Running Blues

Boss CS 3

This is the first pedal in my set up. It has four knobs (left to right), level, tone, attack and sustain. Usual set up for level depends on song (or parts of a song), tone I leave it at 10 o’clock, attack at 2 o’clock and sustain at 10 o’clock. -warning- this thing is really wild when the sustain goes past 1 o’clock. Gives really good feedback and (almost) endless sustain on the guitar. Some people might not like it though because it sort of fattens out the tone and has that ‘piak’ kind of feel to it. Can be fixed (kinda) by reducing the attack / sustain.

It has been used for quite a lot of stuff so far, including booster and it’s original compressor/sustainer effects. Now it’s pretty much on all the time because I’ve tweaked the knobs a little so it’s able to maintain a pretty decent sound both in clean and in gain mode. I currently have no booster pedal to use, so I try to mimick the increase in volume by either turning up the level knob with my foot when I want a boost or by setting the amp’s volume high and downing the guitar volume for the softer parts. Both methods aren’t recommended – I recommend getting something else to do the job instead. =)

You can hear it almost every song I play, though more prominently in:

“Lucky Guy” – The Same Few People

“In My Place” – Coldplay

Boss DS 1

This comes second in my set up – The good ol’ tried and tested BOSS DS-1 Distortion pedal. Its three knobs (left to right), tone, level and distortion pretty much explains itself. For my usual set up, I have distortion at about 12 o’clock and tone slightly higher at 1 o’clock while level is usually somewhere in the 10s. I try not to over do distortion on songs unless I am using my Epiphone SG as my basswood Strat doesn’t handle the harmonics too well. It does great for lead work however.

If I require something more mellow, I’d turn down the tone knob. If I needed something more scratchy and ear piercing, I’d turn up both tone and distortion knobs. This little baby does its job pretty well.

You can hear it in the following songs I play:

“Never Say Goodbye” – Bon Jovi

“Hurt So Good” – John Mellencamp

Fab Chorus Pedal

This one comes third in my setup, though I have some mixed feelings about.

It has three knobs (left to right), mix, speed and depth. I don’t actually know what each of it really does, but I’ve got mix at full left, speed at slightly less than full right and depth at about center. I can’t really tell which o’clock those are with reference to the above pedals because they’re facing outward rather than top-down.

It does, however, get its job done (in the current set up anyway). It provides the distinct church chorus kind of sing to it when it’s turned on, though I’ve got some issues with the hum it has when its turned on in idle mode. This is one pedal I don’t really mess around with much because its purpose in my playing is largely for rhythmy stuff and occasionally some lead work.

You can hear it in the following songs I play:

“All I want is Everything” – Def Leppard

“When Love and Hate Collide” – Def Leppard

“I’ll Be There for You” – Bon Jovi