Boss DD-5

This is one of those pedals I didn't appreciate until it was gone, and now I'm looking to pick it up again. Nothing else can quite approximate the super-clean repeats this pedal puts out. This is worth picking up for the dotted-eighth setting alone. I got lost in that one pretty frequently, particularly once I built a cheap little tap tempo pedal to dictate repeat times. It works in stereo, too, which wasn't an option for me when I owned it--I've since switched to two amps, and wish I'd been able to hear this pedal.

I'll be buying this again. The problem is that I bought this one for $60, and I'm not likely to find that good a deal again, so I wait.

I traded this in to finance another delay purchase, and one that I don't regret--the EHX Deluxe Memory Boy--but, in what's become a running theme for gear purchasing, I regret selling most of the things I unload. My unofficial rule is that I can't have more pedals than can fit on my board, and running three delays feels a tad crazy. But I love them so much...

Digitech Synth Wah

Digitech seems to be pretty hit-or-miss. Every once in a while, they have a great idea (Whammy, Timebender, Space Station), but mostly--since the days when they were DOD--they seem to provide pretty respectable knock-offs of better known pedals. For pretty much every Boss pedals that sells well, you can find a Digitech pedal that's not quite as good, but a little cheaper. They seem to be turning away from this practice, but this Synth Wah does not typify that move.

For me, it's kind of a toy. As much as I like unusual effects, this pedal gives the sense of the kind of laser gun stuff that turns people off from synth effects. I like 'em big and beefy with lots of bass, maybe octave voices, and controllable filter sweeps. This pedal doesn't track well on my guitars, and the controls feel difficult enough for me to have gotten rid of this. I picked it up in a trade (in the name of science!) and never found any real use for it. When I think synth, I think Moog--big, analog monsters that are really complicated with lots of dials and a sound that shakes the walls. This pedal imagines synths as novelty settings on a keyboard. Bummer!

Seymour Duncan Shape Shifter Tremolo

The Shape Shifter gets absolutely no love. It's very difficult to find information on it, and no one seems to have them. Seems like a limited run from a pedal maker that doesn't have a reputation that attracts weirdos. If you want to make inventive pedals, start an off-brand (call it something unusual and give it some ugly graphics--no one wants to buy out-of-the-ordinary pedals from Seymour Duncan or Boss).

This is a tap-tempo tremolo pedal with a surprising amount of tweakability. A quick rundown: "depth" is self-explanatory, as I've only encountered a couple trem pedals without this parameter. The "Shape" control is great, as you can dial in an almost percussive sequencer like effect by pushing the shape toward allowing only the attack of the note. Not a subtle effect, but a very cool one.

"Wave" is, again, a pretty standard trem inclusion, but this one does go a little beyond the TR-2's use of only two waveforms (triangle and square). The Shape Shifter throws a sine form into the mix, and it approximates a more "amp-like" effect.

Lastly, there's the "Rate" control, which can be switched from either a "ratio" that responds to the tempo you tap into the pedal, or to a more standard logarithmic pot-type effect. The ratio thing is very cool, and what sets this pedal apart, as you can pretty easily tap in quarter notes, position the knob over the 4:1 ration graphic, and see your signal get chopped with a hard square-wave trem to the tempo of a live drummer.

The only problem (and a well documented one) with tap-tempo trem pedals is that they have one inherent difference from tap-tempo delays. A delay lets a note echo, but the note decays. A trem--while the note decays naturally, as we don't usually have infinite sustain--is locked into a pattern. In other words, a trem has a consistently graphable pattern of modulation. It works like a click track; delays will respond to your playing. For this reason, I tend to use it as a hard square-wave chop, as, when the effect is more obvious, it is easier for live drummers to play with. Sort of like playing to a sequencer.

All in all, a cool pedal, and one that I don't use a ton live. It has its moments...but I don't deploy it with subtlety, so I use it sparingly. A couple cool tricks--putting this before the Microsynth can trigger it so that it does really fast filter sweeps. I can play one note, let it ring, and have the trem chop my signal as it goes into the synth like a whole bunch of staccato notes. Also, after slow filter sweeps is a great place for a hard chopped signal, as it really does the whole "electronica/percussive sampled sound" thing.

MXR Dyna Comp

What's to say here? If you're reading this, you've probably owned this pedal, and you've certainly heard it in action. I tend to use it with one of the two knobs (output or sensitivity) pretty much dimed. Sensitivity gives you that clicky, percussive "Nashville sound" that comes in handy every now and again. Mostly, though, I use it as a kind of line driver for leads. This pedal is also indispensable for live and recorded bass playing, particularly with low-output J Bass pickups. Not the most exciting piece of gear, but one that sees a lot of use.