Okay... I apologize for the novel, but there is a lot to your question.
I've never messed with a compression pedal, so can't give much feedback on that. I actually don't like compressing my tone and I get enough compression from my overdrive pedals, when I need to play higher gain stuff.
I've never used the Hall of Fame reverb, but I believe it's fairly well reviewed. I use the Black Country Customs Secret Path. I love the Secret Path setting for playing floyd-like things.
You have two overdrive pedals, and they are fairly standard "intro" to overdrive models. I know there are some professional guys who still use them, though sometimes modded by keeley or someone. Overdrive pedals are pieces of gear I have spent over a decade figuring out and understanding how I can best use them in my signal chain. I am an overdrive snob, and HATE fizzy sounding drive. I have used the Boss DS-1, BD-2, and SD-1. They're.... okay.
I highly recommend spending some time digging into videos from some of the better GuitarTube guys on overdrive pedals. It all comes down to the dynamics and settings of your amp, the tones you are looking for, and the guitar you are playing. At the end of the day, I am not a fan of using distortion pedals to get all your overdrive tones. I like to use them more as boosters to allow my tube amp to drive more naturally.
If you have the time, the BEST GuitarTube channel for truly understanding everything you would ever want to know about any type of pedal is That Pedal Show. These guys are absolutely amazing and their videos take the time to really allow you to understand:
I play through a Dr. Z Maz 18 MkII. I absolutely LOVE this amp. Over the last decade, I have owned a Fender Blues Junior, Fender Bassbreaker, Peavey Classic 50, Egnater Tweaker, Egnater Rebel 30, Marshall Origin 20, and Tone King Falcon Grande. I could never really find the tone I was looking for until I bought the Maz 18, and now I know this is an amp I will never get rid of. It has shades of an AC30, fender blackface, and some plexi in it; however, it is still its own thing.
I say all of that because it is extremely important to know where you are starting. The Maz 18 is NOT a high gain amp. It is a single channel low to mid gain amp, which i love. I dial in a slightly mid-scooped, edge of breakup tone on my amp. This allows me a great clean tone on my guitars but with a little room to dig into the strings to get a little clipping. Absolutely amazing tone.
From there, the next question is which guitar I am playing.
Les Paul: My Les Paul is an '02 Standard with a set of Seymour Duncan Antiquities loaded in it. It has a fantastic warm tone with woody clarity from the pickups. I love this guitar. When going through the Hi input of my amp, it has a slight overdriven sound with great dynamics. However, as anyone who has played a Les Paul with PAF style humbuckers can tell you, driving it can get a little too dark and can lose clarity. Finding a solution to this was one of the biggest eye openers for me. How do I drive a LP with PAFs and not get a muddy tone?
Answer: Treble Booster. I think a good treble booster is one of the things many new and intermediate players don't know about and is one of the most important parts to a good signal chain. All of your favorite guitar heroes from the 70's used a treble booster like the Dallas Rangemaster. A treble booster allows you to roll-off bass from your signal when you kick it on, adds distortion and can either leave your treble intact or add treble, if you want.
This allows you to have great clean or edge of breakup warmth in your tone, but then cut through the mix with great clarity when you kick on your overdrive.
I use the Black Country Customs TI Boost as my treble booster. This was created by Laney's custom pedal division specifically to try and replicate Tony Iommi's modded Rangemaster, which was accidentally thrown away by one of his roadies. I absolutely love this pedal. It is EXTREMELY transparent, and allows me to get my Les Paul in that classic rock area of overdrive I love to play in.
For my Strat and Tele, they are already starting from a much more sparkly-clear tone, from my LP. I did not like the tone I was getting when using the treble booster. Or, I would have to tweak it each time I changed guitars. I, again, hit up my GuitarTube channels to find a boost/overdrive for those guitars. After years of searching, I think i've found the one for me only a few weeks ago.
Funny thing about the guys at That Pedal Show is that Mick plays predominately Strats, and Dan plays predominately Teles. It just so happens that Keeley worked with them to create their own pedal with basically 2 built into one. It is fantastic for layering a boost with an overdrive. These two sides are voiced similar to some of their favorite pedals.
I have now had this for several weeks and LOVE the tones I can get out of them. I don't see myself ever getting rid of this one.
Lastly, as for Analog Delay, let me save you some time, money, and buyers remorse. Don't start with the M169. Jump immediately to the Carbon Copy Deluxe. Has everything that is great with the carbon Copy, but adds a tempo switch, so you can tap out the tempo of the delay effect. It also adds a few other things. I originally had the Carbon Copy and, though it sounded great, I hated having to constantly dial in the delay tempo I needed. Costs only $50 or so more, and will make your life so much better.
Never played with their analog Chorus, but I'd assume that will sound great, based on my other experiences with MXR.
