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gvelascoMember
I love it. I should have written a follow up. It works beautifully with bass. It is super quiet. It doesn’t remove any high-end frequencies, that I can hear anyway. I think the blend knob is the real secret here. I considered the Platform because it is very flexible and has other nice features, but all I really needed was the compressor and I’m trying to stay as analogue as possible. I’m not a total analogue snob, I have a Small Stone and a Canyon Delay in my chain, but I just prefer to stay analogue as much as possible because it tends to match the input and output impedances and levels best, and also produces the least amount of noise. Strangely a lot of the digital circuits produce noise that can be transmitted through the power cables and radio type interference.
So, anyway, I really like the Tone Corset, and I think that a large percentage of electric guitar players underestimate the usefulness of a compressor, especially a four knob compressor like this one with a blend.
I should add that it makes my Danelectro 12 String electric sound fantastic. It really evens out the octaves. It makes my Taylor acoustic sound fantastic. It makes my ukulele with a piezo pickup sound fantastic. I use it for everything at the beginning of the effects chain, even if I’m not using anything else but the Tone Corset. It’s my most indispensable “effect”.
gvelascoMemberNice. Clean. Easy to get at everything.
I have my Tone Corset first thing, before my wah and everything else.
gvelascoMemberReverbs and “delays” or “echo” are both a [strong]type [/strong]of delay, but they are different. Some modern delays include BOTH a reverb and delay effect but historically, especially before digital effects, reverb and delay were two separate effects. The first reverbs were made using springs. The first delays were made using magnetic tape or magnetic drums.
The main difference in sound is that the echos in reverbs are [strong]indistinct[/strong]. They all overlap and get blended together and blurred out. You can’t hear individual echos because they are all smeared together. The echos in a delay, as opposed to a reverb, are [strong]distinct[/strong].
The Memory Toy is an [strong]analog[/strong] delay. All of the echos will be distinct. When you use very short delay times with a high feedback to try and emulate a reverb, you end up with something called a comb filter. That’s the “metallic” or “robot” sound that you’re hearing. It’s an interesting effect, but it’s not a reverb. The best way to substitute a delay for a reverb is to have a short delay, but not the shortest, turn down the feedback so that you don’t have too many echos – maybe two or three, then adjust the blend so that the echos are much quieter than the original signal. This is still not a true reverb, but it kind of works like one.
Electro~Harmonix’ true reverb pedal is the Small Stone. This is a true reverb with indistinct echos. The Small Stone is a [strong]digital[/strong] effect. It is possible to make an analog reverb, but it’s very difficult and expensive because you basically need a lot of analog delays feeding into each other and back into themselves to “smear” the echos so that you can’t hear them individually. DOD and Arion both made an analog reverb based on the same expensive chip (DOD FX45 and Arion SRV-1), but they didn’t sell them for long because the Small Stone sounds so much better.
The Electro~Harmonix Canyon Delay & Looper has multiple delay types AND a reverb.
gvelascoMemberThe Electro Harmonix OD Glove is essentially EHX’ take on (clone of) the Fulltone OCD. Both are FET overdrives and both have the tone knob and tone shaping toggle. The OD Glove uses MOSFEt circuitry and the OCD circuitry has changed over time. I think the latest is JFEt as in EHX’ ehxtortion pedal. The OD Glove has one extra very important feature that I think makes it superior to the OCD, that is internally switchable operating voltage – 9v or 18v. Running the pedal at 18v internally like the Soul Food (EHX’ take on the Klon Centaur) gives you more headroom and changes the feel of the pedal. It changes how the pedal responds to the guitar’s volume control or how hard you’re playing the guitar. If you’re compressing the signal, either with a compressor or a distortion that is creating compression, BEFORE the OD Glove, then that will make the OD Glove less responsive. That’s not necessarily a bad thing. That’s just the way pedal order affects things.
Another feature of the OD Glove (and the OCD which is why it’s so popular) is that it has a HUGE range of gain and the lowest level of gain (overdrive) is as transparent as its highest level of gain (distortion). That’s what makes it an overdrive/distortion rather than just a distortion.
The MXR Super Badass is an op-amp based distortion. Its main claim to fame is the three band active EQ. EHX currently makes a few distortions with more than one tone control. The Deluxe Big Muff Pi, the EHX Tortion, the Metal Muff with Top Boost, and the Operation Overlord all give you direct control over the mids. Currently EHX makes two op-amp distortions that I know of – the Metal Muff (all versions?) and the Big Muff Pi Op-Amp. So, the closest thing that Electro~Harmonix is currently offering to the MXR Super Badass is the Metal Muff with Top Boost. Both the MXR Super Badass and the Electro~Harmonix Metal Muff with Top Boost are op-amp distortions with three band active EQs.
