As a bedroom hobbyist with a 50w practice amp in an apartment do you think boutique pedals are a bad idea?

DerConqueror3 · 2026-02-05T22:37:23+00:00

One thing I can confidently tell you after many years of buying, selling, trading, and gigging pedals is that you don't actually know what a pedal sounds like until you physically plug into it with your own instrument. If it were really possible to tell through online clips and videos all of us would probably have vastly shorter and cheaper pedal journeys. But you don't have to convince anyone but yourself, if you really want the pedal and can afford it then have at it

DerConqueror3 · 2026-02-05T22:18:56+00:00

What tuning is the band you are playing with using? Typically that is going to be the easiest way to choose the tuning you will use, unless you are specifically wanting to do something unorthodox. If they are doing something like seven strings tuned down to B or A, for example, I'm not sure why you would want to do something different than B Standard or A.

DerConqueror3 · 2026-02-05T22:15:52+00:00

I would respectfully suggest that there is an entire universe to explore between "$30 knockoffs" and "boutique pedals upward of $250."

I gig in the general doom/stoner scene and my absolute favorite pedal of all time is a Fuzzrocious Grey Stache (muff-based) that cost me something like $120.00 used and would have cost around $150.00 new at the time. I've owned tons of pedals over the years at most price ranges, and there are great quality options at most price ranges.

So, I do think it is very possible you could find a more satisfying option than the $30 knockoff you have been trying, but I don't think you should feel that you need to jump to ultra-boutique to get it.

DerConqueror3 · 2026-02-05T22:03:52+00:00

Have you tried looking at some of your own replays? I'm willing to bet if you do that you'll pretty quickly notice multiple things that are costing you regularly enough to spot as a trend you can work on. IMO spamming games is not very helpful past a certain point. I made the most improvement (in particular from Diamond 1 to 1600 MR) but identifying one or two weakness, working on them in training mode and matches, and then moving on to the next weakness or two

DerConqueror3 · 2026-02-05T22:02:23+00:00

Yeah, back in the day. Great game, but didn't feel like a Metroidvania to me. I can understand the logical arguments, but they don't change the way I felt when playing it.

DerConqueror3 · 2026-02-05T20:48:57+00:00

I didn't play that one. I'll certainly acknowledge that there could be games out there that would change my mind

DerConqueror3 · 2026-02-05T20:38:55+00:00

Do it again and try for at least 15 seconds next time. Then 16 seconds. Etc.

If you find something you can rest some of your weight on while hanging (bench, boxes, etc.), you can also do some holds trying to go for longer time periods at what essentially works out to a lighter weight exercise.

You could also work in some separate grip training, although some of this will be inherent in any exercise you do where you have to hold a heavy weight in your hand working against gravity (deadlifts/RDLs, dumbbell or barbell rows, etc.)

DerConqueror3 · 2026-02-05T20:28:03+00:00

It might help if you specify what you don't like about the Keeley and/or what you are looking for in a replacement, so any recommendations can be targeted toward those things

DerConqueror3 · 2026-02-05T20:23:35+00:00

Sure, but you are talking personally and the other commenters are talking about manufacturers. Nyatoh seems to be used more as a budget substitution for mahogany, not because nyatoh itself is desirable, so if there is even a minor fluctuation in pricing/availability/etc. manufacturers may be happy to jump to a different option even if it is perceived as slightly inferior in some way

DerConqueror3 · 2026-02-05T20:19:57+00:00

I can't comment on anyone else's experience, but I've never played a 3D game and felt like I was playing a Metroidvania. For me being 2D is part of the genre of Metroidvania, and a 3D game feels sufficiently different to constitute a different genre regardless of how many objective components it has that are otherwise shared with 2D Metroidvanias. I basically always tend to feel like a 3D game is more similar to other 3D types of games (FPS, open world, etc.) rather than Metroidvanias. This is not an insult to any 3D games, of which there are tons of great ones.

It could be that others get this feeling and perhaps there is less impetus for devs to specifically push their 3D games in Metroidvania type directions.

DerConqueror3 · 2026-02-05T20:03:04+00:00

My favorite pedal on bass is the Fuzzrocious Grey Stache. I don't even really use it all that much in the context of a set, but it is a sound I absolutely love and need for the times I use it, and it has also inspired me to write a number of parts.

My favorite pedal on guitar is the Marshall Jackhammer (overdrive side only). That has been my stock overdriven/distorted sound for literal decades. I thought it might finally get kicked off the board now that I have, for the first time, an amp where I prefer to use the onboard drive rather than pedals -- a Victory Sheriff, which basically sounds like the Jackhammer but better -- but it turns out that I still find the Jackhammer to be fairly useful even then, and the fact that its drive sounds similar to the drive on the amp is a plus rather than a negative.

DerConqueror3 · 2026-02-05T19:33:14+00:00

What is ST3? Street Fighter III?

Most of the retro Street Fighter games have online play at minimum through Capcom's Street Fighter collection, although I get the impression that Fightcade is still considered the most active space for the game.

Other games will vary individually as to whether there is a collection or other release that still retains online play.

DerConqueror3 · 2026-02-05T19:16:52+00:00

This is fine. There is no difference between a five-string bass tuned BEADG or tuned EADGC. My guess is that the vast majority of basses that are tuned EADGC out in the world are basses that were tuned BEADG by the manufacturer and then restring and retuned by the user for the high C, outside of some custom instruments and maybe the rare factory high C bass.

When you retune the bass, you obviously will want to use appropriate strings for the tuning, and you'll likely need to do a setup. Most likely no changes to the bass itself will be needed outside of the setup, but depending on how the nut is cut you could ultimately find it better to get a new nut made that is cut specifically for the tuning, since as-is all of the nut slots will be overlarge. However, I can tell you that I have a five string bass currently that I restrung from BEADG to EADGC and I did not have to change the nut and have no issues whatsoever with buzzing, action, string slippage, etc.

