pedals that miss the point

midiglitch · November 2013

Bit of fun this one. ..

A couple of pedals I have or have owned that I really like but seem to miss the point (for me anyway), and just curious if there are others out there.

1. Memory box deluxe. An analogue delay with tap tempo. The great character of this pedal is due to its blurry analogue repeats. Yet typically when tap tempo is called for you want pristine crisp repeats, which it doesn't deliver-particular at longer delay times.

2. Fulldrive 2. Awesome sounding tubescreamer/sd1 style pedal when used to add focus and edge to an already driven amp. Ie as a boost or to tighten things up. So why then make the pedal twice as big and add an extra boost stage?! I don't want to boost my boost!

I know others will use these pedals differently and so have different opinions....

Drew_TNBD · November 2013

Tap tempo is functionality, and doesn't have an inherent sound of its own. I really fail to see your logic

Also using a TS to boost an already driven amp is only one way to use them, and thus I also don't see your logic there either.

)

randomhandclaps · November 2013

For me it's any digital drive pedal - they are just all shit.

(I put the wink because it seemed to be customary

)

Cirrus · November 2013

Yeah I kind of agree with Drew here... Ok, here's one; any Proco Rat clone/boutique rip off of said Rat. The whole point of it is an aggressive dirty distortion with loads of attitude, and they're not expensive new. Why bother cloning them or trying to make a higher quality dirty distortion?

handsomerik · November 2013

random tone generator by EHX. I watched the you tube video and it seems like a random tone generator. ...oh.....wait it's supposed to do that then!

Best comment on the youtube vid was "just what I need to spice up my blues solo's"

ICBM · November 2013

Boss Fender Deluxe Reverb pedal.

I *so* wanted to like it. I really did.

But aside from the fact that it didn't sound very much like a Deluxe Reverb - although having a pretty decent chunky overdrive sound of its own - what use is an amp simulator pedal that you can't DI, because it has no speaker emulation? Or which has tremolo, but which you can't turn off without turning off the whole amp emulation (not without manually turning the depth control to zero, anyway)?

And not only that but which puts the controls you're likely to need often and to adjust finely - gain, volume, tremolo depth, reverb - on fiddly little stacked knobs but leaves the ones you aren't so much - treble and bass - on normal-sized single knobs…

So much fail in one small pedal. A real shame, it did actually sound good, but it's almost completely useless in a live situation.

Catthan · November 2013

The DLSIII.. Didn't hear any Marshalls from it.. But it's probably me as others seem to be very fond of it..

Tex Mexico · November 2013

I think most boutique overdrives that cost over £150. Firstly there's like four thousand of them so really what's your hand-painted variant of a three-dial 808 circuit really bringing to the table that's fresh? Secondly those overdrives only actually sound "wow" with a custom-shop tele into a low-watt handwired amp, but then that kind of rig also makes a £40 Bad Monkey sound "wow", and even then only if the guy playing it is any good, so who gives a shit.

Tex Mexico · November 2013

I'd make the same comment about all of Dunlop's laughably overpriced signature wah pedals. I'm not paying an extra £200 for a paint job and a different tone cap.

daveyh · November 2013

Everything that I don't own, or couldn't make work for me.

Tex Mexico · November 2013

But crucially, and I'd include a large number of pedal makers here but Visual Sound are a good example, there's no excuse for making a pedal with two switches that are really close together. Is it that these manufacturers kind of know deep down that really most of these pedals are bought by tone nerds who will only ever switch them on and off by hand in their bedrooms?

ThePrettyDamned · November 2013

Tex Mexico;74172" said:
But crucially, and I'd include a large number of pedal makers here but Visual Sound are a good example, there's no excuse for making a pedal with two switches that are really close together. Is it that these manufacturers kind of know deep down that really most of these pedals are bought by tone nerds who will only ever switch them on and off by hand in their bedrooms?

I've never found them too close together, even when stomping. Close enough to do both at once, far enough that you can easily do one.

I'd go with anything that uses a boggo switch for true bypass. They break. Use the same ones as visual sound, digitech or boss and I won't need to factor in how easy it is to remove the pcb, snip wires and strip them to solder to a new switch.

Obviously, the pedals with these switches are typically boutique because they're easy to wire.

