Pedal geeks i need u (help jjjusten make decisions about awesome pedals for his store)

Was checking out H9 demo videos when I ran across this beast: The Hoxton OWL http://hoxtonowl.com

I'm digging this current wave of open-source sound-wibbling. The patch library (and demo videos) are damn impressive. I can't fund $400 on another sound-masher and I certainly can't take on another new programming language when I'm already dealing with three. I hope someone in these parts gets some face time with one.

Follow-up: I got one and it's spectacular!

I had a feeling you'd end up getting it. Glad it's as cool as it looked.

Here we are again:
http://i.imgur.com/ItRbfi3.jpg

From left to right:
Boss RV-6 Digital Reverb
MXR M300 Digital Reverb
TC Electronic Hall of Fame Mini Digital Reverb
Jim Dunlop EP103 Echoplex Delay ——> MXR M199 Tap
MXR M169 Carbon Copy Analog Delay
MXR M269SE Carbon Copy Bright Analog Delay
Boss DD-7 Digital Delay
(in front) Boss RC-1 Loop Station
TC Electronic Flashback Digital Delay
Moog MF Minifooger Analog Delay
Boss CE-2w Analog Waza Craft Chorus
Boss BF-2 Analog Flanger
Boss TR-2 Tremolo
Fulltone Full-Drive 2 Mosfet Overdrive
Boss BD-2 Blues Driver Overdrive
Fulltone OCD Overdrive/Distortion
ZVex Distortron Distortion
Bogner laGrange Overdrive
Bogner Wessex Overdrive
Boss TU-3 Chromatic Tuner

Also, as you can see, I traded in my butterscotch blonde Tele some time in mid February for a super classy white one.

The Moog delay is absolute heaven.

i don't regret selling my AC30 but i sure do miss it

The Moog delay is absolute heaven.

Cosigning on this. I've had a M-104Z somewhere on the board for just about ten years now and despite the size I just couldn't find anything that was quite like it until the minifooger version came around.

Work in Lake Forest. Very close to a Guitar Center in both instances.

I still miss the El Toro Tower Records that used to be there before Guitar Center came in.

Not a pedal but this new Greer Mini Chief is the best sounding dirty amp in my store.

jjusten you don't sell on reverb or have your store's offerings listed online do you

^^^Would also like to know that.

I got a Keeley Loomer and a Strymon El Capistan at the Dallas Guitar Show yesterday and promptly discovered that all my 9V power supplies disappeared when I moved. Oops.

I barely do stuff on reverb, but I do have a store there and plan to increase our listings when I have more time which given the 6 month old means in like 25 years or so.

You can always email me at the main address listed on the website (www.eclipsemusic.org)

I'm not sure if this is what this thread is for so let me know if I should move it, but I'm looking for recommendations for a good harmonizer or octave splitter (software or hardware pedal). All I really need for what I'm doing right now is +one octave above and +one octave below but if there's a piece of gear that allows for precise microtonal tunings, I'd consider spending more on that.

I've had a Boss HR-2 for ≈18 years. It's OK but I'm hoping for something with less latency and more accuracy. Does Eventide sell a standalone harmonizer or octave splitter? Their all-in-one deals seem to cost $500 and are more than I really need atm. (Or is someone really happy with the H9?) Has anyone tried the Boss OC-3? The Pitch Bay thing upthread might be what I'm looking for but I don't want automatic overdrive/distortion if that's what 'dirty' means.

I'm very open to plug-ins or Max devices. I tried this but latency is even worse, although Live allows for delay compensation: https://www.ableton.com/en/packs/max-7-pitch-and-time-machines/

https://www.eventideaudio.com/products/stompboxes/pitch-delay/pitchfactor

?

How is the latency on that, esp when playing very high harmonics? I was hoping to spend less than that but if it's mindblowingly awesome, I'd consider it.

I've had an on-again/off-again interest in pitch shifters over the last year or so. I wanted something that would do like a mock twelve-string sound, which some of them do pretty well, but alas, will never be the real thing.

In answer to your question, there are three relatively inexpensive stompbox options that I'm aware of (unfortunately, two of them are by Electro Harmonix):

1) Electro-Harmonix Micro POG
Pretty straightforward, with three no-nonsense knobs (Dry, Octave Up, and Octave Down). Just goes one step in both directions. Tracking is excellent. While I like the sound of this one, I do feel it may be a bit overpriced for what it does.

