Boards

he's just announced some new/updated ones at NAMM.
I've got a DL4, its pretty good. no undo function on the looper can be a bummer though.

Yeah I can imagine not having a undo would be annoying alright, Is the Line6 looper worth a look?

ive got a jamman stereo, mates got a boss RC2.. both of them are great and do want i'd want out of a looper much cheaper than the line 6.

Vox VDl1 was something I was considering. Not too costly either.

I got one the other day and it's great. £125 new from eBay.

Our singer uses a VFEX fuzz probe and wah probe - they're cool pedals, but temperamental!

things to ebay search :D

but that's just me.

but if you're interested in any of the simple zvex pedals (box of rock/fuzz factory etc) then you can build them for next to nothing.

but they're kind of a one-trick pony, and a £200+ pony at that.

Instead I think I'm finally going to get round to getting my furst fuzz, after wanting one for about 4 years. Birthday's coming up, so gonna get something fancy and boutique and MASSIVE

I don't have it but I really want the death by audio apocalypse fuzz pedal, it has 5 different fuzzes

I got the Behringer Flanger Machine semi-recently and it's the most fun pedal I've had for a while, there's a ridiculous amount of variation I can get from it and chaining it with a couple of fuzz pedals is about as good as it gets.
I've also got a taste for the Nobels range of pedals, I have their fuzz pedal and distortion+noise gate... and the Xtreme distortion+noise gate, bit silly, but they're very clean and crunchy.

i want a decent looper and was thinking of this?

i bloody love it, it sounds proper tonk

a looper and some weird stuff...any recommendations? going to check out that behringer, like cheap weird shit, danelectro have some silly pedals too

currently

Boss CS-3
Ibanez TS9
Boss DS1
Danelectro Black Liqourice
Marshal Jackhammer
Boss DD5

They make some great gear so may be worth a look.

http://www.tcelectronic.com/ditto-looper/

I just want a pedal that does loops and nothing else, and doesn't weigh a ton and take up half my pedalboard. It seems some others have thought the same thing. I'm ordering one of these, they're out at the end of February.

http://www.tcelectronic.com/ditto-looper/

It's got some nice delay effects, but the loop function is a disaster, will randomly refuse to start recording or, even more frustratingly, you can build up a load of layers and the whole thing will just stop. If you get one, make sure it's from a decent seller and you keep the receipt.

go about this? This sounds like fun.

I got a behringer rotorary pedal, I saw the line 6 version it was based on cheap on ebay so decided to upgrade but the behringer sounds better, shame it is pretty noisy when bypassed

It's a fuzz octaver thing, there's a switch for the octave but cranked up it has some of the most wonderously fucked up sounds possible. I used it a ton on the first Amy Blue album and the forst time I recorded with it the engineer popped his head round the door with a look of astonishment and asked what I was using.

And it only gets better when the battery is running out.

My current want list is
1. Way huge supa puss analog delay
2. Earthquakes devices rainbow machine
3. Earthquakes devices ghost echo
4. Death by audio apocalypse fuzz
5. Bigfoot fx magnavibe

But I've set myself a strict rule of no buying stuff without selling something first and hate selling stuff so probably won't get any for a longtime

that I'm goning to auction on eBay this week. Do you want me to let you know when it's listed?

I'm also selling an MM4 and a FM4 as well if anyone is interested!

theres a couple of ways.. either buying kits or the parts seperately.
you can then either build on a circuit board/PCB, simple circuits could be point to point or you use stip board.
maplins sells all the tools you'll need but theres oplenty of online places that are cheaper

It's pretty much perfect. The old boss pedal it's based on (dm-2) goes for ludicrous sums on ebay. I pair it up with a boss dd-6, but after looking at this thread I fancy a Vox Delaylab to replace the boss (which is quite sterile)! By the way, anyone that flames you for buying behringer is a goon -- most of this stuff sounds identical, so why pay six times more than you have to. Fair enough if you're constantly gigging, but most of us aren't. I've had that delay for three years now ... my akai headrush started playing up long before it.

but can I just say that Zilla Cabs are the best I've ever used.

Why did it take so long for a company to make that!?

It's great.

same or split?

Although, I am hard pushed to tell the difference most of the time...

That's a great general filtering pedal.

I want a Lovetone Wobulator.

some really weird rusty decaying sounds start coming out as the battery dies

I need to get one ASAP but all the online places have it on order, with deliveries due end of February. I work near Denmark St so would go there at a push but not sure any would stock it...

think i may invest!

was only announced at NAMM last month
careful with the switches on the small TC stuff. personally Id get a 2nd hand boss RC-2

this site does a kit i've wanted to try but my soldering skills when changing pickups have proved pretty bad

http://shop.pedalparts.co.uk/Filth_Factory_extreme_fiveknobbed_germanium_fuzz_kit/p847124_5439185.aspx

http://drownedinsound.com/community/boards/music/4424686#r7312588

Solid.

yes agreed....they are generally good bang for the buck. I sold my Boss rv2 and rv3 in favour of a behringer reverb with a slower xtal in it.

