The Watering Hole

Maestro Phaser clones. This is the best phaser you've never heard, no joke. If you like drugs, or used to like drugs, or don't care for drugs, but want to feel what they might be like, this pedal is for you.  Switchable between 5/6 stages. Really excellent phaser.  $95.

Xotic AC and RC.  Both... can make changes or mods to these, or do them straight up. $70 each

Zen Drive.  $80

Xotic BB. Modded for better low end and a lot more bass.. you can actually play bass through this one.  With infrared LED clipping. $75.  

Hey Ironsheep, got a phaser yet?  :D

(I'd get one, but the only person who plays around here has an old one already and doesn't play well enough.  ;) )

I've only really used the mxr script model on the mm4 for the evh effect. is the maestro the Achilles last stand sound?

how about the old mxr flanger? uni-vibe? ce-1?

also... any chance of a zvex machine or octane?

Interesting.  I made the mistake of looking for a phaser/tremolo combo pedal and stumbled over the Red Witch Deluxe Moon Phaser.  Holy crap!  It sounds amazing.  Also has a holy crap price tag of $299.

Maestro clone might be a nice alternative  :)

ironsheep — Jun 26, 2013I've only really used the mxr script model on the mm4 for the evh effect. is the maestro the Achilles last stand sound?

how about the old mxr flanger? uni-vibe? ce-1?

also... any chance of a zvex machine or octane?

Yes, the tabletop version of the Maestro is I think the Achilles last stand sound... I think JPJ also used it on a lot of keyboard sounds.  The box version with balls and speed on knobs instead of switches is more flexible, and phases with the same circuit.

Zvex Machine- yes. Fairly simple circuit makes that well priced, too, around $65.
Zvex Octane, not yet.  

Uni-vibe, there are two different circuits out there that I can do for it. It's complicated and would cost around $95. But I can do a much more accurate version than any of the *affordable* reissues you can buy now. The only difference between this and the original version is the power supply... the original used AC.  I can build this so it will run off a 9v supply and do the voltage conversion internally, or I can build it to run off an 18v Dunlop supply, which you can buy separately for $18 at MF. Using an 18v external wall wart gives the effect more available current--200mA vs 100mA... no one on my boards has been able to hear the difference, and I'd of course go simple, but those are the options.

Boss CE-1--this is a possibility but requires some work. I'm looking at reverse engineering this one and simplifying the power circuit--the original uses a transformer, AC power, etc. And just about every transistor, IC, and diode in it is obsolete.  However there is a project going on to replace all the parts with modern equivalents. Talking to my electronics guru, who helped reverse engineer the CE-1 for the UAD plugin, the sound and character of that pedal can be completely retained without the transformer, and with modern parts. The real magic of that pedal is in how the filtering is set up and interacts with the BBD chip.  This is a "stay tuned" project, since it's kind of a holy grail, lots of people are working on it, including me...  

I can very easily build the CE-2 though... I know, not the same thing.

MXR Flanger is similarly obsolete but I don't have a good schematic or build possibilities for that. However, there are other flangers I can do, the ADA, the Electric Mistress... The ADA is a beast, the Electric Mistress is probably the most psychedelic.

wow, cool! I was really super interested in trying out that machine pedal but not at it's crazy high price... I might hate it, and it's a situational pedal at best.

I have a sweetsound mojovibe... that sounds like a similar deal(?)... so probably no real major improvements to be had on the univibe front? I'm not unhappy with what I have but I've kinda thought it would be better if it had a little more throb and sweep at the limits (not that I'd use it that way)... no biggie.

I listened to some clips of the old maestro units last night... the floor model with the balls dial sounds amazing!

flangers... it was a nostalgia thing mainly. I used to have an mxr (stolen a long time ago). not really something I "need".

hmm... phaser and machine are seriously tempting. how do you handle payment?

ironsheep — Jun 27, 2013wow, cool! I was really super interested in trying out that machine pedal but not at it's crazy high price... I might hate it, and it's a situational pedal at best.

I have a sweetsound mojovibe... that sounds like a similar deal(?)... so probably no real major improvements to be had on the univibe front? I'm not unhappy with what I have but I've kinda thought it would be better if it had a little more throb and sweep at the limits (not that I'd use it that way)... no biggie.

I listened to some clips of the old maestro units last night... the floor model with the balls dial sounds amazing!

flangers... it was a nostalgia thing mainly. I used to have an mxr (stolen a long time ago). not really something I "need".

hmm... phaser and machine are seriously tempting. how do you handle payment?

Paypal is easiest, but I don't ask for payment until I'm ready to ship it and it works. Cash or check would work too.  I'm also interested in the machine, I guess it's supposed to go in front of other pedals, or after other pedals?  I haven't had a good reason to build it yet.

ironsheep — Jun 27, 2013wow, cool! I was really super interested in trying out that machine pedal but not at it's crazy high price... I might hate it, and it's a situational pedal at best.

I have a sweetsound mojovibe... that sounds like a similar deal(?)... so probably no real major improvements to be had on the univibe front? I'm not unhappy with what I have but I've kinda thought it would be better if it had a little more throb and sweep at the limits (not that I'd use it that way)... no biggie.

