OVERDRIVE- THE CHANNEL OVERDRIVE...potent pedals

complete...but watch for updates

THE CHANNEL OVERDRIVE

THIS STUFF IS NOT CHEAP...but keep in mind it is intended to replace a preamp channel in an amp.

...one of these thru any amp could be argued to sound better then most amps that will cost you over a thousand dollars.

 HAVE WE BEEN HERE BEFORE?

YES!

The first amps only had one channel and when the early pedals that distorted the signal...the treble boosters and Fuzz arrived they became in affect a second channel. The amp manufacturers saw this and accommodated their next generation amp with a second channel.

Since then the pedals and amp makers have played leap frog...with the new pedals...and have  up things until now we have amps with as many as 4 channels!

SO WHAT'S THE BIG DEAL? I KNOW THIS!!!

To answer this it is time to talk about the generational system. In short ...new music made by new young players who learnt by listening to and copying the gear used by the last generation. The very cool listen to and picked up on the players that their heroes and used as their role models.

Now as we all know things have changed. Thanks to the internet.
ALL RECORDINGS ARE FREE IF YOU LOOK HARD ENOUGH.

Before the internet... musicians promoted their recordings by playing live ...often for a loss. The big money was in the record sales.

NOW!!!

Musicians tour to MAKE MONEY as their recordings are virtually free...the recordings are but commercials to put bums on seats at the gigs.

THE SEMI RETIRED GUITAR HERO!

This insulting title has a point!

The guitar heroes of yesterday work 5 times harder... know then before. They do workshops...play on other's recordings. Promote equipment...and get in on the design process with the gear they promote...which means doing trade shows etc....

They often have a small band to tour with and do their own thing. Their own thing is all about ART...and not about entertainment. The gigs are smaller...and the audience is half people that truly loved the band they were in for years...and of course other musicians.

Now...if you come full circle...from starting out with little money to going back to having to budget...you know it is a demanding task
.

WHY WE ALL WILL WANT A CHANNEL OD

THE THING THAT KILLS MAKING MONEY AT THE GIG IS BRINGING ALL YOUR EQUIPMENT!!!!
If you have ever toured with a contract demanding what has to be supplied you know what happens. NOTHING...you can even get a used no-name 20 year old nasty old school transistor amp to play through.
You can refuse to go on.   BUT!!!
Congratulations....you just told your best fans with tickets to F off!!

The answer is making a Channel OD the bases of your sound.
Better yet have a one of the better Gourmet manufacturers work with you for the perfect pedal. This is not hard because a pedal with your name on it quickly becomes their big seller. EVERY TIME!



Sooo...this is what is happening....and what our heroes do...we do.
Think you are immune?
well...when all the amp makers start by offering their very best amp with only one channel. Game over..

WHY? would they do that...because the above players are asking for them...and/or are only using the clean channel of their favorite amp anyway. Extra amp channels cost money....why put them there for the dying old breed musician???

Andy Timmons...a convert

Check it out....the new breed of Channel Overdrive....the sound you hear will sound exactly like this demo even when played thru a half ass no-name 15 watt practice amp bought at a garage sale.

Seriously...the @ is that good!!

CHANNEL OVERDRIVES

THE CHOICES

THE JOYO AMERICAN & the TECH21 BLONDE

I have gone in some detail already with this pedal in both the LETS BUY AND OVERDRIVE
and in A PEDAL THAT CLONES AN AMP PERFECTLY...Pt. 1
I will not repeat myself so check out those two Posts

CATALINBREAD
DIRTY LITTLE SECRET

In the Post  ....A PEDAL THAT CLONES AN AMP PERFECTLY. I go into extensive details.The folks at Catlinbread even show you how to make the pedal....a 'Foundation Pedal' which is a term that
is more or less...make the pedal a 'Channel Overdrive'
So check out the Post.

JHS
ANGRY CHARLIE 

This was the first attempt by JHS to give you a serious Marshall JVC 800 sounding pedal. Rumours are rampant that it started life as a MI Effects Crunch box...but who knows.

