Scott Fraser

You don't get to do an electric 12 string demo without a couple Roger McGuinn intro licks. Just like you don't get to demo a Mellotron clone without playing the Strawberry Fields intro.

I'm currently using Ernie Ball pedals. My new software rig is based around a MOTU Ultralite interface. The Ernie Ball pedals I own are high impedance, so the volume curve absolutely doesn't work with the MOTU's line ins & outs. It's sort of either on or off. Ernie Ball makes a low impedance version, which fix this, but I'm already heavily invested in existing pedals. Zeppelin Design Labs makes a replacement preamp mod for these pedals, https://zeppelindesignlabs.com/product/vpm-1-volume-pedal-mod/ , which I've ordered & am about halfway through the soldering/assembly process. I'll know soon if this works smoothly with the MOTU & order three more if it's good. Otherwise, I can sell the pedals & buy the low impedance version. (x4) But I need to get past this hardware issue before I can start to work designing a software based replacement for the two racks, which are way too heavy & full of 25 year old noisy hardware processors.

I saw those Lehle pedals a while back when planning a complete upgrade/overhaul/rethink of my effects world, but my rig is based around 4 volume pedals, so that's rather out of the question. Impressive unit if you just need one & cost is no object.

This just showed up in this morning's email, which looks to get closest to what I'm after:

Unfortunately Bill isn't doing the kind of thing in that video that I'm hearing. My understanding is he never uses a compressor pedal, and his guitar tech pretty much says his sound just comes out of his technique and doesn't really get altered in the studio. Here's an example:

In my own occasional gigs if something goes down I can improvise around it. In my professional life, if something goes south it's witnessed by thousands of paying audience members. Thus, failure is not an option, out of equal amounts of respect to the artist as well as the audience. Hosa cables have failed me during two concerts in front of audiences. They will never be used in any professional application I am involved in. I have plenty of volume pedals for swells from silence. That's a major component of what I do. But there's an effect that Bill Frissell uses a lot, where the attack is present, but the note or chord swells in after that, rather like a pedal steel effect. It's subtle & almost sounds like a very heavy compression thing with a slow attack, slow enough that the natural attack is preserved. It's different than a swell from silence, though he may be doing it with a volume pedal which only attenuates by 6dB or so, or he's just so deft with the pedal that he can control it that well. But I was thinking that an automatic attack delay box with a blend to keep the attacks intact, just quieter than the swelling sustain, would get that sound. I just love Frissell's sound & approach & getting a little closer to that sense of chords blooming after the attack is very appealing.

It really needs a blend control. Otherwise, I pass.

Choosing not to do something IS choosing to do something.

That's crazy affordable, & I love the pickup switching options, especially that both pickups when split are hum canceling. But they need a few more finishes. I'll take either a sunburst or natural.

Dead link?

API (the "American Neve") has been a big part of my recording history. API consoles & preamps have been the input stage of all the Kronos albums I've recorded, & a pair of API mic preamps are an important part of my home studio arsenal. API EQs are what I learned on in the 70s. The API comps I'm not so familiar with, but every aspect of their circuit design is full pro, high end, no compromise, top drawer stuff. I'll be looking into this pedal for sure. Looks like it will do everything I need done, which is to say, studio level compression in a pedal format.

I use so many effects so liberally I'd be hard pressed to pick a favorite, but for purposes of the discussion I'll say the Leslie rotary effect might easily be my fave. It's not a phase shifter, not a flanger, not a chorus, not a vibrato, not a tremolo, not an overdrive; it's all of those at once, more subtle yet infinitely richer than any one of those by itself. The real thing, the physical Leslie, is creamy, gooey, vibrant, electric, raw, sensuous, three dimensional, & very very exciting. Donald Leslie may have only invented one notable device, but he was the Leo Fender of pre-electronic effects. As crucial to the sound of music we treasure as James Marshall.

I don't ever want to see that again, but I do want to see the case for it.

Very cool. I've known about the Triple Shot rings for a long time, but I've never heard a demo. Parallel mode alone pretty much takes care of everything I've never liked about the sound of humbuckers. And cheaper than a pickup replacement. Thanks mucho, I'll look into these again.

Score! Great price.

I'm waiting for the Fralin noiseless lipstick, and Filtertron, in Humbucker size & shape. That's actually very good to know, I have more than a few humbucker equipped guitars that I wish sounded more Fender-y.

Wow, all those possible choices, & you still only get humbuckers.

I would never use a Hosa cable in any mission critical situation. I have had several Hosa cables fail during shows. Nope, no way.

I LOVE slack key, starting with my first exposure from a Gabby Pahinui cassette back in the 80s. This must have been incredible.

Wonderful band, short-lived, very much a 'hand made' approach to music. Amateur in the original & best sense of the word. At the intersection of contemporary classical, minimalism, folk, world, pop, experimental & ambient genres in the 80s. Hugely influential upon my musical evolution. If I could have been in any band (outside of Pink Floyd) it would have been Penguin Cafe Orchestra. I sorta liked Spacehog's tune, though I thought the use of the sample was hamfisted, unartful, & way too obvious of something pretty iconic.

That telephone loop is a very direct ripoff of Penguin Cafe Orchestra's "Telephone & Rubber Band".

Great minds, etc. I guess I'm pretty predictable.

Oh yes. Oh yes. Oh yes.

And here I thought this would be a thread about guitars shaped like hands.

Correctamente. It's distortion that doesn't feel some odd need to utterly obliterate chord voicings, like so many others. And the tone controls REALLY have a massive effect. A serious tone shaper, and as always for me, the most interesting part is just the first few percent of harmonic distortion. Of course the problem here is that Andy could play a real POS bit of crap gear & make it sound like a million bucks.