Pedal Talk

[GtrPlyr]

I have an expression pedal set up for my Mobius--looks like you do as well but I couldn't tell for sure.  Opens that machine up to 100 new dimensions...

 

ps how do you like that Caverns?

 

Yeah, the expression pedal creates a whole host of new possibilities. I've only had it for a week or two, still experimenting. So far I've used it in the wah, tremolo and vibe modes to great effect.

 

I'm getting some nice, useful sounds from the Caverns. I particularly like the plate reverb. The delay side gives up to a second in delay time; it's quite versatile and sounds great. Also pairs well with the reverb. First time I plugged this in, it inspired a new song within 5 minutes which is always a good sign.

 

I've been curious about the JHS The Crayon. How are you liking it?

 

Your boards look quite different from the previous pages. Any new pedals on them that you're really impressed with?

[Atticus]

Yeah, the expression pedal creates a whole host of new possibilities. I've only had it for a week or two, still experimenting. So far I've used it in the wah, tremolo and vibe modes to great effect.

 

I'm getting some nice, useful sounds from the Caverns. I particularly like the plate reverb. The delay side gives up to a second in delay time; it's quite versatile and sounds great. Also pairs well with the reverb. First time I plugged this in, it inspired a new song within 5 minutes which is always a good sign.

 

I've been curious about the JHS The Crayon. How are you liking it?

 

Your boards look quite different from the previous pages. Any new pedals on them that you're really impressed with?

 

Mobius:  I'm convinced that people who don't like this pedal didn't give it time.  I've probably got about 22-25 saved settings that I've labored over for a year or more, I don't use a single factory preset.  The expression pedal and a few tricks I've learned with the formant just take it over the top.  I'll have to sit down with it and send you some specific settings I've found (if you're interested), but one right off the bat I LOVE is setting up a flanger with depth on 0.  In the grey or silver machine, find the spot on the regen and manual settings that you like in a fixed position and save the preset that way.  Then go back and use the EP SET feature and set the depth at 0 for heel and whatever setting you like to taste at the toe position.  What you get with this is an effect where when you turn it on you have a cool kind of EQ fixed mod effect, but then as you creep up the expression pedal, the flange sweep kicks in.  I go in and out of that, returning to the 0 depth spot, especially with solos.  Amazing.  (I also have one with the auto wah that is very similar)

 

I would also highly recommend using the EP SET to tweak features on the wah.  I have the volume set higher at the heel (low tone) than at the toe (high tone) and also made some tweaks to the resonance at heel and toe.  Makes it a much more usable sweep across the spectrum to where it's a pretty passable wah pedal.  

 

As to the boards overall, I guess I'm kinda always changing them, even though I swear I'm done.  Favorites of late are the Bearfoot Silver Bee OD, which sounds amazing with every guitar and amp I throw at it, the Whirlwind Orange Box (which ended a 6 or 7 pedal phaser hunt spanning half a dozen years--last one I'll ever need), the Digitech Ventura Vibe (I get sounds out of this that aren't traditional but are so incredibly musical I can't turn it off sometimes) and the Timmy.  I held off buying a Timmy for so long because it's such a hyped pedal on some effects forums but I'll be damned if it's not incredible.

 

I'm a pedal junkie.  Probably have 30+ that aren't on either of those boards.  Just love opening up new tonal possibilities.  Ironically more than half the time I just grab a guitar and plug directly into one of my amps.  I tend to use pedals to write songs a lot of the time.  They get me thinking about new sounds and while I'm tweaking with knobs I'll find I've come up with a new riff or transition or bridge or something.

[Atticus]

 

 

I've been curious about the JHS The Crayon. How are you liking it?

 

 

 

forgot about this. I have both the Colour Box and the Crayon.  I was sure I'd sell the Colour Box once I got the Crayon but just can't do it.  They are both incredible pedals, although I'll add the disclaimer that they very much seem to be a personal taste thing (I've read of tons of players who couldn't bond with them).  I tend to set mine fairly loud and really fuzzed out (the Revolution sound) and then roll back on the guitar volume to get about 10 different shades of clean to OD to totally clipping fuzz.   I also really like to use the low end cut feature, roll the tone down and get some amazing chunky tones.

