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A-List Pedalboard
by Brian Wampler
Brian Wampler, of IndyGuitarist.com, takes us on an up-close and personal look at Brent Mason's pedalboard
| 1. |
Voodoo Lab Microvibe |
| 2. |
BOSS TR-2 Tremolo |
| 3. |
BOSS TU-2 Tuner |
| 4. |
Vox V847 Wah |
| 5. |
Boss AW-3 Dynamic Wah |
| 6. |
Keeley Compressor |
| 7. |
IndyGuitarist-modded TS9 |
| 8. |
IndyGuitarist-modded Sparkle Drive |
| 9. |
Hermida Audio Technology Zendrive |
| 10. |
Xotic BB Preamp |
|
| 11. |
Xotic RC Booster |
| 12. |
Boss GE-7 EQ |
| 13. |
Keeley Katana |
| 14. |
Creation Audio Labs MK 4.23 |
| 15. |
Electro-Harmonix Small Stone |
| 16. |
BOSS FV500H Volume Pedal |
| 17. |
BOSS DC-3 Digital Dimension |
| 18. |
DLS RotoSIM |
| 19. |
Line 6 DL4 Delay Modeler |
| 20. |
IndyGuitarist 20-loop true bypass system |
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I recently built a huge pedalboard for Nashville A-list session
guitarist Brent Mason that incorporated all of his most-used pedals on
one board and has a 20-loop true bypass system built in. Everyone who
has seen it asks, "What are all those pedals for?"
Looking closely, you'll notice that there are a ton of
different overdrives, several modulation and time-based effects, a
couple of wahs, a volume pedal, a ton of switches on the bottom and
what is basically a true bypass box that has 20 single loops and two
stereo loops.
But the question that is most often asked is, "What's with all of those
true bypass loops? Why not just make each pedal true bypass?" In a
nutshell, Brent wanted to be able to switch different pedals in and out
on the fly, without having to "tap dance" to find the pedal he wants.
Everything is run in the order it's connected, so the order you see on
the pedalboard isn't the actual effects order. We'll look into that
shortly.
First, we need to consider that if every pedal is true bypass
and there is a foot of cable running between each pedal, by the time
you add in the cable from your guitar and another to your amp, you have
just created a ton of "tone suck," which is basically your guitar
signal getting loaded and dragged down because of all of the resistance
and capacitance in the large distance of cable you are running. This
occurs with all guitar cables.
To fix this, we use a line buffer. Inside the true bypass box
on Brent's board is a high-quality buffer - the guitar plugs into this
box and goes directly to a line buffer, then to all of the true bypass
boxes. This helps move the pure signal from the guitar to the amp with
minimal loading.
Now, let's look at the effects order on Brent's board: we have
the Voodoo Lab Microvibe into the Boss TR-2 Tremolo, then the Boss TU-2
tuner. That's followed by the Vox V847, a Boss AW-3 Dynamic Wah, a
Keeley Compressor, an IndyGuitarist-modified Tube Screamer and an
IndyGuitarist-modified Sparkle Drive. We then have a Hermida Audio
Technology Zendrive, Xotic BB Preamp, Xotic RC Booster, Boss GE-7 EQ,
and a Keeley Katana. The signal then goes into what Brent calls a
"chrome clean boost" - a Creation Audio Labs MK 4.23, then an old
Electro-Harmonix Small Stone which goes into a Boss FV500H volume pedal
and finally to a Boss Digital Dimension DC-3.
From there, we determine whether the output is going to be
dual-mono or true stereo. This is achieved with various solid-state
relays, keeping it true bypass. The signal then goes to a DLS RotoSIM,
into a Line 6 DL4 and out from there to his various amps.
Another question that pops up is if the line buffer is of such
high quality, why the need for true-bypass? The answer is in a studio
setting, when the best tone possible is a necessity, we can eliminate
all of that excess cabling and ensuing resistance and capacitance. The
cable is only in the path of the signal when the true bypass switch is
engaged and the effect level is set appropriately to overcome any
loading that might be present. Keep in mind this is
minimal with the high quality buffer in place, but necessary when your
job is to try to make every song a radio hit like Nashville's A-list
players do. With everything off, Brent's guitar signal is going from
the guitar, directly through the buffer, and then out to the amp,
bypassing all the cabling and effects on the pedalboard - in essence,
the most pure audio path possible.
Another plus to this setup is that if there happened to be a short or
something else that caused a cable to malfunction, we could quickly
diagnose the problem. Rather than having to unplug each effect to
attempt to determine the location of the snag, we can isolate the
gremlins with the true bypass switches, and then narrow it down to
whether it is going to or coming from the offending pedal.
So if you're looking to cop that Brent Mason tone without
building a massive looped pedalboard, what is needed first and foremost
is practice, practice and more practice. After that, a Telecaster
through a compressor will get you in the ballpark. The Keeley
Compressor is a really nice unit based on the Ross Compressor, similar
to an MXR Dynacomp, which can get you close. I am actually working on a
new compressor design with Brent that will blend the best of what the
Keeley compressor has to offer with the clean guitar signal. This
creates a much more dynamic compression that is more transparent.
From the compressor, send the signal into a light overdrive,
like a Tube Screamer or a Sparkle Drive. Brent also uses one of my
modded Boss BD-2 Blues Drivers on occasion. From there, add a delay
pedal for slapback, textured-type tones using trailing delays and
modulated delays with a little chorus sprinkled on top. To top it off,
send the signal to a nice sounding Fender tube amp - Brent likes to use
Fender Twins.
But is all of this really necessary to get the Brent Mason
tone? Absolutely not. If you're a phenomenal player like Brent, then
you could probably play the cheapest guitar you could possibly think of
through the crummiest amp you could find and people will still be
going, "Man, how did you get that to sound so good?" 95 percent of it
is the player, in their hands and the way they respond to just picking
up the guitar and playing it. It comes from their heart and the way
they play. For example, even when I play through this pedalboard, I
sound totally different than Brent. Remember, you can still have a
great setup and sound amazing, but each person is going to sound
unique.
Brian Wampler is an author, effects designer/builder and operates IndyGuitarist Custom Effects - IndyGuitarist.com. His books include How to Build Effect Pedals, How to Modify Effect Pedals, and Advanced DIY Effect Pedals available at GuitarTone.net.
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