Regis's Guitar Rig Page

Like anyones, my rig has evolved over the years. Back in the 70's I kept hearing a guitar tone I couldn't put my finger on, which turned out to be a chorus sound. I bought a Morley chorus/flanger but that didn't quite give me what I was looking for. It was stereo but I didn't have a stereo rig at the time and didn't think there was a difference. Boy was I wrong. In 1984 I was in Dirt Cheep music in Marietta and tried out a Boss stereo chorus with two small Fender amps, and realized that tone was what I was looking for. When you use a chorus pedal into a single amp, the tone "burbles" up by the time the amp distorts, changing the character of the distortion. Not that it's bad, I just don't care for it. Many guitarists do. (See Alex Lifeson) When used in a stereo/dual amp setup, however, you retain the character of the amps, and the tone actually gets smoother as you move into overdrive; it' s very thick and rich, and cleans up nice when you back off on your guitar.

So, I set off to change my rig. I had a Marshall I wasn't happy with, and traded it in for two Silverface Fender Bassman's because I had had a Bassman years before and liked the tone. I converted my 4x12 to stereo, got rid of the Morley, bought a Boss SD-1 overdrive and a CE-3 stereo chorus, and eventually the two Power Soaks to tame all that power. About 3 years ago I purchased my Mojotone 4x10 and acquired a couple of Traynor YBA-1A's, and have been using them instead of the Bassman's and the 4x12 which I still use from time to time.

Probably the biggest addition to my rig recently is the Leslie 16, or Vibratone. I drive it with a Blackface Bassman, and have setup my pedal board so that an A/B/Y switch goes either to the Leslie, or through the effects and on to the stereo rig. I can also "Y" them together, it sounds massive when I do that.

I also have a killer rig in my Blackface Bandmaster and my Mojotone cab with a JBL D130 reconed by Ted Weber. I'm thinking about doing an Eric Johnson thing and adding it to the above setup with another A/B switch and using it as a "Clean" rig. That would be a lotta gear, good thing I don't gig out much!

A word about "stereo" pedals:
Chorus, delay, and phase pedals are suited for stereo because they work by comparing the original signal with a modified one. Used in mono they modify the signal, then recombine it with the original before sending it to the output. When used in stereo the modified signal is sent to one output jack and the original is sent to another so they can be sent to different amps. The effect is then achieved when the two signals combine acoustically after they leave the amps.
Distortions, compressors, wah's and the like simply change the signal and send it on, there really isn't any need for stereo, unless it's a frequency/crossover thing where the highs were sent to one amp and the lows to another.
The term "stereo" is a bit of a misnomer because it's not stereo in the sense your hifi is stereo, rather it is simply two different versions of the same thing that achieve a third and different sound when combined. I have run a stereo rig for over twenty years. The difference is superior to using a mono pedal, as I've said above.

General rig notes:

I use my guitar volume a lot. I can get clean sounds if I back off on the volume. Open it up for distorted rhythm. Stomp on the SD-1 to push it into overdrive. Nothing like Power Tube Distortion.
Hum. Running a multiple amp setup gets you ground loops. All my amps have the ground switch defeated and three-wire power cords added. I have to add a ground lift plug to the Blackface Bassman and one of the Traynor's to get rid of it. I've never gotten a poke. EBTech makes a gadget called the HumX that gets rid of hum but leaves the ground, however they're $60 a pop, and I'd need at least two of them.
I used a One Spot adapter for my pedals for a couple of years, but it eventually developed a bad hum so I built my own power supply. It supplies over 1000 ma of current, which I need because the Strobostomp, Chorus, Delay, and Chicken Salad use a lot of juice. I plug it into the power strip behind the amp rig and run a cord out to the pedalboard. I also built a stereo cord with two plugs on each end to reduce cord clutter running to and fro between the pedal board and the amp rig. Someday I am going to buy a length of snake cable and have it all in one cable.