Rabea Massaad Pedalboard Dynamics and Essential Tone Components

Somewhat sizeable Expression Treadle Controllers - but with superb ergonomics and dual 25K outputs - meaning that the two utilised here can control a quartet of pedals. I believe the only difference in the specs of the two units is hat the SP25L designation one has a cool light-up base! There's no doubt that these are fantastic examples of their type - while somewhat over-sized for my own particular preferences.

A Simple Tap-Tempo Micro Switch for any and all of the time-based effects. Pretty much an industry standard and one of several suitable options - including say Bright Onion Pedals.

The classic Boss Chromatic Tuner for always-on implementation - of course missing the typical footswitch plate - and much the more compact for it - otherwise all the same features as before!

Daniel Steinhardt's smart MIDI empowered switcher - 14 Footswitches with 2 Banks, 10 Separate Send-and-Return Loops and infinite routing opportunities and options for complete rig re-arrangements in a single press. Recently updated as the G3 series with handy screen - while the G2 is still a power-house in its own right. Some of the very finest, if not the absolute finest MIDI Switchers you can buy - pricing can be pretty significant though.

Controls - Level, Blend, Attack, Filter, Chaos Switch, Waveshape - Square / Sawtooth / Sine.

Really cool single-note / monophonic wave generator synth with 3 wave shapes, cool filtering and 'Chaos' Mode. One of the best Monophonic guitar synths out there - while I probably prefer the Subdecay M3 for my own preferences - no doubting the glorious tones Rabea gets out of the Synth-1 though.

Controls - Low (+toggle), Mid (+toggle), Hi (+toggle), Boost Switch, 4 Presets.

A cool sort of utility pedal which is essentially an EQ / Boost / Tone-Shaper, but can be used as a preamp too. Where I feel Rabea mostly uses it as a tone-sweetener. I deploy the JA Prism and Bloom in a similar role for my own pedal-chain!

Controls - Dry, Sub Octave, Octave Up.

It seems like Rabea briefly swapped out his mainstay Micro POG for the Boss OC-5 while that seems to have been fairly short-lived, as the POG was very quickly back in the chain again. I personally prefer the OC-5 - but where the POG also has its own distinct tonality. For me my weapon of choice to cover that currently is the Coppersound Triplegraph. If I were going for a POG I would get one of the Modded editions - by say Alchemy Audio, Kinnatone, or Matthews Effects! - with the dual settings!

Controls - Output, Distort, Bass, Treble.

Great sounding electrically charged distortion with serious crunch and grind. I really love the sound of this, and have been meaning to get one of these for a while - just hasn't happened quite yet - will no doubt have one soon enough - just a beautifully tuned pretty High Gain Distortion with superb breakup texture!

Controls - Output, Highs, Gain, Blend, Lows, More/Presence, EQ : Preamp / EQ1 / EQ2, Adjustment.

A really cool Plexi-style overdrive - where I own its original more substantial and larger forerunner. I had intended to get this for a while or the Hot Rod edition - but ended up with a Tsakalis Audioworks Room #40 instead. I may still get one of these as it largely covers off similar MIAB / Top-Boosted Vox tones as the original - so not exactly the same as the Room #40. While the lack of a Mids control here is a bit of a miss.

Controls - Record Level, Mechanics, Type : Drum / Tape / Studio, Time, Speed : Half / Normal / Double, Repeats, Echo Level, Low Cut, Wear , Time Playback / Feedback Buttons, Spacing, Spring Reverb.

Also my favourite Tape / Magnetic Echo Delay pedal of the moment - this is a formidable and really smartly configured vintage style tape-delay. I would have preferred footswitchable presets here too - but that is the only miss really - I really love this delay. Interesting to see how the eventual Dawner Prince Boonar Deluxe will hold up to this!

Controls - Value, Speed, Depth, Level, Type : Chorus / Flanger / Rotary / Vibe / Phaser / Filter / Formant / Vintage Trem / Pattern Trem / Autoswell / Destroyer / Quadrature, Param 1, Param 2, Bank Down, Bank Up, A, B, C, Tap Tempo.

This was my first Big Box Multi-Modulator - and while I still retain the unit for some-time rotation, it was initially usurped by the Boss MD-500, then Empress Zoia, then GFI System Synesthesia, and finally now the Boss GT-1000 CORE. I still retain all and love all - while nowadays the Synesthesia and CORE get most of the action on that slot.

