Home › Forums › Review Your EHX Gear › new here: smmh
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May 18, 2010 at 11:51 pm #80227tbeltransMember
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
May 19, 2010 at 1:52 am #109113The Ghost of Sim TutMemberHey, welcome to the board. Its nice to get a perspective from someone who didn’t know at all what to expect. I love the SMMH too, and for now my RC20xl is off my guitar board, although I’ll be keeping it in the fx loop of my mixer for various instruments. The SMMH has its limitations when you think you know what you’re looking for in a looper, but I like that it forced me to work differently. The way you describe erasing the loop is the way to do it, I think its kind of a pain in the ass as I have often erased a loop and then forgotten to turn the pedal back on before trying to loop again. But it is how it is, and I happily accept.
May 19, 2010 at 11:11 pm #108570tbeltransMemberQuote:Hey, welcome to the board. Its nice to get a perspective from someone who didn’t know at all what to expect. I love the SMMH too, and for now my RC20xl is off my guitar board, although I’ll be keeping it in the fx loop of my mixer for various instruments. The SMMH has its limitations when you think you know what you’re looking for in a looper, but I like that it forced me to work differently. The way you describe erasing the loop is the way to do it, I think its kind of a pain in the ass as I have often erased a loop and then forgotten to turn the pedal back on before trying to loop again. But it is how it is, and I happily accept.Thaks for the response Ghost of Sim Tut. My goal right now is to work around the loop erasing thing so I get comfortable with it so that I can keep a musical flow going. Other than that, I just play with this pedal and am getting good results quickly.
Tony
May 20, 2010 at 5:52 am #108082DarkAxelParticipanthey, Tony, welcome… enjoy your SMMH, it’s the best
May 20, 2010 at 4:28 pm #107799The Ghost of Sim TutMemberQuote:Quote:Hey, welcome to the board. Its nice to get a perspective from someone who didn’t know at all what to expect. I love the SMMH too, and for now my RC20xl is off my guitar board, although I’ll be keeping it in the fx loop of my mixer for various instruments. The SMMH has its limitations when you think you know what you’re looking for in a looper, but I like that it forced me to work differently. The way you describe erasing the loop is the way to do it, I think its kind of a pain in the ass as I have often erased a loop and then forgotten to turn the pedal back on before trying to loop again. But it is how it is, and I happily accept.Thaks for the response Ghost of Sim Tut. My goal right now is to work around the loop erasing thing so I get comfortable with it so that I can keep a musical flow going. Other than that, I just play with this pedal and am getting good results quickly.
Tony
I should point out, in case you’re not aware, that in loop mode the ‘repeats’ knob attenuates the loop, therefore you can play a part over an existing loop and fade the loop out slowly, or completely in one pass by setting repeats close to minimum. If you have good natural rhythm (and you should), you can play a new riff with a similar feel to the first riff and basically replace the initial loop with a brand new one that fits in the allotted loop length.
May 20, 2010 at 10:55 pm #107893tbeltransMemberThanks for the responses…
DarkAxel: Thanks for the welcome. The smmh is definitely different from other delay pedals, that’s for sure.
Ghost of Slim Tut: Thanks for the tip! Three is a lot to this pedal that I have yet to explore. What you are indicating is that I can start a fresh loop without having to delete what is already there!
I live in the Twin Cities area – and there are NO more smmh pedals to be had anywhere locally! You can order one through various places (i.e. Guitar Center, American Guitar and Band, Willie’s, etc.) but nobody has them in stock! Guitar Center does not stock them in the stores at all anymore, but you can order one if they have it in their warehouse. I was looking for a second one, since I really took to the one I have. I ended up ordering it through Guitar Center today. Since there is one in their warehouse, it should be here next week. But why doesn’t anybody stock these pedals? Everybody seems to have much of the rest of the EHX product line, but not the smmh!
Is there some problem I don’t yet know about (google revealed nothing wrong at all) or are people just not buying this pedal? I find that hard to believe too because this pedal just begs the player to create something new. It is inspiring.
Tony
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