No Pedals?

[Yardbird Mac]

How many of you play straight through your amp with NO effects... and why?

[Offshore Angler]

Sometimes. If it fits what we're playing then that's what I use. Sometimes the sound of my Esquire direct into the amp is just what the doctor ordered. Other times not.

[sliding-tom]

Except for the very occasional use of an OD pedal (to mimick a small maxed tube amp) I go straight. Why? I'm old school.

[Kap'n]

I usually have some sort of dirt pedal. If I crank up the amp to get the dirt I need, and solely use the volume control on the guitar, I find my cleans aren't as clean as I'd like.

[rudutch]

Except for the very occasional use of an OD pedal (to mimick a small maxed tube amp) I go straight. Why? I'm old school.

+1

[Don]

For the kind of music that I like to play, no pedals are needed, but with the guys who I jam with, I need a pedal or two.

Hopefully, my tweed Deluxe clone has replaced OD pedals.

[ampdan]

Back in the 70's/80's I used all kinds of effects, mainly because we did cover tunes that called for a certain effect. I became concerned that I didn't really have my own "sound" so I started practicing without any effects, and realized that the effects were covering up some really sloppy playing. I also discovered that you can get a really beautiful tone with a good guitar/amp combo. clean using different pick attack, palm muting etc. Bottom line, I became a much better guitar player. So other than the occasional vintage crybaby, it's been guitar/cord/amp. ever since.

[KevinWaide]

Wah and overdrive are pretty much all I use. I have a delay and chorus on my pedal board, but I rarely ever touch them, except for the Hendrix covers.

[Wilko]

I use an overdrive pedal only when I have to play at lower volumes than a DR on "6".

I do it because tube amps are where that sound is supposed to com from. Not some little box trying to emulate the sound a of a good amp.

[Jonnda]

If I am using no effects it is because I am either playing bid band jazz, or because i forgot to charge/change batteries, can't find the patch cables, or because i don't feel like hauling the whole mess with me. This is all quite common.

I don't have any fancy tube amps, all i got is a nice 1970's vintage yamaha with greenbaum-esque "spirit in the sky" overdrive on board and a reverb tank that died last year... i really ought to replace that.

anywho, If I ever go to a jam i usually take my Bad Monkey and/or boss chorus. Either that or my behringer x v-Amp... but that can be distracting.

[photoweborama]

I have a bunch of pedals, but I actually play straight in most of the time. I just like having them...

[Kap'n]

I do it because tube amps are where that sound is supposed to com from. Not some little box trying to emulate the sound a of a good amp.

True and false.

If you want/need to get a sound like the Bluesbreakers album, you need to hit your amp with some sort of pedal, period. Because that's the way it was done.

Or, if you need to cover modern rock, you need either a pedal, or some sort of bogus channel switching amp.

[pc]

Since getting the DRRI I've experienced the joy of no pedals as well, and would do it exclusively if I could. Nothing else sounds quite as good to me.

However, as I've said in other threads, in my main gigging band, I'm the only one who uses an amp onstage, and we monitor with wireless in-ears. If I crank the DRRI to '8' and use the guitar's volume knob to dial between rhythm and lead tones, the full-on '8' is WAY too loud for the stage volume.

So for now (until I too beg a certain masked cartoon animal to build me a lower-wattage gem ) I use my OCD in the same exact way. I have it set to sound as close to a cranked amp as I can, so I can run the amp at '5' or so. The OCD is brilliant at cleaning up but retaining high-end when the volume is rolled back on the guitar, so it achieves the same balance. (The OCD is not set to boost volume, just add hair when full-on).

Aside from that, I haven't been able to wean myself off having my tuner onstage. My guitars don't usually drift unless I do a lot of whammy stuff on the Strat during a particular song, but I just like the security blanket of the tuner. However, my ears are good enough to hand-tune if things drift. I just have to get myself to that point where I don't seek comfort in the pretty lights of the Peterson Strobostomp.

Then there's wah-wah. I only use it about two times a gig, but I love it when I use it.

The last two gigs I've had I deliberately didn't use the delay pedal, and I feel I have indeed been, er, weaned from that.

