Top 5 Pedals for Playing in a Covers Band

[@The_Rodge]

Michael is one of the better pedal demo guys. Ironically, he's not actually selling a pedal or demoing a brand new one--just giving you a sense of how some standard pedals work. Love it!

[@onlyusernameleft2]

He's also showing practical applications and telling the audience who might need one and why

[@inktvisje575]

that's not "ironically", that's more like one of the reasons

[@peteraustin370]

Excellent video....Been playing since the 60s myself...have found the EP Booster brilliant for first in pedal train...always on...enhances guitar sound everywhere..switch it off and you KNOW it's gone...!!!!!!!!..Multi FX seldom measure up against dedicated pedals in my experience..!!

[@DogPoool]

It's great to see you back. These videos have helped me make decisions about my pedalboard.

[@MichaelBanfieldGuitar]

Thank you. It's good to be back!

[@Rikk_Klaww777]

You just covered everything a guitar player "should" know, when it comes to playing covers in a live situation.! Excellent video.👌👍

[@fdfsdfsvsfgsg4888]

This is a great and original angle on pedals. Thank you Michael. Covers bands don't get the credit they deserve. It can be see as unglamorous but they're often the hardest working artists out there, and have quite specific needs in terms of versatility, not to mention budget. Good video.

[@nuthinbutlove]

Exactly! Song catalogs for some cover bands are ridiculous.

[@allanflippin2453]

Thanks! I really appreciate your results-oriented approach to pedals and gear! We all tend to obsess over getting that perfect sound, but some times we just need to concentrate on practical/easy ways to get the job done.

[@MichaelBanfieldGuitar]

Well said!

[@phillybri]

The Digitech drop is the first pedal I thought of when I saw the title of this video. It is essential. Being able to lower pitch on the fly enables me to play entire shows with just one guitar.

[@fahyconor]

The zoom pedal is great for this also. I use that

[@MrMarcburger]

tried Eb with the Drop side of a Whammy DT. thought it didn't sound particularly natural.

[@durbodill]

It does tend to introduce like a high cut the lower you go. Like turning down the presence knob on your amp. You can easily counteract that by turning the presence up on your amp. I wonder why they didn't correct that directly in the pedal.

[@leblille4146]

@@durbodillI had never thought of that. Good tip.

[@bread6085]

I would add in an EQ pedal. An eq pedal can your rig so much more versatile. You can make a Strat pickup sound thicker like a humbucker or the other way around, you can complete revoice the sound of all your drive pedals, you can use it as a clean boost for your solos.

[@kelvinfunkner]

such a great, simple explanation and demo without a bunch of filler. And the playing was excellent too!

[@brianpatrick2351]

great summary and lots of great tips, i would also add a Boss graphic eq as essential for changing sounds up and tailoring sound to a room and solo boos

[@blueshorecreative3146]

Thanks mate! Very helpful guide, and I appreciate you not pushing particular brands. 👍

[@pyratoothNL]

That Drop pedal tip is excellent. Technology and tracking has progressed enough to use a pedal based option to adjust keys effortlessly. At home I also use different pedals for gain depending on the song, leave the amp on the clean channel. I used to use the gain channel on the amp, but for the reasons you mentioned, it ties you down to the gain flavour of the amp and you need to have a channel switch when you want to go clean.

[@MichaelBanfieldGuitar]

Totally agree!

[@AnthonyEvans-wl5ts]

Yessss he's back! Thank you

[@GuitarUnderground]

Thanks, Michael. Great content! I always appreciate your thoughtful and down-to-Earth perspective.

[@stratjed]

👍The Zoom 50g. Found one in a bargain bin for 40 bucks. Use it all the time. The" Slicer" is another cool effect it has that you would never waste the space for. It has tons of useable effects and Amp sims. Usable, not toy. The thing can be a standalone amp with effects in an emergency and even takes Batteries.

