38 posts
Well after many years of no real changes in gear I bought a bunch of stuff last year. Thought it might be fun if we all ran down what we tried, bought, returned, whatever...
Bogner Uberschall pedal - Weird pedal. Actually sounded pretty good, but hard to get unity gain, and seemed to sound best with boost function engaged. I ended up returning it after deciding I was getting my next purchase, which was a
Mesa Mini Rectifier 25 - this is a great amp. 9 months later I still am in love with it as soon as I fire it up. Each mode is excellent and I am especially fond of the Vintage mode on channel 2 - crosses into Mark territory. If they ever make a mini Mark I will probably sell my left nut to buy one. If i can find anyone who takes such currency.... :)
tc electronic Spark Boost - the perfect TS pedal for me, although it is capable of much more than that. Has 3 modes - mid hump (TS style, but not as drastic IMO), clean, and "fat". I use mid hump, but the cool thing this pedal can do is run with no gain boost at all, in other words clean, just an EQ difference. which means I can leave the pedal on all the time and yet my cleans stay clean. Also has boxandal (sp?) bass and treble EQ. I run mine flat. I use the gain to adjust between guitars with different outputs. Very cool versatile utility pedal.
tc electronic Alter Ego - This is a proguitarshop.com rebrand of the Flashback with a couple different presets including a Binson Echorec emulation that is a pretty cool for Floyd stuff. Good pedal for the money, wish it had a better tap tempo feature. One annoying thing - the low contrast print on the pedal - I can't imagine trying to switch settings on a dark stage.
Rockett Animal - I actually had 2 of these, the first one had an odd squealing issue - even when there was nothing in the input jack! Very fun pedal and I really need to do some clips. sounds great with the gain up or down, and is really fun to play either way. The snarl mode is useful as well. Harmonics jump out easily. The only con on this pedal is it gets noisy with the gain way up in snarl mode.
Catalinbread DSL mkIII - Tried this in between my 2 Animal pedals. I really wanted to like this pedal, but ultimately the bottom end was too mushy and you can hear this in the various clips on youtube. This pedal was also a struggle to play - it felt stiff and harmonics were difficult to wrangle out of it. Based on my experience, I'm not sure why this pedal gets so much love. I happily went back to the Animal after this.
ok so I went a bit pedal nuts at this point lol..
tc electronic Dreamscape - Chorus/Flanger/Vibrato pedal with 6 presets and 1 toneprint slot. This pedal sounds great in front of the amp or in the loop; I prefer the loop except for the Flanger 2 setting, which is the EVH type setting. This sounds lousy in the loop no matter how I set it, but very credible when place in front of the amp. But the rest of the sounds are really lush in the loop; so I leave it there. Not like I play much VH anyway ;) Secret Weapon - the Vibrato 2 preset with speed and depth pulled back - it adds a really nice subtle "something" to the sound without being overbearing. One annoyance - seems like you can only use chorus toneprints in the toneprint slot. I was hoping to use an alternate flanger setting. I haven't tried the editor yet though as I just haven't had time.
tc electronic Arena Reverb - a rebranded Hall of Fame verb for Guitar Center. Tried this just on a whim fully intending to take it back and I ended up liking it so much I kept it. The PAS preset is exceptionally good; Bonus points for a tone knob which really helps when you want the verb brighter or darker.
xotic fx SP compressor - really nice pedal for the money. I use it on cleans only, although it can thicken up solos nicely as well... Was hoping for a set and forget pedal that I could use on dirty rhythms as well but I am not sure one exists!
Red Witch Deluxe Moon Phaser - Phaser/Trem pedal with all sorts of coolness. With a list price of $299, I never expected to get this pedal, but when I was picking up my SP compressor I happened to spot this in the counter with a price tag of $160. I figured at that price it was used but it was not, just had been sitting there so long they wanted to move it out. Nobody had ever even tried it :) So I snagged it. This pedal quickly became my favorite, and it can do a lot. It can do Eddie's VH1 phaser (although it may be a bit more subtle, I haven't compared directly) , Achilles' Last Stand, The Rover, you name it. It can also do some really great SRV things like TightRope, Cold Shot, and Couldn't Stand the Weather. also gets into Vibe territory on certain settings. This pedal is pretty deep and I have not explored it fully yet.
Great thread idea! I'll play later. It will take me a while. ;D
Wow, nice list and review there Paul! Unfortunately, mine list is only filled with things going bye-bye... :(
Sold: One Peavey Rock Master preamp with GE tubes and Iron Sheep Mojo (I actually got more than anyone else was selling their RM's for - cool!)
Sold: Four NOS Mullard tubes (a matched pair of CV4004's and two CV4024's) - I got what I asked for the first day, but found out afterwards that CV4004's (12AX7's) are nearly impossible to find as singles, let alone as a matched pair, and that I should have probably doubled the asking price... Oh well. :-/
I think I only added two pedals. bogner blue and the machine... but those were two pretty large adds, especially the machine.
I think the Riddle was last year...? if not, that would be a third. (*feb. this year)
dimarzio 36th PAF for my SSH strat might have been this year... not sure. probably not a permanent change, not sure what I want to do with that guitar.
I think that's about it.
I needed a new fret job on my old Gibson, so I got new frets. Only problem was they are on a new Epiphone Nighthawk Custom reissue. Only had it for a short bit. Really nice guitar for the price. Tone Knob is a coil split.
I had a Fulltone GT-500 show up today. It's a pretty cool pedal. Set up similar to Charger's Earth Tone pedal. Boost one side / F.E.T. Distortion on the other. Has a Wah inductor for the midrange on the Distortion. Jury's out. I like the Boost how it fattens things up.
