Mikey Demus's Pedalboard Dynamics and Essential Tone Components

I was unable to find footage from the Birmingham show for that first track - so the Norwich UAE version is a suitable substitute for sound-reference purposes. In fact I spent a lot of time trying to find live footage of the Birmingham event in general, and the only thing I managed to unearth to-date is the below full segment of track #3 'Machines' - which is more core Rockerverb / Red Mist MKIV territory - with some cool Wah / Whammy flourishes.

I had a slight conundrum as to what order I should visualise the pedals - and decided to go with the actual pedalboard layout in the end as it was pictured - much like I did with Josh Smith. I liaised with Mikey on the actual signal-chain order which flows as follows :

Manson Mikey Signature MD-2 Guitar > CryBaby EVH Wah > Boss ES-8 Switcher > Boss TU-3 Tuner (Tuner Out) > DigiTech Whammy 5 > ThorpyFX Peacekeeper Overdrive > ThorpyFX Warthog Distortion > RedBeard Red Mist MKIV Distortion > Redbeard Honey Badger Sub-Octave Fuzz > Strymon Deco Tape Effects Simulator > Boss NS-2 Noise Suppressor > Caroline Kilbobyte Lo-Fi Delay > Boss RE-20 Space Echo - Tape EchoVerb > Custom Junction Box > MXR CAE MC403 Pedal Power > Orange Rockerverb 100 MKIII / PPC212V

I'm very familiar with all these featured pedals actually and my own collection and pedal-chain overlaps very significantly in effects coverage. For me the stars of the show here are the two Redbeard Effects pedals - and the Wah and Whammy - which Mikey uses to such singularly great effect on most of his tracks.

Here follow a few more details on each :

This Eddie Van Halen Signature CryBaby Wah is a great match for Mikey's soundstage - and the specific frequency sweep really suits his core tones. This is one of those original large format Wah pedals I'm not that keen on myself - preferring something a little more pedal-board friendly - in fact most recently I've made do with more dynamic filters and auto-wahs - like the Dr Scientist Dusk. I do appreciate a good Wah though - more in the compact territory likely though - while Rob Chapman recently seemed to prove that the larger ones sounded better! I already have the CryBaby CBM95 and 535Q Mini Wahs. And always intended to get the JHS modded Mini Super Wah and Wilson Mini Q Wah before I headed off into Filter and Auto-Was territory. Based on this recent inspiration I may well look to bringing an actual manual Wah back into the chain - we'll see. Besides having the just-right frequency range and two blue on-indicator LEDs - there really isn't anything other significant to the EVH Wah - there are no additional knobs or switches for optional settings for instance.

Lots of players have used this pedal to great effect over the years, while I will always associate it as the 'Tom Morello' effect - popularised via the solo section of 'Killing in the Name Of'. Mikey does some fantastic flourishes with this pedal - utilising it both superbly within rhythm work as well as solo accentuation. For my taste the pedal has always been a touch large and impractical for my exact needs - so my preferred take on this is the significantly more diminutive DigiTech Whammy Ricochet which allows you to do much the same (but not exactly) by utilising its footswitch in momentary fashion. The Ricochet contains both Classic Whammy and Chords Modes and most of what you get on the bigger Whammy 5 - but you don't get quite the same degree of fine control or nuance. Possibly DigiTech will see there way to doing a slightly more compact version of the treadle / rocker variety!

Industry standard switching solution for gigging musicians. I've not really done a whole load of due diligence on these types of pedals - but know I would be generally looking at Boss, Morningstar, OneControl and TheGigRig if I wanted to go down this direction. For the 8-Loops category - it's probably a toss-up between the Boss ES8 and the Morningstar MC8 - each has its own benefits.

I really should have said it in the intro - but nearly everything in Mikey's rig is textural - besides the Space Echo - which is more expansive / ambient. That's why he make use of the Kilobyte Lo-Fi delay - which adds a little bit of grain to the feedback trails. Currently I don't have any dedicated direct alternative for this in my rig. I have the Lo-FI mode on the Boss DD-200, but will certainly have more options when my Cooper FX Arcades arrives. I also have the Echo with Lo-Fi mode on my EHX Oceans 12 - so already have some degree of coverage for the Kilobyte - for sure a really cool textural delay, but not one I would considering adding as just that one singular flavour - and thereby replacing one of my more versatile pedals. I feel that my Eventide H9 Max should have something to offer in this area - but I don't think Eventide are fully up to speed with the more lo-fi side of things yet.

Another industry standard tuner with high accuracy and high visibility - I personally probably prefer the mini tuners - either one of the black TCE PolyTune Minis or the Sonic Research ST-300 Mini Turbo Tuner. For the larger compact format the Boss would definitely be in the frame too, alongside the standard Sonic Research ST-300, TC Electronic - and probably my current favourite in that form factor - the Peterson StroboStomp HD.

