The client wanted the ability to add pedals later in the even that he wanted to add an extra delay or modulation pedal in the back area of the board. I left enough space to fit a few pedals onto a third row if needed.
For the interface the client supplied his own buffer that was originally in a CAE stand alone buffer unit that he had from the early 90's. He wanted it re-housed and put on the output of the interface (he preferred this to after the fuzz).
I also modded two pedals for the client. I did my take on good Ross/Dyna Comp compressor mod to the Boss CS-3. It sounded really nice, and gave the pedal a lot more musical sound and ability to dial in more volume without clipping. Also, I modded the Phase 90 to have a 9v tap, True Bypass, and an LED.
Finally, in collaboration with PT Designs we have come up with the ultimate Fuzz Face; the Vertex BC109 Fuzz. The fuzz pedal has all hand matched high-gain BC109 silicon transistors. The pedal has amazing bottom end and can cut like hell in a live mix. It also has a 3-way selectable tone control (instead of a tone knob) to choose between bass-cut, stock, and hi-cut. It also has a 2-way bias selector to choose between a darker NKT275 sound and the stock brighter silicon sound. It nails all of the Hendrix and Eric Johnson tones in spades. It comes standard in metallic gold with my Vertex logo on it for $180.00, or a custom paid job (to your specifications) for $200.00.
The order of the effects are:
INTERFACE IN (from guitar)--> Peterson Tuner--> Voodoo Lab Wahzoo--> Vintage MXR Phase 90--> Vertex BC109 Fuzz--> Boss CS-3 Compressor--> Barber Tone Press--> Fulltone Fulldrive II--> Vintage Ibanez TS-9 Tube Screamer--> Vintage Ibanez CS-9 Chorus--> Vintage Ibanez FL-9 Flanger--> MXR Carbon Copy Delay-->INTERFACE OUT w/Rehoused CAE Buffer (to amp)
*Note: The client uses the Tone Press set with minimal compression and used as a clean boost for solos and to push the Tube Screamer and FD2.
The pedalboard sounded really great, no noise, and despite having the buffer only drive the line from the end of the pedalboard to the amp, running through the pedalboard still sounded identical to the direct sound.
*Stand Outs: All of those vintage Ibanez pedals just are worlds better than the reissues. The chorus has an amazing sound to it. A bit flangy for my tastes, but does the John Schofield thing really well. Also the Vintage Phase 90 sounds really rich, the Custom Shop version is nowhere near this sonically.