FUZZ- MASK AUDIO ELECTRONICS Emiter Cascader ...unexpected definition!

 AUDIO ELECTRONICS CASCADER FUZZ 

$175.00 USD

It was built with in collaboration with Collector Emitter famous for their gourmet Milkman amps.

It has a Muff vibe with a bit of the gated thing. But it is definitely a stand out. It goes for the biggest balz to the wall sound you can get yet it has punch and balz to spare. The best thing is its attack and definition. Every note is defined and clear. There is not a trace of mud nor do your notes just melt together.

CONCLUSION

I am really impressed. In a band context a lot of Fuzz pedals can be a total wash or disappear behind the drums and bass player. This has a brutal sound but cuts like an axe. In spite of that it still has a decent sustain which often gets lost when going for such a tight sound. This one needs some thought, what could it kick off my board ??? LOL

 

OVERDRIVE- FLATTLEY End of the Line Reaper ...more Dumble than Doom ???

 FLATTLEY END OF THE LINE REAPER 

$225.00 USD

Perhaps a bit exaggerated but if this were a Doom 

or even any Metal pedal it would sit on a shelf not someones board. 

All guitars amps create asymmetrical distortion. 

It is all about a mix of even and uneven boosting of the guitars harmonics. Even is all related to the notes going thru it, uneven is that rough and angry sound like a Fuzz which is all uneven. The Tube Screamer is all about just having even harmonics. It works because it sweetens and clarifies and does not sound weird because your amp has lots of uneven harmonics.This clever pedal allows you to blend in the even with the uneven for as much as you like. 

That's why I say it more Dumble only because we all think of Dumble as an amp with incredible clarity. It is not a new idea 12 years ago the Cusack Screamer came out. It is my secret sauce for my Strat sounds.(check out the Post)

The layout has the usual volume, tone and gain. The 6 position knob lets you choose between diodes for either a standard OD sound or a Tube Screamer type voice. The real magic is with the blend positions.

CONCLUSION

The Pedal is all about a nice clarity and definition with a Brit vibe. It is unusually full in the lower mids that I really love. It would be killer when you need a huge sound that can still lay nicely behind the vocals.If you already have an OD that is in your face this could be the magic counterpart you really need.

OVERDRIVE- ProCo Rat II ...Part 2 ...how to and why

PROCO RAT II 

Re-visited

$70.00 USD

In March I did a post on the Rat covering  past and present. 

In the last year the Rat has become if nothing else back in fashion. New players are discovering it for the first time and older players are buying a second one only to wonder why they dumped their old one. Many players in the middle realize when they came up they had the vibe it was OK in its day and the lastest stuff was much cooler so they never ever even tried one. This week JHS released their Rat with a full 9 of the best takes ever taken on a Rat with over 200 parts in the casin to pull this off. Thet indeed did. The JHS Rat Pack is killer. The Ratt II has for years been criticized for not being as good as the first. Bullsh@t! Thousands and thousands have been sold. 

You just do not get that many buyers with a sh@t pedal. 

Add to that if it were true there would be a glut of used ones at giveaway prices. There isn't. Guys that buy one keep it. Sure they buy other OD's, I buy lots. BUT my Ratt II stays, it ain't goin' anywhere.

 HOW TO 

THE FINE PRINT

$100.00 USD

I mostly use my Rat II with the Mattoverse Bad Passenger MK II Fuzz. You can hear in the video in the rhythm track how Ratty (pun intended) and near out of control it is.  Now imagine it stacked on the Rat II. The Rat keeps it tight but your lows and mids still have that crazy spit and sputter. The overall sound is still hitting like a clenched fist but the vibe is like things it is hitting are breaking to pieces around it. Dead Cool !!!

OVERDRIVE- JHS Pack Rat ... choose a Rat ...any Rat! ...JUST RELEASED TODAY

 JHS PACK RAT OD.

$250.00 USD

Josh has done it again. His Tube Screamer gave you a choice of 9 different popular takes borrowed from 9 different popular TS type pedal makers. Now we get 9 different Rats.

