It has been a while since I updated this thread.
here is the last picture posted:


There have been a lot of changes and a few intermediate steps: Here's the board as of yesterday evening:


Okay, I went from 3 gain pedals to 4. I added an RC Boost in front of the LTD where the Mini Clone chorus was (the combination of the very open and dynamic RC Boost with the treble boosted a bit into the smoother, warmer LTD was a real winner), and then moved it (RC Boost) to the big board and added a Jetter Gear Gain Stage. The Gain Stage is a different kind of pedal that takes a while to tweak to find the tone you're looking for. Depending upon your rig and playing style/touch, you can coax some EJ tones out of it. I like it for its very dynamic, clear clipping at lower gain settings (and yes, it has a lot of gain on tap, but it can be a bit sizzly into a Fender type amp, but that makes it seem to cross the line into some fuzz territory which opens up some options). Running the McSqueeze in clean boost mode and a bridge humbucker will give you very Larry Carlton-esque dynamics (clean with light picking, and bite when you really dig in). It also adds a little muscle to the sound as well without over thickening or darkening, but also without attenuating any bottom end. This is covering the duties that the LTD covered. At high amp levels, the Gain Stage shines a bit more as it depends on the amp getting thicker and warmer to let it do its thing. This is one I could play with all day. I'm running this one @ 12.5v (adds just a little more head room, bass tightens up just a bit . . . @16v, the bottom became too tight to my ears).

Next is a prototype Catalinbread Silver Kiss first run series (soon to go into mass production). The LTD got pulled off of the board because the overall tone of the board was changing towards more of a clear (eq neutral), very touch sensitive direction. The LTD will find use as the core pedal of another warm toned board. The Silver Kiss has a very smooth, clear breakup and interactive tone controls. I find I like it set to low gain. It gives a nice low grade "grit" that doesn't get too sizzly unless you really drive it or turn the gain high. You get a clean feel but with just a hint of grit that is clean but not clean. The eq can give you some "liquid" feel to your clean. Turning the treble all the way down warms things up, but at the expense of output level (very interactive tone controls). You also have the option of swapping op amps to find your personal flavor. As of now, I like the stock TL072 the best (check out the Catalinbread forum- The Silver Kiss).
This one also comes to life at higher amp levels. The light smooth clear grit you get at lower levels becomes more of a clear "growl" as the amp opens up. Adding a clean boost to this one, I played a gig this past Friday and spent most of the night with this pedal, a clean boost, and some compression and covered most of the material without having to tweak a knob. Another "all day" pedal (this one is also running @ 12.5v, becomes just a little bit more smooth).

The next change is the MI Audio Tube Zone. The BB Preamp moved to the big board, replacing the Barber Direct Drive SS (which was a bit too compressed and smooth for that board's needs). The BB Preamp was a better fit for both boards, but I wanted the option of getting a little heavier and greater touch sensitivity for this board, and the Tube Zone did the trick. I was able to get much of the warmth of the BB Preamp but the pedal's design gives you a thicker bottom end as well (though I haven't had the need to adjust the internal presence knob). It has an insane range of tones in its 7 knobs (1 internal); most of them useable, some of them not. I can go from a pretty mid rich tone to scooped just by twisting the mids knob. At low gain levels, it can match the LTD's warmth but has more touch sensitivity (the LTD gives you that nice pushed Fender amp like compression). High gain, it can get pretty over the top. The middle ranges (pretty wide sweep) retain a lot of touch sensitivity, but take very well to boosts. While it tends more towards Mesa than Marshall, running the Tour Pro Toggle in front of it adds a gentle, wide range mid warmth (especially in mild compression mode) that really excites the pedal and changes its character a bit. The Tube Zone is one pedal I could cover an entire gig with (running it @16v more potential output levels, a bit smoother).

Picked up a Line 6 Echo Park for a gig this weekend. Heard the horror stories of the hiss issues, and my local store was out of Boss DD20's (which wouldn't fit on the board anyway). I'm running it with the Pedal Power 2, into a non buffered pedal (the only other buffer is the Boss chorus at the end of the chain) and there is no hiss so far. Will have to bypass the pedal completely to hear if there is much of a change in tone, though I'm not that worried as I can run everything after the gain pedals into the amp's fx loop. Decent delay sounds, not as mushy feeling as the DL4 and no level drop.

The other big change is the Xotic X-Blender in place of the Boss Power Supply/ master loop switch for the reverb. Before, I had to run my dry signal through the NanoVerb, and that limited my output level with the reverb as the Alesis only outputs unity gain, and when you mix the dry signal with the reverb, the dry signal's level decreases (naturally) but the net effect is that your overall level drops. When I added boost as well as OD, the Nanoverb's input threshold was crossed and the reverb clipped.

With the X-Blender, my dry signal maintains its level and I can blend in some of the 100% wet reverb signal (which allowed me to lower the NanoVerb's input gain below clipping level). The reverb became cleaner and more distinct, plus, I had "real time" control over the blend with my toe, boost if I needed it, treble and bass to tailor the reverb sound, and a completely wet reverb sound if I bypassed the blend switch.

The other added benefit was that my clean tone was louder and crisper (the Boss pedal was sucking more tone than I realized).

The only other change was that I now run the Tour Pro Toggle at comp cut to keep it as touch sensitive as the other 3 gain pedals (its like having another new pedal).

Oh, and the other pedal on the left is a Marshall Vibratrem. In the midst of checking out the more expensive trems, I had need of one quickly, and the choice was between this one and the Boss. The Boss had a nice warmth, but I didn't want the trem to change my tone. The Marshall boosted the trem level a bit (probably to make up for the perceived level loss). I was pleasantly surprised by the Vibratrem's feel, even when run after the gain pedals, its pulsation felt very amp like. It's now free to float between boards when needed or to add trem to any of my amps.

Current Order
Barber Tone Press=>
PedalworX McSqueeze (50% of time as compressor/boost)_=>
Jetter Gear Gain Stage (@12.5v)=>
Catalinbread Silver Kiss (@12.5v)=>
PedalworX Tour Pro Toggle (comp cut)=>
MI Audio Tube Zone (@16v)=>

jumpered to volume pedal or:
(from FX Loop send)

Super Chili Picoso=>
Ernie Ball Volume Pedal=>
(TU-12 Tuner not in signal chain)
Line6 Echo Park=>
Xotic X-Blender Loop pedal=>
(Alesis NanoVerb in loop)
Boss CH-1 Super Chorus=>
(to FX Loop Return)

This board sounds good into an amp or into the POD. I need to spend some time with the big board again as it has changed along with this one.

That's all for now.

Brett

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Brett Valentine,

what power supply do you use for 12.5v and 16v?

I'm running a Voodoo Labs Pedal Power 2
9v/12.5v Boss pedals outlets
9v/16v Line 6 large pedal outlets

Brett

Most recent change: all non Monster connectors have been replaced with George L's . . .

Brett