I can’t compare the gain of the Metal Muff to the Super Badass because EHX doesn’t publish that, but you can hear in demos that they are both equally massive.
The Metal Muff gives you a greater cut/boost in the bass than the Super Badass – 14dB vs 11dB.
The Metal Muff gives you a greater cut/boost in the mids than the Super Badass – 15dB vs 12dB. That’s massive in the MM by the way.
The Metal Muff gives you exactly the same cut/boost in the treble as the Super Badass – 10dB.
Additionally, the MM has a foot switchable “Top Boost” circuit that “provides an extra ‘bite’ by boosting a narrow band of high frequencies.” Sounds like a very high-q (narrow band) boost. Lots of people say that it’s extremely annoying, but I’m sure it does the job of cutting through the mix in a loud live setting.
If you haven’t, you might want to experiment again with placement and the use of the internal 18v~9v switch to see if you can get closer to what you want that way.
If you were thinking about using the MXR as an OD into the OD Glove to drive the front end of the Glove into distortion, I wouldn’t expect that to work well. MXR->EHX, I would run the MXR maximum dirty and the EHX with lots of headroom (18v) and clean (low gain). I would start there and remember that the superpower of the OD Glove is its CLEAN boost and it’s signature tone switch. Going the other way, EHX->MXR, you would pick 18v if you want to be able to clean up your sound or control the dirt with your touch, 9v if you want a super compressed smooth buzzy fuzz. Start with the gain all the way down on the Glove and the gain about half way on your Super Badass, then see how turning up the VOLUME on the Glove affects the distortion on the Badass. Play back and forth between using the output volume without distortion from the Glove and using distortion (gain) on the Glove to add additional distortion to the Badass.
FET distortions (Glove and OCD) and op-amp distortions (Metal Muff and Super Badass) distort the signal differently. One is symmetric the other is asymmetric. So the order makes a big difference as well as how much distortion each one is providing. There’s a big difference between distorting an overdrive and overdriving a distortion. There’s also a big difference between overdriving a distortion and distorting a distortion. Finally, there’s a big difference between symmetrically distorting an asymmetric distortion and asymmetrically distorting a symmetric distortion.
gvelascoMemberWhat order do you have them in?
gvelascoMemberThe Battalion, the Bass Metaphors, and the Deluxe Bass Big Muff Pi, can all be used as a DI box and go directly into the mixer. None of them have cabinet simulation, but they all have tone controls that should let you control the harshness or “naturalness” of the sound. In particular, the Deluxe Bass Big Muff Pi has both a Tone control that only applies to the distortion channel which you can blend in, and a crossover circuit that allows you to control the tone of the non-distorted signal.
So, you would set it up by first getting a good sound for your undistorted signal using the crossover circuit. After you’ve got it sound good clean, kick in the distortion and use the Blend and Tone knobs to get a good distortion that isn’t too bright and harsh. Then, the sound guy might be able to smooth it out even more for you. You should be fine.
I think cabinet simulation is more important for guitar than for bass. If the amp/cab is essential to your sound, you’re better off micing it anyway. MANY excellent bass recordings have been done with the bass going straight into the mixer since before DI boxes had cabinet sims in them. James Jamerson made many recordings going straight into the mixing board through the DI box, which was also a famous secret weapon of that studio by the way.
gvelascoMemberThere are lots of discussions about optimal effect order, but it almost always comes down to personal preference. Try them both ways and see what floats your boat.
Having said that, time-based effects like echo and reverb are typically close to the end of your effects chain. Overtone and synthesis type effects are usually close to the beginning of your effects chain. The psychoacoustic effect most people would go for with a B9 pedal and a delay (echo/reverb) unit would be an organ playing in a space – cave, hall, church, etc. That implies that you would put the B9 BEFORE the delay. The B9 turns your guitar into an organ. The delay then makes it sound like that organ is playing in a space. That’s how I would run it – B9 before delay.
gvelascoMemberQuote:Got the Worm yesterday. I really dig it, got some good sounds out of it quick. It seems kind of subtle though but that doesn’t bother me. Going to try and pick up the expression pedal today!It is subtle, but that’s not an oversight. Think of the TREM and VIBE settings as CLASSIC built-in amp tremolo and CLASSIC built-in amp vibrato emulators. Early tremolos and vibratos did not have a lot of depth because of the technology used to create them, but they had very desirable signature sounds.
