Shoegaze Pedals setup from scratch

[keshin]

Hey guys I’m running a 15w Monoprice with a CME exclusive player jm with the avri jm pickups.

I mostly play fingerstyle and I’ve been experimenting with some fuzz/delay/reverb pedals my friends have around and really love the shoegazey sound with my playing style.

I want to sound closer to Slowdive or Loveliescrushing than my bloody valentine, something more laid back and soft but not fully ambient like some of loveliescrushing’s later albums.

Currently my only pedal Is a ditto looper but I was thinking about picking up a Keeley Loomer and a boss dd-7 delay pedal to get that shoegaze sound. I also am looking at the 90’s rack units like the midiverb or Yamaha fx500

Other pedals I’m looking at include the rat distortion, polara, cathedral, and walrus audio Afterneath and Bellweather.

I’ve used my friend’s pedal setup of a head rush akai, Ibanez overdrive, and death by audio reverberation machine and it just didn’t get me where I wanted to go.

[tune_link]

Helpful info:

You should be able to find the guitar setup in pics or diagrams of Slowdive by doing a google image search for their pedalboards. They used different effects in the 90s than they do now at least for their live stuff. If you don't want to sound like MBV you definitely don't want to go with the Loomer pedal because that is precisely the sound it aims to emulate. Slowdive used Rats and Boss Distortion pedals not fuzz and I think they still go that route. While their reverb and such was coming from rack mount units like that Yamaha thing back in the 90s I know they all use some different pedals now. Keep in mind a lot of that sound comes from Neil Halstead using a specific amp - the Roland JCM 120 which is a loud solid state amp he used as a pedal platform. When I saw them in 2017 he was running two on stage. I believe Rachel and Christian use Fender combo amps if I'm not mistaken, possible a Fender Twin. Neil doesn't use an offset, live and in studio as far as I know he used Telecasters, Rickenbackers, possibly a Strat, and more recently an Epiphone Casino. Rachel used to use a 72 Thinline Telecaster for a lot of the classic material as far as I know. Christian is the only offset player in that band, specifically using Jazzmasters although I think more recently Rachel has also used one live.

I think their current reverb setup for Christian and Neil is a combination of big box expensive Eventide pedals and Strymon stuff like the Big Sky. Keep in mind that they always have two guitarists and sometimes three depending on the song if Rachel is also playing.

[Jaguar018]

Just keep mixing pedals and settings until you find what your ears are searching for. There is no magic combo here. A bunch of delays, reverbs, distortion and some other odds and ends can and will get you there, but that 'shoegaze sound' is a stew with a bunch of ingredients and depending on the day/month/year, it's changing.

There are cheap pedals that can get you there, and some fancy ones as well, but it will take a while.

For example: an OSGer (OffYourFace) discovered that you can get super-close to a certain MBV flavor with the DigiTech Digiverb pedal with Level and Decay cranked on the Gated setting. I don't think Kevin Shields ever picked one of those pedals up, but it's still pretty fun.

[fuzzjunkie]

Just keep mixing pedals and settings until you find what your ears are searching for. There is no magic combo here. A bunch of delays, reverbs, distortion and some other odds and ends can and will get you there, but that 'shoegaze sound' is a stew with a bunch of ingredients and depending on the day/month/year, it's changing.

There are cheap pedals that can get you there, and some fancy ones as well, but it will take a while.

For example: an OSGer (OffYourFace) discovered that you can get super-close to a certain MBV flavor with the DigiTech Digiverb pedal with Level and Decay cranked on the Gated setting. I don't think Kevin Shields ever picked one of those pedals up, but it's still pretty fun.

In the early days Kevin had a blue DigiTech delay pedal in his chain. It wasn’t the Digiverb though, it was either the 2 Second Delay or the Sampler Delay. I would guess the Sampler for obvious reasons. They were both blue so hard to say for sure.

When I think of a lot of shoegaze outside of MBV, I mostly think of modulated delays and reverbs. Not necessarily chorus, but with two or more guitars playing with modulation a lot of natural chorus starts to happen as the sounds bounce off walls and interact.

A Boss Dimension-C or D is good for that.

Slowdive uses a lot of Eventide and Strymon boxes now in place of the rack stuff, as mentioned previously. Both companies make great modulated delays and reverbs.

[Jaguar018]

In the early days Kevin had a blue DigiTech delay pedal in his chain. It wasn’t the Digiverb though, it was either the 2 Second Delay or the Sampler Delay. I would guess the Sampler for obvious reasons. They were both blue so hard to say for sure.

