Still working in progress...Agent Fox Mulder’s Gilmour/Floyd Pedal BoardWritten by Agent Fox MulderA lot of people asked me about effect pedals that I use, about my pedal board. What I have? How did I choose them? What it sounds like? So I planned to write this kind of article about a year ago. But I didn’t have much time for writing it. Until now, I just finished my studying in university level. Finally, it’s a good chance to start writing this article.
My playing & tones can categorize into two modes. The first one is the Blues/Clapton mode, based on my favorite Eric Clapton tone that I love. My concept is the tone that can use for playing both classic & modern Clapton stuffs. From Cream, Derek & The Dominos to From the Cradle album, this is trying to replicate his present tone today. Nowadays, he use just only his signature Strat with mid boost & T&B boost circuit plugs directly into Fender tweed twin ’57 reissue amp. The overdrive he gets is from cranked Fender amp with a little help from mid boost from his signature Strat.
I use minimum effect unit for the purest tone for the Blues/Clapton mode. My selected choice is using a couple Boss Blues Driver BD-2 Keeley Phat mod with Ibanez Tube Screamer TS-9 in front of it. BD-2 is a main overdrive unit while TS-9 use for boosting gain on BD-2, make my tone sounds fatter and dirtier when I want. Mostly I use my Red Strat with EMG DG-20 for playing the Blues/Clapton mode, it has mid boost & T&B boost circuit which closed to Clapton signature Strat. So I can boost my guitar signal that goes into the amp too.
Two pedals on the dirty bricks. This picture taken from a jam gig at my university, which I took on Blues/Clapton mode. I played “Crossroads” and “Texas Flood” with only BD-2 on. I didn’t stomp on TS-9 that night. Although, it sounds very good.
My main guitar for Blues/Clapton mode, the Red Strat. A 1993-94 MIJ candy apple red Standard Strat model with EMG DG-20 active pickups and boost circuit. It delivers fat, powerful humbucker-liked tone. Very good for bluesy stuff.Now, let’s move to another mode. The Floyd/Gilmour mode is quite different from the Blues/Clapton mode. For playing those Floyd stuff with my Pink Floyd cover band called “Phi”, I have to use a lot of pedals for getting the signature tone for each songs. For example, the Big Muff is necessary for create lead tone on Time, Money & Comfortably Numb. Delay unit with accurate delay time setting is necessary for create feedback that you heard on Run Like Hell, Time & outro of Shine On. The compressor is important for boosting clean signal for playing Shine On intro solo etc. Moreover, one song can contain a lot of different tone for each part. For example, intro of Time is clean signal boost with compressor for smoother sound plus delay feedback at 450ms, while the rhythm part is mid-gain overdrive sound. And of course, the solo is Big Muff lead tone. So I have to create a medium size pedal board with various stompboxes for wider range of tone. My concept is trying to replicate David Gilmour’s 2006 tour pedal board that was build by Pete Cornish, which is enough for cover almost every famous Floyd tunes and try to sounds close to David’s present tone.
The early version of 2006 On An Island tour David’s board on stage without Triangle EHX Muff & T-Rex Replica Delay.
This graphic illustrates each unit on his 2006 OAI pedal board , consists of (from left to right)
- Demeter Compulator
- Pete Cornish G-2
- Pete Cornish P-1 (labeled “Muff”)
- BK Butler Tube Driver #1 (clean volume boost)
- BK Butler Tube Driver #2 (overdrive)
- Boss GE-7
- Switch for turn on/off Uni-Vibe on the effect rack
- Pete Cornish TES delay unit based on Boss DD-2
- Switch for turn on/off MXR delay on the effect rackAs you can see, primay effect units which he used are a compressor, two distortion/fuzz units, two overdrive units, Uni-Vibe & delay units. So what I tried to do was finding the closet unit for each David's pedal and matching them until they sound "right".
After spend two years for doing this kind of things, which did in "trial & errors" style. It ended up with this final version of the pedal board.
Comparing between each unit of the real david's pedal board and my pedal board.
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Demeter Compulator >>
Boss CS-2-
Pete Cornish G-2 >>
Marshall Guv’ Nor Clone (labeled "G-2")-
Pete Cornish P-1 (labeled “Muff”) >>
Custom Big Muff (labeled "P-1")-
BK Butler Tube Driver #1 (clean volume boost) >>
Tubeworks Tube Driver-
BK Butler Tube Driver #2 (overdrive) >>
Boss BD-2 (Keeley Phat Mod)-
Boss GE-7 >> Dropped
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Switch for turn on/off Uni-Vibe on the effect rack >>
Voodoo Lab Micro Vibe-
Pete Cornish TES delay unit based on Boss DD-2 >>
Boss DD-20-
Switch for turn on/off MXR delay on the effect rack >>
Boss DD-20(David's units in blue and my units in green)
With additional pedals if needed >> Jim Dunlop Cry Baby Wah (for seagull effect part on Echoes), Digitech Whammy 4 (for Marooned & The Blue), BYOC Large Beaver "Triangle" version and Boss GE-7
Why I didn't put everything on the pedal board? There are two main reasons. I notice that some pedals are rarely used, some of them are unnecessary. Like Boss GE-7, Jim Dunlop Cry Baby Wah Pedal. So they may have the risk of damaging. Another one is because of their weights. My final version of the board I using now (as you see in a picture above) is very heavy for me for handling, traveling etc. Thus, I won't put anything on it anymore. If I have a chance, I will weight it.
For next part, we gonna take a look on each pedal one by one. How I got it? What it sounds like? Its pros & cons? And how I use it? Let's start from the first one in a chain, the Boss CS-2.
1. Boss CS-2 Compression SustainerThe discontinued model that I really love. I remembered one morning on an ordinary school day. I woke up, looked around on guitarthai.com classifieds webboard. And I found this pedal just came out on Music Society Shop (Ratchatavee). So I called to the shop at 9 o'clock, for checking it's still on sale. At noon, me & my friends took a taxi to the shop. Bought it. That's all.
This is one of the greatest compressor pedal that has produced. It sounds warm, smooth and clean. And sounds a lot better that the Boss present model, CS-3. I used CS-3 for a few months and I don't really like it. It sounds muddy, dark and colour my guitar tone. For me, it's the one of the worst pedal which I ever used in my life.
I use CS-2 as a booster for both clean and overdriven signal. It also smooths your playing, gives you the different dynamic. It plays the important role on "Shine On", which contains a lot of clean tone guitar part. Giving very smooth & clean tone all over the song. I also used it with other overdrive/distortion units. Combining CS-2 with mild overdrive setting on Tube Driver will give the fat, bluesy warm lead tone that you heard on The Division Bell album. Stuff like "Wearing Inside Out", the intro of "Coming Back To Life" or the solo of "A Great Day for Freedom" will never sound right without them. Using it with Big Muff will take solo into more dramatic, I sometimes kicks the pedal in while I'm in the middle of 2nd "Comfortably Numb" solo, like David did.
ThaiProg
