Old Digital: Korg A3

Cirrus · September 2023

So I like '90s U2. One of the pieces of gear the Edge used in those days was a Korg A3, a mid to late '80s rackmounted digital multieffects unit. I've always been curious about them but finally decided to take the plunge a few months ago.

And this thing is actually really cool.

It's obviously old. The LCD screen's backlight has nearly died totally. When it arrived it wouldn't store presets; it needed a watch battery replaced inside and it was a bit of a pain to get to it. New sounds and effects chains can be loaded onto it from actual physical ROM disks that you slot in the front. It's a million miles away from a Helix or Axe FX; the effects chain for each preset needs to be picked from one of 20 fixed configurations, so if you can't find a combination and order of 6 effects that pleases you, it just ain't happening

But at the heart of it... the sounds are great, and I'm finding them incredibly inspiring. The reverbs (you get two variations each of Room, Hall and Plate but honestly I can't really tell the variations apart, so it's basically 3 algos) are beautifully of their era. Warm, low fi digital with just a hint of graininess. The Modulation is lush sounding without being overwhelming - Chorus particularly. Even the digital distortions, despite being programmed in the mid '80s, are loads of fun to play with. The two main distortion types (OD and a "Hard Distortion") both absolutely hang with my analogue pedals into the front end of my AC30, with the added flexibility of a full 3 band tone stack.

Then there's the way the fx chains flow into each other (it can be shoegaze in a box if you ask it to be), and the possibilities that are opened up by some of the more unusual fx options. You can get the reverb algo to distort if you push it too hard with a preceding gain stage, and it's actually really cool sounding when it does. There is a Exciter algo that lets you pick just one frequency to either enhance or squash dynamically, and it results in some really out there sounds if you, say, push the mids in a distortion block and pull them back with the exciter. There's an Early Reflections algo that is way OTT and makes it sound like you're hearing the guitar through tunnels of sheet metal. Basically, it's fucking cool.

And it does it all beautifully in mono or true stereo.

Finally, it is THE "Mysterious Ways" Guitar sound. It's literally a stock preset. These are all a humbucker guitar through the A3 into a Helix Native AC30 sim;

Kebabkid · September 2023

Sounds great. I loved my A2 and what a fabulous unit and I wish I'd kept it

Cirrus · September 2023

I think Ed Obrien used an A2 for some of the early Radiohead albums?

It's the same as the A3 but with all the expansion cards build into the unit itself, have I got that right?

Kebabkid · September 2023

Cirrus said:

I think Ed Obrien used an A2 for some of the early Radiohead albums?

It's the same as the A3 but with all the expansion cards build into the unit itself, have I got that right?

I believe that to be the case and Elliott Randall of Steely Dan's 'Reeling in the years' fame was a fan and I think he used one on Kirsty MacColl's album and 'Walking down Madison' and wrote presets for it.

A friend had the 'Daddy of the series, the A1 and used that on Chapman Stick. That had some superb and complex presets, much like the Eventide stuff.

Gadget · September 2023

You can relatively easily change the backlight strip, if you have a small amount of technical / soldering ability - https://www.backlight4you.com/advanced_search_result.php?categories_id=&inc_subcat=1&keywords=korg+a3

I also put an interchangeable battery holder in mine and replaced the rear jack sockets, as per this page: - https://trabantland.wordpress.com/category/edge-effects-units/korg-a3/

thomasw88 · September 2023

I gigged an A4 for most of the 90s. Great unit, had an ability to periodically wipe all the presets which was quite irritating..

Cirrus · September 2023

Gadget said:

You can relatively easily change the backlight strip, if you have a small amount of technical / soldering ability - https://www.backlight4you.com/advanced_search_result.php?categories_id=&inc_subcat=1&keywords=korg+a3

I also put an interchangeable battery holder in mine and replaced the rear jack sockets, as per this page: - https://trabantland.wordpress.com/category/edge-effects-units/korg-a3/

Yes! I've seen a video showing how and I can solder, so I'll get round to that eventually.

Oh, Trabantland! Not thought of that site in a while. I used to have one of his SDD preamp pedals. Wish I'd not sold it!

The latest development on my A3 journey: I've decided to throw caution to the wind and actually make it a part of my Practice/ Live rig. Because it doesn't quite make unity gain on a lot of the patches, I'm building a loop bypass switcher with a micro amp circuit on the return so I can bring up the volume to jive with the rest of my pedalboard.

Cirrus · September 2023

thomasw88 said:

I gigged an A4 for most of the 90s. Great unit, had an ability to periodically wipe all the presets which was quite irritating..

Yeah, I think the A3 does the same when the battery goes. Thing is, for a lot of the presets there aren't that many parameters really. I'm thinking I'll just write the settings down in a notebook.

vasselmeyer · October 2023

One of my favourite FX from past rigs was a Korg G3 which I got sometime in the 1990s. It was pretty basic and only had three banks in which there were three presets but I look back on it with some real fondness. I recorded virtually all the guitar sounds on our first album with it. Here's a sample of what I got out of it:

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Old Digital: Korg A3

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