2) Boss PS-6 Harmonist
As usual with Boss stompboxes, they packed so much into this one, it can be overwhelming just how much it does. The only downside to this pedal is that the octave up settings are not polyphonic and will glitch up if you play more than one note at a time (and, even then, it can get a little unreliable). Still, what it lacks in the polyphonic department, it more than makes up for with the variety of the other settings and the two super fun add-on settings "Detune" and "S.Bend." The Detune setting is pretty much like a CE-2 chorus pedal, with a bit less flamboyance — really a great sound, but not anything to do with octaves. The S.Bend mode is just fun to screw around with as it will bend your signal in whatever direction you dial the pedal into. It's almost like an expression pedal the way it reacts, depending on how extreme you dial the knobs. Really fun for wacky sounds, but again kind of off topic.

3) Electro-Harmonix Pitch Fork
I liked this pedal alright, just ended up being overwhelmed and intimidated by its possibilities. It also has the "Detune" setting, similar to the Harmonist, but without the amount of customization that the Harmonist offers — still a great sound, though. It is capable of polyphonic tracking at all settings, though like with a lot of other EH stuff, it does not allow for the free reign of customizations offered elsewhere. But still, it definitely covers a hell of a lot ground for such a simple stompbox.

Ultimately, I didn't keep any of these pedals because I found myself not really finding a use for them outside of really silly instances.

#1 looks like what I want but, man, $300 for that. Maybe I should just try to write a Max patch. Afaict, the PS-6 is the updated version of the HR-2 that I have.

What is unfortunate about Electro-Harmonix?

Wait, micro pog is definitely not $300

Also what you really want is the tc electronic sub n' up.

http://www.tcelectronic.com/sub-n-up-octaver/

If that fits the bill, hit me up, I've got a "used" one I could sell you out of the shop for less $$$.

The main thing that's unfortunate about ehx is the fairly unacceptable failure rate and the tendency to cause problems when operated on a daisy chain with other pedals. The Mooer Tender Octaver Pro might also be worth a look.

Oh, it was POG2 that I was looking at that is ≈$300. Micro POG is a little less. I will send you an email, though, thanks.

Sent

My main beef with EH is twofold:

1) Like jjjusten said, their stuff is not built to last.

2) A lot of their pedals sound alright, but they don't allow for much customization. It's like they have a preset with no option to tinker around. One example would be the Small Clone chorus. Totally classic sound, but the ability to only switch between two depth settings feels very cheap.

Besides that the actual aesthetics of their stuff is more often than not pretty damn ugly.

I was really close to ordering a Sub'n'Up, because, in contrast to other TC stuff, the TonePrint thing proposed a bit of a different story in that case. Maybe someday.

Gigged with this a couple of weeks ago:

https://c1.staticflickr.com/5/4166/34290676386_966e77c9bb_z.jpg

Not planning any major changes... it's all heads down and getting to work from here on.

BTW, the best thing I ever did was to forgo buying another box and redirect those funds into great-quality cabling. I splurged on Evidence Audio's monorail signal cable and the signal improvement was better than anything else I've done. Will not go back.

Yeah, I recently had my two Voodoo Lab boxes full, plus two more pedals running off One Spots and as soon as I got rid of those two extras and got everything back to just running on the Voodoo Labs, it was like night and day. It's such a cliche, but especially with power and cables, you get what you pay for.

So, I totally loved the idea of the Moog delay and the way it sounded on its own. However, I just could not reconcile its really muffled repeats with existing songs. And, to contradict myself, I was really just flat out annoyed at how dynamic it was. It would seemingly react to the smallest nuances in my playing. I would spend inordinate amounts of time sitting on the floor next to my amp dialing in just that exact sweet spot, only to have it disappear as soon as I started incorporating loops. I'm not a robot, obviously, so in my inability to play things exactly the same every time was the downfall of the Moog Minifooger MF Delay. Maybe it just wasn't intended primarily for guitars? Did my amp (Vox AC15, always through the "Normal" channel; never that pissing awful "Top Boost" nonsense) have something to do with it?? Alas, I ultimately decided to abuse Guitar Center's return policy once again and I got a new Malekko 616 Analog Delay. It's shiny and has modulation controls! So far, so good. We'll see where it goes from here.

Oh yeah, also got rid of that awfully metallic letdown the Carbon Copy Bright and switched out some drive and other such boxes.

