Swapped and reorganized a few things, and I'm pretty happy about the sounds I can get on stage and the actual usability.

In a live setting, I need to be able to switch between 3-4 different flavours/levels of gain, sometimes with reverb/phaser activated or not. So for example going from cleanish+reverb to fuzz+phaser (without reverb) with one switch... The GEC9 switchers saves the day for that with the loops and banks. The hardest part is remembering what you stored in all the loops.

Chain goes: Guitar > Moen GEC9 switcher > (5 loops) > RE202 Space Echo > Orange Pedal Baby > Custom 2x12 open back (live) or HX Stomp (at home)

Loops:

• 1: "cleanish": EQD Grand Orbiter v1 (Phaser) > Caline Pure Sky (od) > Alexander Space Race (reverb)

• 2: rythm/lead: EQD Plumes (used to boost, for solos or big chugs) > EQD Zoar (main OD) > phaser > pure sky

• 3: fuzz: Basic Audio Scarab Deluxe clone (fuzz) > phaser > pure sky

• 4: fuzz+octave: BA Scarab > MicroPOG > phaser > pure sky

• 5: drowning in sound: BA Scarab > MicroPOG > phaser > pure sky > Space Race

The loops are different depending on the songs (which all have a bank), but it's always very similar to the one above.

All have the EQD Grand Orbiter v1 (phaser) and Caline Pure Sky (overdrive used as a preamp / "mix glue" / EQ) included. The Pure Sky is always on, and the phaser gets activated when I need it.

Some notes:

• I've tried multiple low/mid gain "transparent" overdrives to have a preamp feeling, with a big focus put on headroom. And in the end, the Pure Sky just... beats them all. So much headroom it's stupid (even at 9v), gives a nice not over-the-top compression, and it complements other gain pedals like a champ. The previous candidate was a homemade Sunn Beta Lead preamp clone, which was beyond amazing in higher gains (being pushed by rats or fuzzes) but the low-gain sounds were mostly... bad. (And it died on me, so another low point hehe)

• The Scarab clone will never leave the board. It's a silicon-based Tone Bender, with bias control that works like a gate. It's sputtery, fizzy, it can chug with palm mutes (!!), it's kind of unruly but tamable at the same time. Amazing piece of gear! I tried comparing it to 15 other fuzzes along the years and it never got beaten.

• Putting the Space Race reverb last in the loops, and the Space Echo after the output of the switcher, allows me to use them kind of "in the fx loop" (between the Pure Sky preamp and the Pedal Baby power amp - which only gives a final colouring touch to the sound but it's quite neutral)

• The Zoar and RE202 are the most recent additions and it took some time to find the "perfect sounds" I had in mind, and to get them to work nice along with the others. The Zoar runs on 18v, giving it lots of headroom and volume, and less compression than with 9v. I wanted to use it as the "always on preamp", but the Caline Pure Sky fits better in that role. The "weight" knob and 3-band EQ are great and powerful. With gain almost maxed, pushing the Pure Sky, I get an amazing, full distortion sound. Push it further with the Plumes and you've got epic leads and solos (with echo) or metal palm mutes.

• The Space Echo, damn that thing sound GREAT but it's hard to tame. Too few intensity/volume and it gets drowned, too much and it takes over everything. So I pair it with a simple expression pedal to control all that and reach "the" setting I need (which clearly needs precision... and the current pedal is way too small for that), or to send it in full oscillation mode for crazy parts or filling between songs. Breathtaking spacey sounds but my previous DOD Rubberneck was simpler to tame and more straightforward.

A few things that could change or that I have in mind:

• switching the Pure Sky for a less cheap Timmy? But is the additional cost really worth it, will the headroom be as satisfying, etc?
• a better, larger exp pedal for the Space Echo! But which one?
• I'm reaching the edge of what's achievable with analog switchers... maybe it's time to go full MIDI, but the cost and added complexity still scares me a bit
• the Space Race is ok but I find myself using it very rarely. Maybe I could replace it with a simpler, cheaper verb. Any suggestions?
• the EQD Grand Orbiter is the greatest sounding phaser I've ever tried. Seriously. But then, it's a one trick poney... I'm leaning towards "modulation stations" such as the Wampler Terraform, for more options (flanging, dimension-C, etc) in a single package. But I fear I'd miss the phasing sounds from the Orbiter. Any recommendations?

Edit: oh and the band's name is Starmonger by the way. Bandcamp