The Watering Hole

Feeling inspired by Howie, I decided to take the time to give my review of some of the higher-end/boutique pedals I've acquired.

Compressor:  Maxon CP9-Pro+.  Nice compressor.  It isn't based on a Ross or Armstrong circuit.  It is based on a DBX circuit and is more subtle, less noisy, and evens things out without killing articulation or squishing too much.  It's not a squisher like a Keeley.  Maxon also is company that made the original Tube Screamers for Ibanez.
   http://www.maxonfx.com/Nine_CP9.php

Fuzz: Lovepedal 200lbs.  This is a pedal that was designed to capture Eric Johnson's violin tone.  Though I really like the pedal, I find it is a little soft when the internal trim pot is adjusted to a really singing sound (soft enough I use a clean booster after it to boost its volume).  Kick it to a neck pickup and role back the tone and you have synth mania.
   http://www.lovepedal.com/tchula.htm    

Drive pedals:
Pedalworx Tejas.  I really dig this pedal.  It is a TS-808 circuit with an extra knob called Spice.  The Spice knob removes much of the compression of the original TS808 when the Tone knob is kicked above 12oclock with the drive up.  Drive sounds are really good, but I like this pedal as a clean-booster for the Boogie; tightens things up nicely and sounds a little more hi-fi than a standard TS-9.
  http://www.pedalworx.com/store/index.html

Drive pedal: Pedalworx Cactus Crunch.  This pedal is hard to describe, but I like it a lot as a booster (especially when I want a more rock sound out of the Boogie).  Definitely not a TS sounding circuit.

Distortion Pedals:

Lovepedal ProValve-  This is a higher-gain distortion pedal that has a really interesting, complex sound.  Not the 'super-tight' distortion, it has a nice warmth and a big bottom.  Though you can have two seperate channel/gain settings, there isn't a huge difference between the two.  Add the Tejas in front of it as a clean booster, it tightens up (but isn't as warm).  
http://www.lovepedal.com/provalve.htm

Skreddy Top Fuel-  When you crank this one up, it gets a higher distortion like the ProValve w/ a booster in front of it (but warmer).  Turn it down and it goes lower than the ProValve (it shows greater range of response to the gain and sustain knobs).  At moderate settings this thing sings!!!  Lovely pedal.  I just got it today, but I think it's a keeper.
http://www.skreddypedals.com/skreddy_pedals_top_fuel.htm

Chorus:
Diamond Halo Chorus- This one is by Diamond Pedals out of Canada.  These pedals are hand-built works of art in a box (the wiring quality).  This pedal is a gorgeous sounding chorus pedal.  In stereo, it is absolutely STUNNING!!!  I hooked this puppy up to two Genz-Benz amps at work and the stereo separation in two amps side by side was stunning.  The phase-inversion switch, when kicked down, sounded like it widened the stereo image.  You'd swear the amps moved apart 1'.  Makes me want a 2nd amp JUST to run this pedal in stereo (it sounds THAT good).  Wow.  It also has an expression pedal input so you can control the oscillation speed.  With the right chorus setting, you can use the expression pedal to make it sound like a Leslie (and it does it pretty well too).

http://www.diamondpedals.com/products/halo.html

Phase:
Red Witch Moon Phase- This pedal is the non-deluxe version (not stereo).  This pedal is actually a Tremo-phase pedal.  It has two Phaser settings, two Tremolo settings, and two settings combining the two.  This pedal sounds almost as good as the Halo chorus for phase.  

http://www.redwitchanalogpedals.com/deluxemoonphaser.html

Delay:
Mad Professor Deep Blue Delay- Made in Finland, this pedal (though pricey due to the exchange rate) this delay is the most transparent sounding I've played (how little it affects your actual sound).  This pedal is truly awesome.  The only pedal I've heard that is better is maybe the Diamond Memory Lane 2 or the one by Pigtronix (don't remember the price).  Of course they're a lot more expensive.  A cheap (but quality) alternative to the Deep Blue is the MXR Carbon Copy delay.  

http://www.mpamp.com/pedal/pedals-dbd.html

I prefer rack effects like my G-Force with the optional Artist card myself, but I've got these boutique-ish pedals:

Keeley Compressor: You know what it is.  Love it!

http://www.robertkeeley.com/

Ibanez TubeScreamer:  TS-9/TS-808/Silver modded by Analog Man.  

http://www.analogman.com/

Ayan Enterprises Smooth and Slim:  Was for use with my Mesa Dual Rectifier to help with some low end farting.

http://www.pedalgeek.com/cgi-bin/new_shop.cgi?config=&uid=GBXcoAAA1223780938&uzc=&command=link--ayan

(Does my Boss GE-7 Equalizer modded by Dar count??? :D )

yes, your (and mine) Dar modded GE-7s would count.  

One question I have, is what is the advantage of buying a really expensive pedal if the same thing can be made for way cheaper?

charger — Oct 16, 2008One question I have, is what is the advantage of buying a really expensive pedal if the same thing can be made for way cheaper?

I would assume the answer is a qualifed "None."  Qualified, because it's only none if you CAN get the exact same pedal made cheaper.  Usually the expense isn't in the use of a different design, but in higher quality components (plus a little for human labor).

Charger,

first, you can't get the same thing way cheaper.  There are several reasons people pay more.  For example, with a Keeley modded pedal, you DO get the same thing... only different.  In that case, same circuit, but you are paying for hundreds of hours of critical listening for him to decide which caps and resistors to replace, and what type and value sounds best.  And then the professional installation of those parts.  

With the boutique brands, you either get something similar to that (maybe they start with a screamer type schematic for example) but from start to finish put the best parts in to tune it to a particular sound OR you get a new design altogether.  Many of the new pedals have cascaded FET gain stages which are very similar to how a tube amp works.  Many of these pedals sound and respond more like an amp, than the diode clipping pedals.  

There are several pedals that actually replicate the circuit of a certain tube amp, except with FETs where the tubes would be.  The ones I've heard sound very much like the amp they replicate.  Keep in mind, when you do this, you are doing all the same tone shaping and gain staging that the real amp does.  

Yes, but why not wait, get the schematic of the high end pedal (or draw it), then make the pedal from scratch?  I find it hard to justify spening $300 on a pedal, especially if you can make one for sub-$100.

well, part of what I said above is, it's not JUST the schematic.  It's the choice of exact parts that makes some high end pedals as good as they are.  Now, if you had one to open up and see what parts are where....  

It's also some of us not having the time or soldering/building skills to build the pedals.  I frankly have better things to do with my time; like shutting up and playing my guitar... ;)