Hope that all helps!
I've never messed with a compression pedal, so can't give much feedback on that. I actually don't like compressing my tone and I get enough compression from my overdrive pedals, when I need to play higher gain stuff.
I've never used the Hall of Fame reverb, but I believe it's fairly well reviewed. I use the Black Country Customs Secret Path. I love the Secret Path setting for playing floyd-like things.
You have two overdrive pedals, and they are fairly standard "intro" to overdrive models. I know there are some professional guys who still use them, though sometimes modded by keeley or someone. Overdrive pedals are pieces of gear I have spent over a decade figuring out and understanding how I can best use them in my signal chain. I am an overdrive snob, and HATE fizzy sounding drive. I have used the Boss DS-1, BD-2, and SD-1. They're.... okay.
I highly recommend spending some time digging into videos from some of the better GuitarTube guys on overdrive pedals. It all comes down to the dynamics and settings of your amp, the tones you are looking for, and the guitar you are playing. At the end of the day, I am not a fan of using distortion pedals to get all your overdrive tones. I like to use them more as boosters to allow my tube amp to drive more naturally.
If you have the time, the BEST GuitarTube channel for truly understanding everything you would ever want to know about any type of pedal is That Pedal Show. These guys are absolutely amazing and their videos take the time to really allow you to understand:
I play through a Dr. Z Maz 18 MkII. I absolutely LOVE this amp. Over the last decade, I have owned a Fender Blues Junior, Fender Bassbreaker, Peavey Classic 50, Egnater Tweaker, Egnater Rebel 30, Marshall Origin 20, and Tone King Falcon Grande. I could never really find the tone I was looking for until I bought the Maz 18, and now I know this is an amp I will never get rid of. It has shades of an AC30, fender blackface, and some plexi in it; however, it is still its own thing.
I say all of that because it is extremely important to know where you are starting. The Maz 18 is NOT a high gain amp. It is a single channel low to mid gain amp, which i love. I dial in a slightly mid-scooped, edge of breakup tone on my amp. This allows me a great clean tone on my guitars but with a little room to dig into the strings to get a little clipping. Absolutely amazing tone.
From there, the next question is which guitar I am playing.
Les Paul: My Les Paul is an '02 Standard with a set of Seymour Duncan Antiquities loaded in it. It has a fantastic warm tone with woody clarity from the pickups. I love this guitar. When going through the Hi input of my amp, it has a slight overdriven sound with great dynamics. However, as anyone who has played a Les Paul with PAF style humbuckers can tell you, driving it can get a little too dark and can lose clarity. Finding a solution to this was one of the biggest eye openers for me. How do I drive a LP with PAFs and not get a muddy tone?
Answer: Treble Booster. I think a good treble booster is one of the things many new and intermediate players don't know about and is one of the most important parts to a good signal chain. All of your favorite guitar heroes from the 70's used a treble booster like the Dallas Rangemaster. A treble booster allows you to roll-off bass from your signal when you kick it on, adds distortion and can either leave your treble intact or add treble, if you want.
This allows you to have great clean or edge of breakup warmth in your tone, but then cut through the mix with great clarity when you kick on your overdrive.
I use the Black Country Customs TI Boost as my treble booster. This was created by Laney's custom pedal division specifically to try and replicate Tony Iommi's modded Rangemaster, which was accidentally thrown away by one of his roadies. I absolutely love this pedal. It is EXTREMELY transparent, and allows me to get my Les Paul in that classic rock area of overdrive I love to play in.
For my Strat and Tele, they are already starting from a much more sparkly-clear tone, from my LP. I did not like the tone I was getting when using the treble booster. Or, I would have to tweak it each time I changed guitars. I, again, hit up my GuitarTube channels to find a boost/overdrive for those guitars. After years of searching, I think i've found the one for me only a few weeks ago.
Funny thing about the guys at That Pedal Show is that Mick plays predominately Strats, and Dan plays predominately Teles. It just so happens that Keeley worked with them to create their own pedal with basically 2 built into one. It is fantastic for layering a boost with an overdrive. These two sides are voiced similar to some of their favorite pedals.
I have now had this for several weeks and LOVE the tones I can get out of them. I don't see myself ever getting rid of this one.
Lastly, as for Analog Delay, let me save you some time, money, and buyers remorse. Don't start with the M169. Jump immediately to the Carbon Copy Deluxe. Has everything that is great with the carbon Copy, but adds a tempo switch, so you can tap out the tempo of the delay effect. It also adds a few other things. I originally had the Carbon Copy and, though it sounded great, I hated having to constantly dial in the delay tempo I needed. Costs only $50 or so more, and will make your life so much better.
Never played with their analog Chorus, but I'd assume that will sound great, based on my other experiences with MXR.
Hope that all helps!