The analog delay is also good as above.

looks so freaking simple and useful, dayum

got it for about 140 quid second hand, it's fucking awesome, puts the big muff to absolute shame

http://www.beavisaudio.com/projects/DBS/

And according to serious guitar nerds on the internet unlike some other behringer pedals it's actually as good or even better (slightly lower noise floor) as whatever classic fuzz it's a clone of.

But she's making 4 of them a day at the moment and they're selling out at once. Plus the postage to the UK costs as much as the pedal :(

http://www.deviever.com/fx/dont-fear-the-noise/

:)

So it's good enough for me.

The coolest things about it are the presets, the tap tempo function and one particular setting you can get out of it which gives this really cool ring modulated sound.
The disadvantages are that a lot of the delays are pretty similar to each other and there isn't much of a difference and some of the settings fuck a little bit with your tone and even your volume on some settings. Don't let this put you off however, we're talking a db or two maximum and it's not noticeable at all live.

to compensate I've either borrowed one or used a boss dd3. Rather than buy myself a new one I want to upgrade to a Empress Vintage Modified SuperDelay which is basically the boutique version of DL4 (8 presets, tap tempo, lots of other crazy sounds). The Vox Delaylab and indeed the TC Electronic Flashback X4 look good and are about half the price. I might give them both a go and see if they're any better than the DL4, and if not i'll go with the Empress pedal.

Dunno, not really tried many bass fuzzes. I know that behringer are getting a lot of love already in this thread, but a couple of mates have sworn by using one of their cheap fuzz pedals for bass, absolutely filthy. In a good way.

I've got an old Hyperion which I use for some lead parts, it's good but it doesn't stand up on its own as a rhythm pedal which was disappointing as it was labelled a 'Big Muff killer'.

Some of the joystick pedals look insane, would love to get one of them.

Her Facebook page is a bit annoying though, bit too full of personal, attention-seeking stuff...

But the best setting (last switch) doesn't have volume control for some reason, so it's just INTENSELY LOUDER than everything else in my chain unless I have it on all the time.

It's got a great older Trail Of Dead tone to it though.

I'd really like one of the Fredric pedals (made my Tim of Sailplanes fame), like the Dresden Synth Fuzz, bandmate has their tremolo pedal and it's brilliant
http://www.fredric.co.uk/dresden-synth-fuzz

http://www.gak.co.uk/en/electro-harmonix-8-step-program-analogue-expression-cv-sequencer/78865

Plug it into the EXP-in jack of the EHX Ring Thing and have pitch-shifted guitar parts that play themselves.

and then bring them up and down in the mix alternatively, you should get some good colours

i think i use that more than the fuzz actually :-S

i've got the devi ever rocket, it has taken me a long time to admit it but it is not a very good.

When both circuits are engaged it gives a great searing nasal solo sound which I do really like but rarely use, when it is just the soda-meiser circuit (described as big muff with more character) it is really weak, it goes from spluttering out to a nasty extreme with nothing usable in between, trying picking out any notes other than basic power chords and they are completely lost, I know that is true to some extent of all fuzzes but not this bad. I've gone back to my danelectro fabtone vintage distortion, it does super distorted but can still hear picked notes

It's been retired from my main board for a while but I did resurrect it for some recording recently. It's just an insane distortion, I love how you have the ability to adjust the bass, I just crank that all the way up.

Seems pretty insane indeed.

But you could still pick new ones up on Thomann for a while, I had to get one in an emergency a few years back as mine broke. Looks like they're completely discontinued now.

wooly mammoth
Maestro Bass Brasstone
I like my proco rat clone on bass too
or the aforemention 4ms noise swash if you feeling rich

the danelectro black liquorice sounds like filthy sweaty meat

should read about the companies views on gay's
unless you buy 2nd of course

if it does actually work like I am imagining it, it will be incredible.

Best thing I built (on stripboard yo) was the Tycho Brahe Octavia, like what Hendrix used to use. As an octave/fuzz pedal it's pretty limited - only really works around the 12th fret, under specific guitar conditions (neck p/u, tone rolled off completely).

BUT, cranking the gain up yields some absolutely hideous sounds, like robots screaming, and whamming it into a fuzzface, then some delay sounds great. Eventually it starts feeding back, and you can actually control the feedback pitch with the guitar's tone knob.

Probably cost about £25 all-in... most expensive parts were the TPDT switch and the little transformer it used.

MXR Distortion+ is also a piece of piss to build, sounds great, and all it really costs is the casing and hardware.