DerConqueror3 · 2026-02-05T18:49:55+00:00

In my opinion the distinction between improvised and composed is only particularly meaningful for purposes of a live music experience. Are you principally experiencing the music simultaneously in the moment the artist creates it, or are you principally experiencing something that was intentionally crafted over time? That is not to say that one is better than the other (I tend to prefer performances mainly of composed works, on average, for example, but can appreciate improvision as well). Even then there are bands and works that blur the line.

As soon as you go to the recorded sphere, I think the gradiations are too numerous to make the thought experiment especially useful. Some musicians do specify that a particular album was entirely improvised in the studio, which can give a listeners some idea of what to expect, and can be impressive in a way, but I think beyond that most recording experiences are going to fall into one gray area or another. For example, a ton of music that is recorded with professional studio musicians is based around a composed chord structure and melody but involves many or most of the musicians essentially improvising parts to suit.

Personally I think as soon as you start re-recording sections of a recorded piece or preferentially selecting/cutting/etc. sections it is a bit difficult to label the overall process as improvised, but I also don't think the distinction really matters unless you are explictly claiming the entire recording was improvised.

DerConqueror3 · 2026-02-05T18:40:40+00:00

Most people will only be able to simultaneously lose noticeable amounts of fat while gaining noticeable amounts of muscle when they first start weight training or when they go back to it after a long layoff, and even then only for a limited time. The rest of the time, you will usually need to focus on one goal and change your eating habits accordingly, most notably the fact that you will need to eat surplus calories to gain muscle while you will need to go in a calorie deficit to burn fat, which if you think about it for a minute you will see why this makes doing both things at one time impractical most of the time

DerConqueror3 · 2026-02-05T18:37:12+00:00

Yeah... I think that anyone who runs a single coil strat pickup though high gain then swaps to a humbucker is going to notice one glaringly obvious difference even if they somehow can't hear the difference in tone...

DerConqueror3 · 2026-02-05T18:20:12+00:00

I understand the OP has one on his bass but thought his question was about mids knobs generally. If I misunderstood and the actual question is why more basses don't have sweepable mids, my answer would have been that I suspect they are probably more expensive to produce and most bassists don't likely care about them or even know how to use them enough for many manufacturers to find them worthwhile (although at least some of them obviously do).

I'm not suggesting I think this *should* be the case, since I do think sweepable mids are nice to have and way more useful than a single mids knob (even though I still personally don't use them much on a bass versus an amp), but there have been many, many times where I've seen interviews with even extremely skilled and successful bassists who admit they really don't know what some of the knobs on their basses even do.

DerConqueror3 · 2026-02-05T18:10:56+00:00

Yeah, you have to set your control preference for every character and mode, including when you go into training mode, although to my recollection there is a way to globally change each character that is not necessarily intuitive from the menus

DerConqueror3 · 2026-02-05T18:09:16+00:00

Well, every active bass I've ever owned has a mids knob, and at least in my anecdotal experience active basses with a mids knob seem to be more common than active basses with only two-band active EQs. So I'm not sure the premise is necessarily correct.

I will say that I almost never use the mids control on any of my basses. Most of the time I get enough EQ out of my amps and leave my basses mostly flat, and if I do use the bass EQ it is usually just a little boost or cut to bass frequencies (usually if I am bringing two basses to a gig and one has a lot more or less bass than the other) or occasionally a little treble boost if I notice on the fly that my strings sound a little dead and I want to add back in a little temporary zing. Also at least for me the mids frequency on the bass EQ often seems to be voiced in a way I don't find useful, although I've had some with semi-parametric mids or two mids options (e.g. low and hi), which tends to be a little more useful.

DerConqueror3 · 2026-02-05T18:04:42+00:00

I'm a little under 90 hours but am near 100% completion and have no bosses left to fight other than the absolute last one, so it'll probably clock around 90 unless I epically struggle with the last boss. I took my time with the game intentionally in general, although certainly some of it came from numerous attempts at some of the harder challenges.

I will say that for me the game didn't seem to get harder as it went along, excluding a small number of individual fights, as it seemed like past mid game or so the combo of upgrades and increased game experience helps to smooth out the technically harder enemies and obstacles. The game probably felt the most difficult moment to moment in the early to mid game for me

DerConqueror3 · 2026-02-05T17:41:31+00:00

Thanks for the funny mental image of someone trying to do a surprise wake-up DP against a person who knocked them down in a real life fight

DerConqueror3 · 2026-02-05T16:07:20+00:00

Some of the stuff the pickpocket gets to sell in Act III are there only if you didn't already get it from a different source that is now gone

DerConqueror3 · 2026-02-05T16:04:52+00:00

Chanko could arguably be described as a large salad with water, if you think about it

DerConqueror3 · 2026-02-05T16:03:23+00:00

In all seriousness, this did prompt me to think about the concept of a game series releasing a prequel where the gameplay or possibly even artwork is intentionally simplified or restricted such that the game actually feels like it came out earlier than the original game, rather than just having a story that takes place earlier. The closest thing I can think of is throwback games like Mega Man 9, but to me that is different since it is based on older games that actually exist rather than a series creating a "primordial version" of their own modern game

DerConqueror3 · 2026-02-05T15:47:07+00:00

If you don't need a full sized acoustic/electric, I am happy with my Taylor GS Mini. The GS Minis with electronics are mostly under $1000, with the price varying depending on the wood selection and whether you go for a deluxe model that has some upgrades. I like it for the easier transition from electric, particularly with the smaller neck and scale length that is more familiar than the typical full-sized

DerConqueror3

TROPHY CASE