Here's a picture of my pedalboard.
As I'm not a "rocker", it sits on a table. Most of the effects boxes are not used all at once, or very subtle for cleaner tones. IE: jazz, soft blues, oldies, etc. Some of the boxes are only for a certain tone for a certain artist and songs. IE: Santana (Samba Pati), George Benson (Breezin). Certain jazz guitar tones that I can't get on a Les Paul vs an Archtop.
It took a lot of "pedal" purchases and returns (thank goodness for Amazon great customer policy), to find the best quality and sound. (these things can get very pricey).
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Tips:
Plan well. The order of the effects boxes make a difference. Test and test and test. Play everything. Do preliminary layouts on the floor until you figure out what you need or don't need, the sizes of the boxes, etc. Then. . . buy the base to fit what you have.
And, allow for expansion.
Get the best isolated power supply that you can afford. Otherwise "hum", "hiss", and other nasties will come through.
In general, you get what you pay for. Cheap boxes sound cheap and introduce noise, hum, hiss, pop, etc.
Other tip: quality subtle effects equipment puts back the sound and tone quality that is lost when instruments get "amped" (plugged in). Using effects boxes this way on acoustic guitars, ukes, etc, can help a lot in a live setting, or even just quality practice sounds at home. Using effects boxes doesn't mean that one is not a "purist", and other myths, etc.
This is similar to running a Sure SM stage mic through an optical compressor, etc, on a sound system to put back the vocal richness that is stripped by the electronics.
Note: There are only 3 boxes here that I have on all the time. The rest I could do without if it came to that.
Fender: "The Bends" (compressor, etc).
"Blue Note" (similar but tube compressor like), This can be very very subtle and is a "sleeper". (not cheap).
and the "Reverb" (higher quality than the one on my practice amp).
**MXR is a great brand with consistent quality. But not the cheapest.
Note: There's a different "hearing" in practice that happens when you hear an acoustic instrument like a guitar, uke, etc, (not a piano), vs when it is "plugged" in and the sound is coming from across the room toward you, like you're the listener. Not to mention, when you make a mistake, you will indeed hear it. It will stand out like an elephant in the room. Whether poor technique, bad timing, off anything.
Way back when, some of my music teachers would have us bring cassette tape recorders to lessons, then replay whatever we were doing. Even my voice teacher. Gosh. Things sounded terrible when played back that way. AArgh!!
Pedalboards can be very cool. You can put on a headband and pretend you're playing with Dire Straits, or a Tie Die Shirt for some Hendrix, or Doo Wop. . . and . . . relive one's youth. . . distant past. . . .
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