January 11, 2018 at 10:59 pm in reply to: Uk to Eu Adapter and Expression pedal with Worm XO!! #123485gvelascoMemberQuote:I THINK THE PEDAL IS AWESOME BUT IN MY OPINION THE FOUR MODULATION EFFECTS LACK A BIT OF “DEPTH”…MAYBE THIS CAN BE THE RESULT OF USING THE UK TO EU ADAPTER?The TREM and VIBE settings are intended to emulate early classic tremolos and vibratos built into amplifiers such as the Fender Brown Face and the Magnatone. Neither the early tremolos nor the early vibratos built into amplifiers had much depth, but they did have unique and very pleasant sounds that this pedal has tried to capture.
gvelascoMemberQuote:i think you have to watch out with the worm, because in my opinion, only half the sounds are good. If you want it more for the wah and phaser sounds, its great. But the tremolo and vibrato are weak, and lack depth. I wanted to use mine as a tremolo, but i returned it, so beware…The TREM and VIBE are not weak. They are intended to emulate early classic tremolos (bias wiggle, harmonic) and vibratos (Magnatone). None of those early effects were as “powerful” as modern pedal based versions, but they had their own unique and extremely sonorous tone.
gvelascoMemberQuote:…
Tremolo: I’ve already got a Stereo Pulsar, so I wasn’t super-stoked about the tremolo feature. Actually, it’s not very deep, and has a bit of a vibrato to it. It sounds like a slightly different and, IMO, less-pleasant sounding version of the vibrato. You can certainly use it, but it’s not the reason you you’d want to get this pedal. it’s also a bit noisy.In neither the tremolo nor the vibrato modes does the manual/expression side of the switch do anything impressive
The TREM setting is intended to emulate either a “bias wiggle” or a “harmonic vibrato” type of tremolo. To me it sounds like something between those two. It’s definitely not an optical tremolo. Neither the bias wiggle nor the harmonic vibrato type of tremolos completely mute the volume. The Stereo Pulsar can emulate optical and newer “pedal tremolo” where you can change the waveform of the tremolo and you can get much deeper cuts in volume. So, using the expression pedal with the Worm tremolo will not have a very noticeable effect unless you move back and forth between the extremes repeatedly.
The VIBE setting is intended to emulate a Magnatone “true vibrato”, to my ears at least. Again, this is a classic sound and when it first came out there was not a large change in the pitch like you get now with digital pitch effects. Their later models allowed for more pitch modulation, but it was never really big. So again, you won’t notice much of an effect with the expression pedal.
Quote:Phase Shifter: I had a Nano Small Stone, but sold it because I didn’t use it very much. This sounds pretty close to a Small Stone with the color off. I kind of wish it would go slower, because I like that super-slow waves-crashing phase shifting sound, but you can always plug in an expression pedal (I use a Photo Eye Expression Pedal) to make it go really slowly yourself. Also, if you turn it on manual and set the range to about 1:00 or 2:00, and put a distortion behind it, you get this really ballsy lower-midrange crunch. I absolutely love it.Yes. Cocked phase was a very unique and interesting feature of this pedal when it first came out.
gvelascoMemberQuote:so people are saying that expression pedal sweep through the effect (like what is usually the automatic oscillation), but there’s an auto/manual switch–would it not change the speed in auto? or is that another feature ehx just missed/That would have been a nice interpretation of that switch, but it looks like they kept as much of the original circuit as possible. With the original circuit there was no expression pedal input, so the auto setting just turned the range knob for you automatically. In the newer version, the expression pedal basically allows you to turn the RANGE knob with your foot exactly as you would have done with your hand in the older version. This gives you a wah pedal and a foot swept phase shifter.
gvelascoMemberQuote:How is it possible to use the Worm with an expression pedal. Is it a mod? Is this possible to do with the old Worm?Sorry, I’m a bit of an amateur in the world of effect pedals.
The new XO (in other words, diecast) model swaps the dry output jack for an expression pedal input jack.
January 3, 2018 at 7:56 pm in reply to: Tap Tempo Switch Recommendation for Canyon Delay/Looper #123459gvelascoMemberThere are lots of generic tap tempo switches available, but I am surprised that EH doesn’t make one. It will be a mono cable with a momentary switch. I like the Saturnworks utility switches and boxes. They look good. They’re made well, and they’re very reasonably priced. You can get them on Ebay, Reverb, etc.
gvelascoMemberSorry.
Sounds like a bad unit. -
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Sounds like a bad unit.
