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Pedal Alley 2019: Reader Boards

Whether it’s collections of old-school straightforward stomps or elaborate circuits for spacey experimentation, each year we’re blown away by the different pedalboard setups our readers come up with. Here’s a dozen for the tonal takeaway.

5. Erik Holke

When my pedalboard got stolen a year ago, I had to build a new one. I use this one with my Sovtek MIG-50 (modded by Swedish amp-modder Tommy Folkesson, to have two channels) in my band Java Junkies and in church with a worship team here in Gothenburg, Sweden.

I built it using a Gator Pedal Tote board with power and a great carrying bag. The signal flow is: Vox wah, Korg Pitchback mini tuner, Amptweaker PressuRizer compressor, Rev Fat Drive, DOD Gunslinger Mosfet Distortion, Boss TR-2 Tremolo, Dunlop Jimi Hendrix Uni-Vibe, and Electro-Harmonix Canyon Delay. The box down to the left is a combined amp channel switcher and tap-tempo for the Canyon Delay.

I don’t use the wah much, but will miss it if it’s not there. The tuner is small, with a great big display. Quite conveniently, I won the compressor in the 2016 Premier Guitar Stompboxtober giveaway. It’s more advanced than I need, but I’m learning to use it over time, as I really like compression (on everything). I love building things, so I built the Rev Fat Drive as a clone of Lovepedal’s Eternity Overdrive, and I use it a lot. Sometimes I need a distortion, and the DOD is a good versatile choice. I love the Uni-Vibe and can’t live without it, although I don’t use it a lot, as it’s a unique sound. The Canyon is my first tap-tempo delay and it’s revolutionized my delay use. I primarily use the tape-delay sound, but sometimes change to get variation. Rock on!

It’s that time of year, when Premier Guitar readers wow us with the intricate details of their pedalboards. A few highlights for 2019 include a surf board station, a bright board with LED lighting, a Nashville guitarist who gigs on Lower Broadway, and a pedal setup with no frills … and literally no board at all. (All this player needs is beer and broken glass.) As an added bonus, a pro pedal builder shares his demo board and tells us why and how he started building pedals from scratch. Read on, play on, stomp on!

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The range of clean, dirty, and complex tones available from this high-quality, carefully crafted Dumble modeler make it a formidable studio and performance device.

Fantastic variation in many delicious sounds makes it a bargain. High-quality. Easy to use and customize. Killer studio path to lively, responsive guitar sounds.

Price may be hard for some to swallow if they don’t leverage the whole of its potential.

$399

UAFX Enigmatic ’82 Overdrive Special
uaudio.com

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4.5
4.5
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I’ve never played a realDumble. I’d venture most of us haven’t. But given my experiences with James Santiago’s UAFX modeling pedals, most recently theUAFX Lion, I plugged in the new Dumble-inspired UAFX Enigmatic confident I’d taste at least the essence of that very rare elixir. You could argue there is no definitive Dumble sound. Each was customized to some extent for the customer, and they are renowned nearly as much for dynamic responsiveness and flexibility as their singing, complex, clean-to-dirty palettes.

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Supro Montauk Mini Rocker Amp Demo
- YouTube

A 6L6 power section, tube-driven spring reverb, and a versatile array of line outs make this 1x10 combo an appealing and unique 15-watt alternative.

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