Today I want to do a little experiment. I want to write about the stuff I love to use when I’m writing new songs, whether in the digital realm (VST plugins) or the hardware domain (pedals and instruments).

Everything has a beginning

I never thought much about the process — that includes the things I used to like (and some I still love) — until very recently.

At first, I just wanted to play and hang with other musicians (this was around 2010–2014). I had a VERY low budget for basically everything. The most expensive things I could have were the guitar and bass, each paid off in installments over months. I also played a bunch of Squier, Tagima, and SX instruments from that era. Honest instruments, especially the Squiers and Tagimas (Classic Vibe and Special/Blues series, respectively).

Pedals were always expensive and, honestly, I didn’t really get into them until much later. At that time I was playing hardcore punk, a bit of indie and brit rock, so distortion was basically all I needed. Going through Black Flag, Ramones, Fugazi, Rancid, Kings of Leon, Oasis, Blur and a few others. The raw energy and the explosion were there. I got hooked.

Amp cranked up, cable straight into the guitar and the jam was ready to start. The gear I had at that point was an old Meteoro MGR-50 and a Demolodor 80 — the sound was pretty rough, but at least it was (more or less) loud and you could have fun with it. The distortion itself was TERRIBLE, but for punk rock anything is twice as good as nothing.

First Discoveries

As we kept playing and even trying to write some songs, the need to explore textures started to grow — alongside my appreciation for a perhaps unknown band called Title Fight and their wonderful 2012 record Floral Green. These guys were practically the new Nirvana but with a more punk clothing. Delay and chorus pedals creating hypnotic textures while still being incredibly aggressive and angular. I became kind of obsessed with it but didn’t really know what it was or how to get there. I was probably around 19 or 20 at the time, and as is tradition, every young Brazilian gets some cash from Grandma on their birthday. Let’s just say that on that birthday I had my first epiphany: a NUX Chorus pedal.

NUX is a Chinese brand that makes a lot of interesting things, mostly cost-effective gear for emerging markets. The chorus in question is that little yellow one you still find around today. It’s an effect that works by modulating and delaying the input signal, creating a “wave” effect — as if floating on the sea, almost doubling the audio coming in. It’s kind of wild, and it’s really cool! One of the main reasons I chose it was: Nirvana used chorus a ton, Title Fight too, and it also cost roughly what I had available in my broke-guy budget.

I don’t need to say it opened the door to other obsessions and songs I wrote that have stayed with me to this day. Mainly Gregor Samsa and These Walls Have Ears (Lear).

Shortly after that epiphanic moment, I got a job at a now-defunct telecom in the city, which gave me a slightly bigger budget. I started saving money to expand my instrument arsenal and widen the tones I had access to (and also because it was cool to mix things up a bit). I played a bunch of different instruments during that time and developed a reasonable benchmark for distinguishing bad instruments from honest and good ones — and a fair sense of how much brands could influence value versus raw playability. I also learned the value of a good luthier. Seriously, take your instruments to a luthier. You won’t regret it.

New Paths

The second turning point came in the ongoing saga of tones and textures to explore. Some time had passed and by then I had a rough idea of what effects did, occasionally experimenting with a borrowed pedal from a friend to figure out what could work and what couldn’t. But something still had me curious about the possibilities. I think by that point — and considering my resume is in another tab — you already know I have an affinity for technology and moving forward. So I decided to buy a multi-effects unit and solve all the (imaginary at that point) problems.

A week later the mailman delivered a box containing a Zoom G1 Four. Tons of effects, some amp simulations, a looper, and you could program everything and build a bunch of presets.

The first thing I did was wipe all the factory presets, and then I spent — I don’t know — a month building presets from scratch and exploring tones, hahahaha. The discovery was incredible.

Around that same time I found a Marshall pedal at a local store at a pretty “accessible” price — the infamous second-generation Guv’Nor. That pedal has the very characteristic Marshall drive, in a JCM 800/900 sort of vein, though it tends to sound a bit dull depending on which amp you run it through.

My “battle preset” was a small clone simulation, a phaser, and an analog delay with a lot of tail — to create that kind of soundtrack feel from head in the ceiling fan. With the distortion always first in the chain.

That little multi-effects unit was responsible for me experimenting with and creating so many textures, giving me a creative freedom I can’t express enough gratitude for. I still have it today as a decoration on my shelf, resting in peace after being retired in 2022.

Honorable mentions I should give, in no particular order:

• Behringer SuperFuzz SF300 (Boss Hyperfuzz clone)
• Danelectro FAB Overdrive (cheap and gritty overdrive)

What’s next?

I’ll wrap up the journey here for this post — in the next one I’ll talk a bit more about what I’m into these days and also share some demos :)

That’s all for now

Thanks a lot, keep rocking 🤘 — Matheus.