I still need new frets on the L6S.
Uh Sheep, I somehow missed that you got a 36th! I have heard really good things about them and was considering dropping them in my older PRS. I need a review please!!!
hmm, low power... fairly bright but not unbalanced. not a bad pickup... but maybe not the best in what is a fairly bright guitar like that strat it's in. I think I liked the JB better for that set up... not sure what I'm going to do there.
I'll put together a clip with it.
I really liked the air zone I had in my older PRS btw (bridge) -- that or an AT will eventually be going back in, unless I break down and try an X2N... I'd probably hate it but am super curious about those. 36th could be a great neck pickup in either of those arrangements... hmm. another cool combo is the old PAFPro neck and super distortion bridge - have that in my ibanez, sounds pretty cool but a little muddy in the neck unless coil tapped.
If i can fudge just a little on the first one....
PRS CUSTOM 24. I got this guitar at the end of last year actually. Simply a fantastic guitar. Has become my #1. Killer looks, feel and playability even better, pickups among the best i have ever heard. Killer guitar!!!
Ernie Ball Music Man JP12 - this is a fantastic instrument! This is a Ball Family Reserve model and is the nicest JP I have played. Ebony board, stainless frets, thin and 20" radius neck.... This thing is greased lightning! When Guitar Player mag listed recommended shred setups in various price ranges, this was the guitar of choice in the "Dream Rig" category. Another KILLER guitar!!
Mesa Mini Rectifier - ditto what Paul said. Great and very versatile amp! Also bought the matching cab. Mesa spec V30 is supposed to be better version than stock. Still not broken in so jury is out.
Marshall Class 5 . Head, this amp has potential. After reading about its design, it has some FOOLISH design choices. Everyone who has tried it, said that $20 worth of parts can make it into a really nice little amp. Stock, it works well with humbuckers, not well at all with single coils (one design flaw was the choice of input resistor) . It has way too much bass passing thru the circuit so you have to turn the bass almost all the way down. But then, at 12:00 on the volume knob, starts sounding good. By 2:00 it kicks butt and just past 3:00 it mushes out. With a few parts swapped, it supposedly fulfills its promise as a little plexi style monster. I keep waffling... Surgery or emporium.... In that one range though, with a greenback and an HB guitar, it sounds pretty dang good.
Pedals...
Fulltone-
Plimsoul- this one will be for sale soon, but believe me when i say its one of the best distortion pedals i have tried. Just that i have great amp OD sounds and this one is covered by what the amps will do.
GT-500 - on paper, this should be the best thing ever. It's not. This is my second one. Tried hard to like it. It SHOULD be great. But one of the things he chose to make it unique, makes it not sound good. Te inductor mids control should be good in theory, but i found the mids so congested, that even with all the other killer features (cascaded FET gain stages, B/M/T controls, separate boost with controls, etc...) it ends up a very disappointing pedal. Sold it and wont try again.
OCD v1.7- the best OCD yet! Great open dynamic pedal. Everyone needs one! A steal for $127 at GC
70 - silicon fuzz. just got this one, and haven't opened it up to dial it in. Right now, it is very spitty and gated. Tons of gain. I should be able to smooth it out some with the bias control, and it should be great. I hear Mike recommends this for Eric Johnson tones. This is way off that, so if i can dial it to that, I am happy.
69- germanium fuzz. I LOVE this pedal. This is a VERY good take on the Fuzz Face. Haven't opened it up yet to adjust, and not in a hurry to do so. Sounds GREAT!
Barber
Gain Changer- another GREAT pedal. I have had an LTD v2 for several years, and had the original and had an LTD (flat mids version). I have not tried the Unlimited, which is the same voice but way more gain. Dave comes up with this, and in one smaller pedal, it will do LTD, LTD SR and Unlimited sounds plus a smaller mid hump mode. So this $119 pedal actually does more than 3 of his very popular pedals. Everything from sweet clean with flat, boosted or boosted more mods, to medium high gain with the same tone options. This is another pedal that for the price, everyone should own one!
Compact Direct Drive- i have had 3 different versions of the Direct Drive and all were very good pedals. I have not tried the low gain version. This is his Marshall voiced pedal, and this new version has both regular and low gain versions on a switch. From low gain JTM to JCM 800, this pedal can do it. A guy with a Fender clean channel can for cheap get this, the Gain Changer and of course a Tone Press, and do about anything. Great pedal and again only $119!
Xotic SP comp- tiny, sounds great, actually haven't even explored its versatility yet, but I really dig it!!!
TC Electronic.
Dreamscape- see Paul's comments above. Like it alot, but not convinced yet that either chorus or flanger are as food as my Fulltone Choral Flanger.
Arena Verb- again, agree with Paul. Lots of nice sounding verbs in there.
Flashback- very versatile nice sounding delay.
Bogner Red- Most expensive drive pedal I have ever bought. Worth it! This is a fantastic pedal! So many controls that you dan dial it in with ANY amp or guitar. This is a no holds barred high gain pedal. As soon as you turn the gain knob up at all, it has a lot of gain. High voltage inside makes it SO touch responsive and dynamic. For this type tone, the best pedal i have ever heard and better than MANY good amps OD channels. This pedal has 1 flaw. The boost, which is otherwise well thought out and implemented, adds bass as well as level and gain. I mean a significant bass boost! Anyone here add bass when you kick on your solo boost? Me either, and nobody i have ever heard of. Killer pedal with one WTFwere you thinking feature.
