Re: digitech jamman(speed function) ?/new one ?/ nels DVD

[Per Boysen <perboysen@gmail.com>]

On Sun, Feb 28, 2010 at 4:47 PM, scott hansen <evanpeewee@yahoo.com> wrote:
>
> ? re: the digitech jamman-does this slow down the audio w/o changing
> the pitch-is this a worthwhile feature?

No. It sounds to crappy IMHO. I had a Digi Jamman for a couple of days
and this function really sounds bad.

> i'm thinking from my experience w/ digital delays and tape loops-i love
> the fact of slowing down thing  and it gets all low and growly
> (or speed up and it's mickey mouse land)-is this something people 
>exploit a lot?

That is something completely different! Not the same functionality.
What you are talking about is the tape simulating digital effect, like
"speed" on an EDP or "rate shift" in software looping; when you change
both pitch and loop length.
(Yes, I see many people exploiting this a lot. Filmed it on a video
yesterday myself
http://bit.ly/9YM5uc )

But what the Digi Jamman tries to do is "time stretching plus pitch
shifting". The point in this is that it makes pitch transposition
possible without changing the length of the loop. But I doubt you'd
like what it sounds like ;-))  Audio artifacts all over the place...
not even close to the cool sound Electrixpro Repeater delivered from
the same type of processing.

BTW, I just checked my notes form a phone interview I did with Nels
Cline and he says that the basic foundation of his sound and all his
use of stomp box effects is to "have an amp that doesn't give too much
treble". To crate treble he uses the effects. Also, his -59 Jazzmaster
gives a fatter and less sharp output compared to later Jazzmaster
guitars. Plus that he plays with a Dunlop pick that is hard, heavy and
fat on quite thick strings (0.012 set). For looping he uses two
Electro Harmonix 16 sec delays, "not because modern looping boxes are
less good but they just don't work the way I like them too; I want to
be able to add more sound to a loop without trashing the initial loop
and also to change the speed and pitch of the loop" (tape sim style
technique, as mentioned above). Nels doesn't like to answer endless
questions on gear so he put up this web page for people to check out
themselves what he is using:
http://www.nelscline.com/tech.html

Greetings from Sweden

Per Boysen
www.boysen.se
www.perboysen.com