need. Maybe a clean boost. That said, my board has 4 delays (flashback x4 + DD3) and 3 reverbs (bluesky and afterneath). The reason being, I play ambient music where all of those things get used. 

My ideal board is tuner-delay-verb-clean boost in the loop.


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## Stratin2traynor (Sep 27, 2006)

Tuner, Fuzz, OD, modulation, Delay, Reverb (if not built in to the amp)


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## Adcandour (Apr 21, 2013)

High gain, low gain, phaser, analog delay, digital delay, reverb

The skreddy phaser is not played often, but it is beautiful.


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## Dr.StringBender (Mar 1, 2014)

Tuner - Wah - Low Gain - Higher Gain/Fuzz - Boost - Reverb - Delay

If I could, I'd squish a Phaser in there too.


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## zontar (Oct 25, 2007)

Hmm, I do use Distortion, delay/echo, Chorus, EQ, AutoWah, Volume pedal--that's 6--so let's go with that--although I'd like a reverb in there as well


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## NB_Terry (Feb 2, 2006)

I'm perfectly happy with a tuner and an OD pedal. 

I've been leaving the pedalboard at home lately, and just taking this out.


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## Disbeat (Jul 30, 2011)

NB_Terry said:


> I'm perfectly happy with a tuner and an OD pedal.
> 
> I've been leaving the pedalboard at home lately, and just taking this out.


Same here!


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## mhammer (Nov 30, 2007)

Compressor, OD, phaser, auto-wah, flanger, delay, tremolo. Dang. Ran out of slots.


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## sulphur (Jun 2, 2011)

I could only get away with that few, if I was running the dirt from the amp.

I don't, and there's ten pedals on the band board and they're all needed at one time or another.

Tuner > comp > fuzz > wah > O/D > distortion/boost > delay > chorus > tremolo > phaser (verb on the amp).
That's my basic setup into a clean amp for the cover band.


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## JBFairthorne (Oct 11, 2014)

Personally I don't feel the NEED for effects. I currently use a couple of pedals, but all I really NEED is a guitar, tuner, amp (with REVERB) and a cord or two. Pedals are more of a convenience for me than anything else. More often than not, I find most effects to be a cool little toy to play with for a while, quickly followed by boredom and/or the realization that they lack any practical necessity.

I DO love the sound of certain effects on certain songs, eg. delay done just right. However, without mentioning any names (and unintentionally starting a war), I find that there are many artists whose "sound" is so DEFINED by the effects they use that it's hard to separate what's THEM and what's the PEDAL. I also find, for many amateurs, effects can end up being a crutch to mask sloppy playing, myself included.


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## Chito (Feb 17, 2006)

Tuner, wah, compressor, OD/Dist, modulation, delay/reverb


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## marcos (Jan 13, 2009)

Compressor, Wampler Paisley,and reverb pedal all i need right now although would like to pick up a trem pedal again in the near future.


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## Milkman (Feb 2, 2006)

I wouldn't call a tuner an effect pedal.

I would think that it goes without saying that we all (or at least the vast majority of us) keep a tuner in our chain.


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## Ti-Ron (Mar 21, 2007)

Do I NEED fx? Not really, like many of us, I like to play with those colourful boxes.

When playing time is coming, I try to keep it simple: dirt (depend of the style I'm playing) , delay and something different, phase, octaver or filter. Most of the time I'm all dirt!


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## dodgechargerfan (Mar 22, 2006)

Milkman said:


> I wouldn't call a tuner an effect pedal.
> 
> I would think that it goes without saying that we all (or at least the vast majority of us) keep a tuner in our chain.


Agreed. That can be considered outside of the '5 or 6' for sure.


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## High/Deaf (Aug 19, 2009)

(Not counting the tuner): OD, Dist, Comp, Clean boost, Chorus/Flanger/Vibe and an Echo (hopefully with a few presets). If I really needed a wah (and for the most part, I can live without one), I would sub it for the Clean boost or Comp. And of course, there are different versions of OD and Dist to change the flavor a little bit, but still have to have one of each.


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## BMW-KTM (Apr 7, 2015)

Cool. I love "what-if" scenarios. With a good enough channel switching amp you don't need drive pedals so that frees up at least one slot, maybe two. I'll use a hand held tuner so that frees up one more.

