How to build a budget guitar rig and pedalboard using mini pedals

First is to plan out what effects you want to buy and what sort of music you're going to use it. In my case I wanted to a blues rig where I will be needing a reverb and an overdrive plus I love delay effects so, I'd like to add a digital delay with it. So, for now in my head I needed three mini pedals which are Reverb, Delay and Overdrive.

Now, with that in mind, the next step is to build your pedalboard. And if you don't have the pedal, buy it one by one. In my case, I already got the reverb pedal. So I had to buy the delay and overdrive. Then, with my pedalboard, I received a birthday coupon from Ikea so I decided to buy the Knagglig wooden box and build a pedalboard out of it.

Next is to buy accessories to the pedalboard like Velcro and the patch cables. I opted for the angle patch cable. Then, its time to put it together and arrange your mini effects pedals according to preference. When I researched about the arrangement of the pedals, they often suggest to start with Wah if you got then Overdrive, then Distortion, then Modulation i.e. Chorus, Flange or Phase, then Delay or Reverb.

And here it is:

Knagglig Box
Angle Patch Cable
Velcro Hook and Loop
EX gear ENO reverb pedal
Cuvave Dig Delay
Cuvave Overdrive

Mosky DTC 4-in-1 Missing Link pedal

I found the missing link, the missing pedal for this Mosky DTC 4-in-1 and it's the ENO EX gear Reverb pedal. Please see my other blog post and review of this ENO EX gear Reverb Pedal for more info about the pedal. Here's the link: ENO Reverb Pedal Demo

Mosky DTC 4-in-1 got delay, loop, overdrive and distortion and it's really a good buy, total bargain to have all these three effects in one. As a beginner guitarist, these are your essential pedal and you can start jamming with friends and do school gigs, birthday parties of family members or classmates. The only thing with setup up is that on a clean mode or bypass mode, when there's no effects turned on, your guitar will sound dry unless your guitar amp got a built-in reverb. That's why the missing pedal for this one is the reverb pedal. Your setup will sound a lot more better with the reverb on. Yes, your delay pedal can be tweaked into a spring reverb or echo. Like on my old post I converted the delay effects of this Mosky DTC 4-in-1 to a spring reverb. Here's the link: Delay Converted To A Spring Reverb. But, then you will miss a proper delay effects when you need it because you used it as your replacement reverb. Hence, you ought to have a separate reverb pedal and a separate delay pedal.

On the video above, you will hear the difference when it's on and when it's off. Also you will hear as well that it blends nicely with the overdrive and distortion and even with the delay effects. This reverb pedal is not only the missing link to this Mosky DTC 4-in-1 but also if you're building a pedalboard for yourself, always consider to buy and put a reverb pedal. It adds colour to your sound.

Hope this helps and see you again soon. 

ENO EX gear Reverb Pedal review

I bought this pedal because I wanted a reverb pedal to go along with my Mosky DTC 4-in-1. I think the Mosky DTC is missing a reverb pedal. This pedal is very affordable and very versatile. It has a lot to offer. Only downside is that it is digital so sometimes when you tweak it while playing, there's a bit of delay before it actually works. What I mean is that when you turn the selector from ROOM to SPRING for example, it doesn't change automatically. Same goes when you turn the TIME knob, there's a bit of delay before it actually set. But my plan with this reverb pedal is to set it to my preferred sound and leave it that way. Technically, this will stay on each time.

About the pedal, it's tiny and lightweight. My impression is that it's cheap material. But as I said it's going to stay on most of the time so I wont be stepping on this pedal often. The knobs are LEVEL, DRY/WET, TIME and the selector between ROOM, SPRING and WELL. It is very versatile and has got a lot to offer. You just have to find the sweet spot of this pedal. So far, I am happy with my purchase.

Cuvave Digital Delay demo

I needed a reverse delay effects pedal and I ended up buying this cheap digital delay which has got 9 options to choose from and one of which is the Reverse delay. This is the Cuvave digital delay. It is well-built, very nice sound quality and again it's a mini pedal so it's small, lightweight and portable which is what Im aiming for.

The downside of this pedal is that it has no Level or Mix control. Meaning the sound of the delay pedal is already set and I find it very prominent. So if I want a delay pedal that is subtle or adjust it to mix to my sound, then this is the wrong pedal. But, if I want to use this on a particular part of a song or during recording, then it is totally fine. It will do the job nicely.

Here are the 9 Delay options to choose from:

l. Clean - The original sound with delay effect
2. Bubble - You can imagine a wah-wah delay under water
3. Mod - A clean delay but with slight tremolo modulation effect
4. Reverse - Recorded guitar part on a tape and flip the tape over for playback. It is designed for kind of "old school rock"
5. Sweep - An echo delay sound with sweep effect
6. Tape - You will hear a smooth sound of an old tape echo machine
7. Mic - The delay sound like in a microphone
8. Analog - It consist in a delay unit followed by a lowpass filter with saturation. This is as close as you can get to the charming nature of an old analog delay
9. Lofi - From the term "low-fidelity." It is a recorded music that is of lower quality than usual standard but it is also a style.