Between the end of 2025 and the beginning of 2026, for various reasons, I found myself forced to bring only three pedals and a power supply to the rehearsal room. It wasn’t bad at all to travel so light. As I get older, I’m happy to carry less weight. For a while, I had to do this due to circumstances beyond my control, so I rediscovered the pleasure of having a couple of overdrives and a delay, and that’s it; and managing everything with the volume of the guitar. Of course, you also need a good amplifier, and I don’t have one in the rehearsal room. But it got me thinking. Why not simplify everything and keep it light, both in terms of weight and electrical signal, to manage?

Lately, I wanted to indulge myself and get some historic pedals, even if I didn’t use them. Though I’m an amateur guitarist, it’s okay to have some famous pedals, as long as they don’t cost a fortune. Right now, I’m more focused on the John Mayer Trio cover band. At first, I got those sounds from the pedals I already had, adapting them to what was known to be JM’s pedalboard at the time: a clean boost inside a Blues Driver, which in turn went into a TS808, followed by an analog slapback delay and then a digital delay. For me, the clean boost was the Masotti White Box (also an excellent buffer). As a transparent overdrive, I sometimes used a Fulltone OCD, while the Masotti OD Box took the place of the Tubescreamer with the switch in position 1. As an analog delay, I had the EHX Memory Toy set for slapback and an honest Boss DD-3 as a digital delay. Sometimes I used a TS808 Mini and switched the OD BOX to transparent overdrive (position 3, up, or “British”). Then I wanted a “real” Tubescreamer and spent money on a full-size TS808, just to own one, given the historical importance of the pedal. Sonically, it was a pointless move: the Mini has the exact same circuitry, uses the famous JCR4558 chip, but is true bypass instead of buffered and has a standard power input instead of a pin jack. In short, it sounds identical and is more convenient (if you don’t need the battery). But I was in a phase where I wanted to have some historic pedals, and given what I was doing, a real Tubescreamer was a must (I remember the words of the famous Mike Piera in one of his kind emails: get a TS808, a TS9, or a Maxon; they’re built like tanks, they last forever, and you can always modify them whenever you want).

 

In the end, I also bought a Blues Driver and loved it. But I was sorry to part with the beautiful overdrives I already had, such as the OD Box and OCD. However, I had accumulated so many pedals (for my taste—to some it may seem trivial) that when I realized how much they were worth, I was shocked and decided to sell almost everything to use a Line6 HX Stomp. After a few days of configuration, I got extremely fed up with it. But the TS808 and Blues Driver, among other things, had already been sold. I had recouped the cost of the digital purchase, but I didn’t want it anymore. I quickly removed the other overdrives from sale and posted an ad for the HX Stomp. It’s not for me. So I had to think about rebuilding an analog pedalboard that was as small and light as possible.

I figured that JM, after the early days, abandoned the Blues Driver (which he actually alternated with the Bluesbreaker) in favor of the Klon Centaur as the basis for his sound, using it to drive an Ibanez TS10 as a Tubescreamer. I said to myself: instead of selling the splendid Klon clone, the J. Rockett Archer, built by someone who knew how the original Klon was made, Why don’t I use it in place of the Blues Driver that was sold? J. Rockett had helped Bill Finnegan, the inventor of the Klon, to put the KTR Centaur, the red reissue of the Klon, into production after he was pushed to put it back on the market due to popular demand. The Archer also includes the unique gain knob configuration, which gradually mixes the original signal with the distorted signal as it is turned up, maintaining a crisp attack. In the Archer, as in the original Klon, as the gain is turned up, the famous 1N34A germanium diodes are gradually more involved in the soft clipping of the signal. According to JM, the Klon has the most beautiful and satisfying distortion, especially at high volumes.

Right now it’s the Klon Centaur. It’s the kindest, most satisfying distortion — it’s the best ‘loud’ I’ve heard.”
… “And I use a Tube Screamer, but I use the TS-10…”

The Klon seems to have a more dynamic and special response, a particular attack, which better controls the overdrive that follows it in the pedalboard (a Tubescreamer, but for years, in John Mayer’s case, a TS10). The Klon is more transparent than the Tube Screamer, colors the original tone less, and is ideal for boosting a clean or slightly overdriven amplifier without masking tone and dynamics, managing everything with the touch and volume of the guitar. Exactly what I would like to do (in my own humble way). So why sell the excellently built Archer and, instead of relegating it to boost (even though it is designed, like the Klon itself, to do this very well, with zero or almost zero gain and mid-range tone, incidentally with a character similar to the Keeley Katana used by JM as a clean boost), use it as the main drive since it exudes quality?

At first, I thought about going back to using the Tubescreamer Mini after the Archer. Then I said to myself: I have an excellent all-round overdrive, with three different modes available, one of which is very close to the typical nasal sound of a Tubescreamer (and I’ve already used that mode several times). What if it were closer to a TS10 than a TS9/808? A TS10 is considered more transparent (amp-like) than a TS808, with less compression and a flatter response, faster attack, more open sound, better touch response, and better response on the low strings. But could these be more or less the characteristics of my beloved OD Box in position 1? In this position, you get a less bloated mid focus than the TS808, less bass muffling, and more headroom and less compression than a classic Tubescreamer. So it would be closer to the sound of a TS10 than a TS808. In fact, the OD Box could be even more dynamic than a TS10, reacting strongly to the volume of the guitar and cleaning up very well. Masotti’s clipping is more modern and richer in the bass. It could turn out to be my secret weapon (and I was about to sell it!). In the unit in my possession, the chip is a Texas Instruments TL072, while the original TS10s were equipped with the classic JCR4558. The two chips are interchangeable, and normally the OD Box is also equipped with the JCR, so there’s nothing stopping me from changing it myself. But maybe it’s not necessary. I’ve found an excellent Klon clone and a spectacular Italian-made overdrive that can “also” replace an excellent Tubescreamer. Who needs a TS10…?

