cool new effects

[Caevan O’Shite]

10 hours ago, Winston Psmith said:

I really think for a fair comparison, at least when demoing Guitars and Effects, I'd like to hear them start out through a FRFR system...

Some pedals- even very many- will almost certainly sound- and feel- absolutely horrid through a FRFR system; and in my honest opinion, many won't sound and feel all that great through a clean JC-120 or a Polytone amp. (FWIW, while I think a Polytone can sound good for squeaky-clean tones, I absolutely detest playing through any Roland JC amps... )

Of course, I'm sure that there are also pedals that would sound and feel perfectly fine through a FRFR system or a Polytone amp.

[Winston Psmith]

@Caevan O’Shite- I agree, a lot of pedals, particularly Dirt boxes, will sound like crap through a FRFR rig, or a JC, but that's kind of the point. I want to hear what the pedal does, in and of itself, before it hits a warm Amp, or a live room.

 

I also think that we can better appreciate the subtleties of pedals like Delays, Reverbs and Pitch Shifters through a clean, even hi-fi Amp tone. Same thing with a 12-string Electric, a Hollow-Body, or an Acoustic/Electric.

 

A nice overdriven Amp tone will warm up or liven up almost anything that's put into it, with the exception perhaps of Ring Mods and other Crapulators; lipstick on a pig, if you will. With too many demo videos, I'm hearing the Amp tone coloring everything else.

 

In that regard, the most misrepresented pedal I own is the Walrus Messner OD. In every demo video I've seen, or heard, the demonstrator is using some variation on that same "nearly clean" Amp tone, and in every case, the Messner seems to deliver a nice, warm Low-Gain OD tone.

 

However, plugged into an Amp on a true "clean" setting, like a JC-120 or a Polytone, the Messner reveals itself as more of a Boost pedal, where you really have to crank the settings to use it as a stand-alone Overdrive effect. I could see some players using it as an "Always-On" pedal,, but I can't really see anyone using it in place of a stock Tube Screamer or Boss OD?

 

 

[KuruPrionz]

On 12/20/2022 at 7:41 AM, Winston Psmith said:

 

I really think for a fair comparison, at least when demoing Guitars and Effects, I'd like to hear them start out through a FRFR system, then something like a clean JC-120 or a Polytone, and then move on to an overdriven or cranked Amp. If someone wanted to give an even fuller picture, they might run it into a DAW, or straight to a Mixing Board, so we could hear all or most of the potential uses, and tones.

 

Amps, and Amp Modelers, should be demoed with a variety of Guitars, within reason - SC's, HB's & P90's, Solid, Hollow & Semi-Hollow, some different maybe a 12-string or ERG in the mix - and again, I'd want to hear a true clean tone, a mild Overdrive tone, and a fully cranked tone.

 

Of course, not everyone has access to all of that gear, or all of those options, but then, we're not all fronting Product Demonstration videos, either.

I'd settle for just starting any demo with a clean, unaffected tone so we have some basis for comparison. I think we all know what Fender and Gibson guitars sound like, for that matter also Squier and Epiphone instruments. How that sound is recorded is important, that informs us how the rest of the demo will sound. The location of the mic, the sound of the room are both major factors. Then there's the type and gauge of the strings. What speaker is in the amp? There isn't much we can do about how somebody plucks the strings, fingers, thin picks, heavy picks all sound different, playing down by the bridge or up near the neck and which pickups are switched in all matter too.

 

Too many variables!!!!

 

It's easy to go out into the weeds on all counts but we'll never see it. 

Probably never see anybody do anything other than what they do now for that matter. When I hear a video start out with a distorted tone I just click away, waste of time. 

Plus, I feel like I've found a tone that I like. At this point, I'll settle for one!!!! 

 

I've yet to see any demo video using a "screwdriver Strat" with a scalloped fretboard,  EMG pickups and an SPC cranked so in theory I can't parse doodley-squat from what other players are doing. At the same time, I've either played or owned just about anything you could name so there is a perspective. 

 

[Winston Psmith]

@KuruPrionz- Much agreed on the overwhelming number of variables. I've said it before, but even the wall outlet you're plugged into can have an influence on your sound: ask anyone who's ever played a small club, where they're plugged into the same circuit as the ice machine, or the ventilation system.

 

Still, you and I aren't fronting product demo videos. Foolish as it may seem, I expect a certain degree of professionalism if someone is going to present themselves as skilled and knowledgeable enough to demonstrate new gear. That means a Pro or Semi-Pro setup, maybe even a fully-equipped Music Studio, so that they can do a serious evaluation of the gear in question, before presenting it in a video. Otherwise, it's little more than a glorified unboxing video: "Hey, look what I got!"