Uberschal- see Paul's comments. We agree again. I wanted to love this one but returned it. Something strikes me weird about a high gain pedal that you have to turn the level up WAY past 12:00 before it hits unity gain. The Red is loud at 10:00. The new OCD. Is loud at 9:00! Tis thing had to be turned up to 2:00 and the boost on, before it was kicking your amp hard. Very, very weird!
And one more that i bought and returned. The Dunlop Mini Germanium Fuzz. This was a very nice sounding fuzz. It really was. And i know fuzz face circuits and know that most add a lot of bottom. This thing was boomy. But, i probably jumped the gun. I played it only with my Tweaker and its G12H. That speaker has a lot of top and a a lot of bottom. If i had tried it with a greenback, I would probably have kept it. Good deal for that price. I would revisit this one again.
I think tha's it. If i think of anything else, I will add it later.
Wow, you guys buy a lot of gear!
My list is much shorter. Most of my new gear I made, but I did buy a few last year.
For the most part, stuff that I bought last year all had one or two fatal flaws that made it less worthwhile. For example:
TC Flashback Delay:
The tap tempo on the TC Flashback, and the fact that I could never get it to loop in time annoyed the crap out of me and made the pedal useless. It has good sounds, and the editor is stellar. You can make a lot of nice delays with it. But the tap tempo is shit. It would be fine if you just held the switch and strummed and it tapped in the tempo... but no, you hold the switch, and it MUTES, and then you strum in your tempo. This is only fine if it's at the beginning of a song. Some of us need to change tempos more often. To top if off, the looper just doesn't loop in time well. So, worthless.
TC Flashback X4:
Much better than the Flashback. Again, the editor really makes this awesome... and it's got 4 slots for your own programs. The tap tempo is a separate footswitch, which is much better. And the looper works... and you can use delays on the looper channel... which is awesome. The only flaw in this pedal is that tap tempo does not persist when you switch on a delay--the delay always uses the tap tempo you stored in the program. This is annoying... my memory boy deluxe still smokes it for usability. But it's at least usable, so it's stayed in a pedalboard.
TC HOF reverb:
Again, the editor makes this pedal worthwhile. Good reverbs, none of them are particularly amazing, but it sounds good enough in a loud rig, and works well enough. I tend to like the sounds I get from the $55 Biyang Baby Boom reverb more... but I think I got the HOF and the flashback for $90 each... it's definitely serviceable and worth the investment, especially if you want to tweak the settings with the editor.
Bogner Red:
Dollar for dollar, this is the least worthwhile pedal I've ever bought. Really never got a satisfying sound out of this pedal. Internally it looks beautiful, and there's some nice engineering in it, but I can't figure out why Bogner didn't just use the actual Ecstasy layout and eq, etc. Arbitrary design choices make it sound like something, but not like something good. After I got this, I built a mu-amp clone of the XTC amp, the Seventh Heaven, that totally smokes it. That pedal earned a permanent home on one of my pedal boards, while the Bogner Red earned a place in my closet. If I could sell it for even close to what I paid, I would, but it's hardly worth losing that much money on.
Nothing else purchased per se. Maybe I'll do a second post with things I've built.
Wow!! I'm cornfused!!! LOL Of course, you knew this.
Above I posted that I got a new guitar and a pedal. The GT-500.
Yesterday, before Howie and Charger's post, I had a date with this pedal. Man!! When I fingered her, she blew in my ear!!! Pure enjoyment. Everything I could of hoped for in this pedal. The Boost alone fills out the clean very nice. The Distortion makes the 2W 5881 fucking howl. I played for two hours. Couldn't put the motherfucker down. The best guitar experience I've had in a long time.
Then I read Howie's review. He's already fingered my girl. Two of 'em no doubt. (I'll tell you a story about spoiled milk sometime, Howie) Anyway I think, WTF, I must be tonedeaf. Then I read his review of the Bogner Red and think Oh fuck, I've bought the wrong pedal.
Then I read Charger's review of the Bogner Red, and his has weeds growing out of it. WTF
We've always said tone is objective. This kind of points out that we have different tastes in sound.
I got a used VHT Special 6. It's a keeper!
I also picked up a used Jensen CQ12 to put in a cab I built. Sounds great with the Tweaker.
I don't have much of a gear budget these days, but I am quite happy with what I already have.
All I bought was the Super Champ X2 and Eminence Lil Buddy Hemp cone 10" speaker for the SCX2. So far because it is so light and capable, I am very pleased with it.
I am even thinking a Cannabis Rex for the HRD I like the tone of the Lil Buddy so much. In early 2014 I am going to complete a small pedal board with a harmony pedal, tuner (of course) another Blues Driver (for boost and tone control for my strat clone) and one of my Nady TD1 tube distortion stomps. I need a real portable pedal board, (I have the case) the one pedal board I have in the house is just too complex to be a fast set up item. I have no room in it for the wires so that stays in the house for now. The SCX2 is quite capable as is. So no other thing is necessary for smell not too loud jams etc, but for a serious jam the HRD will be necessary and I need stomps for that item as the drive channel kinda sucks until it is at ear shattering volumes. For the SCX2 and the strat clone, I need a boost pedal also so that small pedal board will serve 2 purposes.
FB's Gear review of the year.
AT-100 bridge pick up for the Nez....LOVE. It does exactly what I want a humbucker to do in that position.
Cruiser for the middle pick up for the Nez. LOVE it. That guitar has a PAF Joe in the neck and the balance between those pick ups is really nice.
I don't go for a huge gain difference and prefer moderately low output pickups in general. I just want to change the texture a bit or even go for a bit of something different EQ wise through pick up combinations.
