Judging bands by their pedal boards

71Smallbox · Post by **71Smallbox** » Wed Feb 26, 2014 4:30 pm

Does anyone else ever do this? When I see a guitarist and their board has nothing but high-end priced boutique boxes, I know the guitarist is most likely a prick and that the band is a bunch of wankers. Mind you, this is even before they play a single note.

sholkham · Post by **sholkham** » Wed Feb 26, 2014 5:02 pm

I like gawking at bands gear but I don't really care what they use if it sounds good. Always suspicious of those who have remarkably neat and clean designed pedal boards with matching cables though.

YuriK · Post by **YuriK** » Wed Feb 26, 2014 5:25 pm

If the guitarist doesn't use any pedals they are instacool. If the guitarist uses alot of pedals they are instacool. Anything in between requires listening.

timhulio · Post by **timhulio** » Wed Feb 26, 2014 5:57 pm

If they use certain brands, I'd probably think 'you fucking mug', but rilly it depends on the music.

71Smallbox · Post by **71Smallbox** » Wed Feb 26, 2014 6:51 pm

timhulio wrote:If they use certain brands, I'd probably think 'you fucking mug', but rilly it depends on the music.

I usually do this if the band takes forever to come out, and by that time they're already a bunch pricks in my book anyway. I saw Bloc Party and I remember their pedalboards were mostly Boss pedals, and when I met them afterword they were very nice chaps.

Noisy Cat · Post by **Noisy Cat** » Wed Feb 26, 2014 8:31 pm

Strats/SGs = cunts

George · Post by **George** » Wed Feb 26, 2014 8:31 pm

Noisy Cat wrote:Strats/SGs = cunts

fack off m8

Noisy Cat · Post by **Noisy Cat** » Wed Feb 26, 2014 8:34 pm

George wrote:
Noisy Cat wrote:Strats/SGs = cunts
fack off m8

Innit

lorez · Post by **lorez** » Wed Feb 26, 2014 9:15 pm

71Smallbox wrote:
timhulio wrote:If they use certain brands, I'd probably think 'you fucking mug', but rilly it depends on the music.
I usually do this if the band takes forever to come out, and by that time they're already a bunch pricks in my book anyway. I saw Bloc Party and I remember their pedalboards were mostly Boss pedals, and when I met them afterword they were very nice chaps.

Most bands will stick by what is easy to replace while touring but will use different stuff in the studio. Nothing wrong with boss, if it's good enough for prince then it should be good enough for everyone

YuriK · Post by **YuriK** » Wed Feb 26, 2014 10:13 pm

lorez wrote:
71Smallbox wrote:
timhulio wrote:If they use certain brands, I'd probably think 'you fucking mug', but rilly it depends on the music.
I usually do this if the band takes forever to come out, and by that time they're already a bunch pricks in my book anyway. I saw Bloc Party and I remember their pedalboards were mostly Boss pedals, and when I met them afterword they were very nice chaps.
Most bands will stick by what is easy to replace while touring but will use different stuff in the studio. Nothing wrong with boss, if it's good enough for prince then it should be good enough for everyone

I love boss pedals, theyre great and reasonably priced. the FB-2 gives a really nice mid boost. That ones my favorite. The funny thing is. The only pedal I don't really like of Boss is the ds-1 and ds-1, cuts too much bass.

Concretebadger · Post by **Concretebadger** » Wed Feb 26, 2014 10:22 pm

It's fascinating to see what various people use to get the sounds they do. I always find it interesting to see what they're using, and how it matches my expectations of the songs. Mono use Boss delays & reverbs through Fender Twins like zillions of other people for instance, but the end results are absolutely epic. I think one of them actually said they use Fender amps and Boss pedals because they're easily replaceable and makes it easier to rent stuff when touring overseas.

