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gvelascoMemberQuote:I have a question, hope you don’t mind I am posting this here instead of creating a new topic, but here it is :
How crammed is the pedal inside?
I am asking because I would like to have it modded with a blend control for the compressor side.
TIA
Did you do the mod? The Corset has a blend knob on it. I’m not following what you were trying to do.
gvelascoMemberMy board has morphed quite a bit over the years. It stalled for a long time and I’m now trying to build it back up to something useable. My focus?
1. Analogue wherever possible.
2. Pay attention to impedance issues. In other words, use buffering where it’s needed.
3. Be as compact and light as possible without compromising sound quality.
4. Use EHX wherever possible.
5. Focus on individual effects rather than multi-effects.
My current board:
Guitar -> Rivera PMP BUF1 -> 70s Cry Baby Stereo Fuzz Wah/Volume -> Nano Small Stone -> Nano Big Muff -> Germanium4 Big Muff -> Nano Memory Toy -> Canyon Delay -> Nano Holy Grail -> MXR Noise Gate/Line Driver -> S.Hawk Ltd. Hawk II Tonal Expander -> Amp (Fender Excelsior)
A high percentage of my EHX pedals are the “Nano” version. They aren’t as flexible as the Deluxe, “Standard”, or Neo versions, but they include the most popular/common/useful settings and they are lighter, smaller, and cheaper, and they still sound great.
I’ll probably be replacing the Rivera PMP BUF1 with a buffered bypass EHX effect that would go at the front of the chain like The Platform. I MIGHT replace the Cry Baby with the Wailing Wah, but it sounds so darn good. It’s heavy, but I’ve upgraded the pots to Hot Pots and it just works so well… I’ll be replacing the MXR noise gate with the Silencer. And I might replace the Hawk II Tonal Expander with the EHX Knock Out. My amp has a VERY limited tone control – a bright/dark switch – and I use the Tonal Expander at the end of the chain as a tone control into the amp. The Knock out only has two filters whereas the Tonal Expander has three plus two fixed boosters, but the Knock Out is easier to use and it looks better. I think I might be able to get some really good money for the Tonal Expander.
gvelascoMemberQuote:The buffer must be noisier. If you plug the buffered pedal into a high gain device you will hear hiss coming through. I compared an MXR Flanger with a Stereo Chorus. The Flanger has a wire direct from input to output and it’s dead quiet. It’s not true bypass they call that hardwire bypass. The input to the circuit has a high impedance buffer which prevents the circuitry loading down the input and bleeding off top end. The Stereo chorus is a buffered bypass and has no direct wire from input to output.I don’t know the age of his pedal, but the earliest bypass circuits used a single pole double throw switch. When the input was toggled directly to the output, it was still connected to the front of the effects circuit which would still load the pickups. Some people refer to this as “true” bypass because the effects circuit is being bypassed and there is a direct connection from input to output, but obviously the tone is still impacted by the load of the bypassed circuit.
Later, they used double pole double pole switches to completely disengage the effects circuitry which does remove the load of the circuit when it’s bypassed, but some of the early DPDT switches were designed for high amperage high voltage appliances, not for audio circuits. Some of those old DPDT switches have very high capacitance themselves so even with the circuit completely disengaged they could color the tone.
I totally agree with what you’re saying with respect to well designed true bypass using high quality audio components, but there are still a lot of early pedals out there that people are THINKING are true bypass and might even be true bypass, but using low quality components and those might still suck tone.
Also, not all buffered bypass circuits are equal. A well designed buffered bypass using quality components can be a thing of beauty. I think if you compare MODERN true bypass circuits to the latest buffered bypass circuits, you might find less of a difference in tone quality. With some modern pedals like the EHX Soul Food that have an internally switchable buffered/TBP output, I think the choice of buffer vs. no buffer comes down to where the pedal is in the signal chain, the presence of other buffered pedals, active vs. passive pickups, etc, rather than the tone of the bypassed effect. I haven’t seen this demo done, but I’ll bet that you’d be hard pressed to hear a difference between the buffered output of the Soul Food and the unbuffered output in a blind A/B test if that was the only effect on the line.
gvelascoMemberQuote:Now that I have had more time with this pedal, I am really loving it. A phase shifter or flanger works well with the Cock Fight Plus. In fact it seems to work with just about any combination of effects you can think of. Hats off to EHX!Have you tested it before and after your OD/Distortion/fuzz? If so, which do you prefer? Can you tell if it “sucks tone” like some Crybabies without a buffer?
gvelascoMemberYes. I thought I’d never replace my classic Crybaby, but I think this pedal got everything right. It’s definitely a winner.
gvelascoMemberQuote:Will it damage my pedal ?! I want to run into a digitech cabdry vr and a tc electronic mimiq doubler in stereo ?!?!?Yes. It will damage your pedal, AND it won’t work as you expect anyway.
