In a former life, I was GM of a mom and pop burger joint. Burgers and fries were our big sellers and what folks knew us for, but we also sold chicken fried steak and a couple things like that. While I was there, I read a couple of industry mags every month. I remember reading several articles that talked about how most people went to go to the same 5 to 7 restaurants the vast majority of the time. Even today, all these years later, I’m reminded of how accurate that is when I swing through one of the same 4 or 5 places that I seem to go to all the time. We’re creatures of habit.
This week I was catching up on some of the podcasts that I listen to. Like a lot of guitar players, I enjoy listeing to the Chasing Tone podcast. I’ve enjoyed Brian and the boys since it was Brian, Max, and Travis. Max and Travis have been gone for quite some time now, but I still enjoy Brian and the new guys (that aren’t really new anymore).
One of the epis that I heard this week had Tim Pierce on it. I’ve always liked his stuff on the tube of you, so I thought I’d listen in. Kind of like Brian, Tim has always struck me as someone that really knows his stuff and is a genuinely nice guy. And, in this interview, my opinion of him didn’t change. He seems like a class act.
Somewhere during the podcast, he made a comment that struck me. I was at work, so didn’t make a note of where in the podcast it was, and, since I went through like 3 epis that day, I have no idea where in the podcast it was. So you’ll just have to listen to it to hear all of his comments. It really was an interesting interview.
Somewhere in the episode, Tim got to talking about using modelers and some of the newer tech like the Helix, Fractal, and Tone Master Pro. He said that most folks find 3 to 5 sounds on modelers and stick with those.
In my experience, he’s not wrong.
I know that I’ve got my pedal boards, but I’ve been trying to use my Pod Go more. Mostly because it’s been a while since I’ve used it playing out, and I don’t want to pull it out a gig sometime and realize that I don’t remember how to change something I need to change. So I’ve actually been looking at my presets lately. And I’ve got 3 banks of 4 presets, with each bank being based on a different amp.
The first bank is using Line 6’s Litigator amp, the second is using a Fender Twin, and the third is using a Bassman in 2 spots and an AC30 in 2 spots. Each bank has 4 presets. Each preset is setup for a different guitar. The first two banks are setup for my LP/335, my PRS, a Tele, and a Strat. The third bank is setup for humbuckers for one and single coils for the other. Other than that, they’re all pretty dang similar. And the vast majority of the time, I’m playing the Litigator bank. Just kind of proving what Tim said.
That’s not to say that I don’t have other banks with other settings. I do. I’ve got probably half the banks filled with different things. Marshall, Matchless, Dr Z, and various other IRs that I’ve picked up here and there. In fact, I’ve got one really interesting IR of a Fender Excelsior amp. It sounds a LOT different from any of the other amps. I like it, but it’s not something that I would use on a regular basis. That Litigator model is my go-to.
Thinking back to my Fender Mustang Floor, I had a very similar setup. I think i had a total of 20 presets, and I primarily used only one. It’s one that I had setup with a Fender Twin. It’s been long enough I don’t remember the other specifics of that one, but it was that same preset most of the time. Again, kind of proving what Tim said.
So, 3 to 5 presets most of the time. Anecdotally, I kind of prove that. I’m sure lots of others do to. After all, we are all human, and, as such, we are all creatures of habit. That’s also why, if you look at my both my pedal boards, you’ll see that they’re pretty similar; the names on the pedals may be different, but, by and large, they sound pretty similar.
Speaking of the big board, I still need to do a SOTB post about that one. I just use the smaller one most of the time, so I need to pull that one out of its case.