That guy was a whore for pedals, so I shouldn't be surprised. It's more like what pedal did he not have at one point?

[Singlebladepickup]

Reverse/gated reverb, phaser, digital pitch-shifting, and stereo effects like ping-pong delay. Polara would be a great option, it sounds excellent from what I've heard in demos and it can do the shoegazey reverse/gated. I don't know of any specific shoegaze examples where they're used, but I'm sure flanger and a digital distortion would sound cool for your application.

Meris Polymoon would have you pretty well covered for a slew of effects - it's got stereo delays and time-synced phaser, flanger and chorus, and can do a pretty great reverb if you set it right. With an effects pedal, you can set heel and toe positions to be two completely different sounds (like having presets) or just change one or two things like delay time divisions or modulation depth. I used to have one of those as well as a Strymon Dig, which I loved for it's 80's-ish sound setting and really nice chorusey modulation.

If I were on a mission like yours, i'd probably start off with one of the Zoom multi-fx units and a Polara, then save up for a used pedal from a company like Meris, Strymon, Eventide, etc. that has an effect you know you'll want or that your Zoom can't pull off to your liking.

[Severed Hand]

80’s boss stuff and a Proco Rat.

Boss DM2
Boss DD3
Boss CE2
Boss SD1
Boss RV2
Boss CS2 or CS3 (CS2 is better)

Are all alright by me.

[jorri]

Polara and afterneath are good for this.
Cathedral from my experience was very much not. It seemed far too pedestrian and could only really dial in 'yes my guitar is playing in a larger space than it is'- like a normal usage reverb youd use on rock leads in small quantity.

Really, as long as verb is cranked is good, right. Using a hall algorhythm long decay, 100% wet.
A milder overdrive into it as that already decrease clarity.
And also modulation phaser and chorus is used often in Slowdive if sometimes obscured by the hall.
Can find Christian Saville setup as he is more of the 'synth-like' lead guitar.
Ive tried a midiverb and yamaha (but use a space). May even prefer the midiverb, and i know they also used a Korg.

Loveliescrushing (love lies, or lovelies i never found out!)
More long feedback delays and loopers.
More of the trick of putting reverb before distortion.
Not sure what else he used other than recording earlier albums in a bedroom on portastudio so could be tape distortion, or amp distortion.
Nonetheless similar 100% wet principle but EVEN MORE MUSH by stacking effects and distortion on the output of them.
Slowdive sounds in contrast i seem to get to sound better placing an overdrive before (fulltone OCD clone not even my rat, so whatever boss drive they use is probably closer) Mild gain like extra boost. The verb kind of 'distorts' things enough and replaces use of higher gain drives.

[peterherman]

I LOVE the OBNE Minim for Slowdive-y stuff, especially when I stack it after an MXR reverb on 'pad' mode.

Ultimately, I think the key is to play the effects as instruments. All of the "this is the order for pedals" articles I've ever read are stuck in a blues-rock idiom. If you don't need to sound like Hendrix, put your wah wherever the heck you like the sound in your chain. If you couldn't care less about copping a Stevie Ray tone, run reverb into distortion (you'll sound like The Raveonettes instead, which I'd call a big improvement).

Also, remember that most of the live rigs of the shoegaze greats have been developed to re-create what they put on record. Studio first, in other words. I'd say this is in bright contrast to a lot of more traditional guitar-based rock music that focuses on capturing the live performance in the studio rather than performing the studio sound for a live audience.

[cestlamort]

Ultimately, I think the key is to play the effects as instruments. All of the "this is the order for pedals" articles I've ever read are stuck in a blues-rock idiom. If you don't need to sound like Hendrix, put your wah wherever the heck you like the sound in your chain. If you couldn't care less about copping a Stevie Ray tone, run reverb into distortion (you'll sound like The Raveonettes instead, which I'd call a big improvement).

Also, remember that most of the live rigs of the shoegaze greats have been developed to re-create what they put on record. Studio first, in other words. I'd say this is in bright contrast to a lot of more traditional guitar-based rock music that focuses on capturing the live performance in the studio rather than performing the studio sound for a live audience.

well put.
I'd get a decent distortion or fuzz and a decent reverb. The eventide reverbs (space, h9) are really great (Heck, a boss RV-2 sounds great, too), and add modulation (onboard or in line). The old Alesis racks are fun. Or an SPX90 or the FX500 (which is great for its faults). A magicstomp can be useful, too, for yamaha flavor reverbs. The TC reverbs are more than fine as well. I've been using a H9 with a pseudo Alesis (giant) Hall patch and enjoying it.