Go to __So Let's Buy An Overdrive__and check out the Caline Sand Storm MI Effects Super Crunch clone...it's only $25.00 USD

Once Andy Timmons started using one...word got around and the sales went viral. There is now both a new Angry Charlie and the Andy Timmons  AT  @.

                                                                 









This has been replaced by the new v3
Current Price$199.00 USD >>

                                                           

The Andy Timmons AT (@) pedal

an Angry Charlie on steroids

Current Price $219.00 USD

Check out the 25 watt mode of the... JHS The 'AT' ...the sound is massive (more then the all the other pedals)

the sustain is excellent. The most impressive thing is that the amp is at a very low volume...and the harmonics jumped right out of the longer notes. I have not seen a pedal that can do that without the benefit of a cranked amp to allow for some feedback!!!

This pedal really raises the bar!!!

It's May10/16...and the mailman just delivered an @ to my door.

I played it for an hour and not one thing I have said about was not as good or better then I said. 

.

BUT something that I did not expect really blew my mind!

I was looking down wailing away when suddenly it occurred to me that the sound was coming out of a 4x 12 cab. Whoa!!!  I don't have a 4x12 cab...I sold mine years ago...I was listening to a 15 watt practice amp turned up only to 2 and with an 8 inch speaker????

OF NOTE: According to Chappers and the Captain of Anderton's TV....When doing a demo of entry level guitars. "Put an JHS @ on them and they all sound amazing!"

So it is Aug 21/16... I have bought have bought 5 new OD's since

They were great fun for a week..and still enjoyable in the tunes  play them in.

BUT THE @ is still my favourite !!!

THE ANGRY CHARLIE pedals were derivative of the CHARLIE BROWN pedals

these were JTM 45 sounding pedals...

very nice but not nearly as aggressive....

the old one is still available but so is the new one with updated EQ

AMPTWEAKER PRO TIGHT METAL & BIG ROCK PRO

Quite simply a Modern type Metal pedal...with no stone left unturned. AmpTweaker make many variations both as full featured or smaller pedals with basic functions. Their customers use them with all manner of huge stacks to bedroom amps. The major point is that the pedal is totally self contained

as a Channel Overdrive.
This pedal was design to put Eddie Van Halen's sound in a box by James Brown (do not ask...lol)
The same Mr. Brown that designed Eddies amp the 5150...now the 5150IIIS.
He did a stellar job and it is much closer then the MXR EVH to give you that sound.
The design and build are hard to criticize
.
If you do not like this pedal then check out the Big Rock Pro.
Both pedals are the same...it is only the 'voicing' that is different.

It is not hard to get a very similar sound to the Tight Metal...in fact I feel this pedal scooped leaves the EVH it in the dust!!!! IT IS THE SAME BUT MUCH FATTER!
.BUT...what sold me is with the click of a switch you get the classic Marshall sound. To my ears the ever popular....JMC 800. I have several...all a bit different... all great.
The thing is that all my other overdrives are excellent...but for soloing you need that extra sustain...you want pinched harmonics to jump and the overtones on those long notes to easily soar up an octave or 2. THIS IS WHERE THIS PEDAL LEADS THE PACK!
Both these pedals are really 2 pedals in one box....a great overdrive ...and a distortion with switches to change from one to the other.

There are no end of videos...more entertaining then useful. I picked the first one because I find it both informative and objective. Better still it is concise.
The Big Rock is much the same. To hear just how close the real amp is to the pedal is the clincher.
Just ask yourself...if you heard this pedal substituted on a record by a good player...could you tell it was not an amp. I damn well could not.

Current Price $320.00 USD  for either pedal. BIG OUCH!

If you love it and need to justify purchasing it

Consider it a $160.00 USD overdrive and a $160.00 USD distortion pedal

quite a reasonable cost for the 'best'

I have to admit every feature works flawlessly...the build is as good as it gets

if I give the

  JHS 'The AT' a 10 for it's overdrive sound the Amptweaker Big Rock Pro will get a 9.5

...but sound is subjective at this point.

and the Big Rock Pro...gets a 10 for it's soloing voice and response.

