Gasalcoholics anonymous? whoever said this was a help group?

[le lambin]

I feel like someone mentioned the fairfield circuitry ~900 earlier but I can't find it. anyway it came up on CL and my life is boring and my Crazy Horse doesn't play well without a buffer, which I no longer have since I took the tuning pedal off the board. is it good?

I have one and I like it a lot. AFAIK it’s a bunch of Jfets in series, so it goes from very light gain to very fuzzy. It’s not chaotic or ugly like the unpleasant surprise or four eyes, but it does gated stuff pretty well. I use it more like a heavy overdrive than a fuzz. It definitely likes drives and boosts before it for best results.

[Tall Walls]

that's a really interesting pedal. i still haven't heard the demo that convinces me, though. i need to know what it does to clean sounds, not just gain.

I've owned it for several months now and I'm still not totally convinced. The good sounds are good, but there's a vast array of signal-obliterating static sounds you have to sift through in order to find the good sounds. I want just a little static, but dialing that in has been challenging, and the nature of the circuit is such that sometimes I get a sound I like but then something shifts a bazillimeter and it all turns into static again.

I bought it to complement my Copilot FX Anchorman. Sometimes when I capture a loop off the Anchorman's radio, it doesn't sound right to solo over the loop with any kind of regular clean or distorted sound. Before the Roger That, I would use an FM transmitter dongle to transmit my guitar signal to the Anchorman, so my guitar tone would be congruent with the loop's sound. While it's true that I can mimic that sound with the Roger That, I've pretty much decided that I prefer the sound of the actual FM-transmitted guitar. Plus then I can go halfway between stations and have my guitar sound mixed with NPR or whatever.

Generally if you tune the Roger That's "tune" knob all the way CCW you'll get a clean sound and you can goose it with the filter. It's a nice, bright, edgy tone.

[Blood_mountain]

that's a really interesting pedal. i still haven't heard the demo that convinces me, though. i need to know what it does to clean sounds, not just gain.

I've owned it for several months now and I'm still not totally convinced. The good sounds are good, but there's a vast array of signal-obliterating static sounds you have to sift through in order to find the good sounds. I want just a little static, but dialing that in has been challenging, and the nature of the circuit is such that sometimes I get a sound I like but then something shifts a bazillimeter and it all turns into static again.

I bought it to complement my Copilot FX Anchorman. Sometimes when I capture a loop off the Anchorman's radio, it doesn't sound right to solo over the loop with any kind of regular clean or distorted sound. Before the Roger That, I would use an FM transmitter dongle to transmit my guitar signal to the Anchorman, so my guitar tone would be congruent with the loop's sound. While it's true that I can mimic that sound with the Roger That, I've pretty much decided that I prefer the sound of the actual FM-transmitted guitar. Plus then I can go halfway between stations and have my guitar sound mixed with NPR or whatever.

Generally if you tune the Roger That's "tune" knob all the way CCW you'll get a clean sound and you can goose it with the filter. It's a nice, bright, edgy tone.

The Anchorman has been on my radar too, but I decided to try out the Roger That first. The dude from Copilot did tell me he is going to have a deluxe version of the Anchorman out in the next couple of months, so I'll be excited to see what that one can do. The FM-transmitted guitar thing sounds cool; do tell me more.

[Tall Walls]

The Anchorman has been on my radar too, but I decided to try out the Roger That first. The dude from Copilot did tell me he is going to have a deluxe version of the Anchorman out in the next couple of months, so I'll be excited to see what that one can do. The FM-transmitted guitar thing sounds cool; do tell me more.

Aah, I don't know if I'll be able to resist a deluxe Anchorman.

To send the guitar signal to the Anchorman I use one of these things:

Ideally I'd have a pedal with a headphone jack before the Anchorman and plug it into that, but the only pedals with headphone jacks that I have are stereo pedals that are downstream from the mono Anchorman. Putting the FM transmitter there would create a feedback loop--I'm all about feedback loops, but in this case it's not what I want. So I end up using a pedal with stereo output before the Anchorman to split my signal, and sending the split signal to a little battery-powered amp that has a headphone jack. Then it's just a matter of tuning in the guitar on the Anchorman.

This could be done with any radio, really, and you could use the headphone jack on the radio to connect it to your pedals. I just did that today, to see what I thought of it in comparison to the Anchorman. As far as a way of injecting radio into your music it's probably better--you can tune in stations more accurately, and it gives you the possibility of capturing stereo broadcasts. But when I used the FM transmitter to send the guitar signal to the radio it was less interesting-sounding than it is through the Anchorman. There might be some tweaking I could do--I was getting a lot of extraneous hum from somewhere--but I think there's something native to the Anchorman's circuit that gives it a characteristic tone I like. It might just be the Anchorman's tone knob, which helps tame the high end.

[Blood_mountain]

The Anchorman has been on my radar too, but I decided to try out the Roger That first. The dude from Copilot did tell me he is going to have a deluxe version of the Anchorman out in the next couple of months, so I'll be excited to see what that one can do. The FM-transmitted guitar thing sounds cool; do tell me more.

