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  #1  
Old 02-21-2021, 02:12 PM
blue blue is offline
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Default Are modern pedals getting "too perfect"?

I'm a huge fan of Octave Fuzz. Octave up. Octave down. Both simultaneously! Would be my favorite effect if it weren't for the wave of "amps in a box" like my beloved JHS Twin Twelve, or some of the great Plexi pedals I've played, but don't own.

Well I keep my nose to ground because while I have a wonderful old Voodoo Labs Proctavia, it is a dead on replica of the Tycobrahe Sound Company's Octavia. It has "personality" and even with playing it since the mid-90s, It'll sometimes do something I'm not expecting

So I ran across this on Youtube. It's quite amazing. But it's so predictable it's practically a synth!

This one and the Way Huge Atreides, which pretty much IS a synth are tempting me greatly!

But what are your thoughts on what we would consider "analog" pedals getting so good, they are practically modelers?

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Old 02-21-2021, 08:11 PM
Paleolith54 Paleolith54 is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by blue View Post
I'm a huge fan of Octave Fuzz. Octave up. Octave down. Both simultaneously! Would be my favorite effect if it weren't for the wave of "amps in a box" like my beloved JHS Twin Twelve, or some of the great Plexi pedals I've played, but don't own.

Well I keep my nose to ground because while I have a wonderful old Voodoo Labs Proctavia, it is a dead on replica of the Tycobrahe Sound Company's Octavia. It has "personality" and even with playing it since the mid-90s, It'll sometimes do something I'm not expecting

So I ran across this on Youtube. It's quite amazing. But it's so predictable it's practically a synth!

This one and the Way Huge Atreides, which pretty much IS a synth are tempting me greatly!

But what are your thoughts on what we would consider "analog" pedals getting so good, they are practically modelers?

My thought is that a pedal can't be too good.
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  #3  
Old 02-21-2021, 09:39 PM
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fazool fazool is offline
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...what we would consider "analog" pedals getting so good, they are practically modelers?...
I chased tone for so long and tried so many different pedal chains it was frustrating. And costly. And complex to setup. Then My friend introduced me to his modeling setup. I sold everything, converted to modelers entirely and never looked back.
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Old 02-21-2021, 11:19 PM
endpin endpin is offline
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I have a Strymon El Capistan and once you find a sound you really like, it is hard to find that exact setting again. I would like it better if the pots had detents on them to "remember" their position.
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Old 02-22-2021, 04:49 AM
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So many classic tones were “accidental” or the product of circumstance, that I dont spend too much time worrying about exact replication, but focus on the playing, snd let the tone fall where it may. Whether its an “all-in-one” high tech emulator box, or a spaghetti bowl combo of pedals, its all good. Having said that, I realize there are crowds of fans who demand to hear those licks exactly like theyre accustomed to. No matter how perfect modelers get, I think there will always be pedalboards and amps on stages...
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Old 02-22-2021, 05:52 AM
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Bob Womack Bob Womack is offline
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You know, I used to be concerned that it was becoming too easy to get a great tone. It took me years to learn the secrets and then all of a sudden there were all these tools available and anyone could buy 'em and have great tone. I listened with an anticipatory horror for everyone in rock and pop to show up with great tone... and it didn't happen. In fact, for the last decade what I've seen is exactly what occurred before: the really good players also had really good tone and much of the pack had bad tone. For that matter, I'm hearing a lot of REALLY bad tone out there. One of the ways I follow some of the market is via Eric Clapton's Crossroads Concerts and I am astounded at how bad some of the tones are.

And then I go to jams and guys with $6k custom shop relic guitars and boutique amps have either ice pick tone or fizzy, fuzzy, muzzy tone.
So, the latest tools aren't necessarily a road to good tone. Personal crisis averted.

Bob
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Old 02-22-2021, 08:41 AM
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I listened with an anticipatory horror for everyone in rock and pop to show up with great tone...

Bob
Definitely one of my favorite sentences I've read here. And I've been here a decade!
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Old 02-22-2021, 10:06 AM
Paleolith54 Paleolith54 is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Bob Womack View Post
You know, I used to be concerned that it was becoming too easy to get a great tone. It took me years to learn the secrets and then all of a sudden there were all these tools available and anyone could buy 'em and have great tone. I listened with an anticipatory horror for everyone in rock and pop to show up with great tone... and it didn't happen. In fact, for the last decade what I've seen is exactly what occurred before: the really good players also had really good tone and much of the pack had bad tone. For that matter, I'm hearing a lot of REALLY bad tone out there. One of the ways I follow some of the market is via Eric Clapton's Crossroads Concerts and I am astounded at how bad some of the tones are.

And then I go to jams and guys with $6k custom shop relic guitars and boutique amps have either ice pick tone or fizzy, fuzzy, muzzy tone.
So, the latest tools aren't necessarily a road to good tone. Personal crisis averted.

Bob
I played in a band with a guy who was an excellent musician and a very good guitar player, who couldn't get a good tone out of his Kemper to save his life. We didn't last too long.
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  #9  
Old 02-26-2021, 06:36 AM
ghostnote ghostnote is offline
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I don't care how good a pedal might be - I can bring any piece of equipment down to my level!
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  #10  
Old 02-26-2021, 09:10 AM
redir redir is offline
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I would not say that analog pedals are getting so good that they are modlers. I've got, for example, a Wampler Plexi amp in a box pedal and it's really just an OD pedal and I wish they would not call it an amp in a box, it's not. It's a great pedal but it's not a Plexi, not even close.

But like anything it makes sense that as time goes on engineers are learning from the old and current designs and streamlining them into more perfect designs.

I was on a mission for good fuzz for several years. The best fuss sound I got was going wah - EHX Microsynth set up with a strong square wave - into an Ibenez TS9.

It's an amazing fuzz tone but takes up like 3 square feet of pedal board space!

So I tried a few others one of which was a Kingtone Micro Fuzz and that would be a good example of a modern fuzz that was tweaked to perfection. The bias knob on it was brilliant. For any given stage setting like outdoor vs indoor venues and so on you could tweak the bias and be guaranteed that you would replicate the fuzz tone from venue to venue.

But in the end I came full circle back to an old school simple dirty hard to control Univox Super Fuzz. So I guess I kind of agree, I didn't like the tweaked to perfection fuzz but the old school nasty one.
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  #11  
Old 02-26-2021, 10:17 AM
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Are modern pedals getting "too perfect" ?.........No
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  #12  
Old 02-26-2021, 10:46 AM
blue blue is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by redir View Post

I was on a mission for good fuzz for several years. The best fuss sound I got was going wah - EHX Microsynth set up with a strong square wave - into an Ibenez TS9.

It's an amazing fuzz tone but takes up like 3 square feet of pedal board space!
Ha! I have a Keeley Darkside. Their "Gilmour in a box" pedal. It's called analog in most press articles on it. And it really is stunning.

It frees up about 4 square feet on the floor!
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