[GtrPlyr]

Mobius:  I'm convinced that people who don't like this pedal didn't give it time.  I've probably got about 22-25 saved settings that I've labored over for a year or more, I don't use a single factory preset.  The expression pedal and a few tricks I've learned with the formant just take it over the top.  I'll have to sit down with it and send you some specific settings I've found (if you're interested), but one right off the bat I LOVE is setting up a flanger with depth on 0.  In the grey or silver machine, find the spot on the regen and manual settings that you like in a fixed position and save the preset that way.  Then go back and use the EP SET feature and set the depth at 0 for heel and whatever setting you like to taste at the toe position.  What you get with this is an effect where when you turn it on you have a cool kind of EQ fixed mod effect, but then as you creep up the expression pedal, the flange sweep kicks in.  I go in and out of that, returning to the 0 depth spot, especially with solos.  Amazing.  (I also have one with the auto wah that is very similar)

 

I would also highly recommend using the EP SET to tweak features on the wah.  I have the volume set higher at the heel (low tone) than at the toe (high tone) and also made some tweaks to the resonance at heel and toe.  Makes it a much more usable sweep across the spectrum to where it's a pretty passable wah pedal.  

 

As to the boards overall, I guess I'm kinda always changing them, even though I swear I'm done.  Favorites of late are the Bearfoot Silver Bee OD, which sounds amazing with every guitar and amp I throw at it, the Whirlwind Orange Box (which ended a 6 or 7 pedal phaser hunt spanning half a dozen years--last one I'll ever need), the Digitech Ventura Vibe (I get sounds out of this that aren't traditional but are so incredibly musical I can't turn it off sometimes) and the Timmy.  I held off buying a Timmy for so long because it's such a hyped pedal on some effects forums but I'll be damned if it's not incredible.

 

I'm a pedal junkie.  Probably have 30+ that aren't on either of those boards.  Just love opening up new tonal possibilities.  Ironically more than half the time I just grab a guitar and plug directly into one of my amps.  I tend to use pedals to write songs a lot of the time.  They get me thinking about new sounds and while I'm tweaking with knobs I'll find I've come up with a new riff or transition or bridge or something.

 

Thanks for the flanger tip, sounds like something I will dig. Would love to try out some of your personal settings if you have the time to jot those down. I've only had the Mobius a short time, so suggestions from someone that has spent time with it is greatly appreciated.

 

You liking the Orange Box phaser better than the one on the Mobius? I have an old MXR phase 100 that I ousted due to space limitations. The Mobius covers that ground for me, and gets me close to the classic phase 90 sound.

 

Yeah, the Timmy does get a lot of raves. I still haven't tried one out, afraid I will end up having to buy it.

 

The Bearfoot Silver Bee OD does sound really good. Very tempting... I do love vibe, already have a deja vibe and of course the Mobius. That Ventura Vibe sounds amazing in the demo.

 

Regarding the JHS, I do love that direct through the board sound at times. Hear that quite a bit on classic '60s and '70s recordings. Some early Parliament and Isley Brothers records that I love definitely did that. And of course that sound on Revolution is so killer. That's the one thing I miss about my early days of recording, when I'd plug my guitar right into an analog board and get that sound.

[Atticus]

The great thing about the crayon/colour box is if you just dial down the guitar volume a bit, you can get amazing overdrive tones. You can also turn down the gain on the pedal and just use it as a really great EQ/boost.

[Atticus]

Thanks for the flanger tip, sounds like something I will dig. Would love to try out some of your personal settings if you have the time to jot those down. I've only had the Mobius a short time, so suggestions from someone that has spent time with it is greatly appreciated.

