- new pedal board with Blues driver in front of amp
- new board@100.jpg (209.47 KiB) Viewed 208 times
sounds like a great rig. I have just made a new pedal board for my VT-30, built around the VFS5. In order to be able to use the board while facing the audience with the amp behind me, I made a mini-snake. Three instrument cables plus the cable from the VSF5. I plug my SG into a Boss Blues Driver first. Cable 1 goes from the Blues Driver to the VT-30's input. Cable 2 comes out of the Loop Mod and back to the pedal board, Volume pedal, Korg DT-7 tuner, Boss EQ. Cable 3 leaves the EQ pedal and goes back to the amp. I used it for the first time last weekend onstage at The Ark in Ann Arbor Michigan. I'm happy to say that it did everything I wanted.
I had built the blues driver onto the tail end of the effects loop. and it wasn't working the way it had with earlier setups, different amp, etc. Before, it was my favorite pedal. After I mounted it in the fx loop of the VT-30, the effect was disappointing. Which is the opposite of what you want when you step on a Blues Driver. I'd had good results with it at the tail end of the effects chain in previous setups, and so ASSumed that this was where it should go, and mounted it there with velcro. When it didn't work the way it had before, I was unhappy and puzzled and considering selling it. Then I read a post on this forum by our Hero, Voxman... where he said the overdrive must go in front of the amp, not in the fx loop. LIGHT BULB COMES ON OVER HEAD! Thanks, Voxman!
I thought, I can try that. Bingo! Right back where it was supposed to be, as an effect. Which means I can play on my preferred Clean settings a lot, and when I want to take a solo that steps up
and gets in your face, I kick that lovely blue pedal. So the Blues Driver is back to being the Queen of the pedal board, and the EQ is the Jack. The only thing that worries me is how much cable I'm pushing my signal through. (36+ ft/12+m) All my Boss pedals are buffered, so that ought to help. But in order to have all this control in front of me and the amp in back, I need the snake to get signal there and back again. I haven't heard it sucking highs out of my tone, but that's the only worry.
I agree about the VFS5... it's a necessity for a working musician. And with this rig, I feel like mine's the best setup I've had to date. I added Paragon's LED mod to my Vox Pedal, and it was like Retrobob's Loop Mod, very well explained and well illustrated and so very easy to install. Glad I did it. The LEDs really help on a darkened stage. Don't know how they'll work at an outside venue in strong sunlight, but lucky me, I'm likely to find out.