David Gilmour EMG's for the strat. Hardest decision I've ever made gear wise. I love hat guitar to death and just didn't want to fuck with it's mojo. But that god damned hum just got on my last nerve. As you know I fucking do not even like Gilmour. BUT Good enough for Jamie....good enough for FB. LOVE these damn things. The tone knobs are the secret to why they are so cool.
Charger made Klon Clone- Hands down my favorite pedal ever. Does exactly what I want it to do and I helped in the concept. It's what I always wanted and couldn't find on the market.
BB+ by Xotix. The first pedal to make me seriously consider getting rid of the OCD AND the Full-Drive 2 MOSFET. I've gotten a lot of mileage from those two pedals and never thought I'd see the day something would make me consider kicking them. Great pedal and very very versatile.
Visual Sounds H2O. Delay/chorus. Always wanted two delay's and hated the old Boss Chorus Ensemble. Now I have it all in one box. Very good chorus sound. The only chorus pedal I've ever had that I liked and the delays are flexible and nice.
DM — Dec 15, 2013Wow!! I'm cornfused!!! LOL Of course, you knew this.
Above I posted that I got a new guitar and a pedal. The GT-500.
Yesterday, before Howie and Charger's post, I had a date with this pedal. Man!! When I fingered her, she blew in my ear!!! Pure enjoyment. Everything I could of hoped for in this pedal. The Boost alone fills out the clean very nice. The Distortion makes the 2W 5881 fucking howl. I played for two hours. Couldn't put the motherfucker down. The best guitar experience I've had in a long time.
Then I read Howie's review. He's already fingered my girl. Two of 'em no doubt. (I'll tell you a story about spoiled milk sometime, Howie) Anyway I think, WTF, I must be tonedeaf. Then I read his review of the Bogner Red and think Oh fuck, I've bought the wrong pedal.
Then I read Charger's review of the Bogner Red, and his has weeds growing out of it. WTF
We've always said tone is objective. This kind of points out that we have different tastes in sound.
Weeellll, you know, opinions are like assholes, everyone's got one. DTR and I have never had the same taste in gear so no surprise there. I was seriously scratching my head over that Bogner pedal from day one, and when my clone smoked it, it went on the shelf. I'm ready to sell it, anyone wants to make me an offer.
Fenderbender — Dec 16, 2013FB's Gear review of the year.
AT-100 bridge pick up for the Nez....LOVE. It does exactly what I want a humbucker to do in that position.
Cruiser for the middle pick up for the Nez. LOVE it. That guitar has a PAF Joe in the neck and the balance between those pick ups is really nice.
I don't go for a huge gain difference and prefer moderately low output pickups in general. I just want to change the texture a bit or even go for a bit of something different EQ wise through pick up combinations.
David Gilmour EMG's for the strat. Hardest decision I've ever made gear wise. I love hat guitar to death and just didn't want to fuck with it's mojo. But that god damned hum just got on my last nerve. As you know I fucking do not even like Gilmour. BUT Good enough for Jamie....good enough for FB. LOVE these damn things. The tone knobs are the secret to why they are so cool.
Charger made Klon Clone- Hands down my favorite pedal ever. Does exactly what I want it to do and I helped in the concept. It's what I always wanted and couldn't find on the market.
BB+ by Xotix. The first pedal to make me seriously consider getting rid of the OCD AND the Full-Drive 2 MOSFET. I've gotten a lot of mileage from those two pedals and never thought I'd see the day something would make me consider kicking them. Great pedal and very very versatile.
Visual Sounds H2O. Delay/chorus. Always wanted two delay's and hated the old Boss Chorus Ensemble. Now I have it all in one box. Very good chorus sound. The only chorus pedal I've ever had that I liked and the delays are flexible and nice.
Ha, best part of this is I totally thought Klon was all mythology, then I built yours, and I heard all the stuff you don't hear on youtube... it's a great pedal, I've got 3 variants on the bench right now, and I'm keeping at least one.
Deano, its a mixture od taste and synergy. So here goes...
I tried very hard to like the GT500. As I said, on paper, it should be my favorite pedal. If it was an OCD with B/M/T an a stackable boost, it probably would be! I tried it with lots of guitars, 4-5 amps, and 5 different kinds of speakers. And... Both Times I got this pedal i " liked it" for a while. I wanted too so much, that both times I initially thought " yeah, this is a keeper." And both times, the more I played it, the less I liked it. It had EVERYTHING I wanted right in its grasp, but I could not live long term with the congested mids.
Re: the Red, there isn't a pedal made that everyone loves. Or amp, guitar, speaker or any other piece of gear. This pedal gets A LOT of love. Derek made a great sounding clip with his. He did sell it, but only because he had a Marshall and Splawn that covered those tones without using pedals. IMHO (and I have read from guys at TGP that are doing this) you could take the Red and almost any good clean amp and gig with it and convince most people who heard it that you had a high end, high gain marshall type amp. I have played mine with 3 different Strats, 3 PRSs, the JP12, the Wolfgang, and more and I have flipped every switch and turned every knob. I can't find a way to MAKE it sound bad. It sounds GREAT with the Tweaker and matching cab. However, the speaker is a HUGE influence on final tone of any setup. As soon as you switch over to a Greenback type speaker, with any amp i have tried, and it sounds killer.
