Jump to content

Guitar Effect Pedalphile Thread


HornGrandioso

Recommended Posts

For the third time, I'm back with Fulltone as my always-on dirt. I tested out the FullDrive 2 v2 the other day and got it new on clearance. I wish I knew how to quit you, Mike Fuller. Trying to upload a soundcloud clip...

 

Edited by Grandioso
Link to comment
Share on other sites

That sounds fantastic. What amp and guitar?


G&L ASAT Special with the MFD quasi p-90s and fender Princeton reverb reissue. The G&L can really quack. It beats my tele even though my tele has expensive boutique hi output pickups.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I dig the clips, HG.

I've had the same pedal board setup for over a year, but I'm about to completely rework it.  Putting a couple of old favorites back on, and taking several new ones for a test drive.   I've been disproportionately excited about this.  I've spent last couple weeks ordering pedals, 1/4" jacks, more instrument cable, velcro, etc., etc.  I have the soldering iron ready to fire up when I get home tonight.  Should have photos in a few days.  

Link to comment
Share on other sites

A little over two years ago, I decided to get my pedals organized on a real, live board.  Without the pedalboard, I was always looking for a fresh 9V, fumbling with patch cords, wishing I had brought such-and-such with me.  

Here's where that landed, and I have hardly swapped anything on/off it since I built it:

 

IMG-3232.jpg

G2 pedal switcher (my board is made with the perfect dimensions to fit the G2 on bottom row)

Cali76 compressor

SickAs clean boost (Klon clone)

Analogman Sun Lion (beano boost + fuzz)

Analogman KOT

TC electronics chorus

MXR phaser

Strymon Mobius

Strymon Timeline

TC electronics reverb

My board leaned more to low-gain pedals and modulation.  Only high-gain pedal is the analogman.  

What I didn't love about the board:   Having a Mobius makes the TC electronics chorus and MXR phaser mostly redundant.   And my board also had two delays.  I would use that little micro pedal to do the slap-back thing, and use the Timeline for everything else.  Also some redundancy there, since I could easily do those short delays with the timeline, and since I'm never using both delays at once.

I wanted to experiment with some new sounds, so I just spent half a day with a soldering iron, zip ties, and all that crap.  

Biggest constraint is power distribution.  I have Walrus Audio Phoenix, which has plenty of 9V slots, but only four of those can be over 100 mA... which limits number of digital pedals.

Here's where I landed:


IMG-3314.jpg

Sex Drive made it back on the board.  Tough call between that and the SickAs for a clean boost.  I'd never sell either one.

On the top right is Walrus Audio Luminary, which is a multi-octave POG thing.   Does a great B3, which I can then run through a leslie sound on the Mobius + reverb.  I can also use it in front of a fuzz as a low-octave thing whenever I'm feeling anti-social.    Very fun pedal.  Love it.  Does everything a POG does... and more.... for a fraction of the footprint.  Also lets you save three presets, which is a nice feature for a pedal that has a shit ton of knobs.

Bottom left is a ThorpyFX fallout cloud, which is Big Muff-inspired.  Sounds fantastic.  I think I like it more than the Analogman fuzz, though the Thorpy doesn't do the same clean tone when you roll the guitar volume way back.  

Also a ThorpyFX Deep Oggin, which is basically a chorus with a few extra controls (blend, vibrato, treble).  Still getting my head around what it does.  

Empress phaser.  Empress makes cool shit.  I've got their tape delay, and it's amazing.  Anyway, this phaser does so many different modes and sounds.  The basic phaser sounds are killer, and you can also use it as a filter that works/sounds like an auto-wah.   Like the Luminary, the empress phaser lets you save a few presets.

Really wanted to take the Timeline off the board and use either the Empress tape delay or my old Novadelay, but I couldn't make the power supplies work out (nova delay uses a 12V high-currency input that my power supply won't do).  

Hopefully these new sounds will inspire new songs.  

 

 

 

  • Like 6
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Hell to the yes. Killer board, Paul. Lots of great, end-game choices.

Fallout/Muffroom Cloud is such and underrated pedal though it's quite popular - it still deserves more praise. Triangle is the Cadillac Muff, imo, and no one does triangle like that Thorpy, not even Electro-Harmonix.

GigRig G2 is on my wish list. I think I'll get one during their next promo.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

4 hours ago, BoomMF said:

Hell to the yes. Killer board, Paul. Lots of great, end-game choices.

Fallout/Muffroom Cloud is such and underrated pedal though it's quite popular - it still deserves more praise. Triangle is the Cadillac Muff, imo, and no one does triangle like that Thorpy, not even Electro-Harmonix.

GigRig G2 is on my wish list. I think I'll get one during their next promo.

Thanks.  I'm having a lot of fun with it.  Probably would have been better to space out my purchases so I can spend a few hours with each pedal.... but it's also took me pretty much a full day to make a bunch of new cables and figure out the layout and power distribution.  

