gearing up for coming concerts

I will have a few concerts in the coming weeks - solo and with the Soft Power Ensemble of Vienna. Here is my pedal line for my improvised solo act next week - as you can see I added an EHX Holy Stain multi-effect to the line, that might surprise some people if you've read some bad reviews this pedal has online. I got it first to add reverb and distortion to my Volca Bass, then it was very convenient to put it in my bag when I go jamming at the Neu New York/Vienna Institute of Improvised Music - it replaces 3 of my basic pedals: fuzz, tremolo and reverb… Then for the same reason I started to use it for rehearsals until I mastered it enough to put it in my pedal line.

People often dislike the harshness of its fuzz and overdrive, that is true that they are not for the fainthearted, but they suit me, also the deep reverb and harsh tremolo. I even get along well with the pitch shifter, that I use either as a detuner or set on max where its bad tracking gives painfully artificial squeaky sounds. I like this a lot! I've even learned lately that you can upgrade the pedal by tweaking its chip and get a chorus and a flanger - and split the control for reverb and effect… There again my lack of knowledge in electronics prevents me from doing it myself, so I will be looking for someone to do it for me here in Vienna (would be even better if it could have a gain control…)

Actually I do need some more electronic help for I ruined my Sovtek Big Muff - I pulled off a wire of the battery connection then tried to replace it with a power jack and now it doesn't work at all… I almost dumped it to buy a EHX one but I like it - and if I have it fixed I will also ask for some mods and changing the input/output jacks positions - I favor efficiency over authenticity… 

So for now I went back to use my Boss FZ-5 - and here again the very bad reviews that pedal has feel like pure snobbery: compared to other fuzzes I have it sounds very powerful and rich. Maybe it doesn't sound how it's supposed to and all authentic and shit but I don't really care about that.