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I'm not any kind of self-professed effects expert, but I've owned a whole lot of effects pedals, used several moderately high-end effects processors extensively, written FAQs on using VSTs with guitar without having to spend any money, etc., so if you have any questions about using effects with guitar I'll be happy to contribute what my experience has taught me. I can't pretend to go any farther than that, though.
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Apr 16, 2008 17:42
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Alright, I'd like some opinions on my proposed setup. I've changed my strategy for using my pedals and amps. I've decided that I will have smaller pedal boards specifically for each amp, instead of one big signal chain that I use for all of them. This way, I'll be able to plug-and-play with any of my setups, and it lets me tweak each setup distinctly from the others instead of trying to find a medium that works with all of them. It also cuts some noise from the signal chain and simplifies my playing environment significantly. I don't know what I'll do about a tuner, but I won't be buying a bunch of them, that's for sure. I might just leave it on top of my half stack for easy access with a three or six foot cable coming out of it so I can plug the guitar just into the tuner... I don't know. Here's what I'm going with: 1. Randall RG120PH (Even Randall can't tell me anything about this amp beyond a schematic for all the late 1970's RG120/300 series amps...) Ibanez Weeping Demon Wah --> Planetwaves Chromatic Tuner --> Danelectro Wasabi Overdrive --> Danelectro Fab-Tone --> Danelectro Fish n' Chips EQ --> AMP INPUT 2. Peavey Windsor Morley George Lynch Dragon Wah --> Zoom Tri-Metal --> Damage Control Liquid Blues --> Damage Control Solid Metal --> AMP INPUT EFFECTS LOOP SEND --> Danelectro Fish n' Chips EQ --> Danelectro Dan-Echo --> Marshall Reflector --> EFFECTS LOOP RETURN 3. THD Univalve Danelectro Wasabi Overdrive --> Aramat Mojo Fuzz --> AMP INPUT Thoughts? (Yes, I have two Wasabi ODs and two Fish n' Chips EQs, and the Mojo Fuzz is supposed to be coming my way next week in trade for my Wasabi Chorus/Trem... the Mojo Fuzz is a modification to the Fuzz Face circuit, with upgrades all around. I'm just getting into fuzz and I'm pretty excited about it.) One thing I will likely be adding fairly soon is a Holy Stain to the THD Univalve's signal chain, after the Aramat MF (that is, right in front of the amp). I'll use its Reverb all the time, and switch between its Clean and Fuzz depending on what I'm doing. Another thing this will let me do is actually put my pedals togather on pedalboards instead of having them strewn about - all of them just wouldn't fit on any that I could find, and I don't really have the tools to make my own "professional" quality pedalboard. Agreed fucked around with this message at 02:33 on Apr 27, 2008 |
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Apr 27, 2008 02:03
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I love the Korg modeling units, but I don't think I could really put something like that to use. My hands are always too busy playing, for one thing, and frankly I don't know what that would give me that my pedals don't (which is, perhaps, more of a statement about my lack of imagination than anything about the unit itself).
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Apr 27, 2008 02:42
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Raze posted:Why are you putting the EQ in your effects loop? Does your amp not have Bass/Mid/Treble knobs on it? It seems like those would be just about fine for shaping the after-distortion tone, unless there's something you really like about the Dano EQ bands. The degree of precision and also the amount of boost/cut is significantly better with a 7-band (or more) EQ than it is with a three-knob EQ. I don't know why that would seem odd, nearly everyone at the HC forums runs an EQ in the loop. Might be a high gain thing. But I do also love the Dan-o EQs, they're very quiet, very sturdy, very effective, and very cheap. Another thing - I find that the amp's onboard EQ tends to be tied to some degree to its general distortion character, not just its tone. This is especially true of passive (cut) tone stacks. My two amps with a midrange knob sacrifice a lot of their distortion clarity and punch without the midrange knob up all the way, so I run them like that and then sculpt the midrange more precisely afterwards. Remember too that the amp's tone controls are centered on a specific frequency, with a defined range (on passive tone stacks, you can only take away, not add, too). A seperate, active graphical EQ means that you can boost or cut, and you also get much more control over which frequencies you're affecting. Another factor is that the EQs on my amps in particular come before the preamp, not after it. Distorting bass can muddy your sound up tremendously when you're using any level of gain, so rolling the bass back before the preamp and adding it back in before the power amp is an effective way of tightening up your sound without losing clarity. This trick is an old one, used on early Mesa Mk. series amps. A resonance control can add bass after the preamp, but it also faces the known-frequency limitation, so if you're wanting to add only very low bass to get cabinet thump but not midbass, which can muddy the sound, you might be poo poo out of luck if the resonance control is at 200hz or something. If you think Bass/Mid/Treble is enough, I encourage you to try an EQ in the loop. It'll open your eyes to a lot of possibilities that you didn't have before, with nearly any amp. Agreed fucked around with this message at 17:50 on Apr 27, 2008 |
