Unknown and forgotten gems of fx

downfader · Post by **downfader** » Sat Oct 13, 2007 1:38 pm

Was thinking the otherday about how many fx units must have been made over the years by various companies all aroud the world... thats quite a lot, and you can bet that theres infinately more guitar pedal fx stuff floating around out there too.

I have an old Boss me8 multifx for me guitar. Doesnt get used all that much but does have some amazing things it does that I love. I do wonder if all the time we invest in vsts couldnt be used now and again to drag up these classics and find some way of using them in a track. The me8 has some great reverbs and a nce tunable ringmod, put some synths though it and you have the benefit of the octave and harmoniser functions too. Makes for some great pads.

Then theres the really old Dod pedals and zoom fx. I wonder how many people still use those (not counting the guitar players obviously). I love putting a kiddies keyboard through my Dods

OK over to you, what gems have you got that you love to dig out for something special?

Meef Chaloin · Post by **Meef Chaloin** » Sat Oct 13, 2007 3:19 pm

I love the DOD tape delay emulation one, a mate used to have one & ive been trying to get one for ages but have been unsuccessful. I'd love to have one of those routed to an aux/return in Live, you can get some incredible delays from it.

I also have the ME-8, not bad bit of kit, has to be said. love the arm up/down fx, the vibrato, intelli ring, and the feedbacker, that one's just fun, hit as fast as you can & you can create some lovely 'intelligent' sounding classicalish melodies

the humanizer's fun as well

I've got an old Yamaha reverb unit as well, R100, and love that. I think its pretty old & dunno how good it was at the time but its got some great reverbs on it, love the plates & the 'sfx' reverbs such as the resonant ones & the reverse one.

Also have a really cheap phaser guitar pedal, im not even sure of the name but if you turn it up really fast you can make nice self generative noise because of the click of the lfo it has. I gather the click isnt that desirable in phaser pedals but i wouldnt have it any other way. Great fun making some bubbly watery noises without even having anything plugged in to it.

Pasha · Post by **Pasha** » Sat Oct 13, 2007 3:24 pm

You got me....
Guitar Player here with Zoom 9030... I use reverb for vocals too.

- Best
- Pasha

downfader · Post by **downfader** » Sat Oct 13, 2007 3:43 pm

Cool!

Check out the old 12bit Dod pedals, Meef. Not quite the same thing but a great sound on mine and still gets used 12 years later.

Pasha, ever tried the old 505? Thats still my fave of theirs even now. I use a 1201 too for its dark reverb sound and digtal chorus.

dcease · Post by **dcease** » Sat Oct 13, 2007 4:37 pm

i like to route audio out to my triton and process it. i also have a digitech vocal 300 that i use while recording vocs, using outs, back in, and the triton. live is great for routing setups, then send all vocs through 4 outs (2 mono,2 st) through to pro tools, basically using live as a giant mixer/efx unit. use the digital outs to mbox2, for clean channel and a little efx, and analogs for mixed down half clean half effected with 3 or 4 racks running, at like 6 or 7 ms in and out, and viola! mix knob on mbox set right, and i can work with it quite well. never worry about not loud enough or reverbs sucking down sucky ptle. i also love sending out for reamping through preamps, and adding a little disortion. im sure ill eventually get more outboard, and do the same. its loads of fun!

downfader · Post by **downfader** » Sat Oct 13, 2007 7:52 pm

Hey dcease if its preamps you want then all kinds of great stuff out there - like the dbx tube mic pre that looks like a guitar pedal is pretty cool. TLA obviously, and Meek.

The humble guitar and bass amp with mics is also pretty handy.

leedsquietman · Post by **leedsquietman** » Sun Oct 14, 2007 2:47 am

I still like to use pedals like the Boss DS-1, OD-2 and SD-1 for different distortions and mic it through an amp with an SM57, still sounds better than using Guitar Rig or Amplitube etc. Also I have a big muff pi pedal which I like too.

I have a Zoom G1 guitar fx which is cheap as chips but also fun and good for variations on chorus/phase/flange/pitch shifting and the reverb is pretty useful too, it has this one killer overdrive sound too although in general the distortions are a bit lacking. It's good to get away sometimes from using plugins 'in the box' and go for a different sound.

adventurepants_ · Post by **adventurepants_** » Sun Oct 14, 2007 2:50 am

ive got an old ibanez DML10 digital modulation delay. great for abusing and sound mangling if used in unintended ways. the manual warns against using the flange/chorus width/speed controls while using the delay function, but thats the only way i use it.

it can create crashing waves of harsh digital madness. completely uncontrollable but great for sampling.

roby · Post by **roby** » Sun Oct 14, 2007 3:14 am

i used to have more effects, sadly i sold a bunch of them, but not all of them were crucial. i do wish i had kept my Boss reverb pedal though. i know there's alot of hype about the Boss japanese made pedals, bu ti personally do not know the difference in sound; i certainly understand the collector factor though. with that said, all my Boss pedals are MIJ

i agree with the SD-1 comments. by themselves, untouched, they sound awesome. i have two i've modded, one that retains the original character but with extra bass response, and the other just has a different flavor to it. i have to say that modding pedals does bring your pedals back to life.