Here’s the description of the CabDryVR from Digitech’s own page:
Quote:The new DigiTech CabDryVR Dual Cabinet Simulator pedal features a selection of 14 all new great sounding guitar and bass cabinet impulse responses. Now you can [strong]run direct from your pedal board or preamp through the CabDryVR to your mixing board, in-ear monitors or DAW[/strong] and get high quality cabinet emulation without the need for a real cabinet.The CabDryVR takes a line level input and outputs a line level. You can’t use the CabDryVR in this situation, but you can use the tc electronic Mimiq Doubler. You would plug it into the input of the 44 Magnum.
The 44 Magnum IS an amplifier. It is NOT a normal pedal. You have to think of it EXACTLY like an amp with a single input and a single speaker output. That’s all it is. It’s a tiny amplifier. Normally you do this:
Code:Guitar -> Effects -> Amplifier -> Speaker(s)The speakers are built into a “combo” amp, so you don’t usually have to plug into the speakers, but if there’s a separate head and speakers you do. You would NEVER put effects between an amp and a speaker. (There is something called a power soak or power sink, but forget about that for now.)
The 44 Magnum is just an amp, so you will set it up like this:
Code:Guitar -> Effects -> 44 Magnum -> Speaker(s)If you want to use your Miniq Doubler in stereo you will need another 44 Magnum, or another amp, and it would look like this:
Code:Guitar -> Mimiq Doubler -> 44 Magnum -> Speaker(s)
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-> Other Amp -> Speaker(s)gvelascoMemberQuote:…can I put Fx pedals after the 44 magnum in the chain…No. The 44 Magnum, and the 22 Magnum, output is SPEAKER level not line level. It is intended to plug into a speaker. You would not put effects between the speaker output of your amp and the speaker.
gvelascoMemberAre you sure about this? The EHX page for this says “Analogue Flanger”.
https://www.ehx.com/products/deluxe-electric-mistress-xo
I would very much like to know because I’m considering pulling the trigger on an XO or a Neo Mistress rather than a classical Electric Mistress because of the size, but I want to go analogue.
gvelascoMemberQuote:As I understood the youtube demo though, I would still need either my onboard spring reverb (or Holy Grail if I want different reverb effects)Yes. That’s correct, because as you saw in the video, you can only have one effect going at a time in addition to the freeze “effect”.
Quote:If I’m not being too nosey, how did you come by this indepth knowledge of pedals and effects?I’m 57 years young. I graduated H.S. in 1977. I started working at a local music store. We carried everything that EHX was producing at the time. We also carried a lot of MXR, DOD, and Ibanez. Not everything because they were much more costly, but a lot. So, I had a chance to try out everything there at the store for the three or four years that I worked there from about 1978 to 1981. I also went to NAMM (National Association of Music Merchants) twice.
I started as a music major and later changed to Computer Science, so it’s just been a hobby since then. I’ve sold all of my EHX, DOD, and Ibanez pedals. I didn’t have LOTS of them because I wasn’t wealthy, but I did get to play through MANY pedals, certainly everything EHX made at the time, and helped lots of people set up their pedalboards and amps.
Now, I’m starting to focus a bit more on my music, so I’ve gone through two digital all-in-one multi-effect systems ( Line 6 and Fender ) that included everything but the kitchen sink. They were fun and definitely had their advantages, many advantages, but they always sounded a bit “cold”, and “harsh”, and it was always a bit of a hassle to navigate the menus to dial in the parameters I wanted.
