Electro-Harmonix Soul Food “Transparent” Overdrive

In 2021, I began to look at FX pedals in a deeper fashion. During this time I was introduced to “Drive Effects”, these are the effects that simulate pushing amplifier tubes to the point of signal distortion.

Drive effects come in three “levels” moving from milder, less-pronounced to wilder, extremely-pronounced: Overdrive, Distortion, and Fuzz.

I wanted an overdrive that did not introduce a large amount of “color” to the guitar signal. These are called “Transparent” overdrives. And the Soul Food from EHX had excellent reviews. And when I found one at Guitar Center for $60, I jumped on it.

And so, my “Pedal Board” (that I was not going to build) grew to two.

MXR Carbon Copy Analog Delay

Also known as an “Echo Pedal”, a delay pedal makes a copy of the original signal and duplicates it while making the copy decay over time.

In the broadest sense; there are Analog and Digital delays, with analog being described as more “warm” and “vintage”. The digital delays are precise. The reader can find better, more in-depth explanations on the Interwebs. I’m just not clever enough to describe all of the different types of delay.

I wanted a delay pedal because they are just cool. In addition, delay pedals have been used on many of the songs I listened to in my now-faded youth.

There were so many options for a delay pedal that I got overwhelmed and went with an extremely reputable brand, MXR.

This beautiful pedal is covered in a deep-green, bass boat sparkle finish. It is built like a tank, is the heaviest pedal I own, has easy-to-understand controls, and sounds fantastic.

It was then that this non-existent “Pedal Board” (the one I refused to build) was up to three.

Electro-Harmonix Bad Stone Phase Shifter and Small Clone Chorus

These were purchased together from a music store on Reverb at a time when EHX had significantly marked down a few of their pedals. And they are the only two brand-spanking new pedals I own.

The two are members of what is broadly referred to as Modulation Effects with Chorus “thickening” the tone, and Phase applying a “swirling” effect. Together, they are a lot of fun!

OK, OK, OK! I ended up building a Pedal Board.