Like the Rat pedal you get volume, gain and tone/filter. A nine setting rotary switch gives you plenty of choice.

Most guys will pick one and never change it but WTF it is nice to have.

CONCLUSION

I have gone thru a few Rat pedals and own 3 but I only use one. It is the current Rat II. Unlike all so called new and improves it is the most raspy, rough and balzy. The lows have just a tad of Fuzz in them.

Most Rats have been clean and tidied up. WTF if you want that get a good MIAB.

This Rat even if it was NOT labeled a Rat is part of the hard clipper family along with gems like the Boss SD-1 and as such has turned 

out as is a damn good pedal.

 

It could be the main OD for some guys but if it is meant to be 

one of a collection with a Fuzz a MIAB or Tube Screamer etc. 

then just buy a Rat II. As a general dirt pedal for any Metal 

genre it will work great on it's own or stacked. One thing for 

sure it is the King Rat' over all other 'gourmet choices.

DELAY- LPD PEDALS Offset Delay ...IN STOCK!!!

 LPD PEDALS OFFSET DELAY

Yes I reviewed just a short time ago but today it is in stock. Check out the Post if you missed it. Trust me tomorrow it won't be, lol. acheck out the new video. 

It speaks for itself.

$225.00 USD

OVERDRIVE-MOSKY D250X ...a DOD 250 Preamp/Overdrive ...replacement???

 MOSKY D250X Preamp/Overdrive

$25.00 USD

In 1973 DOD were formed and one of their first pedals was an overdrive, booster pedal the DOD 250. Like the RAT after a few years the OpAmp they used the LM741 was discontinued. Over the years the usual fight and myths of which version is the best continues on. In 2017 DOD went into a complex muddle resulting in firing the entire research staff and shortly after virtually let any serious attention to the company dwindle until they stopped production and promotion and let the inventory fizzle. 

When they ran out of the 250 they just pulled it from the site. DOD is part of a conglomerate that is owned by Samsung. They made more profit from selling phones today then DOD would bring in 5 years. In short the company exists more on paper than in reality. The bottom line the DOD 250 is no more!

The DOD was accused of cloning the MXR Distortion+. There is at least some truth in it. Mosky even gives you an MXR voicing on the 3 way switch. The middle voice is the sound of the OpAmp minus any diodes 

which is a very big but open sound. The DOD voicing I find is impressive, 

the 'minus diodes' voice cold be very usable. The MXR tone is simply OK.

CONCLUSION

It is a classic and like all classics worth experiencing,

or to the point, at $25.00 owning.

If you find it is the pedal of the gods then for only

$1350.00 USD you can buy the original, lol.

Do you think it fair to say the D250X is the DOD

replacement ...😇 ...😳

THE FINE PRINT

I ordered one and it arrived.

It is definitely what it always was, a killer boost pedal.

I put it before an OD/distortion pedal or with a Fuzz

I put it after the Fuzz tighten  it up.

In either case you can tear heads off!!!

BOOSTER- FREE THE TONE Crunchy Chime ...when price is no object :-)

$345.00 USD

 FREE THE TONE CRUNCHY CHIME BOOSTER 

Their products are in my book not always the very,very best tone, 

but the build is state of the art. If the very best part on the planet is available for even more if you buy it in chrome they get the chrome one. They could build their product to last 20 years but they shoot 

for 100. WTF. 99% of all sold will not be still owned or wanted in 

20 years.

The thing is when like this pedal they absolutely nail the tone 

you get a sound to die for!

The layout is bass, treble and boost with a switch to choose 

between 2 places to cut or boost the bass. It allows for 

tighter bass if you really push up the level.

CONCLUSION

It is damn impressive. It really should have a 

second switch because it is the perfect pedal 

to have as an always on pedal set with a lighter 

setting but like any boost ...you may indeed want 

to boost it. At the price you have already paid 

for it so where is it? WTF!!!

DELAY- LPD PEDALS Offset Delay ....Released today!!!! KILLER!!!

$225.00 USD

LPD PEDALS OFFSET DELAY 

A new pedal from Lawrence is always an occasion. All the pedals are built to the highest spec possible by the man himself.  All sound killer, all are easy to use. The really big deal is it all transfers live. 