 

Back on topic . . . have we looked at this monster yet? The earliest models sold out in no time, and they're going for absurd prices in Ebay and Reverb.

 

SUNN ((O)) Life Pedal

[KuruPrionz]

2 hours ago, Winston Psmith said:

@KuruPrionz- Much agreed on the overwhelming number of variables. I've said it before, but even the wall outlet you're plugged into can have an influence on your sound: ask anyone who's ever played a small club, where they're plugged into the same circuit as the ice machine, or the ventilation system.

 

Still, you and I aren't fronting product demo videos. Foolish as it may seem, I expect a certain degree of professionalism if someone is going to present themselves as skilled and knowledgeable enough to demonstrate new gear. That means a Pro or Semi-Pro setup, maybe even a fully-equipped Music Studio, so that they can do a serious evaluation of the gear in question, before presenting it in a video. Otherwise, it's little more than a glorified unboxing video: "Hey, look what I got!"

 

Back on topic . . . have we looked at this monster yet? The earliest models sold out in no time, and they're going for absurd prices in Ebay and Reverb.

 

SUNN ((O)) Life Pedal

Yes, I've seen the results of bad wiring. Sometimes it craps up your tone, other times people can see your skeleton as a blue flash throws you back 2 feet. Gah!

 

It is EXACTLY a glorified unboxing video. "Hey lookey what I got" is pretty much all it's about. ANYBODY can post on there, it's a perfect democracy for imbeciles. 

I guarantee you I could post a video about why I think sparrows are stupid and annoying (I don't but I could make something up anyway) and there would be at least 20 comments in no time agreeing with me and 3 or 4 people condemning me on behalf of the poor little birdies. 😃

 

If I kept doing it, eventually I'd be famous. There is good and bad in that, I respect Jenna Marbles for making a weekly post for a few years, she became wealthy by doing that, hats off to her. 

But I don't expect to see consistently solid stuff about anything to do with music, ever. Opinions? We all got 'em. 

[hurricane hugo]

awards show season

 

[Caevan O’Shite]

19 hours ago, Winston Psmith said:

I also think that we can better appreciate the subtleties of pedals like Delays, Reverbs and Pitch Shifters through a clean, even hi-fi Amp tone. Same thing with a 12-string Electric, a Hollow-Body, or an Acoustic/Electric.

Very good points. Besides, I like playing with a very CLEAN clean tone, as well as all other varying degrees of dirt; delays and reverbs and good downward pitch shifting can be lovely with a clean tone.

And then there are those rarities that pass your direct/clean tone through, but overdrive, distort or fuzz up reverb or delay alongside it. I have a reverb pedal that offers distorted or flanged reverb in parallel with the straight signal presented at the input; it's a cool sound, and would be more or less lost if fed into an overdriven sound.
 

 

19 hours ago, Winston Psmith said:

In that regard, the most misrepresented pedal I own is the Walrus Messner OD. In every demo video I've seen, or heard, the demonstrator is using some variation on that same "nearly clean" Amp tone, and in every case, the Messner seems to deliver a nice, warm Low-Gain OD tone.

 

However, plugged into an Amp on a true "clean" setting, like a JC-120 or a Polytone, the Messner reveals itself as more of a Boost pedal, where you really have to crank the settings to use it as a stand-alone Overdrive effect. I could see some players using it as an "Always-On" pedal,, but I can't really see anyone using it in place of a stock Tube Screamer or Boss OD?

An interesting example and a good point well made.
 

 

11 hours ago, Winston Psmith said:

Back on topic . . . have we looked at this monster yet? The earliest models sold out in no time, and they're going for absurd prices in Ebay and Reverb.

 

SUNN ((O)) Life Pedal

I seem to recall one or another of the Sunn O))) Life pedals being posted about before in this bulging thread.

It's sounded pretty cool to me in some of the demo videos that I'd heard; very mean, grinding fuzztortion.

Although rather than spend money on one, I'd be more likely to try to more or less imitate its Green Ringer/Shin-ei FY>Rat>Clean Boost topology by stacking my Octron, FY-2, FY-6, or other octave-fuzz into my Fiery Red Horse V1 or one of the other overdrive/distortion pedals that I have; and if I still needed it, follow them with a loud clean-boost.

[hurricane hugo]

love the look of this company's pedals

 

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

Not an effect, but a bow made (primarily) for guitars:

 

https://i.imgur.com/jrWpjFN.mp4

 

 

 

That’s the Pickaso.  It has synthetic hair on 2 sides and a pick incorporated into the handle.

[Caevan O’Shite]

 

 

15 hours ago, Dannyalcatraz said:

Not an effect, but a bow made (primarily) for guitars:  https://i.imgur.com/jrWpjFN.mp4

 

That’s the Pickaso.  It has synthetic hair on 2 sides and a pick incorporated into the handle.