[@Michel-r6m]

The CH-1 is nice for that Cure and Cult sound 👍

[@danielcastillo5525]

My top 5 pedals for a basic yet effective tone are: Drive/Boost Drive/Dist/Fuzz Modulation (any of your choice or a multi mod pedal) Delay/Reverb (or one that has both) Clean Boost

[@JasonAyalaSpare]

Another great video 👍 I loved the chord sequence you played for the coloured delay 🎸

[@MichaelBanfieldGuitar]

Hey Jason. Thanks man!

[@shanewalton8888]

Digitech Drop is a Godsend. Essential

[@1man1guitarletsgo]

Some great advice here from Michael. My preference is as few pedals as possible, but all analogue and no multi-fx. My board has a Boss tuner pedal, a crappy chorus (must get a better one), an excellent Fender Waylon Jennings phaser, a Guyatone PS-015 overdrive, a DOD FX-90 delay, and for magic, a Boss Blues Driver. This last pedal is always on, and set clean, but very loud. It brings the sound to life. For wah, I use the guitar's tone control. I refuse to use noisy pedals (so no noise gate is needed), and in the one venue I know where the electrical supply causes noise, I use a guitar with humbuckers. All of this generally using the clean channel of a decent amp, and occasionally the overdrive channel.

[@jorgearcecofre8024]

Your channel is gold. Greetings from Chile!

[@jeremyedwards3388]

You're videos are my favorites, I have learned so much about equipment, pedals and settings from you. Thank you so much Michael!

[@MichaelBanfieldGuitar]

That's very kind! Happy to help.

[@dino7020]

He's back... love his content.

[@-Pol-]

Would've loved to heard a bit of the acoustic guitar sim setup.

[@MichaelBanfieldGuitar]

Yeah, it was just an afterthought really so I didn't have time. I might do a whole video on the topic though because there's a few ways you can do it, some types of guitars seem to work better than others.

[@koolkutz7]

Great demo and tips. At the moment I have the following pedalboard setup: Caline Hot Spice VOL/WAH, TC Electronic Brainwaves Pitch Shifter, Fender Pugilist Distortion, Rowin Vibrock Chorus/Tremolo, Belcat Delay & Joyo Atmosphere Reverb. I have a Belcat Flanger & TC Electronic Blood Moon Phaser too as I play a lot of rock & metal.

[@michaelthompson3286]

The TC Plethora stuff is great, such a cool idea and saves loads of space!

[@nightwish.covers]

I use a multi-effects instead of standard pedals for the reason of being much faster in changing sounds in between songs. You can for instance instantly switch from a massive distorted sound with just some reverb to a clean chorus sound with delay specifically tuned to a certain song. Tuning all the jobs on pedals will take you ages😄

[@markspencer8013]

I've been playing in cover bands my whole life, great advice. The only thing I don't use is the Drop D pedal, I'd never seen one before and I don't have have a multi FX. I do have an overdrive and distortion and wah that get used also.

[@matturner6890]

It won't put you in Drop D like a hipshot tuner (is that what it's called?), it just drops down whatever tuning you're already in.

[@BryanClark-gk6ie]

The DigiTech drop D drops all the strings down a full step 440 tuning E down to D The Hipshot only drops the low E string down a full step 440 tuning E down to D or what ever you're tuned to.

[@nightwish.covers]

I sometimes get questions from people who seem confused about drop-D tuning vs. standard-D tuning. Seems to be the case here. Drop-D tuning is when only the top string is tuned down(in case of a 6 string). Standard-D tuning is when all strings are tuned down 1 full tone. For completion: drop-C tuning is the top string in C, the rest 1 full note down. In general: drop tuning has the top string 1 full note tuned down compared to the rest.