[Don]

I have to admit that, since getting the tweed Deluxe clone, I am hurting real bad for a tremolo pedal!
I need a tremolo fix ASAP!!!

[68Bassman]

I never used any pedals with the BF Princeton or Champ 12 because I liked the tone without any pedals. However, lately now using a DRRI I like using an OD pedal sometimes, still experimenting and trying different options. Basically, I like the no pedal theory as long as the sound is good, simplicity maybe.

_____________________________
...purposely omitted any mention of the HRDlx

[NTBluesGuitar]

I have nothing against pedals, and will most likely own some in the future.

However, my current goal is to be able to get as many quality sounds as possible with just my hands, my guitar, and my amp.

So, no, I don't have any at this time.

[flintpunk]

I love the sound of nothing but a cord between me and the amp, so a lot of times, I'll practice that way. Unfortunately, when doing covers, I need my tuner, cry baby, compression, OD, distortion, tremolo, chorus, phasing, delay and sometimes talk box. My board is big, but it helps me cover a lot of ground. As far as losing my identity in my rig, I say that my identity comes more from my playing style than my sound. I tend to use my own sound on my originals, but even then I sometimes include effects to color the song to how it's supposed to feel. Other times I don't.

[jerryjg]

with my Marshall JCM 800, the Tubescreamer in front is DeRigeur. For a Fender amp, I would go no pedal.

[Erock_Germany]

I do but a little bit different.......I have a LS 2 line selector after my tuner and A/B it - A goes then into the Marshall DSL 50 (with a Y cable) and B goes through a long effects chain and then into the Marshall DSL 50.

I find myself using the straight Amp sounds about 50% of the time.

This setup works very well and gives me huge flexibility in my sound.

[Plugger]

I've always been a straight-into-the-amp guy. Why? I like the sound of a guitar. Really.

I mean, you're not _really_ going to shell out the big bucks just to get the fabled "tone" of a '59 burst, and then plug it into a fuzz box, are you?

Wire and wood. I think some of the coolest sounds to ever some out of an electric guitar are "au naturel".

And, of course, I like the sound of my amp. That has to be pretty much a given.

Except for my Vox wah (which I do very much enjoy using on the occasional Hendrix song, I must admit) my "effects" are vibrato, palm muting, volume swells, pinch harmonics, and pickup selection. And a bit of reverb on the amp, (but strictly speaking, that's not a pedal...)

When I decide I've really exhausted the possibilities of the above, I guess I'll look more seriously into the whole pedal board thing.

Oh, and the other very important reason. I'm inherently lazy. Much less gear to lug around/go wrong/keep track of.

-Mark

[WideAwake]

Depends on song list for the week, really. Mostly I just use OD, unless the songs call for something else. I don't ever use a chorus, never been a big fan of that sound, really.

[pc]

You're next after Jim.

[JJ Gross]

Depends what I'm doing at the time. Practice is always guitar-cord-amp, usually into the Twin. I've been doing some mods on it that allow me to get really good sounds from it without setting off car alarms a block away. A recent (and very simple) UL > triode conversion on 2 of the power tubes has helped a lot with that. If I use a drive unit, it's always my homemade Bluesbreaker clone set for medium to mild overdrive. That way I can get a ton of different drive sounds with just my hands.

Live I use a few things like a Microvibe, wha and the BB clone. As time goes by I'm finding I use them all less and less.

[jrgtr42]

For me, it depends on the amp I',m playing. i have a few that I play nekkid (the amp, not me...)
But others I;'ll use my board. I don't think it makes me any less of a player for using a few boxes in there, in fact, it gives me a lot more flexibility. I primarily use my dirt boses, switching on and off, but the chorus and delay get a lot as well. I have a Phase 90 on there as well that doesn;t get a ton of use, but it's enough that I like it there.

[Yardbird Mac]

OK... I'll chime in. The only effects I use are Delay (probably too much!), and very rarely a little bit of Chorus (rhythm only). I played straight through the TRAYNOR this afternoon and I had forgotten just how good an unaltered/unprocessed guitar/amp sound can be!