Controls - Value, Time, Repeats, Mix, Type : dTape / dBucket / Digital / Dual / Pattern / Reverse / Ice / Duck / Swell / Trem / Filter / Lo-Fi, Filter, Grit, Mod Speed, Mod Depth, Bank Down, Bank Up, A, B, C, Tap Tempo.

Again this was my first Big Box delay - which was then rotated mostly out for the Empress EchoSystem, and then the Volante took over that slot - and was supported by a secondary Boss DD-200 delay. The TimeLine still does some pretty unique stuff - like the Ice Mode, while I currently prefer the Volante on that slot - although I feel the Empress Ecosystem is the most capable delay of all time - with no less than 42 algorithms onboard and counting!

Controls - Value, Decay, Pre-Delay, Mix, Type : Room / Hall / Plate / Spring / Swell / Bloom / Cloud / Chorale / Shimmer / Magneto / NonLinear / Reflections, Tone, Param 1, Param 2, Modulation, Bank Down, Bank Up, A, B, C.

And yes I started off with the Strymon Stryfecta too - still have all 3, but they have mostly been ousted from the rotation - although they do put in an occasional appearance. The BigSky was initially rotated out for the Boss RV-500, then Source Audio Ventris, then EHX Oceans 12, next Strymon NightSky, and now the Neunaber Illumine. All those are great reverbs - the NightSky is so unique in how you build up Reverbs through a modular additive approach. Even after all these years through - the BigSky is still probably most people's favourite Big Box Reverb - while I feel the Illumine will eventually match that appeal.

Controls - Dry, Out, In, Attack/Release 2, Thru, Attack/Release 1.

For a long time I was on the cusp of getting a Cali76 Deluxe - before I succumbed to the charms of the JA Bloom, and where I feel currently that Becos FX probably makes the most authentic studio style compressors in pedal format. While Origin Effects is still right up there - especially with its Compact Cali76 series - ether in Deluxe or Stacked Edition.

Controls - Fuzz, Level, Mania (Feedback / Oscillation).

One of Rabea's mainstays - he always has at least one Germanium Fuzz in his rig - either this or the Buffalo FX Germanium Fuzz - sometimes both even. The unique aspect to the Germaniac is the 'Mania' control which feeds the signal back in on itself for even more gain and eventual self-oscillation. Every time I do one of these overviews I am typically encouraged to pick up a pedal or two from the selection - and this time around the Coopersonic Germaniac is that weapon of choice! Also on sale currently by happenstance!

Controls - Weight (Level), Flavour (Tone), Honey (Gain).

A pretty decent fat sounding overdrive which I also have. I like it, but didn't take to it quite as well as Rabea did - where it's now a mainstay of his setup. Possibly I need to do some further tests on it - when I last ran it I liked how it sounded for sure - but have other more versatile and capable preferences - very neat form factor though mostly - while I'm not usually in favour of top-mounted knobs in this fashion!

A handy whisper clean signal splitter for connecting to multiple amps and the like - really high quality German engineering - as Lehle make some of the very best signal routing gear out there. I myself have used the Radial Engineering Tone Bone Twin City ABY pedal for a similar function in the past.

Really handy powerful 5000mA Power Brick - which you though need to connect various other TheGigRig devices too - in order to distribute power. Great if you have Dan onboard to help you with wiring, otherwise probably a little fiddly though. Undeniably versatile, but a little complex in some ways as you need to decide on which distribution device you need on each occasion - and there are several to choose from. I personally go with the Cioks Future Power Generation series - where each outlet can be easily and instantly set to 9, 12, 15 or 18 Volts - and delivers as much as 660mA of current per outlet!

Controls - PreGain, Fuzz, Level, Bias.

Rabea's equal favourite Germanium Fuzz - which can typically be found in his rig, but not always. I have the earlier Stiletto Fuzz variety of this. Each batch tends to deploy slightly different transistors - the earliest ones had rare Japanese transistors, while mine have searing Soviet varieties.

Controls - Voltage, Mode : Boost, Octave Down, 2 Octaves Down, Octave Up, Octave Down/Up, Two Octaves Down + Octave Up, Volume, Low Frequency, High Frequency, On/Off, Effect Engage.

This is another bit-player which Rabea has been deploying on occasion - including in the below Pedalboard build video. I really like my Plasma Coil too - and I'm delighted to own the Third Man Records / Jack White Quadfecta too! It's kind of like a super-saturated high density fuzz/distortion / fuzzstortion even with mostly a variety of Octave effects which are somewhat superseded by the deployment of a Coppersound Triplegraph.