The OCD person in me gives bonus points to the ones who make an effort to arrange their boards neatly. Explosions in the Sky just scatter theirs around the stage...great songs, but untidy.

ekwatts · Post by **ekwatts** » Wed Feb 26, 2014 11:05 pm

PRS guitars are enough to make me go home if they're pulled out by a headliner. Otherwise I'll spend most of my time in the smoking area or out of sight of the band (so my mere presence near the stage cannot be interpreted as approval) until they've finished wanking themselves dry so the band I came to see can play.

Pedalboards I'm not bothered about as long as they're used well. A Norwegian band played a while back whose pedalboard consisted entirely of Moogerfoogers. I was intrigued. It paid off; they were easily one of the wildest, weirdest sounding bands I've ever seen.

YuriK · Post by **YuriK** » Wed Feb 26, 2014 11:13 pm

ekwatts wrote:PRS guitars are enough to make me go home if they're pulled out by a headliner. Otherwise I'll spend most of my time in the smoking area or out of sight of the band (so my mere presence near the stage cannot be interpreted as approval) until they've finished wanking themselves dry so the band I came to see can play.

Pedalboards I'm not bothered about as long as they're used well. A Norwegian band played a while back whose pedalboard consisted entirely of Moogerfoogers. I was intrigued. It paid off; they were easily one of the wildest, weirdest sounding bands I've ever seen.

Why the PRS haet.

timhulio · Post by **timhulio** » Wed Feb 26, 2014 11:21 pm

Nah when I saw Helium play in the 90s, Mary Timony played a PRS. So there you are: one good band has played a PRS guitar in the last thirty years. Betcha feel pretty bad now! Eh?

She says:

Conundrum Guitar: A Paul Reed Smith.

"I got it when I was in my 20s and I keep hoping I'll break it out, but I just can't do it. There's something about it. It just has no soul. It's worth some money now, and I keep thinking I'll sell it, but I can't do that either because I've had it so long."

YuriK · Post by **YuriK** » Wed Feb 26, 2014 11:23 pm

Well, I've never played their high end stuff but I really like the se-245 and it had a really nice distorted sound. Especially when palm muting it gave this really lovely crunchy sound.

timhulio · Post by **timhulio** » Wed Feb 26, 2014 11:26 pm

Yeah that's called a humbucker.

YuriK · Post by **YuriK** » Wed Feb 26, 2014 11:28 pm

Not all humbuckers sound like that though. It sounded better than most.

dezb1 · Post by **dezb1** » Wed Feb 26, 2014 11:35 pm

ykk211 wrote:
ekwatts wrote:PRS guitars are enough to make me go home if they're pulled out by a headliner. Otherwise I'll spend most of my time in the smoking area or out of sight of the band (so my mere presence near the stage cannot be interpreted as approval) until they've finished wanking themselves dry so the band I came to see can play.

Pedalboards I'm not bothered about as long as they're used well. A Norwegian band played a while back whose pedalboard consisted entirely of Moogerfoogers. I was intrigued. It paid off; they were easily one of the wildest, weirdest sounding bands I've ever seen.
Why the PRS haet.

Because they're bland sounding dragon inlaid quilted top'd blues lawyer magnets.

dezb1 · Post by **dezb1** » Wed Feb 26, 2014 11:36 pm

timhulio wrote:Nah when I saw Helium play in the 90s, Mary Timony played a PRS. So there you are: one good band has played a PRS guitar in the last thirty years. Betcha feel pretty bad now! Eh?

She says:

Conundrum Guitar: A Paul Reed Smith.

"I got it when I was in my 20s and I keep hoping I'll break it out, but I just can't do it. There's something about it. It just has no soul. It's worth some money now, and I keep thinking I'll sell it, but I can't do that either because I've had it so long."

There's always the exception that disproves the rule... but even the exception doesn't like them.

NickD · Post by **NickD** » Wed Feb 26, 2014 11:39 pm

A friend uses a couple - he retired his Gibson V from gigging use because it was getting too old and valuable and got his first one as his main gigging guitar. They are nice enough guitars, but they don't make me want to own them.