Pedal geeks i need u (help jjjusten make decisions about awesome pedals for his store)

it seems pretty cool tbh... it's great to see MXR coming back to prominence

jjj, once you get a chance to play around with that ms-3, I'm curious about how the built-in stuff compares to the standalone boss effects.

― how's life, Thursday, October 19, 2017 5:41 PM (two weeks ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Will do - my initial impressions are pretty glowing, but I’ll put in some more time.

― jjjusten, Thursday, October 19, 2017 8:48 PM (two weeks ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Have you had a chance to dive into this at all?

So, when TC Electronic released their budget "Smorgasbord of Tone" line about a year ago, I jumped on the Echobrain Analog Delay, because, well, analog delay for fifty bucks. It was alright, but got into self-oscillation way too easily. Just kind of figured the rest of the lineup would be pretty underwhelming, as well. They just recently announced a sort of "part two" to the line with some interesting "reissues" of classic Boss effects and that made me go back and sort of reassess the original ones from a year ago. I've kind of reached peak "weird reverb" with the Catalinbread Adineko, and the three Earthquakers I have (Levitation, Afterneath, and Ghost Echo) and I was really missing my (now out of production) Wampler Faux Spring Reverb (probably should have kept that one!). Add to that bit of desire for a more conventional reverb a bit of leftover credit at Guitar Center and, well, now I'm the owner of a TC Electronic Skysurfer Reverb. It does a pretty decent, decidedly chimey hall, a pretty standard plate (most of these sound the same to me, even across different brands), and an honest-to-goodness great spring sound. Definitely overall brighter than the Wampler tone I was chasing (TC reverbs are inherently pretty bright, I've learned), but stacks really well with the other "normal" reverb I have (Keeley Abbey Chamber Verb).

Couple minor discrepancies: it doesn't stack well with any sort of drive or distortion in spring mode (gets that weird kind of "harmonic buzz" —a phrase I've just now made up to describe this sound— in the reverb decay). This is a bummer because I like the spring mode the best. Also, it engages the effect when the footswitch is depressed and is entering the raised position. Like, where most pedals engage at the lowest point on the footswitch, the Skysurfer engages after you have pressed the footswitch all the way down and it moves back up. Is there a way to alter this? Change the polarity of the footswitch or something?

Otherwise, super reasonably priced no-nonsense reverb box. I dig it.

Is the self-oscillation controllable and/or tuneable? If so then for what I do with them it'd be $50 well spent and a discount solution - I mainly use the idiotbox Dimension X when I want to bring oscillation into play but then that means I can't use the modulated delay it provides.

I mean, yes technically. With the repeat knob you can dial the oscillation in and out. But, it starts to self-oscillate around the 1o'clock point on the knob and just turns into feedback from then on. There is no modulation on the Echobrain, but the repeats are very gritty. Also, it maxes out at 300ms delay time, so even at the longest setting it's still a fairly short interval.

got an ehx canyon and it's pretty intense. you can do a lot of things with it.

i think it'll end up replacing at least a couple of pedals on my board.

i really like the look of those - seems like a hell of a lot of good stuff for not a huge amount of cash

a lot of the sounds are shimmerier/more "pretty" than i usually go for but it's nice to have those options, and the sample/hold and octave modes are really cool

Yeah, the Canyon has had a pretty good showing in all of the "best pedals of 2017" year end lists I've looked at. It's a pretty enticing little box for a delay whore like me, even if it is by Electro-Harmonix.

Over the past little while, I've acquired a lot of new stuff. Too much to recount right here right now. But some of my favorites are:

—Malekko 616 LoFi Delay
Makes your delay repeats sound like 8 bit Nintendo music. While that description may make it sound like the pedal is gimmicky, I've actually been looking for something similar to the low bit rate repeats on the "SFX" mode from the Boss DD-500 ever since I got rid of it. And the 616 totally comes through in that regard. Pairs wonderfully with the Afterneath for a really dreamy sound.

