Quest for Tone 2
Updates to the rig
23 March 2026
I wrote a post a while back about my guitar rig over the years. The evolving sound of Cosmic Strain has pushed tone in different directions.
Playing Live
The first alteration was a change in order. I moved my MXR Analog chorus after my delays, so that I could get some shimmer on my short delay from the DD-7 and the long tail from the DD-3. From there, I added a new flanger pedal, the EHX Stereo Electric Mistress, for an additional layer of texture. Having it at the end of the chain gave the option for using stereo outputs, so I sent the main out to my amp and the second output to my UA Dream pedal that I’ve been using as an amp replacement for at-home recordings.
With the UA Dream now on my pedalboard, I started using it at shows and practice. A Walrus Audio Canvas DI box sits at the end of the chain for easily getting good signal from the board to front of house. It’s almost completely transparent, but I do notice a small reduction in the amount of electric harshness in the high end that comes with any type of amp simulation. Paired with my Hot Rod Deville, it can easily augment a great amp sound by giving more low or high end, depending on what is missing from the amp’s tone in a live environment.
Still on my list to replace is a new volume pedal. I despise the lack of reliability in the Ernie Ball. The screen goes out intermittently, so I added a Polytune mini at the start of my chain. This is a pretty nice addition, as there are a few worthwhile settings. Namely a buffer, which is always a great way to start a pedal chain, and an “always on” toggle so that it doesn’t need to be engaged during shows. This allows a player to reference the current pitch, helpful for bending up in a pinch when they’re a little flat, and tuning fully by simply pulling back on the volume pedal.
Recording
The UA Dream is a fantastic pedal. For recording it does the job of recreating an old Fender tube amp perfectly, and for my Mottled Moth recordings I run my pedalboard and the Dream directly into my audio interface. It completely replaces Amplitube in my recording process, but I still do typical post processing on the signal, such as compression, EQ, saturation, and the like. It takes some tinkering to get the right cab for your sound, and honestly 60% of them don’t sound too great, but when you find the right one it is a great replacement for an amp while recording or having quiet practice.
Cosmic Strain recently recorded a few songs with a local producer who writes his own extremely sick music in Pearloid. We used amps out of his collection, an old Fender Princeton for Matt’s rhythm and a Traynor Bassmaster for mine, and pedals from our board to carve out sections in each song. We used the Dream for our DI track, and I was happy to see it actually fill out a well recorded amp sound. As a big fan of loud tube amps, I’m highly skeptical of the sound of simulators and felt a bit validated for hearing it do well in the mix.
For leads we armed ourselves with the trusty JCM for amp driven crunch. Drew had a ton of cool tools, so we leveraged an EBow as well as a tape echo to create some eerie melodic lines and hazy clouds of delay. Our trusty A&R Miles was laid out in front of our pedalboards chewing on a toy frequently during the session.
Conclusion
Future improvements are to add an amp switcher that will allow me to stop the signal for one amp channel at a time. This would be great for changing energy levels during songs, engaging just half of the output for lighter moments and engaging both for a full-on blast of sound.
I’d love to replace the Dream with another amp in the future, something that differentiates itself from the Hot Rod for a wider tonal depth. Though after having increased faith in the Dream after our recording session, I think I’ll see how it does as it gets more gig time before rushing for another amp.
One day I will finally take this Ernie Ball out behind the woodshed and put it down, but alas I’ve yet to be able to replace it.
Thanks for reading and if you’ve a suggestion for my board or want to share your own, email me!