They sound amazing with that tiny practice amp in the bedroom. The big BUT is they sound even better in a band. If you need a different sound between tunes at a gig it takes 2 seconds to dial in.

Everything in a great analog delay you will need and nothing you don't. Another pedal for the player not the 'Shoe Gazer'

CONCLUSION

The only down side I have ever found with an LPD pedal is I find I take them for granted. 

Like everyone I want something new and different. I of course buy another and another pedal. The only pedals that did not get replaced for 5 years are my LPD's

Over a year I sold off 166 pedals. Most were actually very, very good. 

Often a 10 out of 10 rating but not an 11 out of 10, lol.

NOTE: Yes it was released this morning But ...it has already sold out! New batch on the 29 but buy right now!!

FUZZ- VADERIN PEDALS HP-X Harmonic Percolator ....a classic with a twist

 VADERIN PEDALS HP-X HARMONIC PERCOLATOR 

$150.00 USD

In the early 70's Ed Guise made a Fuzz a germanium PNP and a silicon NPN transistors. They are not meant for audio so it was an odd idea. The transistors only survived obsolesce as they are the guts of solar panels. 

The pedal boosts even order harmonics. They are the harmonics directly related to the notes you play. For example if you play an 'A' you could get a 'D' harmonic but not a 'D' flat. With any normal Fuzz a few 'D' flats would be more than likely. It is why with a modern insanely distorted Fuzz is all but unusable to play a chord with due to all 

those odd order harmonics. 

The layout is simple with volume gain and a choice of clipping including asymmetrical if you want that normal Fuzz odd order harmonics thrown into the mix.

CONCLUSION

This is NOT a real 'Perc' Fuzz for 

the purist but it does captures the 

vibe and the extras really are big 

time usable. You can choose 

between silver, pink, blue, 

citrus green or yellow.

OVERDRIVE- CAST ENGINEERING Texas Flood ... the SRV box that actually nails it!!!!

 CAST ENGINEERING TEXAS FLOOD 

$200.00 USD

Designed in 2014 this has been well under the radar. Cesar Diaz SRV's guitar tech was brought on board to get what started as a Tube Screamer. The gain was  increased, bass was added, the whole spec was brought into the present with high end parts to get rid of the mud and days were spent tweaking and re-tweaking  to perfect the voicing.

CONCLUSION 

On the whole a very effective pedal but keep in mind

without a bit of serious clean near breakup from a tube amp it it could sound scratchy and even thin. I use the Cusack Screamer which has a very similar vibe. I stack it on a Diamond Cornerstone which is their take on a Marshall Super Bass. 

The Super Bass is Marshall's 200 watt amp that has incredible headroom and has a lot of breadth. In sort it is really fat with just a bit of Crunch. The Screamer gives you the sound and the pedal keeps that fat sound even at low volume from your amp.

FUZZ- FJORD Odin V2 ...a Fuzz Face & octave up Fuzz in the same box

 FJORD ODIN V2 FUZZ 

$185.00 USD

Another Fuzz by he Norwegian pedal maker. This time we get a Fuzz Face and an octave up Fuzz in the same box. The octave bit can be switched in by a second footswitch. The layout is otherwise the usual with level gain and tone. The layout gives you an independent level for each Fuzz and an overall gain control. Since the makerwarns of problem associated with germanium transistors I can only assume it uses them.

CONCLUSION

In my book this kind of pedal is an ascetic choice. Not really aimed at the guy that wants even a small collection of pedals for a band doing a paid gig. It has all the problems of germanium transistors that do not

function well or at all teamed with other pedals. It also

does not have an overall level to match or boost other pedals.

TREBLE BOOSTER- THIRTY 7 EFFECTS Tombstone ... a take on the vintage Rangemaster

 THIRTY 7 EFFECTS TOMBSTONE TREBLE BOOSTER 

$135.00 USD

This pedal is based off of the vintage Rangemaster. Back when the early
Marshall at best could give you a slight Crunch and even before a Fuzz got into the picture the Rangemaster acted as a boost for more gain. In spite of being called a treble booster what it really did was give the amp a damn good poke in the upper mids.

