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

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

That Formula 55 pedal looks awesome, as does the Wampler Tweed '57 overdrive I learned about when I went down the rabbit hole. I have a Greer Ghetto Stomp, though, which I loved the second I heard Rick Holmstrom use one with Mavis Staples (he just keeps it snap, crackling and popping for the whole set), and I'm not sure if it supplies more or less enough the same stuff as those others.

Man, that sucks about Catalinbread. I had no idea Howard wasn't involved anymore. He seems like a genuinely cool guy, with a ton of weird and original ideas. Hope he can get something bigger and better going in the future.

I still want to get a Bicycle Delay eventually.

Holy shit at the Bicycle Delay. That's got to be the best mostly impractical pedal ever. All these weird reverbs out there. For a while I wanted an Earthquaker Device Afterneath, that was a neat one.

A while ago a friend recommended the TC Electronics Hall of Mirrors, which is a pretty good reverb replicator. He also recommended the far less bespoke Zoom Multistomp, which comes close on a lot of fronts to what it is digitally mimicking.

Personally I don't feel a great need for more overdrives, more amp emulations, or more delays and reverbs. I tend to get two or three good options in my arsenal and use those. In a normal gig I might use four sounds, and I would wager that no one in the audience would notice more than two (if they even think about it, which is itself vanishingly unlikely).

Me, what I want more of is modulation effects that are not primarily dependent on screwing with the fundamental pitch. So, flangers, phasers, ring mods, envelope filters, autowahs.

Copilot fx are great at these imo, I have both the antenna and the orbit and love the pair of them.

jjjusten, what do you know about Hermida Audio?

I picked up their EPH-3 Tape Echo Simulator yesterday and I'm madly in love. Some quick Googling doesn't really tell me much about them. Any thoughts?

Anyone seen this one yet? https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/plasma-pedal-high-voltage-distortion-unit-guitar-rock#/

not gonna lie that looks pretty effin rad

alf hermida came to prominence on the strength of a couple of drive pedals. one man shop, long wait list with the usual market distortions. he's since partnered with Lovepedal for production/promotion/distribution, so now afaik he just designs circuits and love pedal sean does his thing with them. generally good stuff and now super affordable too. i like the zendrive and variants a lot for those rare occasions when i'm feeling smoooooooth.