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Apr 27, 2008 17:44
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Raze posted:Ah, fair enough. I was just confused as to why it was in the effects loop. I'm used to my crappy little combo that I just run clean. I probably should have read what it was going in to a little closer, sorry. I've tried a few graphic EQs before and I'm just not too keen on them. I think I want them to do more than they can in terms of tone, or I just suck at using them. I DO like the 3-band parametric EQ on my preamp, but I'm not all that great at tweaking it, either. EQ is handy if you know what frequencies you're working with and what you're trying to accomplish in working with them. I have used everything from a little 6-band EQ to a 32-band rack EQ, and I honestly don't get anything more out of the big ones than the 7-band units I use now. Parametric EQs can be great, but once again, for distorted guitar it's more precision than I need. After all, with a setup like mine, you've got at least four tone stacks to work with - Overdrive Pedal, Distortion Pedal, Amp tone stack, and 7-band EQ. I use all of them cooperatively to get the sound I want. I know what I like to hear going on, partly thanks to working with modelers so often - if you've got a modeling interface and you don't know what you want to sound like, you'll spend all your time tweaking and no time making sounds 
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Apr 28, 2008 22:18
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7 Bowls of Wrath posted:Ive been looking for a U-2 is echo/delay sound, and think I have settled on a BOSS RE-20 to do this. I played one in a local music shop and really liked the sound, but only really played with it for 5-10 minutes. Im worried about an impulse buy because its around 200 bucks, so I want to make sure I wont be surprised by some lovely build quality or something. Does anyone have any suggestions for that really natural sounding echo/delay besides this guy, or possibly any experience with this pedal to help me make my final decision? The RE-20 is an amazing unit, very accurate model of the original (down to the mediocre reverb, heh). If you're looking for a delay that's more than your standard digital delay, it'd be a great choice. Getting one is on my list of things to do this summer.
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Apr 29, 2008 18:36
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7 Bowls of Wrath posted:Your thoughts were mine when I first heard it. I would like to compare each of the settings available, they look like it would give some interesting variants to the sound. Hard to answer that catagorically. Fusion and metal, mostly. I have aspirations to be as talented as folks like Satriani, Vai, and my hero Devin Townsend, but I worry that won't ever happen. Still, I practice every day, and I'm trying to immerse myself in a more theory-oriented approach to re-learning what I already know, and using that as a base from which to move forward. Here's something I'm working on now. Just a snapshot of an idea I'm working on, recorded with Revalver MkIII (trial version, so it makes a swoosh at one point...) - I was fooling around with it and liked the sound, so I figured I'd work on a progression I've been thinking of and try to play something over it to see if it would fit.  And here's another (somewhat embarrasing) effort to get beyond my usual comfort zones (major, pentatonic minor, natural minor, harmonic minor, melodic minor, centering strongly around the first position). The reverb in this is that amp's reverb, which I quite like - a bit bright, but very deep (that's with it set between 2 and 3)  I've only just got back into playing standard, too. I've been tuning my guitars to CGCFCF, CGCFCG, or CGCGCG. Here's a couple examples of how that sounds:    I still keep a guitar tuned in CGCGCF, but I'm trying to really buckle down and get more out of standard tuning as well. My strat is tuned oddly as well, a combination of dropped C#-standard with the top string an octave above the third string. The result is three-string symmetry for the bottom three strings, and for the top three strings, with the middle portion being the same fifth relationship as standard tuning. I'm enjoying it, it allows for some interesting possiblities. Edit: Also, my reverb pedal of choice is the Marshall Reflector. Quiet as can be, absolutely fantastic reverbs. I especially like Hall, Plate, Spring 1, and Spring 2 (which is a deeper spring reverb with a plate reverb blended in as well). Agreed fucked around with this message at 19:15 on Apr 29, 2008 |
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Apr 29, 2008 19:06
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Three Red Lights posted:Are there any alternatives to the Boss Acoustic sim? I really want an acoustic simulation thing but I cant convince myself the soundclips of this sound good. Zoom's Acoustic Sim in their G2 series of modelers (current gen) kicks rear end. Try it through a G2.1u in the store. One of my favorite things about the G9.2tt. So much more than just EQ filters.
