pedalz!

probably my favorite part of guitar gear geekiness - signal path!!!  i love pedals.  you can probably blame pink floyd and incubus for my early obsession with effects.  while i do believe that simplicity is often the way to go, i love the creativity factor that effects can unleash on a band's sound.  it's also another reason i like watching gear tours and studying famous players' setups.  some pedals truly are legendary and instantly recognizable, and the lengths that some guitarists go in considering their signal path can be quite mind-boggling.

my effects set-up is quite simple.  my pedal chain is as follows:

1.  line 6 x2 xds95 digital wireless instrument system - decided to go wireless (funny when you think about just how many wires are still involved!) when C21 started playing live.  i like being able to walk around the stage and up to the crowd without tripping over myself.  this line 6 unit is worth every penny (and it's pretty affordable).  it's extremely easy to operate; just pick a channel/frequency and make sure it's different from the other players in your band.  as you can see in the picture the receiver unit (xdr1) is very compact and discreet; no antennas to worry about  it can run off dc or battery power.  the transmitter unit (xdt1) is equally convenient (extremely lightweight) and runs off of a 9-volt battery.  the clip that comes on the xdt1 is pretty worthless, but it doesn't matter to me since i just tape it to my guitar strap.  can probably get a good 6 hours of playing out of a new battery (i usually only go wireless live, so it's not a wallet-breaker).  i've tested it's range pretty thoroughly, and as long as there aren't any significant obstructions in its path, the x2 will transmit fine up to around 100 ft.  i can't notice any real reduction in sound quality compared to wired playing.  line 6 really struck gold with this thing.  everyone in C21 has one, and it's definitely the best option for a lower priced wireless system.
2.  boss tu-3 chromatic tuner - what can i say?  it's a good tuner, suits me fine.  i use it as a mute button for my rig as well.  i would consider replacing it with a korg pitchblack tuner, if i suddenly had cash to burn.  but really i like the boss just fine.  pretty much every piece of signal path advice i've ever heard or read says to put the tuner up front or on its own.
3.  morley vai2 steve vai bad horsie 2 contour wah - my first wah was a dunlop crybaby, but i get a terrible feedback screech in the closed position.  i picked up the morley because i wanted an optical wah. it only stays active while you're moving the pedal (maybe about a half second delay turning off), so you don't have to stomp it like most wahs.  its a big sucker; as you can see in the picture it hogs quite a bit of my board space.  as far as sound goes, the sweep is probably too thin for players used to the crybaby sound.  i bought for convenience of use over sound, since i didn't really use wah much in the first place.  nowadays i'm using it a whole lot more.  i don't generally use the contour and level adjustments.  the default setting is about where i want to be in terms of range and volume.  occasionally the sensor will get stuck on, in which case i have to open it up and place some electrical take over some of the light path.  really need to wd40 this thing as well, because it's super squeaky.  i'd like a more organic sounding wah eventually, but i haven't found another optical wah that i'd be interested in yet.
4.  mxr phase 100 - i bought this phaser because i'd read about the famous and widely used phase 90 pedal and figured it's big brother was a safe bet.  i was right.  like most mxr pedals, it looks awesome (especially the orange), it's solid as rock, and very easy to use.  i usually keep the speed set around 10-11 o'clock and the intensity in the far right position.  i don't use it much in original stuff (yet), but it's essential for playing certain covers (especially incubus).  i use to play mudshovel by staind at C21 shows.  i have a boss ph-3 phase shifter as well, and it's a neat pedal.  but i prefer the simplicity of the phase 100 and it's more organic and "in the mix" sound for my live rig.
5. mxr blue box - in my pedal explorations, i noticed that a lot of guitarists had the infamous blue box on board but never really used it.  it's quite a novelty with its adorable baby blue casing and it's absolutely insane sound.  it's a combination of an octaver and a fuzz distortion, and with the blend pushed full tilt (like i have it) it sounds wicked; kinda like a cliff burton-esque bass effect.  i figured i might use it for melvins stuff.  i only use it in two songs at the moment (but hey i use it): the quiet verse sections of altermind (C21) and the verses in bulls on parade (second band).  i keep the output set pretty low for a subtle, background fuzz lead.  very cool pedal, if extremely impractical.
6. boss dd-6 digital delay - this is the pedal i use the most.  it's pretty essential to my sound.  it's got a bunch of neat features (twiddling the knobs on this thing can lead to some crazy sound experiments).  you can even set your own delay tempo by tapping your foot (i imagine that's pretty much impossible to do on the fly). again to keep things simple, i pretty much keep everything set to midnight on the 800 millisecond mode.  aside from serving as my delay effect, i use it as a sort of reverb/volume booster on my distorted leads (since the reverb went out on my amp).  take a listen to the derailing choo choo train solo in "takedown" (C21) if you want an idea of its sound.  if i have the money, i'd like to try an mxr carbon copy or an electro harmonix memory man in its place (analog/true bypass for the win!), but for now i love this pedal.
7. boss ns-2 noise suppressor - first off, i'd like to say i love boss pedals.  they are well-built, attractive looking, and the effects are impressive despite being all digital.  that being said, you'd think a noise suppressor would be pretty self explanatory.  i've been frequently frustrated by this thing, because it seems to have a mind of its own as far as when it kicks in.  i bought it for the same reason any player that uses a significant number of effects buys one; i wanted to kill some of the hiss that comes from dozens of cable connections and power sources.  i also tend to get a lot of unwanted feedback since i usually stand pretty close to my amp at practice and in cramped live settings.  when i stomp this pedal i don't really notice any noice reduction, although it will sometimes take care of my feedback problem which is why i keep it around.  i'm not convinced there isn't something wrong with it, but i've read a lot of mixed success stories when it comes to noise reduction pedals.  i probably should see about replacing it, but i haven't done a lot of research into alternative options.

that's it; pretty simple!  i'm only really trigger happy with the delay.  occasionally i'll throw in some wah and phaser for fun.  and the blue box looks cool...
i used to use the effects loop on my amp, but found that it killed the volume on some of the pedals (especially the blue box!) and really diminished my guitar tone.  so now i plug the guitar straight into the board and go from the board straight into the low input on my amp.  sounds good to me!  i also have a boss ac-3 acoustic simulator pedal.  i like my clean channel just fine, and haven't really found a place where an acoustic sound is needed.  i will say it does do a pretty good job making your electric sound acoustic.  i particularly like the "jumbo" setting.  i have noticed that if i play aggressively with it on, i'll get some distorted speaker pop type noises.  not sure if i'll use it in the future.  i also have an mxr evh 117 flanger, which i don't particularly like.  i don't seem to need a flanger sound at this point in time, and the evh requires a separate 18v power supply.  i had it on the board for a while before i got the morley wah, and i only used the built-in evh setting.  it produced a lot of excess noise and the volume level tended to fluctuate pretty dramatically in the effects loop.  don't think i'll be using it anytime soon if anyone is interested in buying it. 

i use an axis pedal board with a built in power distribution system, and power cables for 6 pedals.  it's got a felt-like top that i velcro the pedals too (they stick on their pretty tight), i even stuck my amp's footswitch on it.  i use two one-stop adapters to power the board and wireless unit, and hosa 6 inch jumper cables between the pedals.  between the board and amp (and from amp head to speaker cab) i use what i think are called fender "vintage" (?) cables that have a durable stitched covering and last a good while.  i also use a monster standard 100 instrument cable from my guitar to the board.

whew, that's all i can think of in terms of my signal path.

rock on,
z