—TC Electronic 3rd Dimension Chorus
I think, when it comes down to it, my favorite chorus sounds are decidedly on the subtle end of the spectrum. And the 3rd Dimension is definitely that. Not so subtle that you can't tell when it's engaged, but definitely not the woozy aspect, even at the most extreme settings. It's TC's version of the old Boss Dimension C pedal from the 80s. Even though I've never played on the Dimension C, I love the 3rd Dimension. It definitely gets that Robert Smith clean tone pretty spot on, which makes it an easy victory for me.

—Xotic SL Drive
I love my EP Booster so much that I bought the SL Drive without hesitation when I saw one in the used case at Guitar Center. It's definitely a more high gain drive pedal, but it has that super thick, heavy lows/mids thing to it, so I love it as well. There are four internal dip switches, so you can really get into some different tones. In the literature for the SL Drive on the Xotic website, it describes the pedal's goal to achieve a "woody" tone. I have to confess, when I first read that, I kind of rolled my eyes. But, after dialing it in to my preferred settings, I kind of get what they were referring to. It's a bit of an airy fairy description, but it works.

And I finally did what I vowed I would never do and got a wah pedal. Granted, it's an auto wah: the Boss AW-3 Dynamic Wah. I mainly use it in the tap tempo mode set at the longest rate for eerie sounds. It's a cool sound when used in that regard.

Also ordered a TC Mini Mimiq Doubler with a gift card I got for christmas. Hasn't arrived yet, but I'm pretty keen to play around with it.

Cool to see that TC has a $50 Dimension C clone. If this means that they're doing top-jack rehouses of Behringer clones of old boss pedals though, is it too much to ask for a $50 Hyper Fuzz?

Yeah, I've seen a lot of people trashing the new TC "budget" stuff, simply based on the fact that it's essentially spruced up Behringer stuff. But honestly, I have two of them now (Skysurfer and 3rd Dimension) and I really feel like they're well done. Certainly built a hell of a lot better than the proper Behringers.

Hey jjjusten, what do you know/what info do you have on Noisemaker Effects? I saw their Nebula delay pedal in the used case at Guitar Center yesterday and I couldn't resist. It's a really different kind of pedal. After really being into the whole idea of Malekko's Lofi analog delay, it's cool to find the Nebula, as it's essentially like a lofi digital delay.

Also, the Mimiq is a subtly awesome pedal. Having a hard time turning it off.

I was a dealer (technically still am) for Noisemaker. The builder is a really nice dude, the pricing just didn’t work very well from a dealer perspective, but I’ve got nothing bad to say about him.

Is a doubler like the Mimiq any good for a synth? And where do you normally put it in your chain?

I don't know what the Mimiq (or similar device) would be like on a keyboard instrument. But, I do know that TC designed the Mimiq specifically with guitar in mind.

Like I said, it's a very subtle, but noticeable, effect on my Telecaster. Granted, I only went for the mini version, so it only adds one double; the full version can add as many as three "dubs." I've put mine second in my chain, right after my tuner.

i don't really get how the mimiq is different from any delay pedal set with the feedback low enough for it to repeat only once and the delay time set low.

Basically, but with some extra hoonja-doonja thrown in there.

http://pedals.thedelimagazine.com/new-fx-guitar-double-trackers-tc-electronics-mimiq-and-keeley-30ms/

For me, the actual sound of it is closer to a chorus set on a very low rate and depth.

Chorus is a short delay.

I’m assuming it’s doing a slight pitch shift and delaying the signal a very short time as well. Basically the Digitech Luxe with slightly more delay.

So...not that useful if you have a multiple voice keyboard that can detune

MAGIC

Having played with the Luxe pretty extensively this past summer, I can say, even at its most conservative settings, it's still way less subtle than the Mimiq.

The Mimiq just has a really different vibe to it.

I've always steered clear of chorus and similar things, on the theory that my musical skillz are so rudimentary that the LAST thing I need in there is deliberately wrong notes. One time I turned on the Carbon Copy "mod" switch and the result was too sour even for my low standards.

