#20220527

Jonny playing The Smoke at Amsterdam’s Paradiso (karindgr). Note the pedals resting on top of the Rhodes piano next to the Prophet 5 REV4 synthesizer: those are used with the Prophet.

Jonny experimented with some new pedals during The Smile’s rehearsals in late-2021 and early-2022, including a Strymon Timeline, a Nano POG, and a vintage Ibanez TS-808. But by the end of rehearsals, he had settled on a relatively concise setup with eight pedals for his guitar. He subsequently used that setup for The Smile’s three live-streamed shows at London’s Magazine in January.

However, it seems that Thom and Jonny are both using the Smile’s 2022 European tour to experiment with even more pedals! So far, Thom’s new Grand Orbiter pedal helped to inspire the new song Bodies Laughing. As for Jonny, probably the most notable addition is his new Earthquaker Devices Pyramids flanger, which seemingly helped to inspire the new song IT/Flangers.

Jonny’s guitar pedalboard has most of the pedals from the Magazine shows, and he’s started to use his DD-200 instead of his RE-20 on even more songs (including The Opposite)! He has stopped using his Demeter Tremulator (set as a 6db boost during Thin Thing at the Magazine shows) and his big box Electro-Harmonix Small Stone, but he’s added more than he’s taken away. His board at Amsterdam’s Paradiso includes an Earthquaker Pyramids, an Earthquaker Organizer, and one of Thom’s old Telenorida Kompressors! He also has a Boss LS-2, with cables connected to the A and B outputs, but not the main output.

The following is a list of Jonny’s pedals for The Smile’s performance in Amsterdam on May 27, 2022. However, Jonny continued to adjust his pedalboard during the tour, as we’ll see in a future post. The signal order is based on his setup for the Magazine and other past pedalboards.

Guitar Signal Chain

Gibson Les Paul Standard (vintage)

Boss TU-3 tuner

Earthquaker Devices Pyramids flanger ↑ IT/Flangers

Telenorida Kompressor

Earthquaker Devices Organizer pitch-shifter ↑ Feeling Pulled Apart By Horses (?)

Electro-Harmonix Freeze ↑ Skirting On The Surface (outro solo)

Boss SD-1 super overdrive ↑ The Opposite, Thin Thing

Akai Headrush E2 looper ↑ Skirting On The Surface

Boss RE-20 Space Echo ↑ The Smoke The Opposite (with reverb knob at maximum), Skirting On The Surface (outro only)

Boss DD-200 delay ↑ The Opposite, Thin Thing, Just Eyes and Mouth, Under Our Pillows, IT/Flangers

Boss LS-2 line selector ↑ may be part of bass setup instead.

Radial Engineering DI box ↑ sits on top of Jonny’s amp. Sends output to both the amp and the PA.

Fender ‘65 Reissue Super Reverb combo amp

Electro-Harmonix single-output expression ↑ off-board, connected to RE-20.

Bass Signal Chain

Fender Precision Bass (vintage)

Boss TU-3 tuner

Radial Engineering DI box ↑ sits on top of Jonny’s amp. Sends output to both the amp and the PA.

Ampeg SVT-CL amp head (late-90s)

Ampeg SVT-810 cabinet

MIDI Pedals

Studiologic MP-117 MIDI pedalboard ↑ controls Jonny’s synth modules on The Opposite, Waving a White Flag, We Don't Know What Tomorrow Brings, Just Eyes and Mouth, and Feeling Pulled Apart By Horses.

Blackstar Live Logic 6-button ↑ controls a Max/MSP patch to loop Thom’s vocals on A Hairdryer.

Prophet 5 Signal Chain

Sequential Circuits Prophet 5 REV4

Peterson StroboStomp HD tuner

Earthquaker Devices Avalanche Run delay/reverb

Radial Engineering DI box -> FOH mixer -> PA speakers

A closeup of Jonny’s pedalboard during The Smoke at Amsterdam’s Paradiso (karindgr). The black rectangle at the top center of the image is a Blackstar Live Logic 6-button MIDI footcontroller.