Charger has a Tweaker in his studio, but recently has said several times that he mainly uses the Epi Valve Jr and some home made amps. I have no idea what kind of pedal platforms the homies are, but the Valve Jr. is NOT a good amp to audition pedals on. Every version (I had 3 of them) has design flaws which... well, you may like the tone, but it's not a good thing to audition pedals on. That DOESN'T mean that no pedal sounds good with it. But holy crap if I could get ANYTHING with any gain to sound good with it. Mushy, mis-biased, loose little amp. The Red sounds wonderful with the Tweaker, which is a very nice pedal platform amp for cheap. When you get into single ended, no NFB amps, IMO, you need to work the amp and maybe some OD for drive. Getting into the distortion pedals doesn't work as well because the amps are too loose. (this is an "in general" comment and not a "fact for every amp.)"
The gear you use with any pedal makes a HUGE difference. As much or more so, than just tastes in tones. Meaning, I can appreciate a great job of a pedal copping the tone of an amp, even if I don't care for that tone, I know it's a good one for what it is. But a great pedal can sound like crap with the wrong speaker, or with an amp that doesn't take that type pedal well. Ask David Barber some time why he builds "fizz filters" into so many of his pedals. It's because of certain type speakers. Just an example.
So in both cases, your mileage may vary, and consult your physician for erections lasting over 4 hours.
DreamTheaterRules — Dec 16, 2013Deano, its a mixture od taste and synergy. So here goes...
I tried very hard to like the GT500. As I said, on paper, it should be my favorite pedal. If it was an OCD with B/M/T an a stackable boost, it probably would be! I tried it with lots of guitars, 4-5 amps, and 5 different kinds of speakers. And... Both Times I got this pedal i " liked it" for a while. I wanted too so much, that both times I initially thought " yeah, this is a keeper." And both times, the more I played it, the less I liked it. It had EVERYTHING I wanted right in its grasp, but I could not live long term with the congested mids.
Re: the Red, there isn't a pedal made that everyone loves. Or amp, guitar, speaker or any other piece of gear. This pedal gets A LOT of love. Derek made a great sounding clip with his. He did sell it, but only because he had a Marshall and Splawn that covered those tones without using pedals. IMHO (and I have read from guys at TGP that are doing this) you could take the Red and almost any good clean amp and gig with it and convince most people who heard it that you had a high end, high gain marshall type amp. I have played mine with 3 different Strats, 3 PRSs, the JP12, the Wolfgang, and more and I have flipped every switch and turned every knob. I can't find a way to MAKE it sound bad. It sounds GREAT with the Tweaker and matching cab. However, the speaker is a HUGE influence on final tone of any setup. As soon as you switch over to a Greenback type speaker, with any amp i have tried, and it sounds killer.
Charger has a Tweaker in his studio, but recently has said several times that he mainly uses the Epi Valve Jr and some home made amps. I have no idea what kind of pedal platforms the homies are, but the Valve Jr. is NOT a good amp to audition pedals on. Every version (I had 3 of them) has design flaws which... well, you may like the tone, but it's not a good thing to audition pedals on. That DOESN'T mean that no pedal sounds good with it. But holy crap if I could get ANYTHING with any gain to sound good with it. Mushy, mis-biased, loose little amp. The Red sounds wonderful with the Tweaker, which is a very nice pedal platform amp for cheap. When you get into single ended, no NFB amps, IMO, you need to work the amp and maybe some OD for drive. Getting into the distortion pedals doesn't work as well because the amps are too loose. (this is an "in general" comment and not a "fact for every amp.)"
The gear you use with any pedal makes a HUGE difference. As much or more so, than just tastes in tones. Meaning, I can appreciate a great job of a pedal copping the tone of an amp, even if I don't care for that tone, I know it's a good one for what it is. But a great pedal can sound like crap with the wrong speaker, or with an amp that doesn't take that type pedal well. Ask David Barber some time why he builds "fizz filters" into so many of his pedals. It's because of certain type speakers. Just an example.
So in both cases, your mileage may vary, and consult your physician for erections lasting over 4 hours.
My favorite thing about you, DTR, is that you never have JUST your own opinion. Your opinion is always "also the opinion of MANY other guitarists." Fuck that shit... I'll take a stand alone, any day. That Bogner pedal is technologically wonderful, and about as useful as a bag of dicks.
Charger has a Tweaker in his studio, but recently has said several times that he mainly uses the Epi Valve Jr and some home made amps. I have no idea what kind of pedal platforms the homies are, but the Valve Jr. is NOT a good amp to audition pedals on.
Hahaha! Nice one. Your Valve Jr. may not be a good platform to audition pedals on, mine's great! I remember when I used to be the opinionated asshole around here... man, I'm slipping.
Well, I didn't mean to open up the proverbial worm-can, but it seems we do that a lot with whatever we talk about. ;D
I like the GT-500 so far. I played it Distortion alone for quite a while last night. Howie, you talk about congested mids on that pedal. I don't think of that wah inductor as a mid, though it is marked that way. I think of it more as color. I played it for a while with that full off. I adjust the mid from equal bass / treble +/- to taste. Add the other for color, or not. Like you would a cracked wah.
The Boost side alone, for the price of the pedal, is worth it to me. I bought it from the blem page direct from Fulltone. I think it has a paint smudge. LOL
Charger, I'd would have considered maybe making an offer on that Bogner pedal, but I don't have a use for a bag of dicks. LOL!!! I know we all have opinions. It just struck me funny after just enjoying the sound of something, then reading about it being poo-poo. It's all good.
I've used up my gear money for a while.
