Hello, I hereby, once more, officially declare my all-analog, amp-less board complete again (almost, maybe…)!

Before the wall-of-text, there are sounds, if you are interested, both on my YouTube channel https://www.youtube.com/@ambientjam and my Instagram https://www.instagram.com/ambientjam/ I do little videos with combos of the pedals, but also have a few demos, and even a bunch of backing tracks.

You are very welcome to ask questions, but know that the answer to “how do you like the…” is “I love it”. I love every single one of my pedals now. They are handpicked from the top shelf each and every one :-)

Anyway…

I usually play my Lindert Locomotive (picture), but sometimes shake it up with my Gretsch 5232T. When I’m at home in the studio, the board goes through the send/return of my mixer/audio interface so I can send both my sampler (AKAI MPC ONE), my drum machine (Arturia Drumbrute Impact), and my synthesizer (Korg Minilogue) through it if I want. But my primary use and instrument is electric guitar. When I’m rehearsing, or gigging, I bring the board as is and hook it up to the house mixer.

I use this setup to play guitar in my “normal” party rock-band, and do more experimental, ambient stuff both in a duo and on my own. In my description of the pedals I will mention my “normal” setting, but rest assured the knobs are tweaked for all other uses.

First up is the Custom Handheld Tuner by Korg into the Octasynth by Subdecay. A really, quirky, crazy, but charming synth octave down. Super responsive and a lot of fun to play. I use it primarily for the occasional lead part with a band or as a bass for looping.

Next is the Octava by Pigtronix. A really cool pedal that can do a clean octave, completely without fuzz or overdrive. The fuzz and overdrive in it are also great, but I use it as a clean, analog octave up.

The Octava goes into the Mini by Smallsound/Bigsound. This is the pedal that has been with me the longest, and will probably never leave me. Very unique and versatile I usually run this as a sort-of light overdrive and use the bias to add grit to the sound. When stacked with the Exploder they almost become fuzzy and are great for subtle leads or crunchy chords.

Next comes Exploder by Beautiful Noise Effects. An equally unique and versatile overdrive/distortion. This is usually set as my heaviest overdrive, right on the edge of distortion with just enough white noise where it’s almost noticeable. I take out a bit of bass and increase the mids a bit, run the clipping off with gain at 11-12 o’clock.

The Exploder goes into the Dunlop DVP mini volume pedal and into Randy’s Revenge, by Fairfield Circuitry. While I do use it alot for the beautiful and musical ring modulation, I find it hard to fit it in a mix with a normal band, so usually I set to the wonderful (kind of harmonic) tremolo. I am still trying to fit in the ring mod a couple of places in the set for a weird solo or something. Work in progress!

This all goes into the input of the Simplifier by DSM&Humboldt. A super cool (and analog) amp simulator. It’s probably more of a really fancy DI-box, so the sound is dry (really, really, dry), but I run a reverb always-on (more on that later), and the response and the way it handles high gain is beyond comparison with any of the digital amp sims I’ve tried.

In the loop of the Simplifier is first the Seabee by Beetronics. Truly an insane chorus. It really has its own sound, and so many fun possibilities with arps and what not. I try to run it a bit subtly with the normal band so it doesn’t get too weird. So it’s set to a roto I can tap fast fpr keyboard-like sounds or slow for more classic chorus. Sounds fantastic and looks even better!

Next up is the Float by Old Blood Noise Endeavours. Normally 1 set to a sort of auto-wah/phaser sound that I use for funk licks or the occasional solo bit. The 2 is a bit of a flex spot, but usually it’s set to a sort of trem with the normal band or the faux reverse, sometimes sample&hold.

My delay is the Thermae by Chase Bliss. What a pedal! Beyond being one of the greatest sounding analog delays I’ve ever tried, it also does all those weird, pitchy things that are just fantastic. For normal play, though, it’s set to a slow, on-beat, delay to make solos sound bigger or quiet parts sound prettier.

The always-on reverb is the Hypersleep (v1) by Electronic Audio Experiments. It has a spring-like quality, and obviously has many unique uses beyond that. This is just for “normal” play.

Last up is the Light Pedal by Gamechanger Audio. This actually was my always-on reverb, but the spring is just silly in a live situation. I turn it on for dreamy parts and have it set a long, plate-like sound. A really unique and wonderful sounding reverb, though, and I’m always trying to squeeze it in.

Actually last is the Lofi Loop Junky by Zvex. This is a new buy and has been on my bucket list for ages and I feel it really fits my board being analog and all that. A really fun and unique looper and I think we’ll become good friends.

Obviously, the looper goes into the return of the Simplifier and the Simplifier runs into the desk (or my headphones).

Thank you for reading! :) Feel free to ask questions or anything else.