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May 5, 2008 19:22
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mono posted:I said I'd post clips of my English Muff played through my Bassman a million times but never did. Haha, that sounds so much like the Danelectro Fab-Tone! I'm going to record a clip to see if my hypothesis is correct, since I'm at my wife's parents' house so I can't just confirm it directly, but I think it is! I love the Fab-Tone's distortion, and I think I'd love this pedal too. Fuzzsortion  I just got a new fuzz too.  (Guy's site) I traded a Wasabi Chorus/Trem for it, which I got while it was on clearance for less than $40 shipped. That makes me feel a little bit better about adding a $125 Fuzz Face-based pedal to my board, since that pedal has maybe $30 in parts if you're using the best of the best. But all that doesn't matter much to me. I'd buy it full price now that I know how awesome it sounds. Clips in a few days, this thing is a sonic monster. Absolutely lovely fuzz, way beyond the "stock" Fuzz Face both in how nasty it gets and how smooth it gets. I run it after a Wasabi Overdrive into my THD Univalve and  Where has fuzz been all my life? I spend all my time going through overdrives and distortions, and then get two awesome fuzzes in a row with totally different agendas. Now I'm hooked, I think. This was the missing phoneme of my tonal vocabulary. Agreed fucked around with this message at 02:20 on May 9, 2008 |
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May 9, 2008 02:11
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I love tube-bearing pedals. I have a set of Damage Control unit (Solid Metal, Liquid Blues) that I run into one of my amps. And yeah, in tube-bearing pedals which actually bias the tube correctly and run it fairly hot, swapping the tubes makes a big impact on the sound. And my experience is the same as yours - gain down, volume up on the amp. They've got their own voicing that works really well with a lot of different kinds of preamps. The guy that designs a lot of EHX's tube-based pedals posts on the HC effects forums, seems like a crazy guy with a lot of neat ideas.
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May 9, 2008 02:23
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Vanmani posted:As for me, I have a ZVex Fuzz Factory and a Zoom G2.1u but I can't make them chain friendly. If I run the Fuzz Factory straight to my (crappy Fender Frontman 15R) amp and have a little bit of overdrive on the amp it sounds pretty nice. If I chain the Fuzz Factory before the G2 with a bit of overdrive in it, it sounds crap. Same with if I chain it after the G2 (as you would really expect for this type of fuzz pedal). The Fuzz Factory really has to be first in the chain (or, at least, after only TB pedals - you don't want to compromise the peculiar relationship of the input impedance to the guitar pickups' output impedance). My experience with the Zoom G2 to G9.2tt are that they can be configured to be very transparent. I was easily able to achieve unity gain with my G9.2tt. It might not be so easy with the lower end units, though. I would honestly recommend that you pick up a better amp with an effects loop and run the G2 in the effects loop. Why in the world are you buying a Fuzz Factory to run into a 15W Fender practice amp anyway? That's putting the cart before the horse
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May 9, 2008 18:24
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Reeeally? Vex claims that he doesn't use any FET stuff. Huh. I've checked his facts on some pedals (and boy does he like the SHO...), but I've never had any reason to look at the Fuzz Factory except to note that it's a zvex-ified fuzz face. Wonder why it sounds like rear end if you aren't hitting it with the guitar's pickups, then?
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May 9, 2008 19:24
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ZombiePeanut posted:Also, I discovered that pedals drain the battery if you have the input plugged in, even if the pedal is off. I'm not sure why the all do this, but the internet seems to tell me they do. Seems like some pretty ridiculous engineering. That's normal. I don't remember the exact technical explanation, but the presence of the cable in the input jack completes the circuit in some cases, and in some cases it's essentially the power switch. You can usually just back it out a bit and it'll turn off (many pedals use a stereo input jack for that reason - you can leave it plugged into the partly-in first indent and not worry about battery drain). Personally, I got sick of the whole battery thing (except for my handy Behringer GDI21 Sansamp G2 clone, which I keep a battery in "just in case"). I use individual 200mA Danelectro adapters for every pedal on my board, and plug them into good surge protectors. That way, the pedals are never underpowered (some of them, such as my RF-1 Marshall Reflector, are really sensitive to underpowering), and I can turn everything off at the surge protector and leave it all plugged in. Plus, two of my pedals take whacky high-current moon adapters, and it would suck having to deal with them seperately. Or so I tell myself. I don't trust all-in-one power supplies under $300, and with 12-13 pedals or so at $10 an adapter I'm still well under that. Wire hell, of course. Agreed fucked around with this message at 05:21 on May 10, 2008 |
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May 10, 2008 05:18
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screammachine posted:Probably because the circuit works intimately with the signal from you guitar and needs a clean path from your guitar/pickups to not sound like rear end. This is common with any decent fuzz pedal. Disagree. Some are like this, some aren't. It depends on how it loads the pickups. My Aramat Effects Mojo Fuzz (modified Fuzz Face) plays along just fine after my (buffered) Danelectro Wasabi OD. I've A/B tested it. And it most definitely is a decent fuzz. It just depends on the pedal, you know?
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May 20, 2008 01:40
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gotly posted:This is going to be a long shot, but do you guys remember when the Wasabi overdrive pedal was only 20 bucks? That was awesome. I didn't pick one up because I thought I didn't need one at the moment. Ebay has two for $40+, they must have been amazing pedals because there are NO used ones being sold. Kicking myself here... Sorry that I can't give you anything more than words, but the Wasabi OD really is amazing. I have two, one from each $20 deal round, and I don't plan on parting with either of them. They're just too handy, it's one OD for anything you need including clean boosting.