That's a pretty cool idea; looks and sounds to be useful and a lot of fun!

 My only concern, as with guitar-application of any and all traditional string-family bows, is the use of rosin and its getting all over the strings and ruining them for 'normal' playing. That sticky goop immediately wrecks the strings and it's irreversible! And I base that observation on experience.
 

Quote

"Premium Pickaso Rosin. Unique formula developed in our labs for maximum grip, warm sound, and low dust residue, especially for guitars."

If they've come up with a type that actually doesn't make an uncleanable tacky mess of the strings, they might be able to get me to consider their bow.

Even then, I wouldn't want to use it all the time, or even all that often- it'd get old and stale in no time if overused. For me, it'd have to be a 'special ingredient' for special passages.

[Dannyalcatraz]

As a former cellist, I agree about rosin.  If/when* I buy a pickaso, I’d probably designate 1 acoustic guitar per tuning for its use.  Maybe one hollowbody electric, likewise.  I could really see this with the right hollowbody getting that true bow attack & sustain (as opposed to an eBow of sustainer system) through an electric guitar pedalboard, even if the sustain isn’t as long as it would be with a bow borrowed from the violin family, a la Jimmy Page.
 

I also agree that the pickaso is something that has a strong enough sonic character that it has a very real danger of being overused.  And if overused, it could become tiresome.  While nobody really abused Page’s bowing technique, this has more potential in that regard because of its comparative ease of use.

 

 

 

* which we really know means when

[Caevan O’Shite]

5 minutes ago, Dannyalcatraz said:

* which we really know means when

😄 I know exactly what you mean, my friend.

[Winston Psmith]

"For Acoustic Guitars . . ."

 

I've used a short, student-quality Bow, and you're almost better off to designate a Guitar just for bowing, in part because of the rosin, but also because a Guitar with a narrow neck radius is going to be somewhat better suited for bowing technique. I'd also recommend a solid plank with PU covers, so there's less chance of rosin getting into the guts of the Guitar.

[Caevan O’Shite]

On 12/21/2022 at 8:59 PM, hurricane hugo said:

awards show season

 

That 29 Pedals EUNA looks to be a very good, very useful device that I just might have to try out in the future.

Pricey, as is the 29 Pedals OAMP which would be a good idea to also use with the EUNA, but it and the OAMP could potentially improve the tone and performance of all of ones pedals, so it could be worth it in the long run (cable and pedal capacitance tone-suck pun definitely intended!)...

[hurricane hugo]

A few new ones being premiered here:

 

[hurricane hugo]

this video review is premiering as I type this; anyway, another fascinating piece of kit from Fairfield Circuitry:

 

 

Update: I came in 23 minutes into the premiere, and she was using a small modular synth (2 MakeNoise modules) to demo the pedal. She has since used her trumpet, voice (screaming), a metal percussion instrument and who knows what else to show off what the pedal can do. This is hands down the best pedal review I've ever seen.

[Winston Psmith]

It's not really a "Cool New Effect", but . . .

 

This thing is intriguing, if you're using a variety of MIDI-controlled gear live. It wants to be a sort of Swiss Army Knife of Controllers, with three different types of MIDI I/O, an EXP Control In jack, and a Utility Out jack that seems to function as an external control footswitch. (Think Tap Tempo, Hold effects, that sort of thing.)

 

I like the idea, but I think anyone who really needs something like this would also need more of, well, everything, MIDI I/O's, more switches, and more Utility Out jacks, so in the end, you'd wind up with something much like the big red pedalboard the guy holds up early in the demo video. If you already have a pedalboard-style MFX, you can probably duplicate many of the Futurist's MIDI control functions, and some of its other control functions, from your existing pedalboard.

 

FWIW, if you're not using much, or any, MIDI gear, this video will probably be of little interest to you, but it is an indication of where things are going.

 

 

[Caevan O’Shite]

3 hours ago, Winston Psmith said:

It's not really a "Cool New Effect", but . . .

 

This thing is intriguing, if you're using a variety of MIDI-controlled gear live. It wants to be a sort of Swiss Army Knife of Controllers, with three different types of MIDI I/O, an EXP Control In jack, and a Utility Out jack that seems to function as an external control footswitch. (Think Tap Tempo, Hold effects, that sort of thing.)

 

I like the idea, but I think anyone who really needs something like this would also need more of, well, everything, MIDI I/O's, more switches, and more Utility Out jacks, so in the end, you'd wind up with something much like the big red pedalboard the guy holds up early in the demo video. If you already have a pedalboard-style MFX, you can probably duplicate many of the Futurist's MIDI control functions, and some of its other control functions, from your existing pedalboard.