I'm a huge fan of analogman... I think everything they do is first class.  That said, the Thorpy fallout cloud just smokes the sunface, IMO.  It has all the aggression, all the growl, all the power of the sunface, yet it has vastly more tone-shaping (EQ) possibilities and somehow it only has a fraction of the hairy and hard-to-control single-coil buzz and hum and noise.   It's freaking fantastic.  

We live in a golden age of pedals.  You could make a mind-blowing, all-world pedal board using only Analogman.  Or only Strymon.  Or Empress.  Etc.  

Link to comment
Share on other sites

That Analogman KoT is on my Mt. Rushmore of pedals. You have another too, Strymon BigSky.

Would I put a Klon Centaur on there? Or go with a more perfected Klon circuit, like a Tumnus Deluxe? No, I will not, even though I have KoT on there which is a perfected Bluesbreaker circuit, because I will not have anything named "Tumnus" on my Mt. Rushmore.

Need a fuzz on there I think. Muffroom/Fallout? I wouldn't hate that.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

i am fully aware that this will be heresy on this thread (given the purity of it) but i snagged one of these last week for purposes of using during recording to midi in my daw with guitar.  acts as both an audio interface but also digital pedal board with a seemingly infinite number of pedals that can all be tweaked and customized and chained in amplitube on ipad.  it also works in a live mode with a looper/tuner/etc. straight into amps.

is it the same as the real thing? no.  but i will say i have been pretty impressed with some of the sounds it has generated and the expression pedal can be assigned to any aspect of any of the digital pedals.  don't know if anyone has used it at all but for someone like me who is not a live gigger with my guitar, just use it as an accoutrement to music composition that is all ultimately digital anyway, and want every pedal for only a couple hundred bucks...not a bad plan.

https://www.ikmultimedia.com/products/irigstompio/

DANN3GxHEsjR3oqkC7sELK-480-80.jpg

Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 4/23/2019 at 10:44 AM, Paul Wesley said:

I've had the same pedal board setup for over a year, but I'm about to completely rework it.  Putting a couple of old favorites back on, and taking several new ones for a test drive.   I've been disproportionately excited about this.  I've spent last couple weeks ordering pedals, 1/4" jacks, more instrument cable, velcro, etc., etc.  I have the soldering iron ready to fire up when I get home tonight.  Should have photos in a few days.  

Love your board.  Who is the build?  West Coast?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Bought this yesterday after demoing a ZVex Mastotron, blue fuzz face, and mini muff pi.

OctafuzzOF2-large.jpg

It is dope and I dig the simplicity. However, you're gonna need a Voodoo Lab reverse polarity (center positive) cable or you're entering a world of pain.

Also, Mike Fuller is such an annoying prick but not enough for me not to love everything he does. But try not to roll your eyes at this shit from the manual (and that's just one of his manuals)

"...the Tycobrahe Octavia....the most sought after and expensive Octave-up pedal for effects junkies ever made, fetching well over $2500 in mint condition, if you can find one. I have a few of ‘em, and have studied & repaired dozens...unless you have too, you have no business making clones of them, in my opinion."

He also basically takes credit for the existence of "boutique pedals."

"It was then that I got the idea to start making recreations of classic pedals at a fraction of the original’s price, with more features and built much more reliably...”boutique effects
pedals” were born at that moment."

 

 

 

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 weeks later...
On 5/7/2019 at 10:11 AM, Grandioso said:

Bought this yesterday after demoing a ZVex Mastotron, blue fuzz face, and mini muff pi.

OctafuzzOF2-large.jpg

It is dope and I dig the simplicity. However, you're gonna need a Voodoo Lab reverse polarity (center positive) cable or you're entering a world of pain.

Also, Mike Fuller is such an annoying prick but not enough for me not to love everything he does. But try not to roll your eyes at this shit from the manual (and that's just one of his manuals)

"...the Tycobrahe Octavia....the most sought after and expensive Octave-up pedal for effects junkies ever made, fetching well over $2500 in mint condition, if you can find one. I have a few of ‘em, and have studied & repaired dozens...unless you have too, you have no business making clones of them, in my opinion."

He also basically takes credit for the existence of "boutique pedals."

"It was then that I got the idea to start making recreations of classic pedals at a fraction of the original’s price, with more features and built much more reliably...”boutique effects
pedals” were born at that moment."

 

 

 

I had one of the big box ones for a while.  Cool pedal, but after years of trying lots of fuzz pedals, I've finally realized that fuzz doesn't suit my playing.  But it gets the Hendrix sound pretty easily.

 

As for Fulltone, I've had a few.  But I have learned to be pretty dismissive of anything definitive he says about his pedals after a few rounds of "this really is the exact Uni-Vibe sound."

Also, as much as I liked the Supa-Trem, the weird pedal shape (and the fact that the mini version still isn't the size of an MXR type pedal) was a deal killer.  Black Cat MiniTrem does as well in the right size for my small board.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Getting ready to list a bunch of pedals for auction.  If you're interested in any of these things, find comparable pedals on Reverb or eBay, and I'll probably take 15-20% less than the going rate.  Everything works fine as far as I know, but some of them I haven't played in a while, so I'll plug 'em in and make sure all is well before shipping.  Most have easily-removed velcro on bottom.  Almost all are in very good to excellent shape (I'm pretty gentle on guitars and gear).