I hate to say it but this pedal is not over priced.

AT THIS POINT IN TIME THIS IS 

THE BEST OF THE BEST

NOW..... DO I BUY ONE OR NO ????

If I do... I have to dump a pedal or two to make room on the pedal board

EMPRESS HEAVY

Yet another self contained Channel drive type all bells whistles box. I probably sound cynical...but actually these units are damn impressive. Thanks to some excellent gating in the design...the pedal is stone silent. If you can not get your perfect sound out of this pedal...it will be because the complexity given to you to get it is overwhelming. You can not get away about getting too much in Western Culture...it is simply unthinkable.
Parts and quality build are as good as it gets.

• SO...even if you are in the 'camp' that nothing beats real overdrive distortion from a great tube amp. 
• You would not be reading this if you did not feel that any amp could use a bit of nudge from a cool pedal. OK ...my point is you can not beat pedals that sounds this great even in a fairly lame amp

NOISE GATES

THE NOISE GATE

HOW THEY WORK....AND WHY THEY DON'T

The first thing to clear up right away is that a noise gate does not remove noise.

The second thing is if you are only trying to get rid of hiss from your guitar or pedals...it will be easy.

If how ever you are setting a pedal up to overload the front end of your amp...worse yet...more then one pedal even crazier .... have them boosting at different levels. LOOK OUT!!!

What they do is really quite simple. The noise from a pedal is often just a simple annoying hum. So on a very simple Gate with one knob you turn the knob until the hum stops. You have now instructed the gate to turn off anything that is of the same amplitude or even quieter then the hum. Unfortunately a bit of the guitar signal when fading away is that loud too. Some pedals give you a second knob to tell the gate not to shut the signal off for a moment..or 2 or 3. This lets the note or chord fade away more naturally. With Metal...part of the style includes dramatic rests or stops where clipping off a bit of the note is acceptable as part of the drama....full volume to dead quiet.

It would also be nice to set the gate and just leave it on. Unfortunately an credibility noisy Fuzz can be gated nicely to behave. BUT....switch off the Fuzz and go to a quieter pedal and the gate may refuse to open or start turning off quiet notes....or turn on and off at random during a soft passage.
This on and off is called chattering. 
Trying to balance all this out can drive you nuts.

Setting all your pedals at unity gain can help. Unity gain means all pedals are set to the same volume as your clean sound. Obviously an overdrive set to excess gain is going to make more overt noise then the hum of another pedal. In short getting all the pedals set at the same volume will make a big difference.






If you like a boost by setting your volume on a pedal high...get a booster (see overdrives) or an EQ. 
Then place this pedal at the end of the PEDAL chain... just before going to your amp.

 This will give the amp a rich signal...and solve some of the gate problems.


Some companies have made  SMART GATES ...with an in and out to loop the noisy pedals...and the quieter ones go thru the regular in and out. This allows for the Gate to read the two signals to differentiate what is signal and what is just noise. In other words if your guitar strings are still ringing the gate is told not to shut until they stop.
Or to put it anther way...lets say your fuzz ...between a number of 1 to 10....start making noise at 8...so it gets gated at 8. The guitar is quiet but starts to die and hiss  at 9. So the smart gate tells the fuzz sound to wait until 9. The result is the signal doesn't sound chopped off. 

Myself I use 3 separate gates in 3 separate loops...so to put a lower demand on the gates.
I also use a noise suppressor at the beginning of the chain to keep the guitar pickups quiet.

So..why bother?  Well many do not. BUT once you "Don't hear the difference" there is no going back.   LOL

Gates can cost $30.00 for a basic cheapie to nearly $ 200.00 for the best of the smart gates.

Noise gates can be used either at the output of a single or a chain of noisy pedals or in the effects loop of an amp.

LET'S BUY ONE!

JOYO JF-31
NOISE GATE

It works great for Metal as is. The fade out is short but fixed so a tiny bit of the signal can be snipped.  So for purists it will not do.
I quite like it. Like all Joyo pedals it is well made.


