Re: OT Which Desert Island Stomp Box Pedal in each CategoryWould you Choose

[Mech <mech@m3ch.net>]

At 10:38 PM -0800 2/2/10, Rick Walker wrote:
>
>DISTORTION/FUZZ:

Starting off in *very* subjective territory here.  There are so many 
different types of distortion that it's nearly impossible to nail one 
he'll like without having some idea of his taste.

That said, I'll still recommend the Lastgasp Art Labs (LAL) Super 
Oscillo Fuzz 88 ("Hachijuhachi Shiki Kebadate Hizumaseki Super 
Oscillo Fuzz").  The LAL 88 will do both conventional and bizarre, 
even if it is a little fidgety and works quite differently in every 
setup.

Honorable mention to the Devi Ever US.  It'll cover heavy guitar hero 
stuff, while still able to pull off velcro/zipper fuzz on other 
settings without having to resort to digital bit reduction.

And for totally batshit insane, there's the WMD Geiger Counter.


>OVERDRIVE:

*Keeley-modded* Boss Blues Driver (p.s. do NOT go for the stock 
unmodded Boss model).  Boss put together a great overdrive circuit, 
but ruined it by cheaping-out on crap components when they went to 
manufacture it.  Robert Keeley goes through and replaces the various 
caps, resistors, etc with quality matched components, and the final 
result is just beautiful.  One of the nicest OD's I've ever touched.

Also, I've got a C-Tech Sonny Boy, which does a great job of 
emulating a lot of overdrive and amp effects.  I found it used and 
picked it up super-cheep, thinking I'd try experimenting with some 
circuit-bending on it.  However, I discovered that it's actually a 
really excellent pedal for overdrive sounds.  Not so easy to find, 
but worth it if you can.


>FEEDBACK/SUSTAIN:

Devi Ever Hyperion.  Out-muffs the Big Muff, and will give you 
sustain for days.


>*CHORUS*

For conventional chorus, Maxon CS-550 is the best I've found so far. 
But I've also got a love/hate relationship with the drippiness of 
conventional chorus.  The Maxon can get as goopy as you need it, but 
can also clean up nicely and still fit into a mix.

Since they're so darn cheap, it's just stupid not to pick up a 
Behringer Space-C CC300 (reissue of the original Boss Dimension D) 
and a Behringer Chorus Orchestra CO600 (reissue of the Boss CE-5 BBD 
version with was produced prior to 2001).  The former is essential 
for nailing anything resembling SRV type Leslie/Blues licks, and the 
latter does an excellent emulation of the chorus in Roland's JC-120 
amps.

Also, don't forget that, depending upon your style and tastes, you 
can also get excellent (better?) chorusing by modulating delay lines 
(see digital delays, below) or using a flanger instead (ditto, see 
flangers below).


>*FLANGER*

I'll agree with your recommendation on the good ole' Boss BF-2.  It 
won't get through-zero sweeps or full-blown jet takeoffs like the 
original A/DA's, but the little purple box is a swiss army knife 
capable of most sounds from subtle chorus to squawking howls.  It's 
newbie-easy to set up, too.


>*COMPRESSOR*
>The cool one my brother has but he's not home right now so I can't 
>remember it's name

Pretty sure Bill's using the little Keeley compressor, which is a 
damn fine unit, if a bit pricey.

I also want to throw a plug in for the tiny Guyatone ST-2 
Compressor/Sustainer.  This little green meenie does a great job of 
compressing without killing your dynamics.  Great for pulling that 
"chicken pickin'" tone out of your Tele or Strat.


>DIGITAL DELAY*

Yamaha MagicStomp.  It's f*cking beautiful, and I've never heard any 
other footpedal digital delay which sounds this bloody good (besides 
the original Yamaha UD Stomp -- on which the MagicStomp is partly 
based, but which fails the "footprint test" you set out).  To get 
more gorgeous modulated delays, you're going to have to upgrade to an 
Eventide or TC Electronics rack unit, I think.

If you've ever wanted to do modulated volume swells ala Allan 
Holdsworth, then this is your ticket.  Hell, Holdsworth was the one 
who designed the damn thing in the first place.


>ANALOGUE DELAY*

Black Box Quicksilver.  Okay, okay, I know it's actually digital, but 
you wouldn't bloody know it.  Sounds as good as (better than?) any 
real analog delay I've ever played with.  The filter can swing toward 
low-pass for a more tape-style delay tone, or high-pass to emulate 
the traditional BBD analog delays.  And the I/O loop in the back 
allows you to plug other pedals into the delay's feedback loop for 
utterly sick results.


>PITCH SHIFTER*

You want accuracy or character?  For accuracy, I'd probably go with 
the Eventide (a bit big, though?).  For character, you can't beat the 
Boss PS-3, or maybe even a PS-2 depending upon your taste.


>*TREMELO

I love the Ampliton too, Rick, but I've also got a Lightfoot Labs 
Goatkeeper.  And, trust me, that'll eat the Ampliton for lunch (as 
well as just about anything short of Rainer's regular Nord 
Micro-Modular recommendation).

However, the Goatkeeper doesn't meet your friend's form-factor 
requirements, since it's almost as large as a DL-4.  Failing that, 
you might want to look at the Guyatone VTm5 Veri-Trem.  It's a tiny 
form-factor, simple to use, and it'll get you most of the various 
tremolo sounds that are guitarists favorites.  No, you're not going 
to get polyrhythms like the Ampliton or Goatkeeper, but it'll do the 
job just fine.

Then there's also the Gig-FX Chopper for Tremolo/Gating via pedal control.


>*WAH WAH*

Ugh.  Pet peeve: I hate wah-wahs (except for "parked wah" effects). 
Find a Low-Pass filter in a pedal form factor instead, if you ask me. 
I use an Electrix Filter Queen with an external pedal, but no way 
your friend's gonna go for that.

Hope that helps a little....

        --m.
-- 
_____
"I want to keep you alive so there is always the possibility of 
murder... later"