Which pedal is 'irreplaceable' on your board?

[Al Krow]

If you were allowed to keep just one pedal (excluding multi-fxs) on your board, what would it be and why?

For me (right now!) it would be my SA Manta. It's not my 'favourite' pedal, or the most expensive, or even the one I'm likely to use the most; but as a filter pedal I'm not sure there is anything comparable or as versatile out there for the money. 

Not really looking for generic pedal types (e.g. a tuner or compressor) - what I'm really interested in is which pedal on your board delivers that something special that few alternative pedals that are likely to come close for you, but also what it is delivering to make it special?

PS Please feel free to post clips of your irreplaceable pedal on your 'fav' settings played through your 'goto' rig.

WARNING! This thread may result in pedal GAS

Edited May 29, 2018 by Al Krow

[ezbass]

My ‘right now’ pedal would be my Tech21 VTDI. I used to just use it as a separate EQ for slap work with advantage of a DI should I have an amp failure, but now it’s on all the time and is the base of my tone. Could I gig without it, yeah, for sure, but it sounds so much better when it’s there.

[BreadBin]

EHX Q-Tron, the original big box version. 

[dannybuoy]

I can cheat and list two, since I have two boards! 

Tech21 DP-3X - studio hard rock sound in a box

Mr Black FwonkBeta - funk in a box

[Al Krow]

16 minutes ago, dannybuoy said:

I can cheat and list two, since I have two boards! 

Tech21 DP-3X - studio hard rock sound in a box

Mr Black FwonkBeta - funk in a box

Well I had assumed it wasn't going to be any from the following short list 

Edited May 28, 2018 by Al Krow

[Quatschmacher]

2 hours ago, dannybuoy said:

I can cheat and list two, since I have two boards! 

Tech21 DP-3X - studio hard rock sound in a box

Mr Black FwonkBeta - funk in a box

I was curious which filter you were keeping after your big sale. 

[dannybuoy]

+ MXR BEF & Discumbobulator!

[ben4343]

TU-3

I typed that slightly tongue in cheek to begin with, but actually, thinking about it, it's truly the only pedal I would be uncomfortable performing without!

[Twigman]

My tuner - I don't have perfect pitch so it's an essential

[oo.viper.oo]

Compressor. I'm using Bayger Sustainer, but any good compressor would do. Why? Check your favourite compressor thread :-)

[Al Krow]

1 hour ago, ben4343 said:

TU-3

I typed that slightly tongue in cheek to begin with, but actually, thinking about it, it's truly the only pedal I would be uncomfortable performing without!

 

53 minutes ago, Twigman said:

My tuner - I don't have perfect pitch so it's an essential

I take your point that a tuner is pretty much essential! But I think we would agree that it could be any tuner i.e. a Korg Pitchblack will do just as well as a Boss TU3? i.e. it's not a particularly special pedal in that sense?

 

30 minutes ago, oo.viper.oo said:

Compressor. I'm using Bayger Sustainer, but any good compressor would do. Why? Check your favourite compressor thread :-)

...and the same point here i.e. as you've said for you 'any good compressor would do'. Now if there was a particular compressor etc. that you have found to be unmatched then that would fit the bill perfectly.

I guess what I'm really interested in here is which pedal on your board delivers something special that would be tricky to substitute or there are few alternative pedals that are likely to come close for you. I'd best update the OP to clarify! 

[fretmeister]

A good compressor.

At the moment it would be a Cali76 Compact Bass, but that could change.

 

I would have picked the dUg pedal if the compressor could have been on without the rest of the pedal being activated. The compressor in it is nowhere near the Cali, but it would have been more versatile overall.

[Twigman]

2 minutes ago, Al Krow said:

 

I take your point that a tuner is pretty much essential! But I think we would agree that it could be any tuner i.e. a Korg Pitchblack will do just as well as a Boss TU3? i.e. it's not a particularly special pedal in that sense?

 

Absolutely - but in that sense it is the ONLY pedal that will ALWAYS have a place on my board.....

 

Wasn't that the question?

[ben4343]

6 minutes ago, Al Krow said:

I take your point that a tuner is pretty much essential! But I think we would agree that it could be any tuner i.e. a Korg Pitchblack will do just as well as a Boss TU3? i.e. it's not a particularly special pedal in that sense?

The fact that it has an inny and an outy for power? I have actually needed to use that a few times, but I don't know how common a feature it is with non-Boss pedals...

I see your point completely though - I rather just surprised myself with the selfdoublebluff of the joke suggestion turning out to be maybe the only must-have pedal I own!

Edit - seems lots of tuners have ins and outs... Still, I won't be buying a different tuner until it breaks and then I probably buy another one, so it won't be leaving my board - I'm sticking to my answer!

Edited May 29, 2018 by ben4343

[Al Krow]

1 minute ago, Twigman said:

Absolutely - but in that sense it is the ONLY pedal that will ALWAYS have a place on my board.....