Current Price $35.00 USD

JOYO IRONMAN
GATE OF KAHN    



This is their clever Nano jobbie...I bought cheap on  ebay...
I guessed I would be the only one to bid. Bingo! I was right.

The fade on the decay time is a moment longer...otherwise except for size it is the same. Speaking of size...the price is not nano!

CURRENT PRICE $60.00 USD

TOM'S LINE

ANG-1 NOISE GATE

Nice built...the knobs move firmly but freely. The fade on the decay time is changeable from instant to very long. Of the 3 gates compared only this one gives you a 'hard' gate...which is a gate without any fade...and this can be very effective. It is not only dramatic...it makes stops on a delay pedal or reverb with predelay from echoing a nasty bit of noise.
 BUT...beware if you move the Threshold just a hair length more then necessary It will kill another pedal when you switch to it. .... I really do not like it's unforgiving nature.

I can not get over trouble shooting a pedal or a chord that appears to be NFG when it is simply the gate was left turned on. 
Even so the price and the hard gate effect are hard to ignore.
I am in the midst of updating my gates...yet this will be the last to go...if indeed it does go. So faults aside it is a winner...it does the job...and gets you back into buying the pedals that sound cool even if they make a bit of noise.

                                                 Current Price $24.00 USA

ROCKTRON MICRO HUSH

It kills the noise without using a gate. I have yet to find out how...but it is their own highly protected technology. It is simple to use... just one knob. The bad news it was engineered long before a lot players had 3 killer overdrives and a METAL pedal. It was designed to transparently kill hiss especially when most pedals created some but few players used more then 2 or 3 pedals.

It is still loved by Strat players like me who love vintage single coil pick pickups but HATE the hiss. Nothing is so nice but to not get any noise out of your much loved guitar no matter what pickups you prefer. They make several models.

but the micro is all you need.

                                                  
Current Price $100.00 USD                                                                           

single coil heaven...

Current Price $135.00 USD

IPS DECIMATOR II NOISE GATE

This is the best single end noise gate out there. For many this will work great. It could not be  simpler to use ...just turn the knob until the noise goes away. I have one at the end of my Fuzz loop. It works well there because the various fuzz boxes put out about the same level of noise so I can get a setting and just forget about it.
The problem with single end boxes is that you set them for a very noisy pedal...switch to different pedal that is not too noisy and the 'heavy' setting you have it on will chop off the end of your note..or even turn off the whole sound coming out that pedal.

I have smart gates on my OD and on my distortion loops
where these problems can be solved.

I was getting by nicely with the Fuzz pedals with a Tom'sline ANG-1...but thought I would move up if any of the
3 best single end gates like the MXR or a Boss or even a isp
IF one showed up used on the cheap.
Well one did!

I actually got the Decimator I...the only difference is the II has a side chain to use if you are putting it in the effects loop of an amp which is of no use to me. The entire gating system of both pedals is the same...part for part. So at $46.00 USD...getting it was a no brainer.

SMART GATES

As I mentioned in the intro. These pedals have an input and output to read your clean signal and a second in and out looping your noisy pedals. This way the pedal  can gate the noise...while at the same time compare it to the ungated signal... the pedal can tell what is guitar signal and what is noise so it won't chop off the guitar if the guitar signal is quieter then the noise...this mainly applies to distortions...like fuzz..overdrives etc. because they can feed back easily...and make the noise much louder then the guitar.

NOTE: There are not as yet any cheap Smart Gates...so they meet the SBS rule of  a pro pedal
that can not be had for less then $100.00.


                                          Great Overview....watch it.

The ISP has the reputation as being the finest....and the most expensive.

The MXR is cheaper and a close second. If lint picked...the MXR lets a moment of faded noise go thru before turning completely off.

The TC Electonic is new...BUT they borrowed technology from their rack mount gate...so the New tag is only technically correct.
It works the same way as the others...BUT in addition it will divide the input into lows mids and highs When a signal fades away on a note or a chord... first the lows then the mids then lastly the highs naturally fade in that order....so they are gated in 3 separate stages. The result is a more natural sounding transition...from signal being on then off.

... Considering the extra features...and the stellar reputation of the company...without a hands on I would go for the Sentry.

