Pedal for uber-ambience effect - Page 2

buzzardwhiskey · #16 03-26-2018, 07:31 AM

I don't use it for acoustic stuff, but my Strymon Big Sky can do chicken picken delays to crazy ethereal soundscapes. Its only downside being complexity.

Rudy4 · #17 03-26-2018, 07:40 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Methos1979

I'm looking for a small-ish footprint pedal that gives that real haunting ambience effect. Saw a guy in concert last night who used it on a few songs and loved it. Is this just a really good reverb pedal with multiple choices and amounts? I just tried a delay pedal thinking that would get me by but it did not give me what I wanted.

Suggestions?

https://www.sweetwater.com/store/det...8aAnrhEALw_wcB

Methos1979 · #18 03-26-2018, 09:10 AM

Checked out the following - videos for those that are worthy:

Mooer ShimVerb - very small footprint, very inexpensive, one trick pony.

Neunaber Seraphim Shimmer - smallish footprint, fair amount of choices including the ability to switch between shimmer and wet reverb while still being relatively simple to dial in, medium price (same as Wampler at $199). I can see why Noledog raves about this one. This is a contender. (One thing to note on this video review - the cool pulsating light feature has been replaced with a blinking light as the pulsating was causing some issues. This I read on the Neunaber website when researching there.)

Neunaber Immerse Reverberator - very similar in size to the Seraphim above, slightly more money at $225 with more options/effects. Probably not worth the extra for me but impressive none-the-less.

TC Electronics Hall Of Fame (HOF) Reverb - a classic and beloved by many, smallish footprint, a fair amount of reverbs and relative easy and intuitive to dial in. Price is really good at $149 on Amazon and probably easy to find used. Note that this particular effect is a TonePrint that must be downloaded.

MXR Reverb - another classic reverb pedal that is small and easy to use, like the HOF it has a bunch of reverbs and in EPIC mode shimmer effect. A little pricier than the HOF at it approaches the $200 mark (currently $180 on Amazon) puts it out of contention for me but it's still worthy of a video. Advance about the 1:30 mark to hear the shimmer (EPIC) mode.

Here's something I didn't know about Neunaber pedals but stumbled upon it when researching review videos on YouTube - you can apparently download ANY Neunaber pedal into your Neunaber pedal from the online desktop app. So that's pretty cool too. I'm not sure this would apply to me since I'm looking for just the basic shimmer effect but it's a cool feature worth mention and a video, right? Here's video demo of various pedals that were downloaded into the Neunaber Wet pedal.

So at this point I'm still up in the air between the Mooer Ocean Machine, the Wampler Ethereal and now the Neunaber Seraphim. Here's the breakdown on the three:

Wampler Ethereal: Medium/small footprint, $199 on Amazon so free fast shipping with Prime. Made in the USA. Dual delays and reverb with stacking and five adjustment knobs, some switches, lots of potential for experimentation. Less simple than the Seraphim but easier than the Mooer. Should fit on my music stand.

Neunaber Seraphim: Small footprint, $199 (free shipping regular, $6.50 shipping USPS Priority), shipping from CA so a week or more to get here, just the three knobs so relatively simple to use, easy to switch between shimmer mode and just reverb with long press of the footswitch. Will fit on music stand and color blends nicely with what I have there already.

Mooer Ocean Machine: Large footprint so will need to go on the floor but needed to go there anyway because I'll need to use my foot to use Looper. Most expensive of the three at $300 but also off-the-charts amount of options and knobs (not necessarily a good thing). Made in China. More complicated than I want/need but it's an effect that goes naturally with a looper. I've tried/owned loopers three times now and always sell them because I just never dedicated the time to learn to use them well. So a whole lot here telling me this shouldn't be a contender but still. But with each passing year I get better and at some point learning and using a looper will happen as it would fit in well with our acoustic duo gig...

Adding this YouTube review of the Mooer Ocean Machine because it really shows some of the super cool things you can do with it. No talking, just a guy playing around with it. If this will take a footswitch to use the looper I just might grab this one!

Sort of leaning towards the Seraphim at this point. The simplicity, small footprint and build quality and great reviews are a factor. So is Noledog's endorsement as I value his opinion as he's the 'real deal' when it comes to what we want to do as an acoustic duo. Got to go listen to some videos some more. Not getting a lot done today before work! Stay tuned...

51 Relic · #19 03-26-2018, 11:30 AM

I have the Flashback Delay that I use in the effects loop . Great delay sound with .8th notes ie the Edge etc . However if you really want the ultimate the Big Sky Reverb pedal is the way to go . I doubt if you would find better but it's a bigger footprint

Methos1979 · #20 03-26-2018, 12:53 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by 51 Relic

I have the Flashback Delay that I use in the effects loop . Great delay sound with .8th notes ie the Edge etc . However if you really want the ultimate the Big Sky Reverb pedal is the way to go . I doubt if you would find better but it's a bigger footprint

Strymons are just too high priced for me. Even $300 for the Mooer is more than I'd like to spend but it would give me four pedals in one.

