Pedalboard tour with Belgium's Stake and their Boss-heavy rigs

Post-metal? Post-rock-meets-sludge-metal-grunge? Whatever you want to bill them as, Stake are great company when we meet guitarist Cis Deman and vocalist / guitarist Brent Vanneste backstage at Arctangent festival.

With a sound that's increasingly bold with the styles it blends, we wonder how the band orchestrate the tones behind it live. Taking a closer look at Cis and Brent's festival dust-engrained pedalboards is a great place to start… 

Brent Vanneste

Boss TU-3 Chromatic Tuner 

Brent: "So, we always start with tuning the guitar – it's very important." 

Boss RV-5 Digital Reverb 

"Actually my pedalboard is pretty shity but for me it's more about the guitar and the amp. The only thing I really need are a good 'verb and I still think this is one of the best guitar 'verbs. I tested a lot of them and for me this one keeps working the best if you combine it with the gain of a good amp, like my JCM 800. This is perfect for what we are doing."

Boss Digital Delay DD-5

"I lost my analogue delay about a week ago at Sziget Festival so I think it's still at the airport. I found this Digital Delay from Boss and it's doing the trick as well. I still miss my pedal but we're going to have to do it like this today. 

"A good reverb and a good delay, and just use the drive of your amp – for me that's the most important distortion…"

Boss / JHS Pedals JB-2 Angry Driver

"Then I add the Angry Driver. It's a pretty good pedal. I used to use the MXR Micro Boost but this one is doing the trick as well. For me it's more about having a good fat lead sound through a JCM 800 or something like that, but you need the extra boost all the time so this is an important part. But it could be another one as well.

"So I'm not too nerdy about my pedals but the reverb is my most important one."

Mooer Bass Sweeper Filter

"I really like this one as well. It's like an automatic envelope filter and it makes your sound very attacky and synthy [makes envelop filter noises]. So I really love it. I should glue it back to my pedalboard to be shown where it's not f*****g it up."

Walrus Audio Aetos power supply 

"A lot of people were laughing at me before this because I had this metal structure on a wooden piece, everything was loose. My friends and bandmates were getting a bit angry so they fixed the pedalboard and power supply for me. I'm very happy with this nice present and I'm having less issues now onstage."  

Cis Deman

"I'm going to start with the ES-8 from Boss. This makes sure I'm not doing the pedal dance through all my pedals. 

"I'm still actually dancing but just on this bit – little dances on these little buttons.

"I also use it as for channel switch on my JCM 800. My drive from my JCM 800 is my main distortion sound." 

TC Electronics PolyTune

"To make sure I'm a little bit in tune!"

Morley Bad Horsie Wah 

"I've had this for ten years, I guess. I use it a lot for little bits here and there. It's easy because it switches off when I lift my foot from it – that's why I'm using it."

MXR Six-band EQ

"I use that as a boost for solos and stuff like that."

Boss OC-3 Super Octave

"I use it to have a bit more octave in my Telecaster sounds which makes it really heavy if you mix it with this one…"

Dr No Effects PowerDriver 

"This bad boy; my favourite pedal on the 'board. I use it as a drive constantly. If this pedal was a dog poo I'd still stamp on it."

Electro-Harmonix Soul POG

"As you can see, everything is dusty from the festivals before. This Soul POG I use together with the octaver to colourise my sounds a bit in the atmospheric things. I actually don't use the drive, but I got it cheaper with the drive than without the drive."

Boss RV-5 Digital Reverb

"I use it a lot in clean sounds and this is actually the pedal I've been using for 15 years. II often mix this with the DD-500."

Boss DD-500

"I use this for slapback delays and the reverb [from the RV-5] makes things very atmospheric in the clean sounds."