 

FWIW, if you're not using much, or any, MIDI gear, this video will probably be of little interest to you, but it is an indication of where things are going.

 

 

I do not currently use MIDI. Currently.

I would like to and almost certainly will in the not too distant future, as more and more of my favorite effects are becoming MIDI applicable, concerning real-time settings control and/or program changes. For example, I will eventually get the updated Strymon El Capistan and Flint with expanded MIDI capabilities (of which I already have the previous iterations), as well as the new Deco and the Zelzah dual-phaser. And then there's my Iridium...

[Dannyalcatraz]

18 hours ago, Winston Psmith said:

It's not really a "Cool New Effect", but . . .

 

This thing is intriguing, if you're using a variety of MIDI-controlled gear live. It wants to be a sort of Swiss Army Knife of Controllers, with three different types of MIDI I/O, an EXP Control In jack, and a Utility Out jack that seems to function as an external control footswitch. (Think Tap Tempo, Hold effects, that sort of thing.)

 

I like the idea, but I think anyone who really needs something like this would also need more of, well, everything, MIDI I/O's, more switches, and more Utility Out jacks, so in the end, you'd wind up with something much like the big red pedalboard the guy holds up early in the demo video. If you already have a pedalboard-style MFX, you can probably duplicate many of the Futurist's MIDI control functions, and some of its other control functions, from your existing pedalboard.

 

FWIW, if you're not using much, or any, MIDI gear, this video will probably be of little interest to you, but it is an indication of where things are going.

 

 

I might have to pass this along to my recently deceased maternal aunt’s 2nd ex.  He’s a studio/session musician & producer out of NOLA, and his personal rig has become progressively more MIDI-centric.  

[Winston Psmith]

4 hours ago, Dannyalcatraz said:

I might have to pass this along to my recently deceased maternal aunt’s 2nd ex.  He’s a studio/session musician & producer out of NOLA, and his personal rig has become progressively more MIDI-centric.  

 

If he's getting deep into MIDI gear, a good MIDI Patchbay, or even a small MIDI Splitter box would also be helpful. Makes it easier to connect multiple MIDI devices to a common Controller. With a MIDI Patchbay, I can pull stunts like having each Guitar String driving a different Synth, over a different MIDI Channel.

[Dannyalcatraz]

I haven’t been to his studio in years, so I don’t know how deep he’s into MIDI.  But I know it’s DEEP.   I wouldn’t be surprised to find out he had this in his sights already.

 

Thing is, of the musicians I socialize with face to face with any regularity, he’s the ONLY one I know for a fact who is using MIDI  at all.
 

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

The OBNE Dark Star is a cool OLD pedal, but this is one of the better demos of it I’ve seen, and from a fairly new guy.

 

 

[hurricane hugo]

speaking of the dark side...

 

[hurricane hugo]

This pedal came out about a year ago, and there's lots of review videos of it. Rather than trying to scan thru them to find a good one, here's Perfect Circuit's product page with a good written overview of what it can do:   https://www.perfectcircuit.com/soma-cosmos.html?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=wl_jan_cosmos

[Caevan O’Shite]

1 hour ago, hurricane hugo said:

This pedal came out about a year ago, and there's lots of review videos of it. Rather than trying to scan thru them to find a good one...

It does seem difficult to find any that give a good idea of how some of those features sound...   

You'd think that the maker would provide some on their page for the item.

[hurricane hugo]

What do we think about 500 series lunchboxes?

 

[Scott Fraser]

1 hour ago, hurricane hugo said:

What do we think about 500 series lunchboxes?

As a studio owner I think it's a dumb format. Not the 500 format, the lunchbox package.

[hurricane hugo]

On 1/17/2023 at 11:43 PM, Scott Fraser said:

As a studio owner I think it's a dumb format. Not the 500 format, the lunchbox package.

I love it because it looks kinda dumb. Gotta admit, though...if I were making a living playing acoustic guitar, I might wanna put together an idealized channel strip using 500 series modules and use it as the platform for my sound, but I'd almost certainly rackmount the whole thing.

 

Anyway, I'd rackmount all this too, because this looks ridiculous.

 

[Scott Fraser]

1 hour ago, hurricane hugo said:

I love it because it looks kinda dumb. Gotta admit, though...if I were making a living playing acoustic guitar, I might wanna put together an idealized channel strip using 500 series modules and use it as the platform for my sound, but I'd almost certainly rackmount the whole thing.

Yup, you rackmount the whole thing because there's never enough space in the studio to set a lunchbox down.

[Winston Psmith]

As someone who still has a rack full of signal processors, you'll wind up with an EXP Pedal or three, at least one Footswitch to advance through Patches, another just for On/Off, and suddenly, your rack has given birth to another pedalboard. Congratulations, you're back where you started! Well, sort of . . .