So I focused (for a while) my new mini pedalboard on a Klon that drives an advanced Tubescreamer. Upstream, an excellent clean boost can add more gain when needed. The whole thing is finished off by a Zoom Multistomp, which is used to add any extra effects as well as the necessary delays and tremolo. And since I need to go straight to the mixer today, its amp sims, although not too advanced, can be useful for this purpose. I tried it once in the rehearsal room with the generic cover band. I used to find the Tubescreamer nasal. Now I find the Klon nasal. It doesn’t seem like a worthy replacement for the Blues Driver to me, it seems like something different. I’m not John Mayer, maybe I just don’t understand the Klon. And then, looking at my pedalboard, I thought (apart from the fact that it’s all gray and white) that, apart from the OD Box, I have almost all buffers. The Blues Driver also has a buffer, but its sound is different from that of the Archer. Where can I remove buffers? In the meantime, I bought myself another Blues Driver (again, a modifiable version, just in case I feel like it). The original idea was also to sell the more expensive pedals, to try to limit the boutique ones. So the Archer is back on sale. Masotti pedals don’t sell very well, even though they are high quality. Thinking of a clean boost like the Keeley Katana, which is not a buffer and costs next to nothing, my CAE/MXR MC402 comes to mind. Its boost is the MC401 line driver, and I know how good it is. Only when triggered does it insert an excellent buffer.

However, the entire MC402 is large for a mini pedalboard. Therefore, I purchased an affordable MC401… Yet, the Masotti White Box, which I had just sold, surpasses it in performance: the switch in the Line Driver, which is smooth and quiet in the MC402, is stiff and noisy in the MC401, and you can hear its pop in the amplifier! The Masotti was perfect, it brought the sound of the chain back to its origin, as if the other pedals weren’t there! And what’s more, the switch was completely silent! Some have called it a miracle pedal. So I bought it back! At no cost, however. The Blues Driver will return to center stage for my sound. Followed by another true bypass like the TS Mini (if there were a real TS808, it would be an extra buffer, which is why I thought about the Line Driver, but with the quality of the White Box at the beginning of the chain, I shouldn’t have any problems).

But I wouldn’t mind including another pedal that I’m very fond of: the Fulltone OCD v1.7. A third overdrive would be useful for the band I play covers with. Of course, I can use the Masotti OD Box in the same way, without bothering with the OCD, which I could sell for a good price. That space in the pedalboard could go to a nice delay. The OCD is a hard clipping overdrive, which would make it more of a distortion pedal. But at medium-low gain it sounds great and is also very dynamic and touch-sensitive. If I added it, I would have to use it at higher gain, unless I wanted to move it to the position now occupied by the Blues Driver. Some JM songs may even require a fuzz (he used a Fulltone fuzz with the Trio), but also several covers by my other band (especially Pink Floyd). I could add it when needed, rather than keeping it permanently. Or one day I might get a slightly longer pedalboard and find room for both the OCD and a good delay or amp sim. So, in the end, my mini pedalboard will be CAE/MXR Line Driver / J. Rockett Archer > Boss Blues Driver > TS808 Mini > Masotti OD Box / Fulltone OCD > Zoom Multisomp. That way there aren’t too many buffers. Already with the White Box in place of the famous MXR boost, it sounded very good in the rehearsal room, I must say, and the OD Box at high gain is as spectacular as at low gain – I’m already considering buying a standard TS808 when the Line Driver arrives. In the end, I decided to keep the OCD and the Archer. The latter is also designed to act as a boost with zero gain and tone at 12 o’clock. At intermediate gains followed by a Tubescreamer (i.e., in the Blues Driver position), I found that it creates very credible JM sounds. Maybe I can alternate and try again. The OCD is true bypass, sounds great, and isn’t that redundant compared to the Masotti OD Box, which sounds more midrange. I could use it with the JM3 cover band and replace it with the OCD when I play with the other band. In short, a dynamic pedalboard…

At the moment, I’m keeping things light. I’m accepting that there’s nothing I can do to avoid using a minimal analog pedalboard. Digital technology is now at an excellent level and offers everything, but the work required to use it well goes far beyond the sacrifices I’m willing to make, given that I already work with computers and need to avoid them in my free time! Maybe my analog pedalboard is worth even more than a Line6 HX Stomp, but if my digital multi-effects unit breaks down, it’s game over—if a pedal breaks, I replace it, and even in an emergency, I can get by with the others. With a digital unit, if there’s no good amp available, it’s game over. I also like the versatility of an analog pedalboard because if you’re asked to play a song on the fly, you can adjust the pedals you need on the fly. It won’t be identical to a well-made digital preset, but you can’t set up a digital preset on the fly for the occasion, at least not that quickly.

And when I curse the weight and bulkiness of the equipment, I will console myself by thinking about what I would have had to do to reduce them. And I will say to myself: you made your own pedalboard…? Now you’ve got to step on it!