[@markspencer8013]

@@matturner6890 Oh ok

[@jw6588]

Great to see you back with another fantastic vid mate

[@mattc1176]

Great video! I always start with sorting out gain stages - do I have enough, have I covered all I need to cover etc. Hopefully, the right 2 pedals can cover 4 useful sounds including clean. I use guitar volume to shade/provide extra colour to gain stages and boost e.g. for a solo when needed. I’m typically going into a clean Deluxe or Tonex pedal. I always have a dedicated short delay pedal. Then I think multi FX of some kind is what you want tbh. I have Eventide H90 which is a ‘no compromises’ option but there are so many great cheaper options. One vital thing this gives you is a TUNER! That would also cover other delay types, pitch, modulations and reverbs (possibly stuff like filter if I need). Then a fifth pedal would be a bit of a luxury/vibe pick. Either another gain stage for added flexibility (I love fuzz so might sneak one in) or another dedicated modulation pedal - univibe, tremolo etc.

[@billiramone]

Great! If you can get it for cheap, a Line 6 M9 is a great option with actual knobs.

[@JohnSmith-in1tt]

Michael went all out for that Superstition demo. Love to see it lol, sounded great. Awesome video as usual!

[@hackeldo]

Thank you Michael, your videos are really worth to see.

[@MichaelBanfieldGuitar]

Glad you like them!

[@chriswallace9387]

Thanks. Insightful!

[@majorpentatonic2310]

Great video and advice and I love that Tele 😊

[@a20thcenturyman41]

Quite similar to mine. Digitech Drop - Vol/Wah Pedal - Boss SD1 - Suhr Riot - Zoom MS70CDR+ - Boss DD8. This is my setting for a small gig.

[@shayh.3556]

Obviously depends on the genre of cover band but a overdrive\distortion, chorus, delay, wah, and leave the 5th pedal for player taste. Most amps have a solid reverb built in so that eliminates the need for that in pedal form.

[@Singlehand_Music]

Great playing dude!

[@FabrizioPeretti]

FUN format!

[@monkeyrebirth]

great advice. Welcome back!

[@GuitarsRgood7]

I finally bought a Digitech Drop. Now I can bring my guitars with tremolo to my cover band jam sessions!

[@martynrandall7652]

How you getting on with the digi drop? Does it colour your sound, and what's the latency? Cheers

[@GuitarsRgood7]

@@martynrandall7652 I will find out in a few days. I just bought it used on Reverb. My band mate uses it and it seems to work well for him. No noticeable latency and I don't think it colors the tone.

[@thomaschilds8781]

What's your preferred monitoring method for gigs? Also reason #4 (7:30), you can easily put a boost pedal after the AmpInABox for volume jump for solos. If you're already using your amp's gain channel, a boost into the front will mostly just give more saturation, not volume.

[@EJF-r2e]

The first thing I liked was, you got right to the subject matter without any unnecessary chatter. It drives me crazy when I click on a a vid and the poster drones on and on for three or four minutes before getting to the actual point of the vid. Bravo on that point alone. Nice concise overview of the pedals you chose.

[@sleonse]

AWESOME AWESOME AWESOME VID

[@ShawnTBell]

A solo boost can be handy to make your guitar pop out of the mix when you want it to.

[@bigbazbeast]

perfectly timed video u legend

[@darwinsaye]

I noticed you said put the noise gate after drive pedals or in the fx loop. I have rarely ever used one myself, but that is exactly how I always figured you should use one. I’ve noticed lately though, that every single person I’ve seen using an amp modeller like AxeFX or whatever nowadays, is always using a noise gate first in their signal chain. That makes no sense to me at all. The only thing that would be suppressing would be 60 cycle hum from the guitar, and all the really noisy gain effects and such would not be being muted at all. 🤷🏼

[@trebleboost7]

Great Video - Love it. One thing I did run into a bit, was too many AD/DA conversions in the chain, and some pedals are better than others. I used a n LS-1 to drop out my Zoom when I wasn't using it to help. (I am very picky about attack transients....)

[@BossDD3]

Can you demo your acoustic sim setup sometime?

[@MichaelBanfieldGuitar]

Yeah definitely. It’s on my list to do a whole video on different ways you can get an acoustic guitar sound from a electric guitar, so I’ll include it in that. It’ll likely be in the next few months so keep an eye out for it.