Wasn't that the question?

You're spot on - it was not a well phrased opening Q (which never helps)! I've now amended - and you and @ben4343 should definitely be allowed to come up with something else if you want - but if it is still the Boss TU3 'cos it beats the competition hands down for you then so be it!  

[Al Krow]

8 hours ago, dannybuoy said:

+ MXR BEF & Discumbobulator!

Hah! So come on DB, you can do this! Which of your FOUR stated pedals is the chosen one and why?

12 hours ago, BreadBin said:

EHX Q-Tron, the original big box version. 

Not one you come across / hear about that often - please do share what makes this particular pedal 'the one' for you?

Edited May 29, 2018 by Al Krow

[Al Krow]

9 hours ago, Quatschmacher said:

I was curious which filter you were keeping after your big sale. 

And Quats - which of your 269 pedals that you and @GisserD have had or still own that would be your respective special / irreplaceable one (and why?) is something I'm very much eagerly waiting to find out too! 

[dannybuoy]

23 minutes ago, Al Krow said:

Hah! So come on DB, you can do this! Which of your FOUR stated pedals is the chosen one and why?

I was just answering the question on which filters I decided to hang onto, not the general thread question!

And @Breadbin, do tell everyone how amazing the big box Q-Tron is so that they can buy mine. Unless you need a spare? 

Edited May 29, 2018 by dannybuoy

[Quatschmacher]

12 minutes ago, dannybuoy said:

And @Breadbin, do tell everyone how amazing the big box Q-Tron is so that they can buy mine. Unless you need a spare? 

I could also sing its praises. I still have one and love it (apart from the size and 24V supply). I’m actually still hoping to find a + version so I can get the loop. 

[Bo0tsy]

I might have to cheat a bit too. My favourite all time pedal (though it's not actually on my board, due to size, "unique" power supply requirements and bypass) is a vintage Mu-Tron III. Not sure if it's truly irreplaceable though as I have a couple of vintage ones, as well as the more modern Mu-Fx 3x version and the Micro Tron III (and yes I do like Mu-Tron's 😁).

Of those pedals actually on my board, I'd have to say Chunk Systems Octavius Squeezer. Yes it's old, no longer made, and the UI is not very intuitive to say the least, but the range of sounds out of the Squeezer are so fat and versatile, and the 50 presets allow me to easily dial in pretty much most of what I need in a single pedal. If it packed up I'd have to try and track down another.

I can vouch that those old big box Q-trons and Mini Q-trons that Dannybuoy is selling really are excellent filters too.  😀

[CameronJ]

It would probably be between my Aguilar Octamizer and Mr. Black Fwonkbeta. The Octamizer edges it though. It was my first pedal (not counting the 24 hours I owned an EHX Micro POG before promptly returning it) and is truly the sound in my head when I think of octavers. I realise that may be heresy to the dedicated OC2 heads out there but so be it.

If my pedalboard were lost or stolen it would be the first thing I bought back, no question.

Edited May 29, 2018 by CameronJ

[jposega]

Broughton Broughctave: it’s easily the best spin on the OC2 in existence today. 

[Twigman]

54 minutes ago, Al Krow said:

but if it is still the Boss TU3 'cos it beats the competition hands down for you then so be it!  

My current tuner isn't a Boss

[BreadBin]

1 hour ago, Al Krow said:

Not one you come across / hear about that often - please do share what makes this particular pedal 'the one' for you?

It's a great envelope filter, funk in a box if you will. I like to combine it with distortion for interesting synth-like sounds. 

[Quatschmacher]

16 hours ago, Al Krow said:

If you were allowed to keep just one pedal (excluding multi-fxs) on your board, what would it be and why?

For me (right now!) it would be my SA Manta. It's not my 'favourite' pedal, or the most expensive, or even the one I'm likely to use the most; but as a filter pedal I'm not sure there is anything comparable or as versatile out there for the money. 

Not really looking for generic pedal types (e.g. a tuner or compressor) - what I'm really interested in is which pedal on your board delivers that something special that few alternative pedals that are likely to come close for you, but also what it is delivering to make it special?

 

WARNING! This thread may result in pedal GAS

As a point of order, I think that the Manta counts as a multi-fx unit; after all, phasers can exist as a stand-alone filter pedal, as can the other variants in there. Plus it has a drive/dirt section.

So, I think you need to either allow multi-fx units (after all, if one were forced to choose only one, why wouldn’t one choose one which covers many bases?) or you need to disallow the Manta.

This is a difficult one for me. The thing is, my pedals function individually as part of a system so having only one part makes little sense on its own. I can safely say that the Mastotron is here to stay, but on its own it is less interesting to me. For sheer versatility it’d be the Manta for me (even though there are better-sounding filters out there).

Honestly though, few things on my board are truly safe.