quote:

Originally posted by r0gue:
Honestly, my Strymon Big Sky has a very similar sound on the cloud setting. Massively ethereal space.

Having options is nice! I second guessed a digital reverb pedal for a long time but really appreciate having one now even with spring on the Princeton.

Next on my list is a basic looper (currently thinking Electro-Harmonix 720) and I want to try an expression pedal (currently thinking Mission Engineering Inc 25K Expression Pedal) since both my Bigsky and my Nightsky have a port for that option.

Expression pedals are a cool topic because I use four of them to modulate “everything” in real time.

Typically the template looks like this:

EXP 1: volume.
EXP 2: Wah
EXP 3: delay repeats and mix
EXP 4: modulation mix, i.e. chorus/flange or wildcard (ie drive mix or amp gain)

Funny enough, I replaced my boss HD500s with fractal audio EV1s, so I still have two more foot controllers laying around, and I could up it to a total of six to control moar, but that seems like overkill LMAO

I know that Mission engineering is very popular however, I really like the fractal audio expression pedals. They have a standard size/large and then they also have a mini. Super smooth like butter.

I’ll see if I can take a picture of the floor controller set up. Probably dusty as hell right now. Lol

I haven’t used the Fractal Audio expression pedals, but can vouch for the Mission Engineering ones. They’re in a super-heavy-duty classic Crybaby-style enclosure and feel and work great.

They make a number of different options with different output values and tapers, with or without switching, etc., to work with different devices and in different use cases. Make sure you know what you need for your devices and how you want to use it and get the right one.

I haven’t used their expression pedals, but Lehle makes hands-down the best volume pedal I have ever used, and they make expression pedals, too. They’re expensive, though.

All changes w/ these controllers at my feet.

You certainly like to Express yourself! Very cool rig!

Being able to modulate your delay repeats and mix in real time is pure joy.

I typically have at least two or three delays going in every preset. Sometimes four.

Three delays in parallel.

Main one is a stereo tape delay @1/4 tempo, second is a reverse @ dotted 1/8 (mixed lower than tape) and the third is a rich plex delay (golden ratios) brought in for leads. These are all post amplifier.

Occasionally, I will put something like a carbon copy pedal delay in front of the amplifier to get those crunchy textures.

My advice to anyone using delay is to learn to use the “ducking” feature on your unit.

This declutters the sound w/ attenuating the repeats while you’re playing busy passages, yet allows your repeats to be heard when you slow down or pause/stop.

This stuff is so much fun!

quote:

Originally posted by SIGnified:
My advice to anyone using delay is to learn to use the “ducking” feature on your unit.

This declutters the sound w/ attenuating the repeats while you’re playing busy passages, yet allows your repeats to be heard when you slow down or pause/stop.

I'm not sure if mine has that. I have two reverbs that can fake out delay (Strymon Bigsky and Nightsky). But I do have one dedicated delay -- the Strymon El Capistan.

Not to take this conversation off track, but if you're ever in Chicago and are looking for fine vintage or contemporary electric guitars, take a look at Chicago Music Exchange. I bought a Gibson Les Paul for my brother there, and he absolutely loves it. In fact, he chose to feature it on the cover of his new album - because of its deep anaconda green color and because it's now his favorite to play.

Like the venerable Colt Pythons from the 60's, some electric guitars have a distinctive unquantifiable something that makes them really special. Chicago Music Exchange is one of the few places in Chicago where you can find older electric guitars that can really surprise and delight you.

quote:

Originally posted by r0gue:

quote:

Originally posted by SIGnified:
My advice to anyone using delay is to learn to use the “ducking” feature on your unit.

This declutters the sound w/ attenuating the repeats while you’re playing busy passages, yet allows your repeats to be heard when you slow down or pause/stop.

I'm not sure if mine has that. I have two reverbs that can fake out delay (Strymon Bigsky and Nightsky). But I do have one dedicated delay -- the Strymon El Capistan.

Just check the glossary at the back of the manual for the word “ducking“.

If it’s not there, you may not have it. It’s a very common feature on good delays. You set a threshold (based upon volume of signal) for triggering the attenuation of the repeats, and the release time. (I’m not describing this simply unfortunately… But it’s easier to do than to explain.)