[@erickpontes2564]

Great video! I agree a hundred percent. Also nice that you mentioned the zoom ms50g. It gives a lot for the money you pay for it!

[@MichaelBanfieldGuitar]

And I think they've recently released a new version of that pedal that may be even better

[@erickpontes2564]

@@MichaelBanfieldGuitar I never played the new version, but watched reviews and it seems to be almost the same thing with tap tempo and more switches. But to me is still a great unit. The only problem I had with mine was a little high pitched noise it has. I hope they fixed that on the mk2. But in therms of modulations and ambiences it beats fancy units I’ve had in the past.

[@themomentkiller9167]

Welcome back!

[@accentontheoff]

Very helpful thanks! Any reason you didn't mention a distortion / overdrive pedal.

[@allengoodwin7043]

I love my zoom g2x four, for pretty much everything. 😊

[@lostinpa-dadenduro7555]

Your Super Chrous settings are the same as I saw on a Joe Satriani rig rundown. It does sound nice. 😀👍

[@Scott__C]

The POD Express and the GT-1 are great for the backups. They both are small and both run on batteries.

[@MichaelBanfieldGuitar]

Great point, having something battery powered is really important if there's some sort of issue with the power supply. I've had friends tell me about outdoor gigs where the power generator somehow overpowered their amp and literally caused it to set on fire. Having a power conditioner is good but if it keeps tripping then you need some sort of backup that bypasses the dodgy power supply. Battery powered multi FX into PA would at least get you through. Thanks for commenting!

[@danielmiller2886]

How do you handle changing settings between songs when playing live? I play at church and there is no time between songs to tweak settings. I have to build patches in my Zoom G3xn, but I prefer standalone pedals cause the Zoom only has a few good effects.

[@MichaelBanfieldGuitar]

That is tricky, I can get away with some teaks here and there but like you say if there's too many setting changes it's off putting and distracting. The tap tempo feature helps with changing delay speed on the fly. But sometimes you have to accept you need another pedal, I find using two delay pedals very useful, it's just having space on the board. The small multi effects like the TC plethora stuff is really useful and normally easy to switch to a different patch of effects and means you can still mainly use your favourite stand alone stomp boxes, that approach might help.

[@danielmiller2886]

@@MichaelBanfieldGuitar thanks!

[@gibs8412]

Don"t forget the clip on tuner, lol. hard for me to not have a compressor lately though but otherwise same as my back up/ practice board !

[@MichaelBanfieldGuitar]

Ah yes, a good clip on tuner is a great space saver. Oh, and I'm planning a video comparing types of compression pedal that I want to get done by the end of the year. Stay tuned!

[@gibs8412]

@@MichaelBanfieldGuitar my fav is the xotic sp. not sure what type it is though.

[@pedraw]

Those Digitech Drop pedals are cool.....

[@lovecraftmusic8717]

I'd go analog comp-od-dist...then multifx + eq, probably: Dyna comp - mxr Timmy - marshall in a box - boss gt1 or the zoom in this video

[@carlos_a.f.]

Great video as always Michael. Q: is that little purple/white box an attenuator for the Pro Reverb? What brand/model is it? Surprised to see something so small able to handle 40W. Thanks!

[@MichaelBanfieldGuitar]

Yep, it's an old Jet City brand attenuator. It's the same as the current Bugera attenuator. It's cheap and straight forward, it does colour the tone if you really squash the volume with it. I had it barely on for this video I think. It just takes the edge off the volume when I'm recording at home.

[@buter1122]

Maaaaaaan this tele is awesome can you do a review of it?

[@MichaelBanfieldGuitar]

Yep, I've had a few requests already so it's on the video list. It'll probably happen sometime in the next few months so keep an eye out for it.

[@robertlennox3607]

Being cheeky, we haven't mentioned the most important pedal of all ..... a tuner!

[@Rick-5728]

A Boss ME90 can do all of that an a lot more for $300, and if you want you can ditch your amp. Sure, it may not sound quite as good as individual pedals, but c'mon - we're talking about a cover band here.