After the Tube Screamer showed up years later it died out because the ts does the same thing. The Rangemaster was germanium with all its problems. Big But! These pedals sound warm and fat. Like I said ...everyone had one, Tony Iommi, Brian May, Jimmy Page, Ritchie Blackmore etc. etc. etc.

You get a level for the boost and a switch that

gives 2 levels of fattening the mids while keeping

all the higher frequencies in tact.

CONCLUSION

Sounds great and is cheap for a handmade.

There are others I would consider but they 

are all $200 or more. Add to that I do not

hear anything from them that sounds better.

FUZZ- BERCH AUDIO The Golden Axe ...turning an OCD into a Fuzz :-)

BERCH AUDIO THE GOLDEN AXE FUZZ

$110.00 USD

It uses a high gain OpAmp but with JFET clipping diodes.In short it uses the infamous OCD as it's initial circuit but it's OpAmp blows the doors off.

It literately totally turns what could be a hardclipper OD more like a Rat into a Fuzz, but WTF it works. 

You get volume, tone, gain and the ever magical BIAS control. The BIAS acts as staves or boosts power giving you control to a lot of gritty coarseness or for a tight OD sound. A toggle brings in a boost.

CONCLUSION

Sounds excellent, looks great and is dirt cheap for a 

handmade. It covers both Fuzz and high gain OD chores.

The perfect Fuzz for guys that do not like the classic Fuzz offerings.

NOISE GATE- REVV G8 Gate ... simply the best!

 REVV|G8 NOISE GATE 

$200.00 USD  

I use 5 gates. If set carefully all do a very good job. None do a hard gate where the second you stop playing everything shuts off. A hard gate is not needed for the kind of noise you get from Fuzz or OD or you just want to clean up PU hum. It is perfect for Modern Metal styles like Djent or a lot of chugging or anything where you want super tight 'stops' The rule of thumb is the less noise you want to remove at one time the better. That's why I use 5 gates so I can isolate very noisy pedals on one gate, medium noisy pedals on another and even small budget gate to grab the noise from the PU's before they even get to another gate.

CONCLUSION

There is nothing new going on with the G8. However it makes sure to cover all the bases and do as well or better than all others. It is priced the same as any of it's best competition. Gate pedal quality should never to compromise on. Get the best or don't get one. You do 

not want to trade the headache of a lot of noise for a gate 

with limited response.

HOW A GATE WORKS

If you play your guitar thru an amp, even clean, a dB meter might say you are putting out a factor of 10 while you are playing but when you stop playing the hum puts out a factor of 1. The gate simply gets set to turn off your guitar signal at a factor of 1, and turn it back on if the signal coming in is louder than 1. The noise is not removed when you are playing it is simply drowned out.

In a hard gate mode it is designed so if you stop playing it shuts off your whole signal instantly as complete as if you cut your cord were cut in two.

A smart gate, which mode it also has, will never start to gate as long as the clean signal going in is still ringing. 

Furthermore if you have the gate set to at a factor of 1 your sound will start fading the volume at a factor of 2 so the notes do not get hard gated at a factor of 1 but just have a natural fade to off before it gets there.

You can use the gate knob to deliberately kick in the gate just a tad early. Doing this tightens the sound between ever chord change and sounds killer. Even with good palm muting moving your palm at high gain still gets amplified. Especially when you move your palm at high gain and fast tempos to leap over a string or 2 for high riff from a low power chord. The gate can take most of that out.

All these tricks of using a gate are used on recording so if some clever ass Star boasts they don't use one then see them live. They may sound hot on record but live without a band drowning out their sloppy playing you would cringe. Their sound is actually total sh@t.

My 4 main gates are 2  SMG Cock Blockers that are killer but were limited edition and no longer available. I also have 2 TC Electronic Sentry gates that are quite effective but are not transparent like the REVV G8. I wanted to replace one of the Sentry with something as good or better than my SMG's. I also have the Boss NS2. I think I will sell the Boss and one Sentry to offset the expense of the REVV. 