Mooer shimverb. I hate shimmer reverb because it stops me feeling like a rock guitarist and makes me feel like an overly pretentious twat, but mooer had the opportunity to do something bargaintastic and ballsed it up by using 5ths instead of octaves.

digitalscream · November 2013

midiglitch said:
2. Fulldrive 2. Awesome sounding tubescreamer/sd1 style pedal when used to add focus and edge to an already driven amp. Ie as a boost or to tighten things up. So why then make the pedal twice as big and add an extra boost stage?! I don't want to boost my boost!

Adding level to a boost is very useful - people often want more than one level of boost. It works particularly well if arranged like the Valvesporker 2, where the secondary boost is only active when the main boost is (ie the footswitches don't work independently).

dogload · November 2013

ThePrettyDamned said:
Mooer shimverb. I hate shimmer reverb because it stops me feeling like a rock guitarist and makes me feel like an overly pretentious twat, but mooer had the opportunity to do something bargaintastic and ballsed it up by using 5ths instead of octaves.

I rather like the shimmer effect of the ShimVerb. I suppose in the sonic melange of what I refer to as 'my sound' the fact that it is 5ths doesn't make a difference. As long as it shimmers!

My biggest gripe with the ShimVerb is that the reverb doesn't last long enough, which is why I'm selling it!

Another pedal I don't get is the Tube Screamer. Maybe it's coz I onl;y use tranny amps, but it just doesn't do it for me. Always sounds a little tame. Am I allowed to say that?

daveyh · November 2013

digitalscream said:

midiglitch said:
2. Fulldrive 2. Awesome sounding tubescreamer/sd1 style pedal when used to add focus and edge to an already driven amp. Ie as a boost or to tighten things up. So why then make the pedal twice as big and add an extra boost stage?! I don't want to boost my boost!

Adding level to a boost is very useful - people often want more than one level of boost. It works particularly well if arranged like the Valvesporker 2, where the secondary boost is only active when the main boost is (ie the footswitches don't work independently).

This.

I like single channel amps, I'll set the amp with a nice rhythm drive and the gtr vol full so I can easily back off for clean. The FD2 allows me to set two further levels, which I use for lead/fills etc and 'in yer face'.

PolarityMan · November 2013

the metal muff was a huge dissapointment for me, not fuzzy enough to really qualify as a fuzz but not meaty enough to be a metal distortion.

guitarfishbay · November 2013

Tex Mexico said:

I'd make the same comment about all of Dunlop's laughably overpriced signature wah pedals. I'm not paying an extra £200 for a paint job and a different tone cap.

The Dime Wah is worth it over the 535Q, I A/B'd the two and the Dime won on sound and design IMO.

It has status lights for on/off and boost on/off, an extra top frequency control, skateboard grip (great upgrade) and can be wired to go right in -> left out or even left in -> left out. All pretty decent upgrades IMO.

The camo paintjob does look a bit stupid though!

Dave_Mc · November 2013

Tex Mexico said:

I think most boutique overdrives that cost over £150. Firstly there's like four thousand of them so really what's your hand-painted variant of a three-dial 808 circuit really bringing to the table that's fresh? Secondly those overdrives only actually sound "wow" with a custom-shop tele into a low-watt handwired amp, but then that kind of rig also makes a £40 Bad Monkey sound "wow", and even then only if the guy playing it is any good, so who gives a shit.

Agreed. The TGP brigade (somewhat superciliously, if you ask me) say stuff like, "Ah, you have to try it into a good amp to really appreciate it", but as you said, even cheap od pedals sound really good into those kinds of amps. EDIT: the cynic in me says they sound pretty good into even cheaper valve amps, too.

)

The other thing that annoys me is sticking religiously to vintage-accurate spec even when there's no point. For example, no DC jack or LED status indicator, or sticking to half-assed bypass for vintage accuracy reasons (rather than just cheaping out, which sucks, but at least is sort of rational on a cheaper pedal).

Maxi · November 2013

The Boss EQ-20

Its a 9 user patch double stomp (2 foot switches) EQ pedal but you cant scroll through the patches using your foot :>

Also the JamMan solo xt is totally powerful a brilliant looper but such a small footprint means it takes up twice as much space once youve bought the remote patch switch . The bigger one has smaller footprint .

ICBM · November 2013

Dave_Mc said:
The other thing that annoys me is sticking religiously to vintage-accurate spec even when there's no point. For example, no DC jack or LED status indicator, or sticking to half-assed bypass for vintage accuracy reasons (rather than just cheaping out, which sucks, but at least is sort of rational on a cheaper pedal).

This is very prevalent on a lot of gear, not just pedals.

For example, why do modern Strats have two tone controls? Do you know anyone who uses even one of them, let alone sets them differently?