I’m a bit of a counter personality. I still like shooting film. Not because I don’t understand digital. I get it. I love the convenience, but EVERYONE is shooting digital…boooorrrrring. So, now I’m ( recently ) working on building up my ANALOGUE pedal board again. It’s still a hobby for me, so I can’t justify spending a lot of money. My wife and I have to clear large expenditures with each other. So, I’m back at the beginning comparing overdrives, distortions, phasers, flangers, delays, reverbs, wah wah pedals, from all the major manufacturers, but focusing on analogue whenever possible, and of course price. I keep coming back to Electro-Harmonix giving me the most bang for my buck, and the newest stuff that they’ve come out with is genuinely innovative. I don’t have many of their pedals yet. I have a Germanium 4 Overdrive, a Nano 360 Looper, a Small Stone ( Nano ) phase shifter, a Memory Toy, and a Canyon Delay (not analogue). I have other analogue pedals from other manufacturers like a Cry Baby Wah, a couple of other distortions, and some “utility” pedals – booster, buffer, filter, noise gate. But, I will slowly be replacing as many of those as makes sense with EHX solutions. I just like their stuff. I thought I would never replace my Cry Baby, but the new(ish) Cock Fight Plus is awesome. It does everything I want a Wah Wah to do and more, and it sounds great.
When I first started buying Electro-Harmonix pedals, it was because they were the cheapest and my employee discount let me get a good deal, but I was concerned that they wouldn’t retain their value. There was a while there when old EHX pedals could be had for pretty cheap, but now, some original circuit EHX stuff is getting crazy prices! Ya never know.
gvelascoMemberQuote:Nice one EHX!Now, Superego+ plus the 8 Step? What will happen?
Ooh.
gvelascoMemberSorry to possibly add to the confusion, but I forgot to mention the Superego, and as of today the Superego+. ( !! ) They are based on the Freeze, but include an effects loop just for the frozen sound so that you can keep the swirls going on the frozen sound and glissando. The Superego+ ( just announced today ) adds layering ( ! ), an effects section ( ! ), an expression pedal ( ! ), and the ability to morph between two presets with an expression pedal. ( ! ). Both of those are great machines, but they are significantly more expensive. The price of the Superego+ hasn’t even been announced yet. The plus is not really a multi-effects pedal even though it has multiple effects in it. You can only choose one effect at a time in addition to or separate from the Superego freeze section. But it is very powerful and gives you almost exactly what you want right out of the box. Given your setup, I think I’d stick with my recommendation, but you should at least have a look at the Superego and the Superego+ so that you can be aware of the almost all-in-one solutions that EHX offers for exactly what you’re trying to achieve.
Here’s the just-released official video for the Superego+.
gvelascoMemberQuote:Germanium 4, I hardly use it, don’t like it.I just can’t get into my Germanium 4 either. It seemed to have lots of potential with four germanium transistors, bias, and voltage control. I like the sound of a really sputtery overdrive sometimes, but it just seems so hard to dial in a good tight distortion. Part of that is because it IS so flexible and all of the controls are so interactive. It’s also very sensitive to the input source – single vs. double, tone, volume.
I’m thinking I really want to trade it for something else like a Soul Food or something.
Quote:White finger, I think it’s great, a lot of control over compression. But to understand proper compression, I advise you to look into music recording tutorials on compression. trust me.Agreed. Compression is an important effect, but many people misuse it and actually end up making things worse.
Quote:Memory Boy, I think it might be a love hate relationship. it’s not a transparent pedal. It adds warmth to the sound “which is supposedly natural for analog delays, and as a matter of fact Ritchie Blackmore used a tape delay machine, just to add warmth to the sound.” And I feel it adds a bit of gain to the sound. I’m not happy about that.Yes. It’s interesting. All of the EHX analogue memory pedals have a signature, but that signature is exactly what some people like about them. I have the EHX Canyon delay pedal which extremely flexible and transparent. It has a Memory Man emulator setting, but I still wanted the signature of the Memory Man analogue delay that I could use separately from the digital delay, so I ended up getting a Memory Toy just to scratch the itch.
Quote:Having all of these in the chain, actually cut out a part of the signal. I tested. the sound feels a bit muted, less high end. the price you pay for having several pedals and extra cabling.That is exactly what a buffer is used for. Judicious use of a buffer will resolve tone sucking, signal loss, and Wah before distortion problems. However, just like a compressor/limiter, buffers can be misused as well.