It is the only gate that addresses both seamless lower noise gating and hard gating and at the same time never colors your original signal. I bit a big bullet and am going to have the luxury of owning one.

HANDS ON

I have had it for a couple of days. It really earns it's keep when used with stupid levels of gain. You can push Metal pedals so hard they would be totally unusable without it.  

I prefer My 2  SMB Cock Blocker gates with just a single knob on a lot of noisy Fuzz pedals and any average gain pedals. They are beyond easy to set up for average noise situations. But for serious Metal needs this is not just the right one but a priority pedal to own. Finally the pedal makes your sound bigger clearer and gives it a near 3 dimensional vibe. It is like the difference between looking thru a dirty window or looking thru an open window. 

 

A FEW NEW BUTS 

October 2023  and I have second thoughts that are not about sonics but practical application. First some info about a runner up. 

In second place the winner would be ISP Decimator II G-String at $235.00 USD. It sounds very clean though slightly colored but it has a wide breadth to the sound . In other words it sounds good I would not hesitate to use it. I feel my SMG's are very much clones of it both having one knob. 

Recently  DEMONfx has made a clone, the Filtation 2 G-String, lol. At $50.00 USD. Without any damning reviews about its performance I am very tempted to get one. 

As dead laser accurate as the REVV is it is not user friendly in dialing in the right setting. In fact it is bit of a pain. For many they can set and forget in which case it is perfection loveliness. BUT ... if you need to change because of constant variation caused by different choices of dirt pedals or stacking it is on some days torture. 

GUITAR- I have 12 but if it were two..it would be these :-)

MY BEST FRIENDS

I have 12 guitars, but I play 10. I pull down 4 to play over a several hour period every day.

GIBSON STANDARD SG LTD. ED. 

It is a 2017 I bought from a Estate Sale. Never played, even the high end hard shell case was mint. It was still in the plastic bag that had a sealed top.

I bought it to flip. I paid $800.00 USD. Sad but I only guess the guy was too ill to play it. His family just sold it as a used guitar and could have seen it like all they were selling as used consumer goods like an fridge or TV. If so they would see it as 3 years old a depreciated item like a 3 year old lawn mower. 

When a manufacture makes a run of a particular guitar statistically one out of forty is exceptional. Damned if this was not the 'one'. 

Best sounding guitar I ever owned and have owned 2 vintage LP's, a V, a Firebird, an SG Special even a '63 Strat.

LENARD F-4G

It is a long story going back to 1976 when I got interested in what makes a great guitar ...great. I visited factories and the early gourmet builders and spent time with many as a free 'go-for' I made friends with both Gibson and Fender old timers. All had much to tell and one even had a giant bundle of photo copied research papers. Only one is still alive, semi retired and a very close friend of 'Leo'. I studied Industrial design and with my hands on guitar knowledge I got work redesigning guitars for production.

A few years back I decided to create LENARD Re-Inventions to make my own guitar line. My first guitar is meant to be a second guitar, a Fender for for a Gibson guy. After a lot research the consensus was a guitar that looked Fender like but not a clone. A Tele neck PU and a Strat PU for the neck and center. The best of both Tele & Strat. Gibson guys are not whammy guys so it had to have a hardtail bridge and the neck had to 'feel' like a Gibson. For the look I got access to drawings Leo made in '53 for a new guitar. He had just finished the first P Bass a double cut and so he drew a Tele body added the the bass horn and cut off the treble horn. He had finished designing the hardtail bridge, his first bridge with 6 saddles. The bridge PU was a Tele but a second PU at the neck looked like what became a Strat PU. The neck looks Fender. But since it is for a Gibson guy from the nut to the heel it is a '59 Les Paul spec. Covid virtually killed all plans to manufacture the guitars that had been set up and in motion in 2019.

Only the prototype remains.

Last words

These are my 2 favorite guitars. A classic Gibson and a Fender that was never made with a Gibson neck.

OVERDRIVE- ...several ...UNDER $50 ...and totally Pro!!!!