Axe_meister · November 2013

Depends I use the TBX control and the tone knob quite a bit on my US standard.
My bitsa strat has been reworded so one tone knob works on the bridge the other on the neck so they do get used

ICBM · November 2013

Axe_meister said:

Depends I use the TBX control and the tone knob quite a bit on my US standard.
My bitsa strat has been reworded so one tone knob works on the bridge the other on the neck so they do get used

There's always one

.

Seriously, would you miss the second one if there was just one master tone control? Or do you actually preset different tones and switch between them?

To be honest, when I played in a 50s-style rock'n'roll band I did use a Strat exactly as Leo intended - 3-way switch, two separate tone settings and no tone control on the bridge pickup. But that's what Vintage Reissues are for

.

For most players I think it's just that they don't look "right" with only two knobs.

Other pedals which miss the point - analogue delays, or simulations of them, which won't self-oscillate.

Shark_Eyes · November 2013

ICBM said:

Other pedals which miss the point - analogue delays, or simulations of them, which won't self-oscillate.

This! It's the most exciting bit of an analogue delay if you ask me.

Drew_TNBD · November 2013

^ Agree. If I want an analog delay, I want the squeally noises!

dogload · November 2013

ICBM said:
Seriously, would you miss the second one if there was just one master tone control? Or do you actually preset different tones and switch between them?

Other pedals which miss the point - analogue delays, or simulations of them, which won't self-oscillate.

I actually use the tone control on the neck pickup of my Strats to get that really muddy tone that sounds so good with fuzz (which is surely the reason that the rhythm circuit of a Jazzmaster was designed

). I wouldn't want to replace the two tones with a single master tone. I can get by with the single tone on a Jazzmaster, but that does have the advantage of that extra circuit.

I completely agree with you though as far as analogue delays go. I've always thought that putting filters on synths that wouldn't self oscillate was a bit shite too. Such a cop-out.

ThePrettyDamned · November 2013

I'm with ICBM on the strat tone thing - I'd have 2 volume and a master tone. My jazzmaster was more an experiment, but I really just use the volume and roll all the tone off on the neck pickup when putting it through my fuzz sometimes.

Modelling or analogue delay that doesn't oscillate does seem daft - the digitech digidelay was amazing but for that...

The EHX Metal Muff. The actual tone is great, works great for fuzzy ish stuff or out right metal. But the top boost circuit on it is so... Mental. Try turning it above a quarter and you'll see what I mean! It just needed half as much boost across the whole range. And less treble added!

guitarfishbay · November 2013

ICBM said:

Dave_Mc said:
The other thing that annoys me is sticking religiously to vintage-accurate spec even when there's no point. For example, no DC jack or LED status indicator, or sticking to half-assed bypass for vintage accuracy reasons (rather than just cheaping out, which sucks, but at least is sort of rational on a cheaper pedal).

This is very prevalent on a lot of gear, not just pedals.

For example, why do modern Strats have two tone controls? Do you know anyone who uses even one of them, let alone sets them differently?

If it is wired as bridge tone, and neck+middle tone then I use two tone controls. If it is wired as neck, middle (no bridge) I'd use none, or neck, bridge + middle, I'd use one.

I really like a bridge tone control but like it if it is one that bypasses when on 10 so you can get a traditional strat tone too if you'd like. But if you can't affect the bridge then I think the guitar can get too unbalanced turning down the already mellower neck and middle pickups. Having the bridge and middle on the same tone control is annoying because it affects position 4 out of 5 positions! It is most annoying on pos 4, turning the middle tone down stops you getting as much sparkle with your quack.

frankus · November 2013

I use two tones on a strat - when I play one.

I wire it so the bridge has no tone control - who wants tone control on a bridge?!

So neck and middle have seperate controls, works well for me YMMV (sorry that entirely misses the point of this thread, but there it is)

I also really like the HLK on strats as a ballsy bridge pickup can make a great H/B-like sound.

crunchman · November 2013

I've rewired my 62 reissue Strat with the no load tone pot on the bridge. I still have the other one wired to the neck pickup which is great for those dark fuzzy type things as @dogload said.

Drew_TNBD · November 2013

Been getting into having a tone control on the bridge recently actually! It's basically the only way to play 'Jimmy' by Tool and have it sound close to the record. Roll it all the way off, roll it back up for the big choruses.

Bidley · November 2013

I've never seen the point in Les Paul configurations, i.e. a volume pot for each pickup? Why? Is that not what the selector switch is for?

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