Electro-Harmonix makes several pedals with built-in buffers. The Soul Food is internally switchable between true bypass and buffered bypass. Some of their pedals are only buffered when the effect is engaged. True bypass bypasses a buffering circuit. Some of their pedals are buffered and do not have a true bypass, so the buffer stays engaged even when the effect is switched off.
gvelascoMemberI haven’t tried it with bass, but the Pitchfork is digital and polyphonic, so it shouldn’t have any problem tracking a bass.
I like it when bass plays chords under a lead guitar. I also like octave bass, up or down, but I don’t get straight parallel thirds or fourths. I think diatonic intervals are more useful, but you don’t get those with straight pitch mod machines. You need an effect that knows what key you’re in.
For a really good octave down ONLY sound, you can use the EHX Octave Multiplexer. It’s not listed as a bass effect, but I’m pretty sure it will work with bass, at least the original that I had many years ago did. The Octave Multiplexer is 100% Analogue and it is monophonic, so it will get confused if you throw intervals or chords at it.
The Bass Micro Synthesizer has the same circuit as the Octave Multiplexer for the Sub Octave channel. It also gives you an Octavix ( Octavia-like ) octave up, that means it’s distorted, and a square wave which is just a super clipped signal, basically a distortion. The filters on the Bass Micro Synth are tweaked for bass frequencies. This is also a 100% analogue effect which makes it essentially monophonic when you’re using the octave channels.
Again, if you only need an octave, the POG series is digital and polyphonic and it can give you a pure octave up and/or octave down. Even though it only does octaves, some people prefer the tone and ease of use of the POG to the Pitchfork in side-by-side comparisons. I’ve never seen a POG-Pitchfork shootout using a bass, so it might be that one tracks bass better than the other.
gvelascoMemberI’ve gone through many, but what I’m currently with is a Fender Greta ( 2W 1×4 ), a Fender Excelsior ( 13W 1×15 ), and a Blackstar Core ID BEAM. I use those to mess around and record, but I mostly play with DIs to make things easy for the sound guys. I use Behringer Bass, Guitar ( meaning electric ), and Acoustic DIs to go straight into a snake and the sound guys do the rest.
gvelascoMemberQuote:Thank you again. I do have an Accutronics dual spring reverb tank onboard.
I don’t have enough experience and knowledge to understand what, if any, advantage there would be to move up from Small Stone to Bad Stone phaser in my situation.I don’t think there’s much advantage to the Bad Stone in your situation. The Bad Stone gives you more control over the “Color” or “Depth” or “Tone” of the phasing effect by giving you a dial for the feedback rather than just a switch like you get on the Small Stone (Nano Chassis). The Small Stone has a switch labeled “Color”. This essentially lets you select between two feedback levels. The Bad Stone gives you a knob labeled “Feedback” so that you can dial in other feedback levels. The two “Colors” you get on the Small Stone are essentially the two most popular settings for “Feedback” on the Bad Stone.
The other thing that the Bad Stone gives you is the ability to “freeze” the sweep and then control it manually. Freezing the sweep on a phase shifter gives you sounds from “throaty” to “nazaly”, kind of like a vocal synthesizer, but not as intense. Some modulation pedals (phase shifter, flanger, filter, tremolo, vibrato) that allow you to freeze the sweep and manually control it also have a pedal input so that you can control the sweep with an expression pedal. The Bad Stone does NOT have this feature.
Quote:One other question comes to mind: is there any appreciable/audible degradation of signal passing through a series of individual pedals versus an all-in-one (assuming that quality interconnects are used)?Well, that is a very good question. This depends entirely on the design of the pedal. In a purely digital pedal, the answer should be, again according to the design of the internal circuitry, that there will be NO degradation of signal through multiple effects. All of the effects and interconnections are “virtual”. Adding another effect is just a tweak of the software algorithm generating the sounds.
With an all analogue multi-effects pedal, every internal effect has to be connected just as if they were on a board. The connections are shorter, and they are more shielded, but all of the wiring inside each effect and the connections between them still add up, so they are subject to the same issues as separate pedals. A lot of the degradation of signal from an effects chain comes from the wiring and connections INSIDE the pedals rather than between them. That’s why buffers can make a difference to the sound even if you only have a few pedals and very short cables.
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