Gasalcoholics anonymous? whoever said this was a help group?

[chuckjaywalk]

Took a road trip from Cincinnati to scenic Ft. Wayne, IN to visit the Sweetwater store. Had a great experience playing with synths and drum machines. The synth room guy helped me find the perfect drum machine and I now have a dining room table techno setup.

The centerpiece is an Elektron Syntakt, which is just the most wonderful instrument. I love it. From there, I'm controlling a Roland TB-3 Touch Bass and the Moog Grandmother. It's super funky and easy to use. If I had access to such a store 30 years ago, I doubt I'd have ever picked up a guitar.

If there had been such a store 30+ years ago, I'm sure the american landscape of electronic music would have been quite different today, but a Roland MC 303 or a Novation Bass Station (rack!) w/ an Alesis keybed synth and/or Quadraverb related option would have set you back the same monetary amount, just not as quick on the uptake of overall usability, natch. Sam Ash in NYC was close to having a Sweetwater-type approach back then (LA, too) but so much was strictly catalog-driven from my own eggsperience in those thymmes, though I still feel it's much the same for most today (who will eat my shipping return costs?).......

Long story short: I'm glad you could visit & found what you wanted! World needs more physical gear infiltrating the hands of people who want to use 'em

When I bought my first guitar, I was a lefty in a small town in Kansas with a single music store that had 2 guitars on the wall and a pawn shop that had an over-priced Ovation solidbody. It was pretty dire. I ended up with a Squier Stratocaster, right-handed, and a Fender Bullet amp. If it wasn't for those first couple of pedals, a Big Muff and an In-Line Effects Analog Delay and Chorus, I'd have left it all behind when I moved out of my parents' garage.

[coupleonapkins]

My older brother is also a lefty, but his response to the desert of options for southpaws was to get an Epi Les Paul & flip the bridge & replace the nut, which worked out well enough (praise be to tune-o-matic bridges). Many years later, he special ordered the real deal Gibson from Manny's in NYC, so it seemed to have worked out for him!

All the music stores in our town were strictly for school band/orchestras, but we used to travel an hour away to see most of what we drooled over in the American Musical Supply catalog in the flesh at a few of the bigger local stores (which specialized in conjunto/tejano instruments, or strictly acoustics & live sound support gear). I was lucky enough to find a Tall Font Sovtek on one of those trips, and I never looked back.

[chuckjaywalk]

My older brother is also a lefty, but his response to the desert of options for southpaws was to get an Epi Les Paul & flip the bridge & replace the nut, which worked out well enough (praise be to tune-o-matic bridges). Many years later, he special ordered the real deal Gibson from Manny's in NYC, so it seemed to have worked out for him!

All the music stores in our town were strictly for school band/orchestras, but we used to travel an hour away to see most of what we drooled over in the American Musical Supply catalog in the flesh at a few of the bigger local stores (which specialized in conjunto/tejano instruments, or strictly acoustics & live sound support gear). I was lucky enough to find a Tall Font Sovtek on one of those trips, and I never looked back.

I ended up with a Bubble Font Big Muff I got from Musician's Friend.

[Pepe]

I received this one a week ago. No reissue.



There were a few stripes of velcro on the bottom and I had to use lots of isopropanol on a toothbrush to clean the rubber mat.



Overall I'm very pleased with the sound. To me it sounds best with Contour all the way down and Gain at about two or three 'o clock. I was surprised to find out that it allows for very mild overdrive settings, despite its name. I have only always heard that the Marshall Shred Master was great. It is, indeed. But I don't know yet if it will be a keeper.

Another surprise was the tiny box for this pedal. It just fits in.

[chuckjaywalk]

After telling my partner that I didn't want any vintage or non-MIDI electronic music gear, I found a Yamaha CP-10 in dead-mint condition at Sam Ash for less than a Volca. I snatched it up and took her home. Such a cool harpsicord and electric piano, can't wait to run it through a pedalboard.

[Pepe]

This RDD-20 Micro Rack unit arrived last week. I managed to purchase it for a very fair price. Basically this is the BOSS DD-2 in rack format, but with a few changes.



It really surprised me that the maximum delay time is 400ms and not 800ms as in the DD-2, although the micro rack and the compact pedal units have the very same long chip. I suppose that it was done to achieve a more hi-fi sound, could that be correct?

Another difference is the lack of the Hold function, but the RDD-20 (as well as the RDD-10, which is exactly the same model) has a few nice upgrades:

There is a Tone knob that I always missed in all the compact DD-pedals. I like that it can dampen the overall delay sound so that it sits very well in the mix. You can also increase the brilliance, but I think that it sounds too artificial if you go over the two o’ clock mark.

The modulation knobs can produce interesting flanger and chorus sounds in the shorter delay settings, which can be selected with a nine-position switch. In the maximum delay settings and with increased feedback the modulation creates crazy pitch shift effects that you might know from digital multi effects. My wife said that this sounded really funny when I experimented with the unit a few hours ago.

Overall this is a nice unit with cool options, but I prefer the compact pedal, mainly because of the 800ms delay time. So this won’t be a keeper. PM me if you are interested.

[Blood_mountain]

Yo, it's been a while! I haven't bought a pedal this entire year, which is insane to me...and now all of a sudden I have GAS for a low gainer always on. So dumb.

IT DOESN'T GO AWAY. IT JUST WAITS.