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May 30, 2008 03:12
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3toes posted:Agreed, you know all about this modeling/Line 6 poo poo don't you? What can you tell me about the Toneport? I want something to gently caress around with to easily record riffs and explore some new sounds on my bass. Toneport BAD! Well, not really, but it doesn't stack up to the other modelers. The other guitarist from my old band has been utterly put off on his Toneport after getting to check out my modeling setup. However, if you're just looking for a jam tool, you could probably do a lot worse, at lease.
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Jun 12, 2008 22:14
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If you're not asking much out of it, there's a good chance you won't be disappointed. And, honestly, some people get along just fine with it as their main tone engine, maybe you'd end up being one of them. But it's a fine, low-latency DI interface, if nothing else, and has the amp modeling and effects you need to make a good rough-draft recording. Plus, it's a hell of a lot cheaper than Guitar Rig 3, at $500, or IK Multimedia StompIO (with its Amplitube series) for $1100.
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Jun 12, 2008 23:26
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3toes posted:Considering how I usually record riffs (hanging my headset mic onto my cab)... I think I'll get along just fine with it Oh, no, it definitely works, and works really well. If you want to move up to a serious modeler later, you can still use that interface and it'll be low latency and sound good (unless Line6 has artificially prevented it from being used in that capacity, which would be really hosed up and I have no reason to suspect that they would have done so).
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Jun 12, 2008 23:56
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What do you mean, why do I "hate" Line 6? I don't hate any guitar gear, it's just equipment. I have no use for Line 6 because I have been consistently unimpressed with the quality of their models and effects compared to the strongest of their competitors. For what it's worth, if the choice were between a Boss GT8 or a PodXT, I'd take the XT every time. Not sure sure if I'd take the X3 over the GT-10, though, because the X3 has stepped down somewhat in overall quality while the GT-10 has improved significantly. And when it comes to a software environment, frankly the Line6 models don't even tread water compared to the heavyweight VST modelers. Guitar Rig 3 Rig Kontrol Edition demolishes the Pod X3 Live out of the box, at the same pricepoint. But of course, you have to factor in a realtime VST capable computer, which rather tips the scales if you don't already have one, eh? Still, the sound quality is what it is. I use Guitar Rig 3 as an example because it's a similarly all-in-one solution, with an integrated foot controller/audio interface, etc. As to your comment about the interface being low latency because it's used with Gearbox, that's just odd. I'm getting 2ms ASIO latency with live VST processing, which is really close to the theoretical minimum when factoring in A/D/A conversion, using a commercially available sound card. They're not going to be able to work any magic to make A/D/C occur any faster, especially not for a hundred or two hundred bucks - "low as it gets" is low as it gets, you know? But if their interface works poorly when used outside of Gearbox, I'd appreciate that information so that I can keep it in mind and tailor my recommendation accordingly. There are plenty of audio interfaces which work just fine at very low latencies that aren't quite so tailored to guitar, but which would not be useless outside of the host application. Take the aforementioned Rig Kontrol 3 footboard - you could use that as a low-latency, impedance correcting audio interface with any VST modeler, and with its midi functionality you could even use it as a control surface for that other modeler's parameters. It does have enhanced functionality within Guitar Rig 3 (automatic calibration, speedy and easy assignment of buttons to parameters), but the actual functions of it aren't compromised in any way outside of the native environment. Are you sure that the Toneport is? Not that I suggest you look elsewhere, 3toes - you just need a scratchpad, basically, and it'll be a handy one, with admirable sound quality for tracking ideas and getting songs down on paper... so to speak. Agreed fucked around with this message at 05:49 on Jun 19, 2008 |
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Jun 19, 2008 05:46
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I don't worry about what acts do or don't use the gear that I use, I worry about how it sounds for me. I do know that Guitar Rig 3 and Amplitube Metal are very successful programs, so a lot of people are using them, for what it's worth. I advise you to download an evaluation copy of Amplitube Metal and see if you think that the Pods can keep up. It's free for ten days, feature unlimited, then it starts making noises. Edit: Oh, man, I meant to add, disable its crappy cabinet simulation and use a third-party convolution plugin like KeFIR and some cab impulses. Amplitube2, Jimi Hendrix, and Metal all have awful cabinet simulation compared to a good IR - I mean, it's workable if you really get to tweaking it, but it's such a pain compared to bypassing it and using something that just works. For those bands, I'd recommend using the Randall Warhead or Peavey 5150 models, boosted by running its Overdrive pedal up front with the pedal's distortion all the way down and the level and tone up. Gets some upper harmonics going, boosts the volume, but no "distortion" added as such, really tightens things up. Agreed fucked around with this message at 01:36 on Jun 21, 2008 |