I'll go with:
Wah 
Uni-Vibe
Chorus
Something for Boost possibly a Flux
Delay


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## georgemg (Jul 17, 2011)

My basic set up is the following: Compressor, Light Overdrive, Medium Overdrive, Delay. That covers the bulk of what I would need to comfortably get through a gig.


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## Slooky (Feb 3, 2015)

Cups said:


> A fuzz, a phaser and a delay are the base of what I'd use. Every thing else is gravy.
> 
> That being said my main board has a Boss GP 10, an iStomp and a TC X4.


Gp-10 very nice effects and the guitars modelling is awesome!


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## TimH (Feb 4, 2006)

Overdrive, Distortion, chorus, delay and reverb.

That’s pretty well my board anyhow...although trem and pitch make appearances from time to time.


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## Vally (Aug 18, 2016)

I’m gearing up a new board now. Tuner, boost, reverb and delay


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## MetalTele79 (Jul 20, 2020)

Tuner, fuzz, wah, delay, distortion and maybe more fuzz


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## zontar (Oct 25, 2007)

Definitely a distortion & chorus-and a reverb in case I'm using an amp without it
Then I'll go with delay & octaver

Since Wahs are exempt I imagine volume pedals would be as well? And Auto Wahs?
So I'lll fit in that way.


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## cboutilier (Jan 12, 2016)

Anybody change their 5-6 choices in the last 5-6 years?


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## Chito (Feb 17, 2006)

Not me. My board hasn't changed much in the last 5 years.


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## zontar (Oct 25, 2007)

cboutilier said:


> Anybody change their 5-6 choices in the last 5-6 years?


I've bought six pedals since Nov 25, 2016, but my basic answer wouldn't have changed much--I just got some of the pedals I wanted.


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## guitarman2 (Aug 25, 2006)

I've got just 5 on my board and thats as much as I would go. Compressor, OD for light gain, OD for mid gain, chorus and delay. I recently just added the chorus after not having one on my board for about 15 years. I don't really needed it but I added it just for fun.


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## Mooh (Mar 7, 2007)

A volume pedal has been at the centre of my rigs since 1977. Combining a few, reverb/delay, distortion/channel selector/line driver, compression, chorus. The wah-wah-wah-wah might be hard to live without, and I've always wanted a rotating speaker sound, so...


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## davetcan (Feb 27, 2006)

cboutilier said:


> Anybody change their 5-6 choices in the last 5-6 years?


I refuse to answer that question.


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## High/Deaf (Aug 19, 2009)

The concept is the same, but the hardware has changed. You know, PROGRESS (that's my excuse and I'm sticking to it).



High/Deaf said:


> (Not counting the tuner): OD, Dist, Comp, Clean boost, Chorus/Flanger/Vibe and an Echo (hopefully with a few presets). If I really needed a wah (and for the most part, I can live without one), I would sub it for the Clean boost or Comp. And of course, there are different versions of OD and Dist to change the flavor a little bit, but still have to have one of each.


Overdrive, distortion, comp - clean boost, chorus/flanger/vibe, tuner and echoes (all in the M9). This is the board I've used the most in the last 5 years when I'm not out Kempering.


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## Ti-Ron (Mar 21, 2007)

Milkman said:


> All I need is Od, distortion, delay, modulation.
> 
> Other stuff is once or twice over the course of an entire show.


You got it! To me this is the perfect setup. Sometime I add a octave for fun but otherwise This simple setup can brings me everywhere I wanna go!


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## mhammer (Nov 30, 2007)

High/Deaf said:


> The concept is the same, but the hardware has changed. You know, PROGRESS (that's my excuse and I'm sticking to it).
> 
> 
> 
> ...


The M9 will also cater to any whim you may have beyond what you've listed.


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## zztomato (Nov 19, 2010)

I'm still rocking 5 Metal Zones. 

...and a tuner- not that I really need it.


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## High/Deaf (Aug 19, 2009)

mhammer said:


> The M9 will also cater to any whim you may have beyond what you've listed.


It sure would. It could also do the od and comp effects I choose to use analog pedals for. The limitation, though, would be only 3 effects at a time. The M13 would increase that to 4, but at a cost of size. 

For my use and preferences (analog pedals for those functions I use them for) the M9 is a great size / performance pedal. I'm tempted to try an HXFX but I already own the M9 and it does exactly what I need it to do. I see no need to spend the extra money on tiny little improvements.


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