Deano, I didn't say it was poo. It's actually pretty good. But I expected greatness and IMO, it wasn't "great" so I could afford to flip it towards something else. I'd never say it's bad or even that it's not pretty good, just that I expected exceptional and I don't like the mids on it. And you are dead on about the boost and that is yet another reason it was so appealing. The boost is very good! The ability to put it before or after, SUPER GOOD! Stacked FET stages, SUPER GOOD. Everything, even the color, indicates greatness. Just don't dig the mids. In fact, when I stacked the 500 and the OCD, and used only the boost of the 500 into the OCD, it was fantastic. But the OCD is killer. If he'd make an OCD with full B/M/T stack, two footswitches, boost w/ B/T and "before/after" switch, I'd buy it IN A SECOND.
Charger, I have always been a but cautious about dispensing my opinions when they might disagree with someone elses here, since my humble beginnings at The Watering Hole as the guy who was wrong every time he said anything. LMAO. That said, it is not not was it ever my intention of being an ass or offending anyone who likes a particular piece of gear. You more than anyone who's left here, have the ability to simply go over to SE Watt or any other amp mod site and read about the design of the Valve Junior, see all the flaws in the design and HEAR how simply replacing a few things with the correct values changes it into a pretty good little amp. So, no idea why you'd be offended that I say it needs some work. It's pretty common knowledge. And again, that doesn't mean you or anyone else can't enjoy it as is. More power too ya. I know DBM likes his (but uses it mainly with lower gain pedals). It's another thing I tried to like. Without mods, sitting next to a Tweaker and a Budda Superdrive, there wasn't any reason to keep it unless I was going to mod it. It did not take ANY of the mid to high gain pedals I threw at it very well, and trust me, I tried a few. :) It is my opinion that little, simple circuit, single ended amps work best used by themselves or with OD or boost pedals to push them for gain. Pedals with gain don't seem to work super well with them unless they are modded with negative feedback, have bigger OT's, go in to the circuit and roll of some bottom and top, etc. (unless your pedal can do that). That is MY opinion based on the ones I've tried. It is also widely held. LOL
I'm not sure why stating that others feel like I do is wrong. There is a huge thread at TGP with hundreds and hundreds of users of the new Mesa Mini Rec. Many love the amp. A lot say it's the best amp they've ever used or heard. Some haven't liked it. One guy paid full price, played it an hour and immediately listed it for sale for $200 less saying "it's a fizzy mess." Paul and I and every other person who has one could sit back and laugh at that and say "yeah, it can be but it's SO easy to dial that out and make it sound great." But to that guy, it sucks. I get it. And I know why. In this case, he didn't even open the manual. Tone controls on Mesa amps seem to work WITH each other more than any other amp. Dialing it like every other amp you've owned doesn't work. But, it didn't work for him and if you ask him, it sucks.
So this is my opinion. If you like jamming with a loose little single ended amp (which can definitely be a great vibey thing, NO QUESTION and some of the good ones are GREAT AMPS!!!! ) that is great. But me stating that it is not the best platform to also play your high gain pedals through, is not being an ass. It's a fact, not even an opinion. If your version of that pedal sounds great through it, that is great. We'll go back to my "synergy" comment on that one, because trust me, not many high gain pedals sound good with the Jr.
So, as far as I'm concerned, you can retain your title and I'm sorry if you felt I was infringing on your territory! You do king, man! LOL (tongue firmly in cheek). ;D ;D
Howie, To me "makes it not sound good" and "ends up being a very disappointing pedal" equals poo-poo. ;D ;D
I know what you mean. It's all good. LOL
DreamTheaterRules — Dec 16, 2013
So this is my opinion. If you like jamming with a loose little single ended amp (which can definitely be a great vibey thing, NO QUESTION and some of the good ones are GREAT AMPS!!!! ) that is great. But me stating that it is not the best platform to also play your high gain pedals through, is not being an ass. It's a fact, not even an opinion. If your version of that pedal sounds great through it, that is great. We'll go back to my "synergy" comment on that one, because trust me, not many high gain pedals sound good with the Jr.
So, as far as I'm concerned, you can retain your title and I'm sorry if you felt I was infringing on your territory! You do king, man! LOL (tongue firmly in cheek). ;D ;D
"Not the best platform" is not what you said. What you said was:
I have no idea what kind of pedal platforms the homies are, but the Valve Jr. is NOT a good amp to audition pedals on.
When I read that stuff from you, I am reminded of Groucho Marx's old idiom about clubs. I'm perfectly happy to not be a member of the royal fraternity of guitarists who agree on everything. But I get a little tired of hearing how little I know about amps and pedals and tone... As a guy who uses several killer amps at jam volume, with other guitars, bass, keys, and live drums, with a whole mess of pedals, and many different guitars, at least 4 hours a week, I think I'm plenty qualified to say that the Epiphone Valve Jr. I am using is an excellent pedal platform that takes pretty much every pedal I run into it like a champ. I also have the luxury of having the Tweaker at hand, and a couple of very killer homebuilt amps. Contrary to your opinion, I also know quite a bit about the topology of the Valve Jr, as well as our homebuilt amps, having, umm, had a hand in building the latter, and reading extensively about the former. All I can say (and what <muaaahahahahaha> OTHER GUITARISTS</muaaahahahahaha> have said), is we must have somehow got a "good" Valve Jr--one that exceeds all of DTRs measurement capabilities. You'd think that after playing it for almost two years, weekly, at jam volume, I would have figured out by now how badly it sucks. I must be pretty dense or hard of hearing or something.
Also, to refresh your memory, I did a shootout between the Bogner pedal, and the Seventh Heaven clone, through the Tweaker (!!!), months ago. And posted it here.