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Jun 21, 2008 00:11
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Stux posted:I have tried out I think all of the VSTs you've mentioned and I've been pretty unimpressed with them for high gain work compared to my toneport/pod xt. Although I can see why you might not have liked them, for high gain stuff you really kind of need the metal and FX booster packs and I dont know if you can get them for the gearbox vst or not. You're welcome to your preferences, of course. I couldn't do that - I am currently in the middle of a transaction to move my G9.2tt into someone else's hands, and its high gain sounds are a lot more authentic than the PODxt's, and it still isn't in the same ballpark as ReValver MkIII. If it's a sound you like, though, and you're really familiar with it being a part of your workflow, then there's no reason to ditch it just because someone on the internet said it's crap. Question, would you also argue that the Pod's amp models sound better than the AxeFX unit? I mean, there's only so much processing power to work with there and it has to fit not only the amp modeling but also the variety of effects that are possible (not actual, but possible at once - they have to program their algorithms with the hardware limitations in mind), they have to use a fairly linear model and the result is a fairly compressed sound to my ears. This is less of an issue with high gain models given their inherently high compression, but I don't see how you can argue that Guitar Rig 3 or ReValver MkIII have a sound that isn't impressive compared to the pod. They've just got so much more going on in the depth and complexity of their modeling, it's really a different ballgame completely. Can you prefer the POD anyway? Well, yeah, of course. But it's odd to me, with a lot of experience with every one of the current modeling utilities except for Rocktron's, that someone would put the pod at the top of the list, given the target market, pricerange, and level of sophistication of its hardware and hence software compared to the higher end products. Agreed fucked around with this message at 04:13 on Jun 24, 2008 |
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Jun 24, 2008 03:58
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I think I get what you're saying. I will say that if you haven't tried Guitar Rig 3, you really ought to - I wrote off Guitar Rig 2 as mediocre and GR3 blew me away. They went back to the drawing board big time. From what you're describing, I think you'd really like the new Ultrasonic model - it's a model of the Bogner Uberschall, and it is heavy as hell. Capable of very modern sounds, though I tend to go with mid-boosted, scratchy-mutes upper-midrange/treble emphasizing high gain sounds these days (if you listened to any of my early clips with my old Randall or others, you can hear I used to be into a more knotched midrange sound that might be what you're talking about). But at the end of the day, it isn't about the technology involved, or the complexity of algorithms, or anything like that - it's about whether you're pleased with the sound, and it seems like you're really pleased with the sound you're getting right now, so maybe your best move is not to move off of what you've got until you can swing the real deal.
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Jun 24, 2008 23:39
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the wizards beard, it's been at different times $20, $25, and $29. I HIGHLY recommend the Wasabi OD, I have two and I'm thinking about picking up another this time too. There are a ton of great OD tones in it. Lately, I'm loving it with the gain right before noon and the mix 60%dirt/40%clean - very sparkly, warm sounds, fattens up the neck pickup without getting dirty and you can get some grit with the bridge.
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Jul 3, 2008 19:17
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Tuna, the Muse posted:Would it still be a good deal if I got the pedal from eBay for $48 Canadian and shipping of $22? Is there a cheaper place that would ship to Canada? I'm not very well versed in ordering online. It's all about the frame of reference. Compared to paying $20 for it with free shipping thanks to an MF coupon, like I did, that's a crappy deal. However, compared to paying $130 for it, you're still getting a good deal (though I think Musiciansfriend's current "Clearance" price on them is $90 all the time, with sales like this occasionally). But if I were you, I'd hold out for a private purchase rather than getting it via an auction site or an online store, because someone who bought it for $20 or $30 isn't going to be so adamant on getting $60+ out of it as someone who paid the full price. Have you posted any WTB's? I will say this - if I knew how good the Wasabi is, and the only way you could get them was at full price, I would buy it without hesitation if I needed an OD pedal. However, having bought two of them for $20 a piece, and received a similarly good deal on the Wasabi Distortion AND Wasabi Chorus Tremolo, I tend instead towards hunting out the deal. Kind of screwed up, I guess... I'm just too used to getting a bargain on Wasabis, even though they were designed to compete with products in the $100+ price range and do so admirably. I don't need any other OD pedals, except for the Aramat Green Machine tubescreamer-type overdrive that's in the mail. And the Wasabi even does a pretty damned impressive Tubescreamer voicing on its second EQ setting, but the clipping isn't the same as the TS's... If you don't think you'll see a deal like that soon, then go ahead and hop on that for ~$60. It's an extremely capable pedal with features you will only appreciate more and more as you work with it to learn its capabilities. There is a whole world of low-gain tones in that pedal.