[@V_Dgt]

Gteat content, Michael! Thank you! One of the best to me. Always something new to know. Could you explain someday what is the difference between preamp and effects pedals? They say preamp "prepares" the signal, but wat exactly?

[@DogPoool]

Besides the Fender Twin Reverb, are there any other clean power amp options that are more affordable and offer good audio quality?

[@MichaelBanfieldGuitar]

A lot of people I talk to really like the Boss Katana stuff. I played one at a jam night a little while ago and got along with it just fine. You often don't need all the power of something like a 65 Twin Reverb which is a clean and powerful 85w. I can use my 40w Pro Reverb as a clean platform amp in the same way as long as the gig isn't too big and loud, a lot of the time when it gets that big a venue you're going to be mic'd up anyway. Hope that helps.

[@jasonmercado]

Nice tips

[@juanjan__]

nice to see you back! Great video as always. Which model guitar is this one you are playing? I love it! I bought a Squier CV Telecaster Deluxe not too long ago and I its sound is great, but yours is next level haha. Not that I'm going to buy anything for a while, but still, I'm curious. Thanks!

[@MichaelBanfieldGuitar]

It's an old 70s Tele Deluxe. I'll probably do a video on it in the next few months so keep an eye out for it. Thanks for commenting!

[@juanjan__]

@@MichaelBanfieldGuitar ah nice! Looking forward to it already. And you are welcome! Your videos are really helpful in helping me re-discover my pedals and improve my playing, so thank you!

[@tubularbill]

The Catalinbread product overall is excellent.

[@jw6588]

Totally agree. I have their Sabbra Cadabra and Galileo pedals and really love them.

[@MichaelBanfieldGuitar]

I really need to get those!

[@juno4494]

If I could have only five: EQ; MXR Phaser (80s); MXR Envelope Filter (80s); distortion; fuzz.

[@Jluck78]

What’s the difference between the short delay and reverb?

[@WhoDaF0ok1sThatGuy]

When you mentioned the drop pedal, I said “oh hell yea! For metal!” Then you mentioned the opposite of what I thought😂 There are definitely different types of cover bands. For example, I prefer metal, death metal, and power metal instead of doing Hendrix or AC/DC covers.

[@esej1]

What world you Say about small clone chprus? Is IT only for Nirvana stuff or I can use IT as an normal chorus?

[@MichaelBanfieldGuitar]

I prefer it for alternative rock stuff like you say, Nirvana, Gang of Four, Sonic Youth etc... It's also less 'tweakable' with only one knob and a switch. If you like it's sound I'm sure you could make it work though.

[@coronaesc]

That's the guitar strap I have been looking for. Mind sharing the brand?

[@MichaelBanfieldGuitar]

Sure. It’s some sort of Levy’s 50s style strap, it has a shoulder pad that I took off because it would slip out of place a lot. They come quite long too, I shortened mine using a Stanley knife and a hole punch meant for belt buckle holes.

[@kevinprado1380]

Drop tuning pedal or tuning the guitar low and use capo?

[@MichaelBanfieldGuitar]

Good point, definitely worth considering if most of the songs in the set are using drop tuning. But personally I find it easier to use the drop tune pedal. Much easier when you're reading barre chords, and you won't run out of frets for songs like Sweet Child o Mine etc...

[@kevinprado1380]

@@MichaelBanfieldGuitar running out of frets is a problem. Maybe the setlist of songs is worth considering. Anyway, the drop tune is expensive here in Brazil. So, for today, I still prefer working with drop tuning on the real guitar. Thanks for the reply. Cheers from Brazil!

[@alexc3744]

Useful, informative stuff - as always. Many thanks, Michael. Much food for thought here and stuff to try out. 👍

[@MichaelBanfieldGuitar]

My pleasure!

[@spunk49]

Drop the zoom and add an eq

[@jasonmercado]

You got my sub

[@MagicPants647]

that tele have vintage cunife pickups?