I didn't especially like the Loomer (it paled when compared to its inspirations).

Would the Zoom CDR serve well here? (I haven't used one).

[sunburster]

I have the Loomer. It has a great Fuzz section with EQ adjustment. I just love its sound and versatility. I don't really use the reverb part, though. For a Slowdive sound you really don't need a Fuzz pedal -- Halstead has never used one.

What you do need is a Proco RAT or similar, as well as an overdrive (OD-3 is good). Overdrive goes first. Then you need a phaser (they have used a Yamaha phaser, a TC XII phaser, and the Mr. Black Gilamondo) followed by a pitchshifter for the earlier sound (they used the Boss PS-2). A chorus pedal can work well around here too and the Slowdive guitarists have used them at times. A tremolo pedal should be put here too. Then move on to the delay pedals, you'll need at least two in a row (DD-3 or DD-7 will work fine, one DD-500 is a great choice too because it can run two different delays at once internally). Then a good ambient reverb. Any of the Boss reverb pedals will work, and are relatively cheap. The Neunaber Immerse MKII will sound closer to the rack units they used back in the day, but costs a bit more. In recent years they've relied on the Neunaber Stereo Wet, so maybe get one of those if you can find one. Eventide Space has never been used by them and would be overkill in terms of price. The Big Sky is also used by Savill, but is not really needed, and like the Space is quite pricey.

With all that said, I'd recommend you don't plan to just copy Slowdive's pedal setup exactly -- instead experiment with different sounds and pedals to get your own sound. There are so many options out there that weren't available back in the early 90s.

[peterherman]

I have the Loomer. It has a great Fuzz section with EQ adjustment. I just love its sound and versatility. I don't really use the reverb part, though. For a Slowdive sound you really don't need a Fuzz pedal -- Halstead has never used one.
...

With all that said, I'd recommend you don't plan to just copy Slowdive's pedal setup exactly -- instead experiment with different sounds and pedals to get your own sound. There are so many options out there that weren't available back in the early 90s.

Yep. The closest I've gotten to a 'Hey this sounds like Slowdive!' moment before laying hands on an FX500 was to run a DOD Phasor 201 with the knob at about noon into MXR reverb on 'pad' into OBNE Minim favoring reverb a bit over delay, but reverse engaged.

[jvin248]

.

Stack a "Golden Horse" and "Black Rat" (Klon and Turbo Rat mini clones).
Get a Azor 303 Fuzz (big muff pi clone)
Those three pedals run around $20-$25 each on Amazon.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aLjLBNmuO9c

.

[O Drones]

Polara and afterneath are good for this.
Cathedral from my experience was very much not. It seemed far too pedestrian and could only really dial in 'yes my guitar is playing in a larger space than it is'- like a normal usage reverb youd use on rock leads in small quantity.

Really, as long as verb is cranked is good, right. Using a hall algorhythm long decay, 100% wet.
A milder overdrive into it as that already decrease clarity.
And also modulation phaser and chorus is used often in Slowdive if sometimes obscured by the hall.
Can find Christian Saville setup as he is more of the 'synth-like' lead guitar.
Ive tried a midiverb and yamaha (but use a space). May even prefer the midiverb, and i know they also used a Korg.

Loveliescrushing (love lies, or lovelies i never found out!)
More long feedback delays and loopers.
More of the trick of putting reverb before distortion.
Not sure what else he used other than recording earlier albums in a bedroom on portastudio so could be tape distortion, or amp distortion.
Nonetheless similar 100% wet principle but EVEN MORE MUSH by stacking effects and distortion on the output of them.
Slowdive sounds in contrast i seem to get to sound better placing an overdrive before (fulltone OCD clone not even my rat, so whatever boss drive they use is probably closer) Mild gain like extra boost. The verb kind of 'distorts' things enough and replaces use of higher gain drives.

It’s Lovesliescrushing, so you need worry no longer

[marqueemoon]

I think a Rat is a great general purpose dirt pedal.

For bedroom playing/budget look at the TC HOF Mini. There are some pretty wild Toneprint options. It will only store one at a time though.

Walrus Audio’s Slö seems like a good “clean ‘gaze toanz in a box” pedal.