I am at present deciding to get one...or not. . I have a unique problem of wanting to gate 29 of my pedals...at present they are in 3 separate loops with 3 separate conventional gates.
One is expensive but 3!!!



So I bought one! After using my gate for a few weeks I noticed that my guitar sounds on the Second tier of my board sound noticeably better then my third tier. The difference is the gate. When a pedal is going thru any pedal it has a 'buffer circuit' to keep the the signal clean and tight...the better the pedal the better the buffer.I like the difference so much that I bought  another TC Electronic Sentry for my 3rd tier. I can not wait for the mini gate....I am however keeping my Tom'sline gate on the 4th tier...I will perhaps replace it if a new mini gate shows up.
My 4th tier has a envelope modifier. In short it fades in the signal like a swell pedal. The Sentry which reads at 2 points in the signal would gate this pedal right off. I can only use a 'single end 'noise gate. So for now I will stick with the Tom'sline. If TC Electronics bring out a mini gate...I suspect being small it will be single end. It should be much cheaper too.  A new mini type gate was not announced June 1/16 yet 3 other types of pedals are now on offer...so it is unlikely to happen this year.

I have gone to an electronic switcher...and expanded to 5 loops. The last is just FX so they make very little noise. My single end Ironman works fine on such a low noise floor.

The Fuzz pedals have their own loop. I was able to pick up an ICP Decimator I ...a simple single end gate. before the smart gate this was the best gate possible to buy. I can see why..for a single end gate it does a great job.

A NICE SURPRISE

I learnt that the HUSH  on my guitar input has very nice secondary function. I turn it up just a bit and the guitar hiss is gone. If I push it just tiny bit more it tightens up my overdrives...and it does not mess with the natural overall sound. It gets rid of some of resonance & woolliness. A few of the newer Distortions have a  'Tight' knob on them. This seems to do the same job.

ICP DECIMATOR II
G String
NOISE GATE
Current Price $170.00 USD

MXR M-135
SMART GATE
Current Price $130.00 USD

TC ELECTRONIC SENTRY
NOISE GATE
Current Price $130.00 USD

                                                                     PEARLY PEDALS

                                                                                  NOISE GATE                  

                                                                      analog noise gate

                                                                           first made in the 60's BC

                                                                                      now out of production.                                                                                                                                        

-----

THE BOTTOM LINE

I bought a TC ELECTRONIC SENTRY  smart gate..it works so damn well I bought a second!

When I bought it ...it was the cheapest too.

Trust me...this is the one to get. ZERO problems!!!

OVERDRIVE- IS IT A DISTORTION PEDAL OR AN OVERDRIVE OR A FUZZ ???

CATALINBREAD'S  KATZENKOENIG

So...I heard what I assumed was the fattest fullest overdrive I have ever heard.
It was tight but it had the kind of totally massive bass I have only heard on an exceptional fuzz...but it can not be a fuzz...because...well...not fuzzy???
The player then went into a solo with lots of sustain...even the harmonics were lifting off the notes...so it is a distortion?
 Right?
 Right???

This has got to have a logical answer...it is not magic...

    EVEN IF THE  RESULTS ARE!!

VERY COOL !!!!
BUT IT HAS A DOWN SIDE

It uses very old technology and bastardizes it. An old Germanium Fuzz design...but with the transisters swapped out to Silicon jobbies. Then the back half of the design is from a Rat distortion.
You can not cobble a thing like this together without problems...in this case the noise floor is high. To be fair there are a lot of pedals that sound great that have a high noise floor.
But this being a high end pedal...puting in a gate should be a given.
This would not stop me from buying one...as I have some noisy pedals and I have 4 gates to look after that. Yes with nearly 50 pedals this makes sense.

OH YES CURRENT PRICE  $ 170.00 USD

OK....I have gone over this for a week. I extended my research to the WHITE RAT 85....a limited edition remake of the first RAT....the only one that the critics raved about...all others were panned....It sounded disturbingly similar to my fav setting on the KATZENKONIG.