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Jul 4, 2008 04:06
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Prof Eli ASSBLASTER posted:one thing I've never quite understood- what exactly is the difference between overdrive and distortion? A difference of degree rather than kind. They are both technically distortion in that they distort the signal. However, overdrive preserves more of the original waveform and is soft clipping - that is, it amplifies the signal less, and clips it less sharply, resulting in waveforms that are still recognizable as the original, pre-overdriven waveform. A sine wave still looks like a sine wave. Distortion (and fuzz, as well) tends to amplify much more, and as a result clip harder. Depending on exactly how much clipping occurs, sine waves begin to resemble square waves. As you amplify the signal without increasing the period, the crest and valley of the wave become much, much steeper. I'll see if I can find a picture... one moment. Got it.  As you can see, soft clipping (overdrive) compresses the signal somewhat near its extremes, but the sine wave still looks like a sine wave. Hard clipping "cuts" the waveform off at its extremes. The resulting change in harmonic content produces different sounding results, with overdrive tending towards a sweetening addition of the first upper harmonics and an evening-out of volume response from the natural compression involved, and distortion being a more aggressively compressed sound with much more harmonic distortion content. Fuzz is like distortion in this way - some fuzzes are so over-the-top that they might as well be square wave generators. As you add distortion to the signal, depending on the type of circuit you change the balance of even and odd harmonics, and you can also start to get noticeable intermodulation distortion, which adds the upper harmonic of the sum of the waveforms (resulting in a note that may not be harmonically related to the fundamentals). This is why rock has evolved so much around the use of power chords - with two notes' frequencies summed, the result is a pleasing intermodulate distortion, but with more complex chords you start to get some pretty ugly beats and a poor sound. This is a bit of a generalization, however. The practical difference to the gigging guitarist is that overdrive is low-gain but adds a little bit of grit to your signal, fattens it and also adds sparkle to your tone (sparkle being the result of prominent second harmonics being generated); distortion, on the other hand, is hard-edged and powerful, but of course less dynamic by its very nature since so much compression occurs in the hard clipping involved. Distortion and fuzz are also more likely to compromise the sound of complex chords, but of course nearly everyone loves the singing, endlessly-sustaining leads that can be had in trade. Agreed fucked around with this message at 18:43 on Jul 5, 2008 |
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Jul 5, 2008 18:35
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Tuna, the Muse posted:Does anybody have both the Wasabi distortion and overdrive? I'm probably going to give in and order one of them today, but I want to make sure I know what I'm getting myself into. Can someone maybe put up some demos, or point me in the direction of some demos? I couldn't find anything on Youtube and I haven't a clue where else to look. I can do this, yes. It'll be a day or two. The Overdrive is a pedal nearly anyone would love, the distortion is a bit more finnicky. They make a good team. The distortion is a bit like the Marshall TSL, very high gain with a bit of fizz and rather dry besides. You have to really get the EQ settings to make your sound come out of it, and the overdrive up front is very helpful in getting the distortion to have not just a lot of gain, but also good sustain. Although my dad just called and told me my package from Aramat is in, so I'm going to be pretty busy with the head-exploding awesomeness of three boutique dirts in one afternoon. I'll get around to it though. Edit: Lame. It was some DVDs I forgot I ordered from Newegg. Great, now I can backup my drive, too bad about the lack of awesome things to plug into my amp. I'll get around to the Wasabi OD&Dist sooner than I thought. Agreed fucked around with this message at 23:29 on Jul 8, 2008 |
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Jul 8, 2008 00:39
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im_sorry posted:What's the general opinion on the Digitech Bad Monkey? I bought one, and it makes the lead channel settings of my Peavey Envoy 110 sound really awesome (at least, to my inexperienced self), but I was wondering how it compared to things like the Wasabi. Harmony central loves the Bad Monkey. I think it's pretty much the best bang-for-your-buck overdrive on the market right now, except for when the Wasabi OD's on ultra double secret clearance for $20-$40. The Bad Monkey is a rich, great sounding overdrive, not quite a TS sound but not really Boss-ish either. Very capable overdrive, nice second-order harmonics, all around great sounding pedal and it's $50 or under brand new. Hell yeah.
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Jul 8, 2008 23:30
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Minto Took posted:Apologies if this has already been asked, but could someone explain how BBE's Sonic Maximizer works? Basically has an equalizing effect that occurs thanks to an extremely small delay of certain frequencies in relation to other frequencies, though there's probably other stuff going on too - I'd guess compression and some more straightforward EQ as well. Very useful in a PA setup, helps vocals sound good in the mix, pretty asinine in a guitar rig but if you like it then knock yourself out.
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Jul 18, 2008 07:46
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qball posted:Let's bring this thread back from the dead and discuss Fuzzes. I have two fuzz pedals right now, looking to get more. My favorite so far is my Aramat Effects Mojo Fuzz (based on the fuzz face, two germanium transistors - he says he's using AC108 now, I think, but my pedal has NEC work-alikes, it's one of his early pedals though... sounds absolutely amazing, regardless), but if you want to get anything from Keith you better hurry because he's battling brain cancer and it isn't going so well. I was supposed to get a bunch more, but there was some kind of bizarro miscommunication and he thought I had paid him when I hadn't, and he thought he sent me the pedals when he didn't. Right now I'm hardcore jonesing for a Dunlop Jimi Hendrix Sig. Silicon Fuzz. Those things are the best sounding production fuzz pedal I've ever heard, and well worth the price. Boutique quality from a big manufacturer. Best sounding silicon fuzz I've ever played.