I listened to some clips of the old maestro units last night... the floor model with the balls dial sounds amazing!

flangers... it was a nostalgia thing mainly. I used to have an mxr (stolen a long time ago). not really something I "need".

hmm... phaser and machine are seriously tempting. how do you handle payment?

Yeah, Mojovibe is in that same category. The Mojovibe uses a vactrol in the speed control, which is a departure from the Univibe, but otherwise very similar.  Also using 9v, upping it to 18v internally.

yeah, the machine goes in front of a fuzz or any other massive distortion source... and it does ridiculosly cool stuff to note decay. on it's own it sounds like crap. that's what I got out of the demo video.

whenever you have a phaser and machine that you want to unload just say the word. I don't care what they look like... have a PayPal acct... will make egregious amounts of clips with them... ;)

on another note, if you do any of your own circuit designs (not based on anything... just weird interesting crazy cool effects) - I'd definitely be into that.

 Awesome :)

Just heard some demos of the machine pedal....absolutely love the way the note bloom changes the longer you leave it....would love one of those.

Clari(not)? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eP6bgofBiVU

Pitch Pirate? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dJKNYRicVZY

ironsheep — Jun 29, 2013Clari(not)? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eP6bgofBiVU

Pitch Pirate? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dJKNYRicVZY

I can do both the MidFi Clari(not) and the Pitch Pirate. Both very cool effects that uses a digital delay chip to do wacky stuff that is very not-digital-delay...  Also as a bonus, those are really fun pedals.  

My original designs are in the works.  Not ultra-original, but I have a plan to do a daul-channel pedal with a Dumble and an Ecstasy emulation... I'm also working on a couple of original FET implementations of tube amps... my personal favorite amp is the Vibrolux Tweed 5f11 and I've been laying that one out.  Also looking into the idea of a modulated delay with some heavy artifacts...

I love how the labeling of the knobs is so appropriate for the pedal!  :)

sweet! those are some cool pedals - I didn't realize MidFi is a one man operation when I posted those links... I might want to buy those retail to support the guy.

artifacts... now we're talking!

Not only is it one guy, but he does them all on perfboard. That's point-to-point wiring.  But he's also super cool, and shared the schematic with the DIY community, and info about the pedals, knowing that we'd all build them anyway.  

I have had an original idea for a LONG time.  Something Dar and I talked about doing several years ago and never got around to it.  Here is my idea...

A screamer based pedal with 2-3 clipping options.  What is different than anything I've ever seen is, I wanted to design with with a parametric EQ for mids.  SO you have a Q,Level, and Freq. control for the mids.   The mids can then be anything from flat, to broad range boost or narrow, and any frequency range you want (within the midrange) and any amount of mid boost you needed would be adjustable.  That should make one incredibly versatile pedal.  Tune to any rig or specific need...  I think it's a KILLER idea.  Just never had time to do it.  

Run the mids section on a separate board, add 3 knobs, probably a 1590B...  

DreamTheaterRules — Jul 01, 2013I have had an original idea for a LONG time.  Something Dar and I talked about doing several years ago and never got around to it.  Here is my idea...

A screamer based pedal with 2-3 clipping options.  What is different than anything I've ever seen is, I wanted to design with with a parametric EQ for mids.  SO you have a Q,Level, and Freq. control for the mids.   The mids can then be anything from flat, to broad range boost or narrow, and any frequency range you want (within the midrange) and any amount of mid boost you needed would be adjustable.  That should make one incredibly versatile pedal.  Tune to any rig or specific need...  I think it's a KILLER idea.  Just never had time to do it.  

Run the mids section on a separate board, add 3 knobs, probably a 1590B...  

I'd be hesitant because, well, everyone does the tubescreamer, and what you are talking about probably already exists--have you checked?  But it doesn't seem hard to do. Are you talking about adding EQ before the clipping stage, or after?

I could pretty easily do this with a sweep between two values, and a gain/cut of about 10-15db. Not so easy to do the Q.  Would that work?  

Funny thing, Ironsheep just turned me on to Scott Henderson's playing and here he is back in 2001 talking about a custom pedal!  I've got a Ibanez TubeScreamer with the TS-9/TS-808/Silver mods by Analog Man.  It's one of four modded stomps I use which includes a Boss GE-7 EQ modded by Dar, a Keely Comp and Boss DS-1 also modded by Analog Man though I don't use this one.  Other than some of the Aphex Xciters (that I use to make the acoustic models in my Variax sound better), I have very few stomps.  Just an MXR Phase 90 and an Ayan Smooth & Slim (designed to make a Rectifier sound better - it really tightened up the flub of my Dual-Recto, I don't use it for my Recto-recording pre).  :)

Here's that Analog Man page: http://www.analogman.com/ts9.htm

Right now it's probably a good thing that I don't have a lot of extra dosh - 'cause Charger's work definitely would generate some GAS!  I'm finally making a little more than I need to survive and I always set aside some for "fun" stuff, but that's going towards new music now.  I've still got a quite a few to get (some thanks to Ironsheep - lol!).

p.s.... wolfmother, check it out :)

ironsheep — Jul 01, 2013p.s.... wolfmother, check it out :)

Ha!  Can't get me on that one.  ;)  :D

I've got both their debut album (self-titled) and Cosmic Egg.  Not hard to tell who some of their influences were!  I can't help but hear GOOD references to Black Sabbath, Triumph, Deep Purple and, naturally, Led Zeppelin.  There's someone else's influence in there, especially with the vocals, but I the name isn't coming to mind...