Aah, I don't know if I'll be able to resist a deluxe Anchorman.

To send the guitar signal to the Anchorman I use one of these things:

Ideally I'd have a pedal with a headphone jack before the Anchorman and plug it into that, but the only pedals with headphone jacks that I have are stereo pedals that are downstream from the mono Anchorman. Putting the FM transmitter there would create a feedback loop--I'm all about feedback loops, but in this case it's not what I want. So I end up using a pedal with stereo output before the Anchorman to split my signal, and sending the split signal to a little battery-powered amp that has a headphone jack. Then it's just a matter of tuning in the guitar on the Anchorman.

This could be done with any radio, really, and you could use the headphone jack on the radio to connect it to your pedals. I just did that today, to see what I thought of it in comparison to the Anchorman. As far as a way of injecting radio into your music it's probably better--you can tune in stations more accurately, and it gives you the possibility of capturing stereo broadcasts. But when I used the FM transmitter to send the guitar signal to the radio it was less interesting-sounding than it is through the Anchorman. There might be some tweaking I could do--I was getting a lot of extraneous hum from somewhere--but I think there's something native to the Anchorman's circuit that gives it a characteristic tone I like. It might just be the Anchorman's tone knob, which helps tame the high end.

Ooof, I have a caveman brain and I got tired reading that and had to have a nap. It sounds amazing, but probably more work than I'm willing to put in. Very creative.

I spent some time with the Roger That last night, and I really like it. I feel like I'll probably often use it with the drive and wet mix quite low, so there is just some noisy ugliness kind of sputtering below a fairly nice clean signal. I did get some fun staticky bits running into the Hologram Microcosm, and then grabbed a little loop of that that would repeat and swell in and out which was mega cool.

I too, however, am likely to be tempted by a deluxe Anchorman. Tell will tell.

[dubkitty]

that's an extremely interesting idea i can't wrap my head around at this hour of the morning. i'll come back to it when my brain is working.

i finished off the Great Fuzz Shootout and finalized the layout for the big board. the winners:

--MXR Distortion+
--CMC Effects MK III
--Fuzzhugger Algal Bloom
--CMC Effects Buzzaround
--Fuzzhugger 3-knob Great Wall

The D+ and Great Wall have been staples forever. when i went down to 3 fuzz/dirts, they were two of them. the CMC Effects boxes replace the EQD Tone Reaper and Sound Shank i sold for stupid money to EQD Collector Guy and i actually like them better...the MK III isn't so gain-soaked that you can barely turn on the volume knob before unity gain becomes just a memory, and the addition of a volume control to the Buzzaround lets you pull textures out of it you can't with the normal 3 knobs. i love the Buzzaround to pieces. i haven't had the Algal Bloom on the board in ages, but it slots in perfectly between the MKIII and Buzzaround texturally. i'd completely forgotten what it sounds like. i really should get Tom to make me a backup of the Great Wall, because he literally only ever made one just like this one (knobs: volume, starve, gain).

i decided not to change anything else...i'd considered using the SCF as a chorus instead of the CH-1, but it doesn't sound nearly as good. i also questioned whether i really need a phaser, but decided to keep it because it adds a different texture. i was thinking about the modulation stuff to try to make space for a sixth fuzz on the board, but decided that was too much. so all that's left now is swapping in the Keeley Realizer when it arrives (which startlingly is Thursday from Japan!), and a Peterson tuner to replace the Polytune because it's far more accurate.

once the second EB 6165 volume/pan pedal arrives the revamping of the looping board should be quick. i'm hoping to leave the power supply on, but the second 6165 may crowd it out in which case i'll swap the PS with the FEB whose Truetone supply tucks neatly under the deck. i think the Gator supply on the deck would work better on the FEB, which isn't necessarily meant to be entirely static. i ordered a Demedash T-120 v1 (insert rant about how companies always ruin stuff with their v2 revisions HERE--v1 is analog, v2 is on a chip) for the FEB and think i have a pretty good lineup. i may or may not reintroduce the Attack Delay which i forgot to mail off today, but not with the effects loop and expression pedal; the cabling for the effects loop makes a total spaghetti bowl below decks. i may not install the Octron there because i'll need it in situations where i want to loop but don't want to deal with the third board. in that case i'll probably leave an assigned space on the FEB for it because it's unlikely (but possible!) i'd want to use it on its own.

so my preliminary order for the FEB is:

--Mellowtone Hi Five: the Perfect Clean Boost will go at the front to equalize levels between my loud guitars and quiet guitars. i've used it in this role before and it worked beautifully. now that i have the 335 back it's a necessity...being a 1968 it's EXTREMELY LOUD compared to the Strat or Duo Sonic, a total lion-and-mouse situation.
--CMC Effects WIIO v.2: this came in with the MKIII/Buzzaround, but there wasn't room for it on the main board. its amp-like response will be the first of a series of boxes intended to degrade the signal in aesthetically pleasing and increasingly abstract ways.
--Ibanez LF7 Lo Fi: adds raggedy gain and some high/low pass filtering.
--Stomping Stones Virus: this pedal gets sold as a crazy fuzz machine which it certainly can be, but i find the variety of overdrive textures in modes 1 and 2 much more compelling. the mid/upper gain drive sounds with the switch in the top position have a quality i described in my Shootout notes as having "a unique sort of distant, longing quality." it's not too often that i hear fx sounds that make me feel emotion just from the sound rather than how the music played with it sounds. outstanding. note: the demos aren't entirely reproducible under normal conditions because the demoists push the box's volume and gain way past hope of unity gain. don't expect to do much in real life with the volume knob above 40% if you want to stay in the same ballpark as your clean signal, and some of the gnarliest octave stuff won't work.
--Analog Music Company So High So Low--this little guy is apparently designed specifically as a way to raggedy up your sound, with two synth filters and a crunchy Moog preamp. i saw a demo where it literally sounded like the guitar was coming through a 20th-century pay phone. we've now reached the limit of what i can do with gain and distortion on the FEB without overlapping the big board's functions.
--Fairfield Circuitry Shallow Water--all the fidelity-reducers above basically added grain. the SW soothes the ragged edges and lets the sound float in a quiet (moon-shaped) pool for a bit.
--Demedash T-120 v1--i've been wanting one of these since they were introduced, and found a good price by Googling past the usual sites. the VHS-style delay's increasingly blurred repeats have a nifty Boards of Canada quality.
--Catalinbread Soft Focus--evicted from the main board for the Realizer, this adds a final touch of atmosphere ranging from subtle to monumental, and is the only piece on the FEB meant to not distort other than the Hi Five.

i don't know where the Attack Decay goes in this scenario, provided it even fits.

i got so tired of trying to figure things out that i just made a bunch of policy decisions and worked out what would be necessary. when the time comes i can just refer to my overly detailed notes and follow instructions. i now have everything in place or ordered in to finalize all 3 boards (other than cables LOL), and it should all be here by the weekend.

i also ordered a full new Mullard tube set (3 x 12AX7, 4 x EL84) for my Laney VC30 (basically an AC30 with a Marshall tone stack) which fell out of use due to developing a tendency to suddenly and randomly emit a loud BLAAAAAT of noise of unknown etiology. i tried swapping tubes and recall that it didn't help, but i never did a full retube. if this doesn't work at least the repair guy will be able to eliminate tubes as the cause. i need an amp that can be reasonably clean, and neither the AC15 or the Hammond reverb amp are capable of doing that. i had to jigger the Hammond, which is the only amp up and running (the AC15 has tube issues i haven't had time to diagnose), like crazy to find a tone for the Shootout tests that didn't already sound like light overdrive, making it particularly hard to get a good take on the WIIO which overlaps the amp distortion at low settings. and this was through a Weber JBL D120 clone, so it ain't the speaker. i'll be able to use the old Laney tubes to test which AC15 tubes are bad. no doubt it's the EL84s, two of which i've replaced in the last couple of months.

SO if everything works, the Mail Gods are with me, and i can find sufficient 1/4" cables, by the end of next week the entire setup should be done. i've been reworking stuff since last July, and i can't even tell you how nice it will be not to have to think so fucking much.

[dubkitty]

i should have started that with "call me Ishmael" LOL. Moby Post.

[Paul_C]

I'll keep mine simple then - another Tele on the way to the UK from Japan.

[Seance]

Who knows about this EAE Mother Preamp and/or feels something about it?

[Chankgeez]

this guy:

https://www.scienceamps.com/store/p9/mo ... pedal.html

[dubkitty]

i decided to go ahead and order the Strobostomp. i have the money, and i'm getting a 3-week paycheck on Friday. so now everything has been ordered and is on the way. i might get to play for a few months before i die of old age. woop woop.

[le lambin]

Who knows about this EAE Mother Preamp and/or feels something about it?

The only reason I’m not frantically selling pedals I convinced myself I like less than the Science pedal to fund the purchase is because I literally just got an actual Science amp. Given EAEs pedigree making preamps this thing probably sounds amazing. I am surprised there’s not more talk of it here though.

[Chankgeez]

Well, unfortunately, there's not much talk of anything here.

(Congrats, however, on your new amp! )

[MechaGodzilla]

i need another guitar like i need another toe, but i played a really cool old hofner at a shop earlier and that would be a cool thing to just have around and strum loud through an amp with no pedals

[Tall Walls]

Ooof, I have a caveman brain and I got tired reading that and had to have a nap. It sounds amazing, but probably more work than I'm willing to put in. Very creative.

It's not really very complicated. I'm just bad at the whole brevity thing. If you have an amp with a headphone jack and you have one of those FM transmitter doohickeys you can pick up your guitar playing on a radio, and everything else I said was just variations on that idea.

Sometimes I imagine what it would be like to scatter radios around a venue, all tuned to pick up the guitar. But then I remember that with the sort of shows I play I could just bring one radio and hand it to the person who is the audience.