Lots of pedalboard pondering ahead, read at your own risk.
And, I mean, the thread title sorta spoils the ending, so just take a look then read the rest as a flashback if you want to
So, over the last year, I've been building a secondary band board. I wanted to keep it as cheap as possible, but also give it enough variety to cover everything the band needs. I was willing to make sacrifices and strip down my fuzz selection, but what I put together can more than cover enough of our sounds. I also wanted it to be able to run direct out, preferably XLR, from an amp/cab sim with acceptable sound at the lowest possible price point.
(The main impetus is that our band lost its practice space, and we needed at at-home, headphones/silent solution to keep rehearsing through a little mixer. I've also played plenty of solo gigs with a ZT Lunchbox for me onstage, to monitor and to feedback if I want to, and the PA getting the line signal from the back of that. A "direct options" board seems like a way to cut out the middleman of the amp if necessary, like for these home practices.)
I use delay and reverb, with pretty much any dark, clangy 'verb at the end fitting the bill for this band for texture. I recently realized that while it's completely unlike our "space garage" vibe, the sound of Billy Bragg's "Back To Basics" is a BIG but unlikely sonic influence. I finally caved and put an RV-2 on the main live board, because that's MY sound, damn it.
For delay, I usually use a DD-5 for tap tempo dotted eighths, and an occasional slapback throughout the set. But our closer calls for a DD-5, Mode 4, maxed. Almost like a "fading Frippertronics" thing, that builds to a white noise throb that I jump off something onto a kill switch and choke. 2000ms, maxed repeats, the first of them as loud or even louder than the dry signal. I rarely put this through any reverb except maybe a splash of amp spring, because I want the chop and rhythm to cut.
For this budget/alternates board, I'd been using a Donner RevEcho (following a NUX Edge Delay that covers all the tap-tempo stuff well enough). The Donner's not perfect, but reverb at the end, with a digital delay into it that goes up to 2000ms. Seems like a solution, right? I've realized that even on top of the Rev being hard to dial in for my sound (though it's a fine sound, just fiddly - too wet or too dry where I want it to live), it's also got a volume drop. And I don't think it's just the perceived one with reverb either.
On top of that, the delay seems to have a very slight modulation to it. Which is...fine? But not exactly what I was looking for. Frustrating, because not only did it fit the space constraints perfectly, I was now going to need to find 2 pedals - one for acceptable end-of-chain reverb, and one for a clear, crisp, digital, 2000ms delay. Both on a budget, and both tiny.
OR... I'd have to find another 2-in-1 pedal. That does a lo-fi, clangy plate reverb in the vein of my RV-2 AND does the 2000ms without modulation or "faux analog" high-end rolloff.
I think you see where this is going.
I hadn't realized that the RV-3 went up to 2000ms, because I almost exclusively play it in R+D settings that only go up to a shorter max time. And for straight reverb, I've always loved it, but I love the RV-2 just a little more. Though I prefer the -3's wet/dry control.
But there it was. A clangy, lo-fi, clearly-"digital" plate reverb setting like I like it, and a simple, crisp 2000ms delay that has that Boss Clarity without any diffusion.
And as a bonus, with a little pushing and shoving and rearranging, thanks to the less-common form factor, I was still able to fit the Donner in at the end of the chain, in a place where nothing else I have will fit! Even with the volume drop, I'm sure I could still find a use for it in one of our more wide-dynamics noisy Sonic Youth-goes-Krautrock numbers. If you KNOW and can accept that there's a volume drop, the Donner is still a pretty cool pedal, really deep settings, and I'd recommend it at the $30 I found it for. Just didn't work here.
So I put my RV-3 on this DI-option board, but had to pull it from ANOTHER board, where it was doing a very nice job. So I started thinking about grabbing a second one of these. It's exactly the kind of pedal I love, and they're only getting older. I check the usual websites, pop a couple in my digital cart to ponder in the near future, and go to bed. One of 'em, the least expensive I could find, was well below the average rate. Had some wear on it, but no serious gouges or anything. Woke up to an offer from the seller for a SERIOUS discount. Like 25% off.
So I've got another on the way. I trust Boss build quality. And in case it doesn't function, that website has a buyer guarantee, no matter what the listing says.
Not exactly the "affordaboard" I'd hoped, but still in NUX-level territory, not Strymon.
Boss, you crafty ol' bastard. Still solving pedalboard problems in 2023, with 30-year old tech.