If you're packing a lot of heat on your board - you really need a decent noise-gate and I side with Mikey on the NS-2 being one of the all-time best candidates for that role. My version is the Alchemy Audio modded one with superior components for better signal-to-noise ratio - it makes a significant difference to the dynamics of my rig - but if the standard default one works fine for Mikey then that's all good too. For my own setup all my noisier gain pedals go through the loop on the pedal, while the lower gain pedals are on pass-through. I've tried a number of alternatives in this area, but for some reason my Alchemy Boss NS-2 version seems to work the best still.

The Roland RE-201 Space Echo is one of the 3 legendary Tape Style / Magnetic Delay effects units alongside the Binson Echorec 2 and Maestro Echoplex EP-3. When I had the Boss RV-500 unit in my rig, the Space Echo algortihm was by far and away my favourite mode, also one of my favourite modes on the Empress EchoSystem Delay Workstation. In fact currently I have versions of it on 4 of my pedal-chain pedals - the Boss DD-200, Strymon Volante, Eventide H9 Max and EHX Oceans 12. Of the current stand-alone solid-state units the RE-20 is still the most feature-complete in most ways - while I would really like to see a Boss 200 series adaptation of this effect - as I find Boss's old dual-pedal form-factor a touch clunky. A Boss RE-200 would just be superb and I'm sure they would sell quite a number of those too!

Obviously one of my favourite overdrives too - in my own chain on slot #9 as a slightly soft Klone-style overdrive - but also as a Boost for a variety of down-stream pedals including the Redbeard Red Mist MKIV! I'm pretty sure Mikey uses this largely as a boost too for both the Warthog and Red Mist. The Peacekeeper is still somewhat under the radar for many players - but it's one of the most versatile Boost/Overdrive pedals out there, and it's clever combination of pre- and post-EQ gives you a proper extended range of textures and tones.

Adrian's extended range take on the Rat-style circuit is many a player's secret weapon (including Mick Taylor of TPS) - with its rather enormous gain coverage. And as an avowed Thorpy fan it's certainly one of my favourite flavours in that area, while it can play somewhat of an understudy role to my all-time favourite in that sort of category - Dr Scientist's Frazz Dazzler - which gives me even more control over tone-shaping and distortion / fuzz textures. In any case the Warthog is very similar to the Peacekeeper in dynamics - in having a huge gain and textural range - so it can sound as smooth or as grinding as you need it to really.

Sort of the other other Strymon Tape Style Effect after the Volante and El Capistan units. The Deco is much more of a textural effect - based on reel-to-reel tape manipulation for the purposes of creating extra saturation, thickness and grit in the signal path - as well as classic tape-effects like flanging and slapback echo. If used correctly the Double-Tracking effect can be a sort of fairy-dust for your tone, particularly on a stereo soundstage - and for which purposes I use the TCE Mimiq Doubler to equally great effect.

Currently my favourite all-rounder Higher Gain pedal - very well settled on slot #26 in my pedal-chain. My current 'High Gain' section of the chain consists of the Red Mist, Redbeard Honey Badger, Empress Heavy, and the MI Effects Megalith Delta - which 4 have me pretty much covered for all high-gain eventualities. I do have pedals which range slightly higher gain and more extreme and aggressive, but the Red Mist gives me that perfect combination of crunchy saturation with punchy percussive tightness - it certainly sounds immense in my rig - and I have various pedals upstream from it which I can further stack or boost with. The Red Mist is equally adept at crunchy rhythm work or singing solo saturation.

This is essentially two great pedals in one as the default output without the octave effect is another fantastic rather crunchy high gain fuzzstortion that serves as a great companion and counterpart to the Red Mist. And then when you kick in the octave effect - which you can blend bewtween one and two octaves down - you get that excellent cutting and grinding edge to it - which is used so well in the Big Tings track. I have not always been the biggest fan of Octave-Down / Sub-Octave Fuzz pedals - but Mikey and Adrian have done another sterling job on dialling in and calibrating this one just right. Both the Red Mist and Honey Badger are just perfectly balanced for me.

Mikey's Junction Box almost at the end of the chain is using just 2 of the ins/outs - the EVH Wah goes into one (which goes into the Boss ES8) and the other goes out to the Orange Rockerverb 100 Amp. The box also provides power to the MXR CAE MC403 Power Supply which is mounted below the board.

A somewhat large but still pretty impressive power supply with 2 x 9V AC outputs (800mA), 4 x 18V DC (125mA), 2 x 6.5-15V Variable DX outputs (200mA), and 8 x 9VDC (80mA). I personally have my own preferences in this area as highlighted in several features on this site. It's as much about finding an exact match for your power requirements though - so the MC403 is just perfect here. Generally though I feel that Cioks has kind of stollen a march on most companies in the area of power supplies.

Another industry-standard component which perfectly suits this number and arrangement of pedals. For me Schmidt Array will always be the aspirational choice for pedalboards, with Temple Audio's Templeboards and Pedaltrain's Boards the more utilitarian choice.

Probably the favourite solderless patch cables for pro-players as heavily advocated by Dan Steinhardt of That Pedal Show and TheGigRig fame. Most likely what I would go for too if considering solderless, while my long-term choice is still the soldered EBS Premium Gold Flat Patch Cables!