Cosmic Egg is a bit more polished, but I kind of like Wolfmother (their first) better.  They really sound tight and, even with all those influences, create some great tunes.  :)

yeah, they rock - I'm surprised they're not swedish!! ;)

Charger, that's pretty much where we were when we last talked about it.  Whether to drop the Q and vary freq and level of the mid boost, or to flatten the EQ through there and have a separate board with a full mid Para EQ section.  The later is "better" IMO, but more complicated.  

DreamTheaterRules — Jul 02, 2013Charger, that's pretty much where we were when we last talked about it.  Whether to drop the Q and vary freq and level of the mid boost, or to flatten the EQ through there and have a separate board with a full mid Para EQ section.  The later is "better" IMO, but more complicated.  

Why can't you just run a nice EQ after the pedal?  :-?

You can of course.  THe idea was to create something new and this is an idea I had MANY years ago before there even were all these boutique pedal makers.  I always thought that one amp or speaker pair may want a different Freq. for the peak than another, or one guitar vs. another or just TO GET THE TONE YOU ARE LOOKING FOR.  Keeping in mind that I mostly view a screamer as a solo boost pedal, this allows you to tune the amount, freq. range and Q of the mid boost that you kick in for solos.  Currently to do this, you'd have to have a regular screamer plus a para mid EQ pedal.  I have one that I built.  It is a VERY cool pedal but only does EQ so you can't add the gain etc. like a Screamer can.  

Personally, not to toot my own horn, I think this is a KILLER idea, and one I can't believe nobody has done before.  All these boutique makers "voice" the pedal the way they think is best.  I'd like to be able to decide whether I want the boost character of a Lovepedal Eternity or a Keeley TS808 or Barber LTD OR just whatever works best for the guitar/amp/speaker I am using at that time.  I think it's a brilliant idea.  And I'm only half kidding when I say that.  LOL  

To get more long winded.  (what? me?  LOL) In the same way a guy who plays ONE guitar and ONE rig can tune the components of that rig to get what he wants, the guy like me who plays 3-4 amps, 4-5 different speakers and 14 different guitars needs something more versatile to get what he wants out of all of them.  Guys swap pedals all the time til they find that one that has JUST what they want for solo boost for their rig.  Then trade that amp for something "better" and suddenly the "perfect pedal" search is on again.  

My idea was to create one screamer type pedal that would do anything from flat mids to a big hump, anything from that hump coming low mids to high, narrow to broad... That way you have one pedal that works with EVERY rig and every guitar.  

Right now I have a Barber Gain Changer.  This is a KILLER pedal.  More transparent than a screamer. 2 selectable gain ranges and a 3 way mids switch which is flat, smaller hump, bigger hump.  The pedal covers an LTD (broad mid boost) LTD SR (flat mids) and in between setting.  This pedal does MUCH of what my pedal would do, but not nearly all of it.  This pedal has been WILDLY successful for Barber and for good reason.  

I should just go to Dave Barber or Keith Vonderhulls with my idea and get a freebie or two as a "consulting fee."  

Well, this might be something I tackle. Name your frequencies of choice... it's going to be more of a backburner project to me but it's not completely insane.  Of course, doing something like this means you are the mercy of people being able to make it sound good... always a challenge when they have more than a couple knobs.

DreamTheaterRules — Jul 02, 2013You can of course.  THe idea was to create something new and this is an idea I had MANY years ago before there even were all these boutique pedal makers.  I always thought that one amp or speaker pair may want a different Freq. for the peak than another, or one guitar vs. another or just TO GET THE TONE YOU ARE LOOKING FOR.  Keeping in mind that I mostly view a screamer as a solo boost pedal, this allows you to tune the amount, freq. range and Q of the mid boost that you kick in for solos.  Currently to do this, you'd have to have a regular screamer plus a para mid EQ pedal.  I have one that I built.  It is a VERY cool pedal but only does EQ so you can't add the gain etc. like a Screamer can.  

Personally, not to toot my own horn, I think this is a KILLER idea, and one I can't believe nobody has done before.  All these boutique makers "voice" the pedal the way they think is best.  I'd like to be able to decide whether I want the boost character of a Lovepedal Eternity or a Keeley TS808 or Barber LTD OR just whatever works best for the guitar/amp/speaker I am using at that time.  I think it's a brilliant idea.  And I'm only half kidding when I say that.  LOL  

I think that's a great idea but the main manufacturers want to sell product, lots of it, lots of variety so it would make no sense for them to make one pedal that you can voice as you like as next month they want to bring out a differently voiced pedal to get you all gassy again and take some more money from you.