   POOR MANS  PRO    

Many know I have 72 pedals on my board and 35 are OD's. I also sold well over 100 pedals in just over a year. There were expensive OD's in those sales. My point is the OD's here are as good as the others on my board. 

$35.00 USD

FULLTONE OCD (MOOGOO)

Who hasn't heard of the worlds biggest selling MIAB Overdrive? Well the good news is this is what it appears to be, an OCD. BUT! It is counterfeit. Both cloned inside and out. Moogoo make Mosky and also Demon FX which is borderline counterfeit, but they also still do a few genuine fakes. You can buy one on AliExpress, $35 & Free shipping :-)

$50.00 USD

NUX PLEXI CRUNCH

Some feel this is a Ramble FX Rumble Drive. If so they sound different. Oddly enough the Nux controls are so flexible and you can dial at least 3 very different sounds. 

Marshall sounds tend to be dark, not bright but with the Nux you can get it brighter than you are likely to use. It is killer with a Tele.

$40.00 USD

NUX METAL CORE v.1

In this case they stole the name but not the pedal. 

These have been technically replaced by the the new V.2. The new one is a Boss clone. The original is an excellent MESA Dual Rectifier pedal. So good I sold my Boss Metal Core, lol.

CALINE MELLOW DRIVE

This is very,very good clone of the Vertex Ultraphonix which

$40.00 USD

when introduced did a video 'Amp vs Pedal' with a Dumble Amp. Yes ...same, same, same! Other Dumble pedals are not even close! Well ...exception being the Caline, lol.

THE FINE PRINT

I own all these pedals and use them equal to my brand name acquisitions of which are in the $200 to $300 range.The Plexi Crunch is to die for on a Tele bridge PU. The OCD is a real OCD. I do not need a MESA Dual Rectifier a lot but when I do it its for frantic temp things with a 'chug' thing.Tone matters but fat and tight together is critical and the Metal Core delivers. I am a Metal guy so on the whole Dumble pedals are for Blues and Americana. But there are spots in a tune especially with a semi they fit perfectly. The Mellow is a nobrainer choice.

LESLIE- TC ELECTRONIC Vibraclone Rotary ...perfect choice???

 TC ELECTRONIC VIBRACLONE ROTARY

To make sense of what this pedal and the dozens like it does I feel knowing what it is cloning can help.

In 1935 the Hammond Organ company made the B3 organ. Evey note was produced mechanically with a small spinning mechanical disc called a tone wheel.  In short the sound is mechanical not electronic. Churches and theatres bought them. By the 50's Jazz discovered them followed by Rock shortly after. Keith Emerson of ELP and Rick Wakeman of Yes made them the Strat/Les Paul of organs. They have not only killer tone but balz and punch!!! 

By 1971 production ceased as by then this nearly

LESLIE 122 

handmade organ was $10,000.00. You could buy a new car for 

$2000. Keep in mind that this organ weighed 500 pounds too.

In 1940 the Leslie 122 Speaker arrived. The idea was to emulate the sound of a pipe organs sound in a cathedral when the sound echoed and reverberated off of the walls arches and ceiling. It was done by having a spinning pair of horns and a 15" speaker pushing the sound down into a wooden spinning rotor.

The horn spun in one direction and the Rotor in the other. 

The Rotor is a wooden drum covered in black cotton that you see in the pic.

Eventually guitarists discovered the Leslie but it was used 99% of the time in the studio :-)

__________________________________________________

It can now be accomplished digitally. The very best is the 

NEO Venti 122. But at $500.00 USD a pop it may be more than you need, lol.

VIBRACLONE ROTARY

$90.00 USD

The TC version is a clone of the old defunct Fender take on a Leslie. It has speed to emulate the motors driving the real Leslie. And a switch for the two effects Chorale and Vibrato. On the real Leslie you had 2 speeds and you could create a cool effect by playing while the spinning horn and drum slowed down. Cool sound. A bit of drive is added because you could purposely overdrive the B3 organ and it became part of the sound. Keep in mind that the old Uni-Vibe was meant to be a Leslie but it failed. No one cared because it was cool just being its own thing. That is how I see a pedal like this. It does not have to clone the real Leslie like the NEO does it just has to sound good. It does without breaking the bank. Cheaper ones tend to lack clarity crispness and a nice fat sound. Others I find are not necessary better or have more features. This is the 'goldilocks' choice.