Tycho Brahe Octavias are really good at making noise.

it seems that this is the ticket:

http://www.hardwirepedals.com/en-US/products/sc-2

http://deviever.com/fx/tim

has been a total gem. I love it so much, despite it's slight limitations.

Although it has started to go on the wonk a bit - but that's after years of hard gigging with it.

didnt know the c.e.o had made a big donation in support of prop 8 though

...not sure this will stop me picking up a Danelectro Baritone if i'm being honest though.

http://www.strymon.net/timeline/

for those two

is it simple a case of ordering the bits and getting to work with instructions and a soldering iron?

http://www.generalguitargadgets.com/projects/22-octave/128-tycobrahe-octavia

(actually a gate I think, simulates a kind of broken speaker sound)

bear in mind before taking this as a recommendation that I usually play an amplified wire brush thru it not a guitar. :D

Love it.

It can be super, super thick sometimes. True fuzz.

The Depth Charge is an absolute bastard in a pedal, though!
http://www.fuzzbox.com/depth-charge

Took the schematic from here - http://fuzzcentral.ssguitar.com/octavia.php (great site for schematics and general geekiness btw) - and worked out a stripboard layout. I actually enjoy working these out more than the soldering part.

A less ballachey way is the GGG kits as linked below - PCBs rather than stripboard. I kinda lost interest when my Phase 45 didn't work, but my mate has built some amazing stuff from PCB kits, rack-mounted studio gear mostly.

loads of POWER. Gives a great growl, way less unwanted noise than the Rat I used to have

And not sure yet between Digitech Jamman looper and Vox Vdl1

Think I might stick with the Jamman.

Jamman and Holy Grail it is.

I used to have those, but Drum Eyes blew up my Holy Grail and I lost my plug for my jamman and haven't got round to replacing it yet. need to do that.

maybe have a look at the holy stain? It's got the reverb stuff, but some other fun bits as well, similar sort of price i think.

I'd probably be fine with it if it worked.

a EHX POG2.

every pedal I get, my wife asks me "Do you feel complete yet?"

the answer will always be No.

When oh when will the Synthotron be released?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i6OTrTPYcac

Unfortunately I use it for very conventional purposes, got some great sounds from delay+volume+fuzz/damage pedals, some eerie growly alien tones from that...

how the POG was used on the second to last Trail of Dead album and the Battles record if just for how un-guitary the sounds were.

pog2 is in my top three pedals, I only wanted an octave pedal but even basic ones were pretty expensive so I thought i'd pay a bit more and see what the extra stuff did. I'm glad I did, between the octaves, the volume swell and the filter you can get all kinds of sounds out of it. I like how you can keep your dry signal unaffected so it is like you are playing being accompanied by all these weird sounds. It would be even better if it had outputs for the effect and dry.

I think they should come up with a better name for this pedal, I think alot of people just assume octave must be for metal but it is probably one of the most interesting pedals there is

What are your other top 2 pedals ThingsThatFly?

I think Polyphonic Octave Generator would be enticing enough to anyone interested in sounds. It doesn't make me think Metal (that's what my pitchshifter is for, getting my vox to reach those subterranean Satanic growls and feverish piggy squeals)

top 2 are probably deluxe memory man and cathedral reverb or the verbzilla reverb I cant decide. I suppose the full name polyphonic octave generator is a good description, I just had associations with the word octave. Kind of want a hog2 now

I got an Akai Headrush as a reverb pedal, but it doesn't really do enough for me. It's got a lovely ethereal sound which I do really like, but you can't push it to an extreme. Maybe I haven't got it all figured out though.

A DMM and Cathedral together would be good.

I want an Earthquaker Ghost Disaster. I like the sound of something describing itself as a "Black Hole Ambiance Generator"

I have a Boss Harmonist, which I am looking forward to combining with a POG2. Matching the POG with the harmonic setting on that is going to have to do me.....for the now.

the ghost disaster sounds really good, I think they discontinued it though, the disaster transporter snr seems to be very similar though. I really want their rainbow machine pedal

yeah, they sold out almost instantly. just googled the Transporter. looks awesome - pretty much the same as there Disaster, but with TWO expression pedal inputs. All pedals should have expression pedal jacks. $345.00 though. Uh oh.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NZKeGsWRRm0
Death by Audio Robot

Think this might be next on the list.

:(

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=FvmJX-mUXVY#t=429s

320 bucks for the Robot is way too much for such a limited little pedal. The appegiator function sounds quite cool, but not 320 coins cool. I wouldn't mind a go on the Supersonic Fuzz Gun, that seems pretty destructive.

pretty disappointing. Unless it wasn't being used to its full extent, it doesn't really seem to do that much. No yawning chasms of folding tone or nothing. just some delay.

I spoke to Oliver Ackermann after a show and had a bit of a chat about pedals. I was surprised that he wasn't pushing his own pedals and he just said "Na man, don't fork out that much, the cheapest are usually just as good" or something along those lines.