[dubkitty]

i was sick the first half of the year and didn't play at all. once i came back to life in July, i decided to redo my main board on a slightly larger frame. sorting power supplies has been a pain in the ass. i tried the Fender 12-outlet supply, but it was too big to mount securely on the bottom of the Novo 24. it also sucked because i thought i could use the 120V AC outlet for my SCF flanger, but it only takes Fender's supply-to-supply AC connector. so back it went. i'm going to use 2 MXR DC Bricks for the big board because i already have one i had to take off the front-end board because--get this--it's the only PS that causes obnoxious hum with the Fairfield Shallow Water, so it had to go from the small board. 2 MXRs will give me 18 x 9V outputs, which is more than enough to power my entire board with 6 slots left over i can use for added pedals, powering the wah-wah, and so on. ordered a 6-outlet Truetone box for the front-end board because FC recommends OneSpot or Voodoo Labs supplies.

the new big board has enough room to fit two more standard-width enclosures, so i spent some time looking at what's available, and i really don't need any of it. i bought the 3-box Snazzy FX suite off B/S/T recently, which should cover my synth waveform mangling, crazy filter, and wonky delay needs for the foreseeable future. i even went back to my Google Doc of pedalboard ideas i've kept for two or three years, and none of the stuff listed appeals when i listen to demos. i could even get a Land harmonic percolator for a non-insane price (if you're interested, it's $200 on Reverb), but it's not what i need. the only thing i can justify getting is the new Catalinbread Soft Focus shoegaze 'verb. i'm going to get the Goodbye 24 out--i got one of the original batch of 8--and see if it fits with the current approach. if it works i'll need an expression pedal to use with it and the Randy's Revenge which i used to love doing long pitch drops with. it's really weird not to want new stuff.

and i found a Gator plastic hard case that fits the small (Pedaltrain Jr.) board that i got from work as an open-box item for 50% off.

[Gone Fission]

Vouch for that CS-6 as solid. Only thing I didn’t like was drilling the Pedal Train for it. But maybe I should just get a drill press already.

Glad the setup (and your health) are falling into place!

[dubkitty]

the supply for the front-end board sits on the deck with the pedals. there's plenty of room so i saw no point in dealing with mounting it underneath.

i forgot to mention that the first thing i did after i felt musically functional again was order a Squier Mustang Bass...i'm getting too old to stretch over to reach the low F on my fretless Jazz Bass, which also needs a neck doctor because the truss rod is at its limit and can't straighten the neck. haven't gotten to mess with it much yet other than the normal adjustments one does when a new instrument comes in.

there is one tempting thing out there now, and that's the Squier electric 12-string Jazzmaster. this could be the 12-string i've been wishing for, but the problem is when am i ever going to play 12-string? i don't really play my acoustic 12er as it is, so why would i get an electric one unless i was planning on overdubbing layers of guitars?

[coldbrightsunlight]

Yeah I've had the same debate about electric twelve strings a few times... Have decided to just do it with overdubbing using a capo / whammy pedal / not bothering for now, as it does seem a very impractical buy. Cool though!

Recently got an EVH 15W head and this thing rips. Extremely loud (which is good, it's something I was a bit concerned about buying a small "metal amp"), extremely heavy, it's the chugs I dreamt of (and pretty nice lower gain sounds too). Distortion pedals are a little bit over (though I still love them).

[Gone Fission]

I saw a JM XII demo, can’t recall which, where the guy was leaning into distorted 12 string sounds and it’s making me much more into it. (And I was already very into it.) I was hearing things there that have been hiding in plain sight in music I’ve listened to my whole life.

[dubkitty]

i've thought about putting a pickup in the acoustic 12-string, which would be a lot cheaper that an electric 12. i want to get the old Seymour Duncan Acoustic Tube like Ira uses in Yo La Tengo because i love the sound and it doesn't require mods to the guitar. i could also use it on the 6-string acoustics if needed and do some wack Boards of Canada stuff with the Snazzy tape-mangling delay. Andy Bell plays 12-string on a lot of Ride's material so i know i like how it sounds with effects, i just don't know if it's right for me.

been looking at multi-function delays because though the TC Flashback is adequate it's not inspiring. it sounds kind of like a lot of things, but the non-digidelay sounds are blah. but i can't find anything i like better that fits in a single-space box and doesn't require menu diving. with my back i can't be leaning over constantly twiddling with shit. i have the Muza delay/verb which is OK but even more artificial-sounding. maybe i should just say fuck it and get another RV-3. they don't do much at all, but i love those two or three things.

i really can't get used to the lack of interesting new things nowadays that regular humans can afford. it's as if the industry (sorry) has collective long COVID and is running at 65% of optimum.

[moozz]

been looking at multi-function delays because though the TC Flashback is adequate it's not inspiring. it sounds kind of like a lot of things, but the non-digidelay sounds are blah. but i can't find anything i like better that fits in a single-space box and doesn't require menu diving. with my back i can't be leaning over constantly twiddling with shit. i have the Muza delay/verb which is OK but even more artificial-sounding. maybe i should just say fuck it and get another RV-3. they don't do much at all, but i love those two or three things.

Have you tried the EHX Canyon? It is pretty much the same size as TC Flashback and at least I do not find the delay sounds annoyingly artificial. Same amount of knobs as on Flashback but in several of the modes two of them have secondary functions. And it is not a $300 boutique pedal.

[dubkitty]

it was hard to find a demo that really demonstrates what the Canyon does effectively--which i think is why i wasn't impressed with it before--but i found a guy who does ambient effects demos that turned it out pretty well. i like the tweakability, and it's much warmer than the Flashback. i ordered a used one before the 12-minute demo was over. i wish it did more physical-media emulations...an Echorec would be nice. but for what i want a delay to do, i.e. huge ambient spaces, it looks like a winner. thanks!

yet another thing that's really weird about the current effects market is how EHX has stealthily morphed into a builder of high-quality gear with extensive tweakage options. they've come a long way since the early 80s. i received their modern Attack Delay in a Secret Santa package a couple of years ago and it's been barrels of fun. their newer stuff is kind of department-store boutique.