using and analog chorus pedal on a digital synth gives it a nice touch, even if it's a subtle effect. i run my Virus through a Boss chorus and pretend i'm using a Juno, hehe. You can open up a Boss PH-1r or a Boss flanger, and inside you see trimpots that can alter the default sound. on the PH-1r you can increase the resonance of the phaser effect, and that sounds superb (you can probably do this to the PH-1 - the pedal without the resonance knob). on the flanger i think you mess with the delay and feedback effect; when turned to max you can get some nice crazy flanged feedback effects.

i also own three of the DOD FX96, the 12bit digital delays that sound like no VST out there (but hopefully that can be corrected

). it's a digital delay that has analog/tape delay characteristics. you can turn the delay time knob and twist the pitch of the signal like an analog delay. the feedback tail damps like an analog delay, but you can also hear digital bit degradation as it starts to fade out... awesome. and of course, it's a 1 second looper.

i recently got a Yamaha E1005 delay unit for hella cheap and i've been abusing alot. there's one on eBay right now for $200!!!

i want to get a couple of Boss DS-1 to mod. i want to do the typical guitar mod to one, but i want to mod the other one so that it does not cut the bass frequencies at all. i can use that on bass guitar, and on beats and drums and still retain some bass.

Oscar F · Post by **Oscar F** » Sun Oct 14, 2007 3:23 am

My Favourites hands down (back in the hardware days where)

1.Boss SE30
2.Boss SE50
3.Ensoniq DP4
4.Electrix Warp Factory
5.Korg Wavestation Rack (utilising the Audio inputs)

Was what I used on many a recording a then some.
If you can get a Roland SP808 with the EX Operating system dirt cheap I would highly recommend one as an FX processing unit also to be honest.

forge · Post by **forge** » Sun Oct 14, 2007 3:44 am

well hopefully the new Live 7 external hardware plug-ins will encourage a resurgance

BinaryB · Post by **BinaryB** » Sun Oct 14, 2007 4:52 am

The ensoniq dp4 effects unit.

serious sickness.

theque · Post by **theque** » Sun Oct 14, 2007 5:11 am

lovin the dp4 here

downfader · Post by **downfader** » Sun Oct 14, 2007 11:47 am

roby wrote:i used to have more effects, sadly i sold a bunch of them, but not all of them were crucial. i do wish i had kept my Boss reverb pedal though. i know there's alot of hype about the Boss japanese made pedals, bu ti personally do not know the difference in sound; i certainly understand the collector factor though. with that said, all my Boss pedals are MIJ

i agree with the SD-1 comments. by themselves, untouched, they sound awesome. i have two i've modded, one that retains the original character but with extra bass response, and the other just has a different flavor to it. i have to say that modding pedals does bring your pedals back to life.

using and analog chorus pedal on a digital synth gives it a nice touch, even if it's a subtle effect. i run my Virus through a Boss chorus and pretend i'm using a Juno, hehe. You can open up a Boss PH-1r or a Boss flanger, and inside you see trimpots that can alter the default sound. on the PH-1r you can increase the resonance of the phaser effect, and that sounds superb (you can probably do this to the PH-1 - the pedal without the resonance knob). on the flanger i think you mess with the delay and feedback effect; when turned to max you can get some nice crazy flanged feedback effects.

i also own three of the DOD FX96, the 12bit digital delays that sound like no VST out there (but hopefully that can be corrected ). it's a digital delay that has analog/tape delay characteristics. you can turn the delay time knob and twist the pitch of the signal like an analog delay. the feedback tail damps like an analog delay, but you can also hear digital bit degradation as it starts to fade out... awesome. and of course, it's a 1 second looper.

i recently got a Yamaha E1005 delay unit for hella cheap and i've been abusing alot. there's one on eBay right now for $200!!!

i want to get a couple of Boss DS-1 to mod. i want to do the typical guitar mod to one, but i want to mod the other one so that it does not cut the bass frequencies at all. i can use that on bass guitar, and on beats and drums and still retain some bass.

I think the thing with the Japanese Boss is a colectors thing, like with USA Strats and Teles. I personally dont hear any difference in them myself. Its like the "block logo" EVH amps from yonks ago if you ask me - all started because someone started a joke that the original sounded better.

I always liked to put beats through my old (unmodded) DS-1 as it had a nice fizz to it I like.

I see you have the FX96, I have the 94. Its the next one down they did, slightly more grungy imo but I love it to bits. While we're on delay pedals I have a few - theres the Dano Reel Echo, Marshall Echohead (this one is cheap and great), and I already said the me8, though I dont like the delay on that as much - too clean.

Dano do a really cheap chorus. Basically just a cheap plastic box, if you stepped on it you'd kill it.

Its called the milkshake and its a lush, lush sound. Really reminds me of the old Joy Division sounds through my amp.

Oscar - the warp factory is a proper gem, I agree!

Still havent seen one go for under 200 quid here.

bigbadotis · Post by **bigbadotis** » Mon Oct 15, 2007 3:09 am

4.Electrix Warp Factory

I've been sitting here the last hour trying to get Vokator to sound 1/10th as good as my Warp Factory. I can't do it. If anyone has tips, please, let me know.

The Warp Factory just has a nastiness that it doesn't seem like Vokator is able to touch.