Hi all:

This is my first post in these forums. I just went through a bit of an EHX adventure. In a trade, I ended up with an EHX HOG and a Stereo Memory Man with Hazarai (SMMH). I let go of a few things, one of which was a POG. I have a few observations about the HOG and the POG, but more to say about the SMMH.

My primary interest is solo acoustic fingerstyle guitar. I originally got the POG to use with my Boss RC-50 to get a decent bass and a good 12 string. Though my intentions were good, I never really took to the POG for this purpose because in actual practice, I decided that this is not what I really wanted to do. At a local Guitar Center, a complete HOG system came in (i.e. the HOG, an expression pedal, and the foot control for storing and selecting patches) complete with original boxes, packing, and manuals. I decided to try it because the HOG is quite versatile and I thought it might offer some things to add to my guitar playing. What I found was that the HOG doesn’t seem to sound as big or full as the POG (this is the POG with the 18v power supply, not the POG2 which I have no experience with). Though I think that in the right hands (and with an electric guitar) the HOG would certainly be a very creative tool, I again realized that this is just not where I wanted to go musically. No problem because I could get my money back by returning it. Unfortunately, the only way I know of to determine if a particular pedal is right for me is to take it home and live with it for a while, so it was a good experience for me to have had both the POG and the HOG. Both are good at what they do, but definitely not in my musical direction.

The SMMH is something else again. When I went looking for something to add to my solo guitar playing, I was not REALLY sure what I wanted, but I knew it would be something with creative possibilities. It turns out that the SMMH is definitely it. In addition to the various echo/delay things that it does, it also can produce a decent reverb and I actually got some nice chorus out of it too. It is really clean, which is (for me) absolutely necessary for acoustic guitar.

I thought seriously about getting the Cathedral, but decided against it, at least for now. The reason is that if I am doing stuff with the SMMH, then adding reverb washes on top of that will really make for a muddy mess, especially when looping. Since I can get reverb and chorus out of the SMMH and even loop with those, it seems that the SMMH by itself is complete for my needs. I don’t want to use everything at once, so dialing in one thing for the moment and then looping it, is perfect for my needs. The SMMH has lots of creative possibilities to explore. The SMMH also has some challenges to make it work for me. The big thing is that the only way I know of to erase a loop is to hit BYPASS and then step on the RECORD switch. In other words, I have to stop everything the SMMH might be doing to erase one loop and prepare for another loop. Also, erasing is an all or nothing proposition in that you can’t erase an overdub without erasing the whole thing.

To me, these issues are not necessarily showstoppers, but instead I need to figure out how to get through them smoothly while playing. I am sure that I can figure this out over time. For acoustic guitar, subtlety is key, so I will be using the SMMH sparingly to bring more acoustic to the performance, rather than washing the whole thing in weird effects. The SMMH can do exactly that, but it will take lots of experimentation to get a good feel for what the balance needs to be.

Also, the looper can hold 30 seconds of performance. For me, this is more than enough. Rather than needing a half hour of recording time, I really tend to think in very short phrases that need to come and go quickly (i.e. real time, rather than pre-stored fabrications). I am thinking that ultimately, the looper section of the SMMH may well completely replace my RC-50. The SMMH is, for an acoustic guitarist, an all-in-one tool if I take the time to explore its strengths and weaknesses and then use it accordingly.

I have tried a number of different pedal setups and ideas for my acoustic playing, and so far, the SMMH is really what I was looking for. It is weird in a musically wonderful way, and I am really glad to have found out about it and gotten one. The thing is that EHX pedals (at least the ones I have explored) are not at all like their counterparts in the market place (i.e. an EHX delay or reverb is not “just another” delay or reverb – it is a whole lot bigger than that. But finding this out for yourself means having to get one and sit down with it for a few days. Anyway, I am sure glad that I took the time to do that. I found the right pedal for my needs and learned more about the ones that don’t quite fit for me. All good stuff.

Tony