Durham Electronics Mucho Busto - This is one of the older pedals (big footprint), likely very early in the production run.

Wampler Tumnus (small footprint)

Wampler Tweed '57 - like new in original box

TC Electronics Viscous Vibe - like new in box

TC Electronics Corona Chorus - think I can also dig up this box

MXR phase 100

Cusack Effects Tap-a-Whirl Tremolo - this one is a little older, but it's a great tremolo pedal.

Electro Harmonix Talking Machine - like new in box

Zvex fuzz factory

Teletronix Mulholland Drive -  bought this on recommendation from Brick at the old website.  Most people rave about this boost pedal, but I just never bonded with it.  Like new in box.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

21 minutes ago, Grandioso said:

On a scale of 1 to perfect Neil Young, where does this rank? 

You mean condition?  It's like a brand new pedal.  

Tone?  Hell, I don't know about Neil Young... his tone seems like a moving target of amp/pedal combos.   I think the pedal does what it claims.  Plenty of youtube demos for it (my least favorite demo might be Brian Wampler's, fwiw).

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 weeks later...
  • 2 weeks later...

 

I finally broke down and got one of these cheapass pedals from Amazon, the Kokko Vibe. They were out of stock so I got a "like new" on in the box from the Amazon Warehouse and even saved a few bucks more, like $32.

Tried it out last night and it pretty much does exactly what I had hoped it would. It seems like a sturdy build, sounds like quality. Great toy for the poors!

 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Man, there are some decent cheap knockoff pedals on Amazon. I've got a Joyo Flanger and some mini chorus pedal. They sound great, at at less than 30 bucks, they are disposable if anything goes wrong.

Edited by Deej
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Getting ready to list a bunch of pedals for auction.  If you're interested in any of these things, find comparable pedals on Reverb or eBay, and I'll probably take 15-20% less than the going rate.  Everything works fine as far as I know, but some of them I haven't played in a while, so I'll plug 'em in and make sure all is well before shipping.  Most have easily-removed velcro on bottom.  Almost all are in very good to excellent shape (I'm pretty gentle on guitars and gear).

Durham Electronics Mucho Busto - This is one of the older pedals (big footprint), likely very early in the production run.

Wampler Tumnus (small footprint)

Wampler Tweed '57 - like new in original box

TC Electronics Viscous Vibe - like new in box

TC Electronics Corona Chorus - think I can also dig up this box

MXR phase 100

Cusack Effects Tap-a-Whirl Tremolo - this one is a little older, but it's a great tremolo pedal.

Electro Harmonix Talking Machine - like new in box

Zvex fuzz factory

Teletronix Mulholland Drive -  bought this on recommendation from Brick at the old website.  Most people rave about this boost pedal, but I just never bonded with it.  Like new in box.

@paul wesley you still have that TC Electronics Viscous Vibe?

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 weeks later...
2 hours ago, Mileslong said:

Looks like. Jeff Loeb of Austin just won a new geranium OCD from Fulltone. I swear if it’s one of you guys on here. I’ve been entering these contests for years and never won squat...

I won a Charvel guitar and a Hughes & Kettner amp. I no longer own either.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

17 hours ago, Mileslong said:

Looks like. Jeff Loeb of Austin just won a new geranium OCD from Fulltone. I swear if it’s one of you guys on here. I’ve been entering these contests for years and never won squat...

Wait..is that contest still going?  

Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 6/23/2019 at 8:23 AM, hullabelew said:

@paul wesley you still have that TC Electronics Viscous Vibe?

 

Sorry, hulla.  Didn't see this for almost a week, but the Viscous Vibe was already sold.

Sold five or six other pedals as well.

Of course, you can't sell a bunch of gear without trying new stuff, so I bought a couple of used pedals... Empress parametric EQ and a Waza Dimension C.

Why the EQ?  The amps I play most often are a Two Rock Studio Pro and a couple of 65amps heads (London and Empire).  The Two Rock has, by far, the best EQ section I've ever used on an amp.  In fact, prior to owning it, I cared only about 1) how an amp behaves as it breaks up, and 2) power, portability, everything else.  The Two Rock EQ allows such fine tailoring of your EQ... I started to really miss that when I'd go back to the other amps.  Everything just needs a bit more presence, a bit less bite, a little subtle roll-off of the rumble, etc.  So now I have a huge Swiss army knife EQ to put in front of whatever amp I'm using.

As for the Waza, it's not here yet.  One of first pedals I ever got was my blue Boss chorus, which just gave up the ghost after decades of service.  I like the sound of a chorus, but I like it to be subtle and not over-the-top 80's-sounding.  Looking forward to hearing it.  

Edited by Paul Wesley
  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.



×
×
  • Create New...