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Jul 31, 2008 17:53
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the wizards beard posted:Are these the ones in the big round Fuzz Face enclosures? I heard they sound like rear end. It's the big blue one. And you heard wrong. It's a repro of the silicon chip version of the original fuzz face (I've already got a great germ fuzz face mod/clone), point-to-point wired, true bypass, faithful down to the type of transistor and to the lack of a battery eliminator jack. Sounds amazing if you like what the Fuzz Face has to offer. The only reason not to like it would be if you don't like the Fuzz Face sound.
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Aug 1, 2008 02:11
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I've been itching for an excuse to do a high gain pedals comparison, I've got five or six of them right now. Don't know what you mean when you say the Tri-Metal doesn't respond well to palm mutes, though, it's got one of the chunkiest, tightest PM responses you'll ever find in a pedal. Roll the bass back, like 9-10 o'clock back, I find that's about the sweet spot. Be more specific and I can probably help, I've tried pretty much everything except for the boutiques, and I've tried some of them...
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Aug 1, 2008 02:58
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The Tri-Metal needs a gate less than any high gain pedal on the market. I don't see any sort of noise gate in the circuit diagram, but it is the quietest pedal of any kind (high gain or otherwise) that I have ever used. Eerily quiet. Tight palm mutes has a lot to do with the physics of your amp, too. Unless you've got a closed back cab and a fairly tight amp (at least a fairly tight clean channel, in this case) to begin with, tight palm mutes might not be on the horizon. The closed back cab is the biggest part of the equation by a lot, and that's why I only use closed back cabs. But I don't know what you're using - could you disclose the whole playing rig, so I can get an idea of the context within which you're asking for a pedal recommendation? From guitar and pickups down to what speakers are in your cab and what type it is, please.
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Aug 1, 2008 03:25
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A noise gate configured for a fast attack and high sensitivity can help with staccato riffing, but it isn't going to tighten up a loose mute. And your amp is most certainly what's preventing you from getting the sound you're after, I'm afraid. Those amps have a lovely clean channel, but even the 410 combo doesn't do high gain very well, even with pedals. You can get a great rock and even hard rock tone out of 'em with pedals, but that relies less on having the all-important tight foundation of a closed back cab than does high-gain/metal. The Tri-Metal is trying very hard to make that amp give you crushingly tight mutes, but the amp just won't let it. Another option would be to find a pedal with a higher low-frequency center, which would let you get a lot of the sound and feel of a closed back cab without needing the low tuning, hard baffle, and sealed enclosure to get as low as the Tri-Metal's bass center frequency. I'd recommend the EHX Metal Muff or the Danelectro Cool Cat Metal as things to try, they both have a higher frequency bass center and their overall sound should play nice with your amp and your expectations. But you won't solve the problem, really, or get the genuine impact of a nice, tight mute without going to a closed back cab.
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Aug 1, 2008 03:42
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Damage Control Glass Nexus has delay and reverb, along with a modulation of your choice. Big goddamned pedal, but pristine sound quality.
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Sep 3, 2008 18:02
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ZombiePeanut posted:
What it is more exactly is a variable state filter that behaves as a bass boost and a treble exciter. In the context of a loudspeaker system with crossovers, there is a gradual delay between higher frequencies and lower frequencies, but on one speaker (or 4 speakers wired in parallel without crossover, or whatever else guitar configuration you prefer), the actual effect of that is just to introduce what amounts to a comb filter that adds some harmonic content to the treble. The "lo contour" is just a bass boosting circuit. It isn't totally inaccurate to describe it as a midrange scoop without the stigma of a scooped midrange. If it is an effect that you like, then by all means keep runnin' with it It isn't too hard to explain and understand what it actually does, though.
