I’ve wanted to explore some more effects pedals for my guitar and synths, with the aim to replicate shoegaze and or psychedelic rock sounds. I already own a Zoom G3XN and MS 70 CDR, but part of me wants to add a few pedals to my workflow. I just worry they may not add anything to my set up that I don’t already have access to in the G3XN. Does anyone have any advice or recommendations?
Consider getting a decent reverb pedal, it can easily add a lot of depth and sonic control to the end of your chain. You’ll have to listen to some demos to see what you like, but it’s probably one of the best standalone pedal investments that you can make.
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Chroma Console seems like that would help a lot for the genre’s you’re aiming for
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If it’s for synth and guitars look for pedals that accept line level as well.
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I ordered one, then canceled it. Part of me thinks I might love it, but the lack of parameter controls worries me a bit.
Any reverbs that you would recommend?
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Meris Mercury 7 is crazy out there!
Strymon pedals are always solid!
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A better question is “are there any reverbs that I don’t like?” and I’m not sure if there’s a solid answer on that either, you really have to get a feel for how it suits your ear. Some of them have great shimmer and crazy spacy sounding stuff which might be great for some, but that’s not the reverb pedal I’m looking for.
I’m pretty happy with walrus stuff, I have their fathom reverb and it’s a really good, versatile pedal, but they have a couple more that are different flavored. There’s a lot of boutique stuff, there’s stereo pedals that will be good for synths and guitar. I think you’ll have to listen to a few.
Eventide space reverb or black hole are super unique sounding, would probably lean in the direction of the music that you want to make but either of them would be an investment, especially space reverb is not cheap.
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Those multi-effects definitely have all the effects you could want for those genres so at this point it’s about upgrading for either a slightly better tone(I bet the zoom fuzz sound kinda sucks) or the ability to stack effects in a way you can’t already. Either way, welcome to the eurorack of the guitar world lol. Pedals are a never ending wormhole so I’d recommend doing lots of research or buying and selling a lot to find the things that really speak to you.
I would second the Chroma Console rec because it seems to be nothing but sweet spots and is very simple to use but I’m sure adding a third, complicated multi-effect is like, the opposite of what you’re trying to do
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I think you’ve answered your own question - there aren’t any pedals that will give you any more than you can already get from the MS70 or G3XN (I own both and have played with many, many others in search for Kevin Shields’ SPX90 Reverse Gated Reverb (Loveless) or Midiverb II Preset 43 (Isn’t Anything)).
The bottom line is that any pedal with reverse reverb will get you shoegazing. The MS-70 CDR already has a few of these - the Reverse Reverb, Early Reflections and the Space Hole can all do a reverse envelope reverb.
An alternative approach is to use a multi tap delay with the taps increasing in volume. Again, the MS-70 CDR has this in it MultiTap delay effect once you dial in the correct pattern. Otherwise there are pedals like the EHX Hazarai that can do the same thing. It’s a punchier sound than reverse reverb, but has a similar woozy effect with the right tremolo arm technique.
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Overdrive and distortion are two effects I was considering purchasing specifically. I was thinking about buying the Boss BD-2 and run it into the Pro Cat Rat 2 (an article on Sweetwater mentioned this combo as common in shoegaze set ups, but I’m not sure if both of them together is overkill)
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Analog overdrive is always a good thing. For psychrock a Fuzz of any description is a must, but for MBV style shoegaze you’ll want something a bit more focused given that you’ll be slathering your signal in reverse reverb. Something like the OCD, Boss Blues Driver or similar would be good here.
For a different style of shoegaze, Swervedriver’s resident guitar genius Adam Franklin is a big fan of the Boss HM-2 Heavy Metal Distortion.
Here’s an example of an OCD clone into a Hazarai for massive wall of sound MBV goodness:
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So you wouldn’t recommend the Boss BD2 for my purposes?
Catalinbread Soft Focus (reverb)
DBA Rooms (reverb) ((Most DBA pedals are great))
Line6 DL-4 Mk2 (delay and reverb and looper)
Fender Jazzmaster and strum with the whammy bar in hand
DOD Thrashmaster (distortion that shoegazes well)
Boss HM-2 (high gain that isn’t just for chainsaw)
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Look for the gear that guitarists you like use the most. Soecially in certain bands/genres there’s certain flavors of od/dist/fuzz that are a must.
They all play well with synths (maybe fuzz not much) but try to use them at lower volume levels so you have more dynamic range.
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The end of the day I don’t think it matters a lot. The pedal industry is approaching audiophile levels of bull dust, which is the antithesis of how shoegaze came about: cheap guitars (Jazzmasters that nobody wanted in the late '80s) into standard pedals (mostly Boss) into standard amps (mostly Marshall JCM-800s).
The real key to shoegaze IMO is experimenting with these standard elements to create interesting combinations - e.g. putting wah after fuzz to maximise sweep intensity (a’la Swervedriver’s Duress) or the aforementioned overdrive into reverse reverb (all over MBV’s Loveless). It’s about your approach to layering effects rather than the pedals themselves IMO.
That, and a deep appreciation for Alan Moulder.
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Thanks for taking the time to explain, that clears things up for me a bit.
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I’ve been doing live shoegaze things for years, jamming with friends and live shows, with a TC nova system, it’s absolute stellar for that type of music, at least for me. Then I won with my band a music contest and with the 
I bought a TC g system. You can find it cheap nowadays.
And the end two years ago I bought an empress Zoia which sounds great and cover you for everything. With zoia you don’t need another pedal. I was surprised that how it sounds digital distorsión on Zoia through my twin reverb, best sounding digital distortion for me. I think that this pedal is a must have. With it you don’t need more.
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Basically:
Guitar —> Fuzz —> Reverb —> Amp
Between Fuzz and Reverb consider:
Distortion / Overdrive (for boosted leads); Delay/Chorus/Flange for modulating sounds.
I don’t play Shoegaze but since I use Fuzz into Reverb/Delay my sound is sometimes compared to it…I use a large pedal board that combines flexible routing of EHX22500 looper / FuzzFactory (into Boss EQ) / CountToFive; this then goes into Molecular Disruptor into Lossy (both of which have some reverb in their algorithms) into Blooper into EHX 1440 looper into Low Pass/High Pass into Prussian Blue Reverb (very subtle reverb).
You can hear this on my latest release here for reference (keep in mind I’m using a Moog guitar that self sustains and lots of handheld objects on the guitar but otherwise the pedals do what they would do for any guitar):
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