NOW TO MY SURPRISE....another demo compared the WHITE RAT to a MOOER BLACK SECRET

OUCH!!!....the Mooer clone was about 98% right on.  The Rat had a tiny bit more honk in the low end...the Mooer was a little tighter...Which sounds best as to compared to how close they are to each other is another question.
I would call it a tie.
If you lean modern...you would pick the Mooer..
If you love the traditional approach ...you would pick the Rat

Me...I can see using it as an overdrive and teaming it up with my Bogner Uberschall modern distortion.

 It sells for $48.00 USD

WELL..WHAT ELSE BUT TO FIND IT'S REBRAND ???  YES ???

FOUND IT   TOM'SLINE BLACK TEETH......Current Price $30.00 USD  RAT CLONE!

IT IS ON ORDER....a review in mid May..should be a given!

SDS...IS BACK ON TRACK WITH A REALLY COOL CHEAP PEDAL....
...........let's see if we all get a great pedal...and save $140.00 as well???



_________________________________________________________________________________

PHASER... FLANGER... CHORUS

A FLANGER...A CHORUS what's the difference 

NOT MUCH!

The technology is basically the same...

With the Flanger... the guitar signal is delayed about 10 ms and modulated...then blended together with a regenerated copy of the first flange signal...then the dry signal is added back in.
At 10 ms the effect is so weak...that it needs the regenerated signal.

A Chorus...is delayed by 30ms and does not need the second regenerated signal.

The Flanger was the first pedal to arrive...because it was 2 years after it that the technology had advanced enough for the longer delay time.

The Flanger has a lighter but more ornate sound. I find it can add a little icing on a dirt guitar solo.
It tends not to overwhelm the signal and leaves all the meat in the distorted voice

A Chorus can be quite full and rich...almost 12 string like on chords. Great for transforming something...that is at home on a Martin...but may sound harsh on an electric guitar.
I am not a lover of it on a heavily distorted sound. A lot of players love that because it fattens up the sound. I hate it because the modulation does what some call 'motor boating'...a continuous cycle of peaks and valleys in the signal. A nice long sustained over driven note in a great solo sounds like a Harley idling at a stop light!
I must admit...lots of players in the demos do a stellar job with a distorted tone and the chorus up full.

And...we get back to the analog vs. digital thing. I do like a good quality analog  flanged signal. It can be very rich...warm and airy. The analog chorus can be like this too... the best chorus sounds have nice crisp highs
As for digital. Well I love a digital Chorus too.The top is razor sharp and bright and the lows are fat and full and never muddy.
Try one of each played together and there is no going back.!!!

(put the analog chorus in front of the digital for best results.)

Anyhow...all that said I have 2 Chorus pedals and a Flanger.

HERE'S MY PICKs

DONNER CONVOLUTION FLANGER

Yes yet another Mooer re-brand. This time it is a clone of the Electro-Harmonics Electric Mistress.
In fact it is similar...but the Mooer is actually warmer sounding. I had the EH for years and it is a tad strident.

                                                                                        Current Price $31.00 USD 
                                                                            
                                                                             

           Current Price $46.00 USD

NUX CH-3 CHORUS

Nux specialize in digital pedals....the quality is second to none. this is so clean I thought it was digital it is not. It sounds great on it's own but stacked with Donner it is awesome. Huge but not too busy.
This is not a vintage sounding pedal. It is very modern. After having both I find I keep going back to this one. It really fattens up a sound but always frames the pedals you use with it. If any one out there could use it for a week on trial...they would not give it back!


         Current Price $28.00 USD

                                                                                       

 NUX CHORUS CORE

I do not have this pedal...but I have the delay
so it is safe to say you get a lot of useful 
bells and whistles.The Tri-Chorus effect
is worth the price.

                                                       Current Price $38.00 USD

DONNER TUTI LOVE CHORUS

A Mooer re-brand again. Not much to add.
Many players have trusted their Chorus effect to the Boss CE-2 Chorus for years. If it is not broke then don't fix it. Steel it. LOL Yes...this is a Boss clone.

I recommend you choose by the color of the paint.