Current pedal chain configuration:
Boss TU-3 Chromatic Tuner->
Bogner laGrange Overdrive->
Bogner Wessex Overdrive->
Boss TR-2 Tremolo->
ZVex Distortron Distortion->
Wampler Paisley Drive->
Fulltone Full-Drive 2 Mosfet Overdrive->
Boss BF-2 Flanger->
Boss CE-2w Analog Waza Craft Chorus->
TC Electronic Flashback Digital Delay->
Boss DD-7 Digital Delay / Boss Fs-5U->
Malekko 616 Analog Delay->
MXR M169 Carbon Copy Analog Delay->
Jim Dunlop EP103 Echoplex Delay / MXR M199 Tap->
Boss RV-6 Digital Reverb->
MXR M300 Digital Reverb->
TC Electronic Hall of Fame Mini Digital Reverb->
Boss RC-1 Loop Station

Ahhh. . . yeah.

never that pissing awful "Top Boost" nonsense) have something to do with it??

:(

tbf top boost doesn't usually get on super-well with pedals

That's the crux of why I dislike it so.

i really like some of the effects on my RC-30 loop pedal. particularly the bend down. Are there any quality pedals that do that type of thing as its main function? i guess it's similar to the octave pedal discussion but i particularly like the way you can make it wobble like a tape by turning it on and off really quick

If I'm understanding you correctly, yes, you can set the Boss PS-6 Harmonist up to do all kinds of bendy stuff in the S.Bend mode.

tbf top boost doesn't usually get on super-well with pedals

Working great here with my AC30. Hurm.

indeed. when i was fortunate enough to be running an AC30 I usually ran pedals through the normal channel but a lot would depend on how your rig is set up.

In my amp, even when there's nothing plugged into the top boost, as soon as you turn the volume knob for that channel up, it immediately starts to hiss and just gets louder the further you go.

An admittedly very long pedal chain definitely increases this.

that seems fixable. might be as simple as replacing a preamp tube.

(ask me how i know this lol)

The amp is less than six months old though?

That still sounds like a tune problem to me.

Cmon phone, by now I have typed "tube" approx 10000 times more than "tune" get your shit together.

Gut feeling is that it's a preamp tube issue.

Hrmph. Well, does the level of the master knob have any bearing on this? Because I always keep the master at 10 and adjust the normal channel knob accordingly. Also, where does the tone cut knob play into this? I usually keep that straight up at noon.

Also, I picked up the Digitech Luxe pedal and I have to say, it's a pretty cool idea. It basically is the "Detune" setting in its own box. The more pedals I experience, the more I arrive at the opinion that "Mix" knobs are pretty much unnecessary. On the Luxe, for example, there's only two knobs, one of which is a mix knob. Comparing with my Boss modulation pedals (CE-2w chorus and BF-2 flanger), when you step on them, they're on. There's no option for the "amount" of the effect, it's just on. I like that much more. In any case, the mix knob on the Luxe is maxed out by default. The other knob controls the amount of detune that happens. If you go all the way in either direction, it turns pretty warbly, but at less extreme settings, it's a really great, slightly shimmery tone. Not really a chorus in the classic sense, but chorus is the closest thing to what the Luxe does. A really cool pedal, and a great sound.

Not to be a pedant, but by definition chorus requires a mix knob - without it, it's a vibrato. This is true of lots of other things as well - if there's no mix knob, that's because the wet dry has been preset for you, and what's the fun in that.

Anti mix knob talk is absolute madness, I'm planting my flag.

Also if you have your master at ten, you will have more noise. Basically you are amplifying the existing noise floor, whatever that happens to be.

i'd be happy if every pedal came with a mix knob tbqh

Sheesh, okay, mix knobs are fine, I guess.

I liked the Digitech Luxe so much that I decided to check out another Digitech pedal: the Mosaic.

It's advertised as a twelve string emulator, which it doesn't really do. I mean, what pedal can do that? It's just not a sound that you can replicate digitally. It does, however, sound a lot like the one octave dual setting on the Electro-Harmonix Pitch Fork. It tracks incredibly, handling chords extremely well. It's obviously a one trick pedal, but if you're going to make a pedal of that nature, make sure it's done right.

I promise I'm not trying to just naysay your opinions, but the Mosaic 12 string simulation is...really impressive actually? The fact that it does octaves on the low strings and detunes on the high strings is something nothing else has achieved. Also, its ability to somehow still do the octave on upper register low strings while defining the same note played in the lower register on the 2 high strings is some sort of DSP voodoo that has baffled me and a bunch of my pedal builder pals.

While I will definitely defer to you as the pedal authority, I'm just basing my thoughts off what I was previously familiar with in regards to similar sounds. And that's the Electro-Harmonix Pitch Fork's single octave setting.

The Mosaic definitely has a more natural feel to its overall timbre than the Pitch Fork, which did start to sound like just a digital harshness after a while (which is why I ultimately got rid of it).

These have recently captured my interest - they're based in France so I've never heard them. Of course, that's never stopped me before.

http://anasounds.com/en/