I like fucked up and "off" sounds.

**shrug**

yeah the "extra hoonja-doonja" was clear to me in the demo video - I understand the principle but the link that how's life posted helped me feel less dumb

I would love to run a detuned unison synth patch through the mimiq on 3 and see how fucked up it sounds tbf

oh there's totally youtubes of nerds doing this but with boring patches

Actual LOL at "boring patches."

Some months ago, I traded in my MXR Reverb pedal and pretty much regretted it ever since. Reacquired one today and really fucking relived to have done so. Such a well-rounded and perfectly crafted reverb box. Had to trade my Afterneath for it, but enh, who cares. The "Epic" mode on the MXR is basically their version of the Afterneath, anyway. Fewer controls, but that's an even trade, because the MXR has five other excellent modes to play with.

So, I'm back to four reverbs now: MXR, Keeley Abbey Chamber Verb, Earthquaker Levitation, and Earthquaker Ghost Echo.

Also, ordered a Malekko 616 Dark and awaiting its arrival. Super excited to get that one dialed in.

So, I bought an Arpanoid. And, erm, huh.

I, uh. . . have absolutely no idea what I'm doing.

You're buying a lot of things with fiddly little knobs on them.

It passes the time.

I'm going to get an Empress Zoia as soon as it gets released. It's gonna be the king of fiddly pedals.

^^^ This... MIDI over 1/4" jack though?

I don't know how it works but if it does than cool.

So, come to find out that my Arpanoid was defective and it did the "up and down" thing in both the middle and right position on the toggle switch (the right position is supposed to be for "down" only).

Contacted Earthquaker and they were very quick to send me a postage paid return label with the promise that they would either repair or replace it after diagnosing the issue. Still waiting on their response upon getting the pedal back, but so far, the service has been pretty rad.

Got the new pedal itch again after sending my Arpanoid off only a day after I got to play with it, so I traded my Ghost Echo and Levitation for a Transmisser.

And, even though it's a ton less initially intimidating than the Arpanoid, I'm still pretty in awe of just how little nuanced knob twisting changes the way the pedal acts entirely. It's fuggin' awesome.

Anyone interested in trading something for a Walrus Descent? It's a great pedal, but can't fit it into my current plan.

if Reddit can have a trading forum, perhaps we could too?

Oh hey just let me know what you are looking for...

i like the idea of a pedal trading forum here!

just sold a bunch of stuff and ended up picking up the catalinbread formula 55 and belle epoch deluxe along with the chase bliss brothers boost/drive/fuzz thing

i have accidentally built a neil young machine and it sounds awesome

Ha I just googled "catalinbread formula 55" and the first result is Andy from Pro Guitar Shop playing Powderfinger.

I've built a couple pedals from kits before but just ordered all the parts to build a Earthquaker Acapulco Gold clone, mostly because they appear to be incredibly simple - a 2 ICs, 6 capacitors, 1 diode, 3 resistors, and 2 pots for one with a gain control.

cool! i’ve always liked the look of that pedal - just one big knob you turn up when you wanna rock harder

goddamn the belle epoch deluxe is so nice, i fuckin love this thing so much

glad to hear! it has all the makings of a classic and the guys who made it happen are incredibly cool dudes. shame about what's happened to catalinbread since then :(

i realize that could sound like shade and i don't mean it that way. i'm just sad about it.

wait, what happened to catalinbread?

just did some googling and... eurgh, that sucks :(

Nick Harris was killed by a falling tree branch two years ago. There has been fallout from that. Howard Gee, one of their other main designers, appears to have split from the company in the past few months and the reasons are as far as I know shrouded in mystery. They did a weird interview at winter NAMM where the guy running the booth didn't seem to know enough about the pedals to talk about them in-depth.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mKUONqc8170

yeah i knew about nicholas but hadn’t heard howard had left - he seems like such a cool guy and a really talented designer, hope he goes onto even better things

Howard's instagram is very good if you like cats and guitars