PREAMP/OD ...BLACKSTAR Dept.10 Dual Drive & the Dual Distortion ...well executed tube pre amps

BLACKSTAR  DEPT 10 DUAL DRIVE 

either $350.00 USD

Tube preamps are not new in a pedal form. The voice of a tube amp is mainly in the pre. The power amp stage does make a difference but to all but the owner/player not a lot. The problem for most of us is that these items have been in the gourmet domain. When you can afford one you have to ask yourself why you would not just buy a whole new amp.

You can put the Blackstar into any amp and make a huge difference. You could get just about any used bargain basement tube amp and turn it into a serious Rock amp.

The 'Drive' model is voiced with a basic Clean & Crunch sound on one channel and Crunch and Shred on the other. It has a definite Brit vibe. 

They also do the same pedal called the Dept.10 Dual Distortion (black) for the high gain player who wants a JCM 800 and beyond. 

You get level, a simple 3 way EQ with 2 channels & each with gain and level. It has outputs to go to a board, or direct in to a PC. I will dispense with the detail as a video with 'show and tell' is a must.

CONCLUSION

Yes it is a single tube and not an all tube preamp. Big But Ever since Fuzz arrived in the 60's transistors became part of the preamp stage. It is yet another option. Of late I have even become jaded with digital delays over analog. I do use both and probably always will. My point is that pedals like this connect to the digital world but are keeping your actual playing experience in the analog domain. There are those that say all this analog stuff  is just purest nonsense. If analog is nonsense why do these guys not play a plastic or aluminum guitar ???

DELAY - ELECTRO HARMONIX Nano Deluxe Memory Man ...NEW released today!!!

ELECTRO-HARMONIX 

NANO 

DELUXE 

MEMORY MAN 

$200.00 USD

In the last couple of years EH has gone back and and took their classics and has gone to great lengths to reproduce the originals that if are not identical twins but so close you have to put them beside the originals and listen over and over just to find some lint to pick.

The unique thing EH had with their original delay was a very chimey sound that on record might have you thinking it was digital. Being analog it still had it's analog warmth. The Deluxe added vibrato and chorus long before it was in digital pedals.

It uses the new Xvive MN330X chips which are repro's of the totally defunct Panasonic and Reticon chips. The result is startling as any difference in sound is imperceptible.

CONCLUSION

I am impressed with what I hear in the comparison demos.

I have had everything from the original Echoplex tube model tape delay to the high end literally state of the art chips Empress Echosystem. If tech made a better sound 

then no one would want a Stradivarius violin they would want a carbon fibre one.

New tech can, will and does come up with new pedals that neither better or worse than the old pedals. boss continues to make what technically low fi Digital Delays just because they sound good. So my point is owning all 3 types of delays, analog, digital and tape simply gives you 3 great but equal choices.

In nature if you hear echos the space between them is not equal neither is their tone the same. My point is a delay from a pedal is artificial from the start. How you make it is irrelevant. If it sounds good  ...it is.

WHY ANALOG ANYWAY ???

On the whole I prefer analog delays since the highs and overtones are muted and do not make a noticable clash with the direct signal. The problem with any delay is the note or chord that being repeated is landing on top of the following note or chords you playing after it.  For example, if you play a 'g#' then play 'g' the sound of both hit your ears at the same time.

CHOICES 

On most tunes I have an analog delay in the background all the time much like using the reverb on an amp. It sounds killer but with a digital sound ...NO! If digital is used to mimic tape delay then I find it also works very well as tape delays are also very limited with highs and overtones.

For tape I can fully recommend the Dunlop/MXR Echoplex and for analog the NUX DCP-03 Analog are both exceptional. The NUX $60.00 USD and is literally the classic Ibanez AD-80, chips and all.