DM — Dec 16, 2013Well, I didn't mean to open up the proverbial worm-can, but it seems we do that a lot with whatever we talk about. ;D
I like the GT-500 so far. I played it Distortion alone for quite a while last night. Howie, you talk about congested mids on that pedal. I don't think of that wah inductor as a mid, though it is marked that way. I think of it more as color. I played it for a while with that full off. I adjust the mid from equal bass / treble +/- to taste. Add the other for color, or not. Like you would a cracked wah.
The Boost side alone, for the price of the pedal, is worth it to me. I bought it from the blem page direct from Fulltone. I think it has a paint smudge. LOL
Charger, I'd would have considered maybe making an offer on that Bogner pedal, but I don't have a use for a bag of dicks. LOL!!! I know we all have opinions. It just struck me funny after just enjoying the sound of something, then reading about it being poo-poo. It's all good.
I've used up my gear money for a while.
If you want to make me an offer, I will happily lie and tell you it's the best pedal I've ever bought. And I'll get testimony from my buddy DTR, who will also tell you that he loves it and it kills, if you have the right amp. I will also record clips with my "other" Bogner pedal, and then pretend they are the Red, so you will have an idea of what it would be capable of, if Bogner had used the actual XTC circuit in it. Sound good? Where should we start the bidding? ;)
Charger, if you remember, when you first started saying how good you thought your V Jr. I asked if you had modded it. It is possible that it was modded before you bought it. LOTS of those going around. Anyway, me reciting my experiences with all three versions of the head and both versions of the combo, and hundreds of hours of reading time at SE Watt and other amp mod forums, does not mean that yours sucks and you can't hear. You said that. I didn't. One of the known flaws of the amp is the input resistor value. Given this, one would expect wild variations in success with various pedals depending on their output impedance, level, etc. I again say, this is a fact and you know this. This is simple electronics, not an opinion. The whole first generation (head and combo) and an improperly matched OT in them. Again, not my opinion. Fact. A whole company started up to make Valve Jr OTs, and that company did pretty well for quite a while.
If you say yours sounds good, that's fine and I believe you. I was very disappointed in all the ones I had, but I certainly heard some nice samples at SE Watt of modded ones. So, if you want to keep posting insults because you feel I insulted your hearing, go ahead. I already stated that I never said that and already apologized if you took it that way.
Dean, part of "reviewing" is comparing things to expectations. If I get a $50 pedal and it sounds really good, I don't pick it apart because it doesn't sound quite as good as one that costs twice as much. When I buy a pedal that costs over $150 I expect a lot. I will pick it apart if it doesn't do everything as well as I think it should. I thought the GT500 was going to be my desert island pedal. I expected A LOT from it. The OCD is a never ending staple on my board and this pedal had the promise of far exceeding even the OCD. It's flaw, IMHO, is the mids. I don't like the character of the distortion in the mids and find it congested. I again say, this is not a bad pedal, but for me, it wasn't the be all end all pedal that I expected it to be.
I am much more critical on something that costs much more. So, yeah, the $299 Bogner.., I'm pretty hard on it. I think the boost is a complete FAIL because of the bottom end added. I'd give anything to have the GT500's boost side on the Red. But, I don't have any problem making the Red sound great with any amp or speaker I have. Seriously good!!!
Maybe I'm the one who can't hear. :)
Forgot one other purchase this year... I bought a 6-pack of AlNiCo 8 bar magnets. I used these to replace the stock magnets in a couple of humbuckers on my Yamaha Pacificas and on an Ibanez. With the Yamahas, I think I replaced AlNiCo II stock magnets, and on the IBZ they were ceramic. AlNiCo 8 sounds totally cool... we ran through a bunch of different types, AII, A3, A5 oriented and unoriented, and A8. I went for the A8 upgrade on two guitars for different reasons. The A2 on the Pacifica was not punchy enough, and I wanted more out of it. At the same time, the ceramics in the IBZ were way too overbearing and mid-heavy and loud, the A8s reduced it just enough to make it useful in our room.
Magnet swaps are worth investigating if you want to change up a pickup, though results obviously vary with the type...
Where should we start the bidding? Wink
hmmmm Let's see.... "this pedal sucks and I can't get a good sound out of it so I want to sell it."
After that review I'm thinking.... $5! I will pay shipping. Anyone else? ;D
DreamTheaterRules — Dec 16, 2013One of the known flaws of the amp is the input resistor value. Given this, one would expect wild variations in success with various pedals depending on their output impedance, level, etc. I again say, this is a fact and you know this.
Honestly I have no idea WTF you are talking about, but I'd love to hear you explain it. The Valve Jr follows a fairly standard amp topology. The input is 68k/1M to ground on the input. This is probably used by half the tube amps in the world. Nothing wrong with the output transformer either, in fact I'm pretty impressed that a $99 amp has 4, 8, and 16 ohm outputs... that's better than my Tweaker!
forgot that I got the Creambacks this year too. they're so perfect for me that it seems I've always had them!
Charger, actually you didn't get the Valve Junior this year and this is the "2013 Gear Year in review" thread, so we can't talk about it. ;D
DreamTheaterRules — Dec 17, 2013Charger, actually you didn't get the Valve Junior this year and this is the "2013 Gear Year in review" thread, so we can't talk about it. ;D
Nice dodge.
