National Frustrating Pedal Day

[László]

Having heard some good sounding demos of the JHS pedals, and especially the Morning Glory OD pedal, I bought one and it arrived today. While waiting for the Michigan game (another sad story, who loses a game with a win literally salted away, in the last ten seconds by fumbling a punt?), I reworked my pedal board to make room for the pedal.

At halftime, I tested it out. Man oh man, listening to a piece of gear live, with your own equipment, is so key. I disliked it with my amps and guitars. Honestly, I was surprised.

And it also made a loud popping noise while being switched in and out, despite working the switch repeatedly (in some cases that will eliminate a popping switch). So all that prep went pretty much to waste.

I packed it up, and am shipping it back.

I'm always happy with Fulltone and Suhr pedals, and have never sent one back for lack of love. From now on, I'm sticking with what I like in the first place. I suppose it's cool if a piece of gear doesn't work out - nothing works for everyone and with everyone's rig - but it is kind of a disappointment nonetheless, especially after rearranging the pedalboard to accommodate the new pedal!

 

[László]

Today I realized that my Plimsoul is really a great sounding OD and perfect for my needs, so I corrected my error, tweaked it a little, stuck it back in line on the board, and ordered a Suhr pedal that I've been lusting after for a while, the Koji Comp. It's a compressor pedal, something I've needed for clean tones for a while. I haven't had a comp pedal since I took the Xotic SP off the board because it made a popping noise when engaged.

I can't have loud popping noise when I have close mics in front of guitar cabs and headphones on with the volume up when I'm working! I value my hearing too much.

The beauty of the Suhr and Eventide pedals is that they have noiseless switching. Even the Fulltone stuff I have is very quiet when switched, though not perfectly noiseless a la the Eventide and Suhr.

I guess some companies that make otherwise very nice stuff - like Xotic - cater more to live players than studio players, but in any case, I can't deal with loud pops in headphones. Maybe some folks don't mind, or maybe it's just my rig, but in any case, problem solved.

I'll take a pic of the redone pedal board once it's all set up, and post it on the pedalboard thread.

 

[vchizzle]

Sometimes it just happens that way. I generally do a good amount of research prior to buying things. Videos and clips can only tell you so much. Til ya play yourself with your own gear, ya never know.

 

[andy474x]

It's funny how we can become accustomed to certain pedal brands. Manufacturers design and test things with different players and equipment, thus their pedals may mesh better with different people, guitars, or amps more than others. I recently sold a Lovepedal Eternity - after the honeymoon it turned out to be a poor match for me. Yet some players, even here, swear by their Lovepedal OD's. I was big into Visual Sound for a while too, but they were suddenly surpassed in tone and availability by lots of boutique builders, and I switched over to Wampler and fell in love with their OD's, and very impressed with TC Electronic in the delay and reverb department (to be fair, VS has noticed the trend and recently upped their game on OD's, need to at least try them). But back to the Wamplers, they just mix well with my tone and style. And for you, Les, it's the Suhr and Fulltone. I'd like to try some of that gear sometime, haven't had a chance to yet. Maybe I'll like it, maybe not, but I don't take a Les recommendation lightly. Just hard to justify too many gear purchases when I've already got stuff that well exceeds my talent level!

On the topic of silent switching, it's so nice to have that, and in contrast such a bummer when a nice pedal DOESN'T have it. After some rough time becoming acquainted, I'm digging my Bogner Wessex more and more. But the one thing that remains irritating about it is the footswitch, not only is it not the super smooth soft-switch type that many builders have adopted, it's rough and hard to engage and pops loudly, even for an old school type switch. For something so supposedly premium... bummer. Not enough to make me return it, but still annoying. Switch aside though, never would have known it was a winner if I hadn't tried, like Vaughn said above, sometimes you just have to see for yourself. I feel that way about the Archon, I've not heard a high gain clip that I've been very impressed by. I know I'm going to catch HELL for saying that here, but my point is I need to try one in person, maybe it has tones in it I just need to dial myself.

Apologies for my wandering post.

 

[Mike Duncan]

You know who makes a pedal that doesn't pop?

Boss.

From a Timmy, Burnley, Eternity, OCD, BBPreamp, Custom Badass, Caveman, Arc V2, PlimSoul, Texas Bluebonnet, Moonshine, TS9/808, 5F6, OD3, BD2w, SD1, DS1, OD1X, and a couple others owner.

#thestruggleisreal

 

[László]

You know who makes a pedal that doesn't pop?