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Sep 10, 2008 22:51
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Fufo posted:I don't know if this is the right place to ask, but I'm planning on buying what I intend to become my all-in-one guitar effects solution and I'm a bit overwhelmed by all the stuff in the market. You've put me in a tough spot, because the right thing to do right now is to tell you to buy a new amp before you even think about getting a MFX unit. You are literally wasting money on a MFX unit to play into that 10W practice amp. However, since you have specifically stopped me from going down that road any farther, I guess I can comment on which MFX unit I would get if I were buying one right now. If you just want effects, the m13 is kind of a no-brainer. It's the best solution for just effects right now, with second place going to the Boss GT-10 (which used to be tops in the effects category, but then Line6 upped the ante). The GT-10, by the way, is a great choice if you want a balance between great effects and routing options (routing options, by the way, are essential in getting the right sound from your effects in the unit) AND great sounding amp models. It's a big improvement over the GT-8 in that regard. The Pod X3 is a nice unit, too, and they've significantly improved their routing options as well, but I think the effects complement, though substantial, is a little bit worse off than the GT-10. They roughly tie in the quality of their amp models, something I would not in a thousand years have said in the GT-8 vs PodXT generation. The Zoom G9.2tt was always my favorite, and in my opinion has the best amp and dirt pedal models, but its routing options are severely limited compared to the previous two units. Same with the Digitech units (except they don't have very good sounding amp models). Since you're primarily looking for an effects solution on a sub-$500 budget, I'd say your choice is between the M13, Boss GT-10, and Pod X3. M13 if you want just effects, or one of the other two if you want effects and amp models as well. The funny thing is that the GT-10 or the Pod X3 would basically make a total joke out of the 10W practice amp, and you'd get much better sounds by plugging them into a decent set of speakers than you'll ever get from the 10-watter. Are you sure you can't swing a low wattage tube amp? There are some great deals right now that would do much more for you than the 10W SS Marshall-in-name-only practice amp. You can get a Crate V33 for $180 from Musician's Friend, and it doesn't have to be turned up loud at all to sound good. I leave it to your discretion, of course, but with my recommendation strongly attached.
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Oct 13, 2008 15:36
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Fufo posted:Thanks very much to Agreed, and even though I agree (pun intended) with you that I'd probably be better off buying a half-decent tube amp, I wouldn't really get as much from it as I would from the multi-fx solution. As a matter of fact, I was bent on doing things this way and at some point get one of those "neutral" amps to go with the multi-fx board, or wait a bit anyway because in not too long I will probably recover two Magnat monitors that I bought ages ago and are stuck at my parents' place gathering dust that sounded like heaven. Yeah, back pain puts an end to the happy, carefree times. If you plan on going with a monitor setup, and your computer can handle it, you'd be better off spending that ~$500 on Guitar Rig 3: Rig Kontrol Edition. I've used all the MFX units, and GR3 smokes 'em severely. It has monitor outs, and a dedicated headphone out which drives my HD650 reasonably well - since you're using wireless cans, you don't have to worry about it driving anything but the transmitter. Latency is fantastically low, as low as any other MFX unit actually, and the sound quality is lightyears ahead of 'em. Caveat being that you need a good computer to run it (but I don't mean you need a supercomputer, just a speedy machine with a decent amount of RAM - a 2.4ghz AMD Barton core CPU with 1024MB of regular DDR PC3200 did a fine job with it at low latencies before I built my new PC). The software only version is cheaper, less than $300, but you really want the Rig Kontrol 3 unit. Seriously. It makes the package much sweeter, as it's a high quality sound card with nice converters, a control interface that integrates seamlessly and without any hassle into the program, and an impedance converter for your guitar or bass all in one. The only thing is you won't have the portability of one of the floor units, unless you've got a laptop. But if you do, it will get along with a keyboard amp or active PA just fine, as it has outputs with an impedance and gain switch that will match it fine to an amp. You can even use it in your amp's effects loop if you end up getting a real amp, and just use it for its effects, which are across the board incredible. I'm not looking back at all, this is well beyond even the best of the floor units. However, if you need portability that isn't tethered to some kind of a computer, then stick with one of those. If you're planning on going down the amp modeling road, I'd be looking between the Pod X3 and the Boss GT-10 as the current cream of the crop, with an eye towards the G9.2tt (I'd place it higher in the recommendation list, but they're hard to find to test out and I don't think you'd want to buy blind - it sure is nice, though).
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Oct 13, 2008 16:22
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Rkelly posted:Do any of the hardware modelers, have LFO's, velocity sensitive envelopes, followers, and sep sequencers for controlling any parameter on the thing? Seriously just watch the Guitar Rig 3 AIR video. They all have LFOs now, but the rest, nothing. But as far as the "massive collection of pedals" thing, well, you can kind of do both, if you want to...
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Oct 14, 2008 16:20
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the wizards beard posted:You could also buy a whole bunch of these http://www.music123.com/Tone-in-Progress-Third-Hand-Expression-Pedal-150146-i1175542.Music123 That's awesome, and I'm trying to figure out if I can afford a couple.
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Oct 14, 2008 16:38
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the wizards beard posted:I've wanted one of those for a while but I can't seem to figure out how they work. The pictures never show batteries or power jacks so it might not be a motor, if it's some clever system where moving the pedal translates to a rotational force then it's really loving awesome. You've got it, it's just a cable drive mechanism. Direct transfer of foot power to rotation. They work really well in pretty much every application I've ever seen them used, so I'd imagine it'd work great here too.
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Oct 14, 2008 17:36
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