[@peterhall4852]

Michael. So glad to see you back. The first channel I subscribed to and still my favourite. Are all the pedals Boss?😅😅😅😅😂😂

[@MichaelBanfieldGuitar]

Thanks Peter! Hey I'm trying to branch out, only one Boss pedal on the thumbnail for this one! Although there are a load of them in the video... Seems I still love Boss pedals.

[@peterhall4852]

​@MichaelBanfieldGuitar One pedal that saved the day....more than once. ...was a noise gate. Glad you included it. I seemed to use one all the time. I think if I was still on the circuit,I would use a multieffect with a preset for each song. Purists might scoff,but it works.

[@dayssnow7003]

thanks a lot!!!

[@MichaelBanfieldGuitar]

You're welcome!

[@willstooksbury1477]

Imo all you need is a fuzz, blues driver, chorus, wah, delay,

[@shanewalton8888]

Do you still play through the acoustic amp in the middle of the song when you switch back to electric sounds?

[@MichaelBanfieldGuitar]

No, I use it alongside an electric guitar amp, so it does mean bringing a second amp. That acoustic amp does have a mode for using it with an electric guitar too so it could be done. I prefer the sound of my electric guitar amps for that though.

[@DogPoool]

how did you set up your zoom to sound like a synth?

[@MichaelBanfieldGuitar]

Just has those effects right in the pedal, there were no other effects happening. They're pretty fun, I remember using it once for a Daft Punk cover we did for a bit.

[@guilhordas]

BB preamp the best and versatile pedal

[@derekpeace7668]

For what it's worth - The Digitech Drop is the only drop tuning pedal that is with consideration. The rest have either too much latency, too much artifacting, or change your tone too much.

[@guitarplayer5932]

drop pedal is great for playing in different “chew nings”

[@johnstanley6977]

I had to see this

[@m0j0b0ne]

Interesting take; lots of ways to skin this gerbil. I wouldn't take a drop tuner; I play guitar, not pedals so I'd rather grab a tuner on the fly or if I need to drop a whole or a half step, I'll tune there and capo accordingly. In fact, I'd swap that for a tuner I can actually see on a brightly sunlit stage. I'd dispense with the chorus, too, in favor of what's in the multi-effector, which is absolutely essential, especially if it has a switchable/programmable effects loop, a boost and a treadle that can do wah or volume. Even better with banks, presets and emulated direct outs on XLR. If I have that, why do I need other pedals? (or an amp, even) But then too, how specific do I need to get with my sounds in a bar band cover situation? The drunks don't care all that much; they're there to drink dance and chase tail, so not having the right fuzz pedal ain't gonna queer your deal. A tribute situation? Different animal.

[@seanabbottband]

I’m really surprised with the pitch pedal that’s really innovative!

[@chavernac]

🤴

[@Sep45]

The amp in a box pedals are always a let down versus the real thing. Even the ones featured here sounded like a line 6 spider amp. Not very inspiring. Passable in a pinch.

[@atomicrocker]

Nonsense.

[@jeffreymcgahren7110]

Correction: don’t play in a cover band to begin with and focus on original material.

[@thenwhat7595]

we need less cover bands in the world tbh

[@-Pol-]

Perhaps, but it's fun to play one's favourite hits with band mates and if there's an audience who digs it too then why not. Personally I enjoy covers that reinterpret the originals with different arrangements, particularly a well done simple acoustic "demo" style version.

[@thenwhat7595]

@@-Pol- I'd definitely be into a cover band that reinterpret songs with a unique spin

[@jkeating7906]

I disagree, cover bands serve a purpose and seeing a good cover band can be a really entertaining night out. Not everyone is in the mood to hear original music they don’t know, nor can everyone go see bigger bands every weekend. That said, if all the local cover bands play the same songs that everyone is sick of, that is fairly tedious alright.

[@thenwhat7595]

@@jkeating7906 I would rather hear a good cover than bad original music that's for sure

[@endezeichengrimm]

What? No OD3?

[@jw6588]

lol😂

[@MichaelBanfieldGuitar]

It was just off screen... or was it?