Very handy tool to not muddy your playing with needless repeats at a constant mix level. Music is about dynamics.

Like I said… Can be a deep hole. (Sometimes people will duck reverb as well… It’s not something I do a lot of regularly.)

Nope, not in there. Did a cntl F and searched it in the online manual.

Weekend Update: John Mayer told me that he'd discovered that Spotify has a whole bunch of blues background tracks. So I had a ton of fun last night with those. Also, found myself challenged by some keys that were a bit off my normal path, so that's good.

Next up for me is some distortion/overdrive. I'd been using the CaptorX to pad down the speaker so I could drive the amp into distortion, but I think that may be unnecessarily hard on the amp, and really doesn't get me all the way where I want to go anyway (which is lots of types of tones and treatments). I think I'll be going Strymon Sunset.

quote:

Originally posted by r0gue:
... Next up for me is some distortion/overdrive. I'd been using the CaptorX to pad down the speaker so I could drive the amp into distortion, but I think that may be unnecessarily hard on the amp, and really doesn't get me all the way where I want to go anyway (which is lots of types of tones and treatments). I think I'll be going Strymon Sunset.

I have about 8 or 9 Overdrives and Distortions that you can try if you'd like.

Edit - ok, I was off a bit. There are 14.

quote:

Originally posted by mark123:
I have about 8 or 9 Overdrives and Distortions that you can try if you'd like.

Edit - ok, I was off a bit. There are 14.

Holy SmoKes! I now have one. Sort of... It's inbound. So it may be zero, since it's not here, or one, since it's coming, or two, since it has two in one, ot three, since you can add the two together to make something altogether new.

Ooh, that’s a nice one. Lots of versatility.

I’ll share this little bit… There was an effort on another forum for the members to put their willies on the line to utilize one week to compose an original tune w/ supplied drum tracks and you had to write it, play it, engineer, mix it, print it within six days.

Seems like a lot of guys really enjoyed their gainy metal these days…

So I decided I would take a completely different tack in order to find some breathing room. This was my submission yesterday morning. All done with just two guitars (and the first time using a DAW for live tracking guitars. Freeware no plugs.)

Even the bass is just a Stratocaster on the neck pickup pitched -12 semitones down. 12 string guitar is really just an LR Baggs piezoelectric pick up with the 12 string emulator patch.




I liked having the time limit, because just got to call it done instead of fiddle farting around with all the mistakes forever.

New effort begins today … omg lol.

Well done, my good man.

Pro tip: soundcloud doesn’t like ad blockers. You can turn it off, hit play and then turn it back on while listening.

That was superb! Very nice!

Thanks fellas… Appreciate the kind words.

I was surprised that about 20 dudes ended up posting submissions. A lot of metal… A lot of chugs lol. Really fun!

Resurfacing the thread for an UPDATE: As it turns out, it seems I was kind of duped by the marketing "buzz" (no pun intended) on the Fender 64CDR re-issue. In fact, it's a significant variation from the old design, with some very poor designs modifications which created an insanely noisy reverb. I'd cycled through one return and exchange, with no change. Then I bought a power filter thinking maybe it was just my home power. No change, but then again why would it be power, as if I turn the reverb to zero, it was pretty quiet.

Finally, I found a guy ( Carl's Custom Amps ) who has a mod to un-fuck the amp design. And I found the link below from Lyle which really educated me on this mess of an amp.

Lyle of Psionic Audio (introduced to me earlier in this thread by Mark) has a run-through where he points out why this amp is designed to be noisy on the reverb channel. That surely wasn't their intention, but it certainly was the result. It has to do with how they bridge reverb to be available on both channels.

Here is the rundown video -- sorry, this is an older one where they are on FaceBook. He is now 100% YouTube.

quote:

Originally posted by r0gue:
...The amp was easier for me, and is on order. I selected the Fender '64 Custom Deluxe Reverb combo-amp. As an electronics guy from way back, they had me at "hand-wired tube"....

Yeah.... they "had me" alright. . So anyway, back to the drawing board. And kudos to Sweetwater for accepting the return and working through the nonsense of this amp. Now to pick a replacement amp. In fact, Lyle has a lot of good things to say about the 65 CDR which is half the price of this "hand wired" one. Sure he thinks it'll need new filter caps soon, but for the most part, he gave a good review.