I endorse this philosophy.

You asked about a comparison. Jonny Greenwood used an RE201 (proper tape echo) in the OK Computer days, but replaced it with a Boss RE20 (simulated digital echo) when it was released - so I just assumed they're both pretty similar. I've not heard the original Space Echo but the digital one sounds pretty darn good.

DigiVerb is excellent for gaze.

They all think they are the exact same when it comes to quality.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fVtwsGf67sk

Cost me £80 and I've barely touched it, so....idk....£50?

My mate is a bit pedal/amp head and had so many he decided to sell some on eBay. The buyer of one particular pedal was in the USA, turned out to be J.Mascis. That's all I've got. Must have been a good pedal.

Check out my company, Fredric Effects. These are handmade boutique fuzzes and others, clones of rare vintage stuff with modern improvements. Harmonic Percolators (Albini), Green Russian Big Muffs (the ones that have the best bass response), weirdo fuzzes like the Shin Ei Companion FY-2 and Superfuzz and the Ampeg Scrambler. Based in North London.

http://www.fredric.co.uk

I should also mention they're available to try in a few select shops IRL like Vintage and Rare, Wunjo and some local stores like The Music Dept in St. Albans.

argh i need to find and finish building my Harmonic Percolator kit :-S So many half finished circuits in envelopes/boxes/piles of junk

There are demos of each pedal on their individual pages.

...and it is awesome! A plethora of tasty tones lie within including some serious spluttery mayhem ;)

Sorry - Only kidding - Just like old times.

FWIW - I have two Fredric effects pedals and both are ace and I still use them all the time.

Possibly Freeze sound retainer.
Boss DD7 is a maybe. FUCK. DECISIONS ARE DIFFICULT.

i dunno how to put it. so that if you pressed it down full you'd have infinite feedback (taking the dd3 as an example, if you had the feedback dial all the way right). and you'd control the rest as usual by using dials.

lots of delay pedals have expression peal inputs, think the boss dd7 and newer EHX memory man/boy pedals

*expression pedal

I think so, the boss page says 'Delay time, feedback, and effect level can be controlled via external Expression pedal (sold separately)'

Looks tempting...
http://www.zzounds.com/item--IBAES2

http://www.earthquakerdevices.com/shop/bit-commander/

pretty awesome, super easy to use and so small it beggars belief. Literally spent half an hour jamming over a loop of ONE CHORD because it was so addictive. A must buy

One switch isn't it?

a boss or digitech.

they're twisting those knobs from one side to the other and the sound isn't changing that much. That's a little disappointing.

pressing again starts an overdub. It all recorded very cleanly and stuff as well, I managed to get like 10 overdubs on the go and it didn't sound too messy or anything

I think it has the standard press once to over dub, twice to stop, hold to erase control, dont know if there is an undo

new most of those ones cost £70-£100 more, and are more complicated than I'd want them to be. If looping is integral to your live set then you probably should have something you can save loops on and stuff, but for a practise/creativity tool you want something really straightforward and intuitive. Which is exactly what the Ditto offers

YMMV
but you could get a 2nd hand boss, which never break. if the switch goes on the TC (which has happened on a mates flashback) then you're buggered.

your switch point is something to consider though

also thought of them as the same thing myself

I was mistaken, how do you delete completely? the boss rc30 is really stupid to completely clear a loop you have to press down both pedals at the same time which is pretty tricky whilst remaining standing

delete = clear all
undo = after recording 4 overdubs, record another.. unhappy with the fifth.. go back to number 4..?

undo undoes the last overdub, erase gets rid of everything, hold I just meant holding down to erase

To undo - hold down switch for 1.3 seconds (TC stats) while loops are playing back, last loop disappears. Hold down switch again to redo loop if you change your mind
To delete - stop the playback (double-tap the switch) and then, once off, hold down switch (for 1.3s again I assume) to delete *all* loops

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hjVQFSwxVIc

He starts a long, pretty overdub at 1:50, which he stops at 2:17. He then uses the undo to drop out all of that fancy melodic stuff at 3:36, which leaves him with the basic, rhythmic loops he'd recorded *before* 1:50. You don't get to see him actually doing it, but you can definitely hear what happens.

Another video, that actually shows the switch being pressed this time, is here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=43IZRaDRc3g

He adds a big, booming rock overdub at 2:16. After soloing over it for a bit he decides to go back to the more basic funk loop he had, so he uses undo at 3:02 by holding the switch for a second or two.

not bad at all then. still opt for the boss due to the switch (or digitech for more features - and switches which makes it more useable) but for the footprint and price that is good.
also be intersting to see how they use the toneprint in the future

there's definitely a few features I would love (reverse playback, quantising) but I don't really need them, and the Ditto was just plain fun to use