I was mistaken on the input resistor. That was not one of the "flaws" it was just something that was recommended to be changed for most mods. And, you have at least version 2 as evidenced by your 4,8,16 taps (which all Tweaker heads have) so two MAJOR flaws (the incorrect impedance of the OT, and the heater being corrected) were fixed by your version. But the the bias resistor on the EL84 is way off. Biasing on that tube along has been called "not safe" by some as it's so off numerous guys had them blow and flame out. This is from memory of a forum I haven't been to in three years, although I'm sure you'll quote me if I miss by one ohm. :D I think that tube needs to see about 300-310 volts at the plate, and with the stock setup it's getting hit with 450 or so! It may not be THAT high but it was WAY too high stock. (I'm not being a jerk AT ALL, but if you enjoy this amp, I'd look into this a bit because there are a few things you can do to make it considerably better that are simple parts swaps, and your tubes will last so much longer it will pay for the parts).
not the topic of this thread, so if you want to discuss it further, we can elsewhere. If you don't care, think I'm full of crap, and you are completely happy with it as is, then we won't.
I thought we weren't talking about it. ;)
Fun read and it's nice to see I'm in good company with other gear whores lol. Tight year for me with $$ as heavy, continuous dating is a pain in the ass...so it was a big flipping year for me instead.
2013 INPO..
I think I tried the mini Recto but I don't recall purchasing it...might be wrong though, can't remember.
Bogner Red - liked it, got some killer tones out of it and tracked a full tune with it pulling leads duty. However I sold it as I think I'm now just more into getting lead tones from the amps gain, not a distortion box...although a good clean booster or two is a must.
Ibanez 25th Anny RG565 - was a nice little find on the cheap and I loved its HS config, but I'm slowly migrating away from Ibanez guitars these days and so I flipped it along with another 'Nez to fund something new.
I'm pretty sure I scored the rare '76 Marshall cab w/blackbacks early this year, may have been '12 though, memory sucks these days. A keeper for life.
Sold an Sennheiser MD421 while adding an sm57 to pair with my current fav, the e906.
Flipped the Jetter Red 2 pedal to downsize it back to the simpler Jetter Red. I found I was always just using the Red side as a boost (or for very low gain stuff) and not its 'Helium Boost' feature at all. Still have it. It may be a Zen clone, but that's cool, it sounds badass and is built like a tank.
Picked up an ancient Boss BF-2 Flanger. Had one of these back in the day and they're killer old skool flangers, especially for nailing the VH stuff. Still Have it.
Exotic EP Booster. Cool, vibey pedal, added some beef and sizzle but flipped it over when I heard the Timmy...which I still have.
Marshall DSL15. Great little practice amp. Still have it.
Bought a 5150 III mini - but took it back a couple weeks later when they got in a used Rivera Rake Head. I LOVE that amp, still have it.
Duncan Custom SSL-5 pickup. Definite upgrade over what it replaced, another keeper.
2013 stuff built:
Hammond Amp #2. This is a very Fendery take on the hammond amp, though of course we're using 6973 tubes so it's got that Valvo/Supro heritage. The previous build was a more Marshally amp, darker, warmer. This amp is much brighter with a bigger mid scoop, less gain on the clean channel. However, it has a boost channel which is very loud, crunchy, and darkens the amp up. Switchable tube-driven reverb, switchable tube bias tremolo. All the bells and whistles. We call this the HFS2.
Amp #3 is in the works, and I have to admit I didn't do any work on this besides a lot of play testing. This amp is totally killer, though, and has some seriously cool features. First it's mini, built on the A0-43 Hammond chassis, so it's smaller even than a Valve Jr footprint. It's got not a lot of gain, but very usable, spanky gain, uses a 12BH7 as the power tube, and has no phase splitter, instead using a big power resistor as the differential output. Bottom line, fully cranked it's a bedroom level amp. Tube driven reverb, there may be an additional boost channel coming, too, for more gain. It has a realy cool presence control that takes it from dark to bright, along with a BMT tone section. All in all it's like everything I ever wanted for recording. It's not done yet but it's close enough that I'll call it a 2013 amp, as it will be done any day now.
Pedals... The 5F6A, the dual 5F6a/AC boost (AC side modified for more gain, and switchable pedal order), a BB with increased low end, the Machine, the Paisley Drive, the DBA Soundwave Breakdown, 2x Sobbat DB-1 (one with switchable input caps, both with stock clipper/IR LED option), FB's Klon (modified with bass boost, switchable buffer), an orange compressor (in an Altoids box), a BluesBreaker, a Morning Glory (still being tuned), a DBA robot, two Pt2399 delays, one with mod, one without...
<edit>forgot the Seventh Heaven, which is a straight Bogner XTC clone, including both the blue and the red channel, boost channel, and B/M/T/P. I added my own design FET output buffer to this because the stock version doesn't have one. This is my go-to pedal and does pretty much everything I want for gain except "crushing" and/or "broken". I use the opamp big muff (another pedal I forgot that I built) for crushing... and I use the DBA Soundwave Breakdown for "broken." My next version of the Bogner/Sevent Heaven will include channel switching on a footswitch... annoying to have this on a toggle switch. Three footswitches, baby!</edit>
Guitars... one sunburst, heavily flamed Les Paul, I only did the finish. One 68' sunburst strat, I did the finish on the body and neck so far, the friend who I'm making it for still hasn't bought pickups, bridge, or tuners.
Bluesbreaker pedal stock? How do you like it?
I'm not totally sold on it. I'm also not totally sold on the Morning Glory. I may mod the stock Blues Breaker over to King of Tone specs. Both pedals could use more gain, I think I'm going to go up to 250k on the gain pots and see if they feel better.
Yeah, KOT is one of several popular high end pedals that are modded Blues Breaker circuits. More gain is a cool mod on these because it starts to compress a lot (the one I modded) and becomes a really nice smooth singing OD.