 

You liking the Orange Box phaser better than the one on the Mobius? I have an old MXR phase 100 that I ousted due to space limitations. The Mobius covers that ground for me, and gets me close to the classic phase 90 sound.

 

 

 

more on Mobius:

 

Phase 45

 

Here's an example of why I love the pedal so much with an expression pedal.  I have a setting I saved called "Phase 45."  I set it up as follows:

 

Mode:  2 STG

Regen:  III III III

Waveshape:  SINE

Headroom:  III III III III

Depth:  (see below)

 

The way I've saved the preset is with speed around 25 BPM and depth at about 3 o'clock, but I really rely on the expression pedal.  When I set it up, I saved the "heel" setting with speed around 13.6 BPM and depth around 3 o'clock, and saved the "toe" setting with the speed at about 444 BPM and the depth at about 10 o'clock.  This way when I want to have a nice slow sweep the depth is high and it makes great slow swirls, but when I crank the speed up (to a more rotary, vibey, warbly setting) the depth is much lower so it's not a dizzying, annoying effect.  If you get the heel and toe parameters just right, you can find 20 or 30 points in between heel and toe that all sound perfect, and you don't have to both twisting knobs.  I always set the two PARAM knobs to control regeneration and headroom, so I can adjust those on the fly depending on the song.

[Atticus]

Phase 90:

 

Mode:  4 STG
Regen:  III III III
Waveshape:  SINE
Headroom:  III III III III
Depth:  3 o'clock

 

This gets me pretty close to the old script MXR Phase 90.  And yes, I like the Whirlwind Orange Box better than all the Phase 45s, Phase 90s, Phase 100s, VFE Enterprise, Keeley Phase 45 and Mobius settings I've tried.  There is something so perfect about its sweep that I don't hear in any of the others.  Never a part in the sweep with the tone isn't musical.

[GtrPlyr]

Thanks so much for sharing that info Atticus. I'm definitely going to give those a try.

[Ghost of Electricity]

I'm happy to see activity on this thread.  I've recently re-done my board and should put a picture here, but here's what it is (if I remember correctly as it's not in front of me):

 

Swollen Pickle>Pog2>Fulltone FD2 > Earthquaker Devices Arpanoid > TU2 > Ditto looper x2 > TR2 > Carbon Copy > Danelectro Reel-echo

 

The odd placement of certain pedals is due to space constraints.  I'm hoping to upgrade the Reel Echo, but will have to wait for the finances to co-operate. At the top of the list is the TC Flashback x4.

 

My other board, which i use for the alt-country band, is simple: Fuzz face > Timmy > Tuner

 

And yes, I love the Timmy. I use it as a low-gain overdrive (like a lot of people), but there's actually quite a bit of gain available. The real magic is in the EQ knobs, though. It's flat out a great drive pedal, and when you consider that it's reasonably priced and hand made by genuine straight up decent individual, it begs the question why wouldn't you get one.

 

Just my 2 cents.

[jff]

Amazon Prime Day had a deal on a Donner Looping Pedal, so my wife bought it for me. Haven't had a chance to try it out yet, but it should be a fun toy.  She'll be out of town this weekend, so that'll give me an opportunity to make some really annoying sounds with it.

[PopTodd]

I thought that I had lost this pedal in a flood in my old rehearsal space. But then, my old bassist showed up at my door last week with it, all fixed up and fully functional! Sure, it's looked prettier, but the thing still sounds amazing.

My old Russian-built Sovtek Big Muff. I love it!

[PopTodd]

My old Russian-built Sovtek Big Muff. Thought that it was lost in a flood, but my old bass player showed up at my door last week with it, all fixed up and ready to go. Works for the wear, but totally functional and sounding great!
Buzz, buzz, swirl, swirl..

[Moss]

My circa 1988 digitech delay seems to be dying so looking for something new. Anybody have experience with the TC Electronics ND-1? I notice people have the flashback on here. How is it? I'm thinking I want something with a tap tempo adjust. Been so long I don't know what's out there.