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Since I’m relatively new to pedals, I really took an open stance on how to approach fusing my style of playing with the Smashing Pumpkins' sound. I wanted to find a series of pedals that allowed me to add those shoegazey-style twinkles and reverb while simultaneously retaining my super-heavy metal roots. It’s really a pedalboard that serves a variety of styles, yet not too complex.
Before I joined the Pumpkins, my pedals were minimal to none. I really only used distortion straight from the amp head, maybe a wah once in a while. Rarely did I ever play on clean. In my previous band, Vigil of War, we ran through Kemper amps, so many of our effects were pre-programmed as well.
Now, I feel like I’ve been exposed to a whole new – yet old school – world of sound design. I really love analog pedals and how tactile it is to adjust your settings on the fly, though doing the “pedal dance” on the downbeat can be a tricky one for some of the more complex Pumpkins songs. It’s really allowed me to tap into my own creativity and expand my songwriting abilities with a wider arsenal of sounds.
I honestly wouldn’t know a fraction of what I know without being in the Pumpkins. Billy [Corgan] has really been an incredible mentor and showed me the ropes of how to dial in tone, and it’s been an honor since he has such a vast knowledge of pedals.
It’s helped me learn to choose sounds that balance frequencies and that add balance to songs and play harmoniously with other band members, rather than just tones that sound cool sitting at home with a library on my computer, which I love to do, but is definitely a different vibe.
I really love analog pedals and how tactile it is to adjust your settings on the fly, though doing the “pedal dance” on the downbeat can be a tricky one for some of the more complex Pumpkins songs
Though I’ve spent the last year dialing in pedals, I still have so much to learn. I know that it’ll be a forever learning process, changing with time as my own creativity changes. It’ll probably never be perfect, but that’s sort of the beauty of it.
I don’t think there really is a wrong way to do things with pedals. If you have a sound that works for how you want to voice something, run with it. It’s all about getting to the end result at the end of the day, and if that’s routing your pedalboard differently than others, but it fits your sound and music, then run with it! No judgment here.
My pedalboard is powered by Voodoo Labs Pedal Power 3+ [pedalboard power supply], and the channel switching is done via MIDI to Revv Generator 120 Head signal chain into amp input. I’ve got a Mogami guitar cable with Neutrik gold right-angle silent ends, and then, on the board, I’ve got a Dunlop 95Q wah wah, an Interstellar Audio Octonaut Hyperdrive [overdrive].
And then, I’ve got a Chase Tone Fuzz Fella [fuzz], an Electro-Harmonix Pitch Fork [pitch shifter], which is controlled by the Dunlop Volume X Pedal [second from right], an Axxess Electronic Compat/A [Input] Buffer, and an AnalogMan Mini Chorus, and that inputs into the amp. Then, there’s the signal flow in the FX loop.
Starting with the amp send, there’s the Dunlop Volume X Pedal, the Boss TU-3S [Chromatic Tuner], the Walrus Audio Lore [Reverse Soundscape Generator] pedal, and the MXR Joshua [Ambient] Echo pedal with tap control. And then, I’ve got another Axxess Electronic Compat/A [Input] Buffer, with an amp return.
If I had to choose one pedal for a full show:
The Interstellar Audio Octonaut [overdrive]. One, it looks incredible. Two, I love the distortion tone I can get from it. It mixes well with my clean channel and works well as a boost for my distortion.
- This article first appeared in Guitar World. Subscribe and save.