The Boss CE-2 is out of production
The Valetron Loft is an exact clone part for part.

Current Price $89.00 USD

            Current Price $34.00 USD

Current Price $$46.00 USD

I recommend getting both the faux Boss and a Nux Chorus Pedal...if you do...money or not you will never be looking over a Gourmet pedal and wishing.
With both you can do a lot.
Ok...if you want just one flip a coin ....for my money they are a tie.

PHASER PHIRST!!!

Back in the BAD OLD DAYS....the Phaser arrived.
It was even there by EH before the Gourmet guy MXR....Cross yourself...at the time MXR was considered expensive and sophisticated.There wasn't even that cheap Japanese crap Boss to choose from. YUP!  Japanese pedals had the status that the Chinese pedals are going thru.

NOTE:  The GUITARS MADE IN KOREA HAVE REACHED THE QUALITY OF BUILD
OF THE U.S. AND JAPANESE GUITARS. IN A VERY FEW YEARS YOUR NEXT GUITAR HERO WILL PLAY ONE. YOU HEARD IT HERE FIRST.
I HAVE ONE! $450.00
and it sounds...and plays and is as good as my Les Paul.....No SHORT CUTS...solid ash with a fixed maple neck. 
This has already happened with cars made in Korea...guitars are next!

NOW WHAT WAS I TALKING ABOUT??? OH YES

PHASERS

HOW IT WORKS
Back to the delay thing again. Before there was a chip to delay the signal enough to make even the Flanger...it was found that an... all pass filter... with it's micro second delay was enough to put the overtones out of phase.  this literally was  just smearing the sound. This happens with cheap stereo speakers where the tweeter signal reaches you ears before the speaker can.This sounds like crap. BUT...if you put in an osilater to sweep from the in sync dry signal back to the out of phase signal and back...cool sh@t happens. So put in a second ...high pass filter..and you phase the phase...put in a third...etc.

OK...the choices

DONNER PEARL TREMOR PHASE

An MXR Phase 90 clone. Yes and again a Mooer re-brand. 


Current Price $31.00 USD

< Current Price $186.00 USD





               Current Price $52.00 USD. >

DELAYS- SBS

DELAYS

First a delay can be more then just a stomp box to make echos....BUT making echoes is it's primary function!

There are 2 kinds of Delay types....old style Analog....and Digital. Some players love one and hate the other. This is nuts...they both have zero to do with capturing a natural echo. They are both excellent in their own way. BUY ONE OF EACH....you will use them both!

ANALOG DELAY 

There were not any digital chips to make digital pedals of any kind when the first analog delays were made. They used what is called a bucket brigade device chip...a very crude form of recording a note or chord...then recycling it over and over fading the short recording as it is repeated...until it fades away.
It looses nearly all the top and low end of the sound it has recorded. The trick is to make this note sound pleasant. Secondly the recording can only be held on the chip for a short time so the time between each repeat has be much shorter then for a digital delay.

DIGITAL DELAY 

Digital Delay works on fairly simple format...A digital recording is made of the incoming signal in tiny amounts then each recording is played over several times with an evenly timed space between each little recording...this short recording of your guitar signal is called a 'sample.' A sample can be stored reasonably long time so slow repeats are possible with a digital delay.Analog delay is not natural delay because it eats up highs and lows and distorts what's left. With digital you create a perfectly clear recording of the guitar signal...and it repeats unchanged...that does not happen in nature either.


WHICH IS BETTER

Analog... tends to give the echo a soft and unobtrusive ambiance. Digital is so crisp and clean it helps stop the clutter that echos can create. Having one of each is ideal...each one creates the mood best suited to it's application.

HERE ARE MY CHOICES

MIGHTY SOUND

M-5 DELAY

This is a mini pedal. It is straight forward...no bells or whistles. In a review title 'THE FIVE BEST DELAYS'  it was right there on the list with some other big time ...big money delay pedal choices. It is quite frankly the kind of pedal that some one like the Gourmet boys at Xotic might sell along with their  highly praised Compressor.

It should be a $150.00 USD pedal made in California....but it is not.