M Hayden · #21 03-26-2018, 10:46 PM

Find an old Ibanez BCL chorus and use just a tad of its signature multichoral chorus in front of a pair of DDLs set to short delay times. Very spacious and ethereal...

edmang · #22 03-27-2018, 05:36 AM

https://youtu.be/3ClbaJYWVO4

Around $150 new, less used

Cm3ohana · #23 03-29-2018, 07:52 AM

Since you're looking at shimmer-verb type pedals, thought the Mr. Black Eterna might be worth looking into. It allows you to adjust the shimmer 0%-100% wet and add as much as you like of reverb. It's a simple pedal but does the one thing it's built to do in a great way.

tbeltrans · #24 03-29-2018, 08:12 AM

Another recommendation for the Ocean Machine. Yes, it is one of the larger pedals. However, if ambient is of interest, then this one pedal can be your entire pedal board in one unit, with its two delays, a reverb, and a looper. With this pedal, you are set and done putting together an ambient setup.

You don't need three hours of loop time. 30 seconds or so is very effective, when done properly unless you want the looper for karaoke backup to your guitar. A looper with short time capabilities can be used to weave in and out snippets that the audience only notices as a bit more going on. Phil Keaggy didi his looping this way for a long time. I once found a youtube video of an interview with him talking about looping with his original Jamman, which had shorter looping times:

Edit: I should add that the Ocean Machine LOOKS complicated, when in fact, it really isn't. All those knobs allow adjustment in real time, rather than having to go through lots of menus to get to the same functionality as other pedals that offer at least as much capability would normally have you do. Any complication comes only from having 4 pedals in one, but each pedal is no more complicated than what that pedal's functionality would be in a single pedal. The controls are laid out per pedal, s you can clearly see a group of control knobs for a given effect. The Ocean Machine is a very unique pedal.

There have been a lot of good recommendations in this thread, and I can't say the Ocean Machine is necessarily better than any of the other recommendations, but it is certainly unique among pedals and certainly fully addresses the needs of ambient guitar.

Tony

Methos1979 · #25 03-29-2018, 03:26 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by tbeltrans

Another recommendation for the Ocean Machine. Yes, it is one of the larger pedals. However, if ambient is of interest, then this one pedal can be your entire pedal board in one unit, with its two delays, a reverb, and a looper. With this pedal, you are set and done putting together an ambient setup.

Edit: I should add that the Ocean Machine LOOKS complicated, when in fact, it really isn't. All those knobs allow adjustment in real time, rather than having to go through lots of menus to get to the same functionality as other pedals that offer at least as much capability would normally have you do. Any complication comes only from having 4 pedals in one, but each pedal is no more complicated than what that pedal's functionality would be in a single pedal. The controls are laid out per pedal, s you can clearly see a group of control knobs for a given effect. The Ocean Machine is a very unique pedal.

Tony

Thanks, Tony. I actually ended up going with the Ocean Machine and got it today. I have to agree with what you said. It's like getting four pedals for the price of one so take that $300 and divide it by four and it's really quite cost effective. I agree, it's not as complicated as it looks either.

What got me was after watching a whole bunch of videos and paying particular attention to the digital display was just how well the display can be easily read and also how it shows exactly what's going on. I've only just barely begun diving into this pedal but I'm already really enjoying it.

One question: The looper can only be operated by the one foot switch, right? With three available it would have been so much better to be able to use a second foot switch to stop/clear loops. I'm hoping that if this can't be programmed in that they provide an update at some point that makes it happen.

Methos1979 · #26 03-30-2018, 07:00 PM

Spent the day with the Ocean Machine and I'm pretty stoked with this unit. I've never really dealt with a pedal (or any complicated piece of electronics) that has so many knobs and internal programming yet is just so intuitive. A lot of thought went into this pedal.

After just a few hours playing around I'm already comfortable enough with this pedal to use it live for a gig tomorrow night. My wife came home from work and saw the new pedal and made her classic, "What the hell did you buy NOW?" face that she reserves just for me. I went into the usual justification of, "This single pedal replaces FOUR pedals so it's a bargain", theme where she rolls her eyes and says, "Okay, let's hear it..."

I was ready for this and played a very simple intro to a song that we do where I'd been looking for something a little special and ambient before launching into the song. She said, "That sounds like it always sounds..." and then I hit the reverb on button (Reverb, reverse) and her eyes got big and she was like, "Ooooo, Oh, I LIKE that... Can we use that tomorrow night?"

Game, set, match, Mooer Ocean Machine and Methos1979.