When I first saw it I thought it was yet another Mooer re-brand. It took a lot of research to find out it is a new line of pedals designed stateside but made by Cherry Music ...not a bad looking website...but very little info on each product and no videos at all.

The controls are classic for an analog delay.
Echo ...Time...and Feedback
Simple...how loud the echo is to your dry signal...how many repeats and how long the time is before the next repeat arrives.

It takes seconds to learn how to use it. The sound is warm but clear. My ears tell me it has a dynamite buffer built into the delay circuit...because it is is full... but tight sounding.

It is a little gem. Any price less the $65.00 USD is a Steal. It is the very best value for money for a pedal of any kind Hell...even the cosmetics are great!!!

 Current Price $23.00 USD

HEY THERE BUNKY.....get the F. OFF THIS BLOG RIGHT NOW AND GO TO

 ALI EXPRESS AND GET ONE!!!!

NO DELAY ON BUYING A DELAY...

NUX 

TIME CORE

DIGITAL DELAY

Nux basically specialize in digital pedals. The quality is excellent. At least as good as the bulk of mainstream and Gourmet pedals under $200.00
So keep an eye on any pedal that might benefit from being digital. If Nux make one check it out. This thing sounds great on Bass guitars as well. They make 3 other delay pedals each having more and more bells and whistles.

Even this pedal has a few. Most notable is a Phrase Looper.
This is a bullet proof basic pedal. It is a keeper.
They do a re-brand for Donner. I have the Donner...but now the Nux is cheaper then the Donner.
The spec shows are up there with some of the best.

                            Current Price $44.00 USD

TC ELECTRONIC FLASHBACK DELAY

The best digital delay on the planet is the  STRYMON TIMELINE a large pedal with 200 presets and an infinity of functions. It is $450.00 USD.

The price says it all.

At the bottom of the 'Serious Delay Pedal' category is the TC ELECTRONIC FLASHBACK...there are several versions even a mini with just one sound (You can download dozens of different sounds to replace it...but it still just has one sound)

There are delay pedals that are marginally better then the Flashback...but why bother...in short if out of 10...the TIMELINE is a 10...and the FLASHBACK is a 9. Why bother with a 9.4 or a 9.7 ???

For only a tiny improvement you can spend a lot more money then  the $110.00 USD that the FLASHBACK goes for and still not have the best. The flashback is used by hundreds of pro's that find the sound quality superb...and prefer its incredible simplicity to operate.

(me too)  lol
The rack mount version that the Flashback was derived from has been the mainstay of Pink Floyd  since 1976. 

But why buy?

....well as for myself...with 45 pedals...this timing thing was just too alluring. I find I use it a lot more then I ever used the NUX.

It sounds great...the selection of sounds is better then the NUX and it is dead simple to use

.

TONE CITY T4 TAPE MACHINE

Tone city was founded by J. WONG.......who is the guy behind the better Mooer clones. He thought with his skills to design a true clone, the freedom of a bigger budget ....then add to that a that a handmade Chinese product at a low enough price that we could not resist..

Well...maybe...lol

But after giving a few a listen I found the..... a clone of the B & F of Finland's... Mad Professor Deep Blue Delay which is analog modeling of a tape delay pedal is a winner. It trys to sounds like a early 60's EchoPlex tape delay...the early tube version. I owned one...it is merely an impression of one.
But it sounds great...and that's enough.

The Sound City T4 .Tape Machine
...is a very excellent sounding pedal.

 At $89.00 USD...compared to the Deep Blue..$338.00 USD. Tone City have a winner.

Now ...this is where it get's interesting.

BOGUS CLONE

There is a clone...maybe even a counterfeit look alike from China...Mogoo I suspect.
Sometimes Mogoo get the sound
right...especially with their OD's but this time. NO!

In fact some players have bought the Chinese clone used and paid 2 or 3 times the $37.00 USD price thinking that they have an original.... for they probably do not know these clones exist... Now many have gone on line warning others to NOT BUY A DEEP BLUE DELAY that the Mad Professor product is crap.



So you have been warned!!!!

THE ORIGINAL