Boss.

From a Timmy, Burnley, Eternity, OCD, BBPreamp, Custom Badass, Caveman, Arc V2, PlimSoul, Texas Bluebonnet, Moonshine, TS9/808, 5F6, OD3, BD2w, SD1, DS1, OD1X, and a couple others owner.

#thestruggleisreal

Yup, Boss pedals are quiet. But so are Suhr, Fulltone, Eventide, and quite a few others.

I have nothing bad to say about Boss pedals. They're very good at what they do. In fact, I laid down a lot of money tracks with Boss pedals back in the late 80s, early 90s!

I just like things that have a bit of a different vibe -- you know, since you use different makes, too, no convincing needed I'm sure!

 

[László]

It's funny how we can become accustomed to certain pedal brands. Manufacturers design and test things with different players and equipment, thus their pedals may mesh better with different people, guitars, or amps more than others.

Absolutely true! And of course, the same is true of guitars, amps, heck, you name it, people are gonna feel differently about it!

Plus, you have to try a piece of gear with your own stuff, and preferably, in an environment that you're familiar with. That way, you can put everything in its proper context!

The Morning Glory sounded absolutely fantastic in the clip I heard with a small Fender amp. Doesn't mean it's gonna sound all that great with the DG30 I got it to pair up with. And it didn't - to my ear. Wrong kind of texture.

Not many ODs have worked for me for very long, though I DO like the Wessex a lot, and think it's a great sounding pedal. In fact, I like it better than the Morning Glory. But what seems to work best, or what I keep coming back to, is the Plimsoul. I like that it seems to work with the DG30, and it also works if I want to kick up to another "channel" on the HXDA. Unusual, because both amps are so different, no other pedal I've had works with both amps. I've taken it off the board and replaced it several times, but now it's just gonna stay put.

I have my Plimsoul set up closer to a Fulldrive/Tube Screamer soft clipping, than to, say an OCD type harder clip, and I have the distortion level pretty tame. I like that I can get a soft clip out of it, almost like the "give" a tube rectified amp has, but if I want to turn the little dial, I can get it into OCD territory.

 

[vchizzle]

I'm not really an OD pedal guy. For me the Xotic AC booster has always worked great with all my amps.

 

[László]

I'm not really an OD pedal guy. For me the Xotic AC booster has always worked great with all my amps.

The AC booster is a nice sounding pedal! I've found the Xotic stuff sounds very good, indeed; the EP was a favorite, and their new wah sounds killer, too.

Lately, I've found that I agree with you pretty much on ODs. I really use them when I need a different kind of style than I usually play - the ad work means I get called on to do things that aren't necessarily my usual sonic territory, so it's good to have some alternate sounds.

That KokoBoost I have had come in really handy, it's great to have a nice boost pedal, and you're right, they serve most needs.

 

[László]

I wanted to update this thread.

I've had a couple of very nice days with the pedal I bought after returning the JHS, namely, the Suhr Koji Comp compressor. It's a really nice pedal. Sounds more like a good studio compressor than a guitar compressor, and it's wonderful beyond wonderfulness on everything I've used it on, even ahead of the Plimsoul OD, etc. It sounds very analog (as it should, being, you know, analog), and the EQ settings and blend control are also quite useful.

I've seen the demo Pete Thorn did of the Koji, and he claims it's his compressor of choice for guitar. I can see why it's on his pedalboard. It'll stay on mine, too.

Just a damn fine piece of gear.

My pedalboard is absolutely, positively, 100% finished. Forever!



OK, that last bit is probably not true. But it's done for now!

 

[Deleted member 5962]

I'll have to check that out. I have an Xotic SP that I use some, but my main comp for years has been the Barber Tone Press (now the Compact Tone Press). I've considered adding a squisher, like a Keeley, but haven't done so yet.

I'll read up on the Suhr and find Pete's video, but how would you describe it? More a subtle comp or more of a squisher?

 

[László]

I'll have to check that out. I have an Xotic SP that I use some, but my main comp for years has been the Barber Tone Press (now the Compact Tone Press). I've considered adding a squisher, like a Keeley, but haven't done so yet.

I'll read up on the Suhr and find Pete's video, but how would you describe it? More a subtle comp or more of a squisher?[/QUOTE

I'm not a guy who uses compressors that way, so I'm the wrong person to ask. All I want a compressor to do is even out the levels and give me a transparent tone. I don't want to hear it pumping, squishing, or doing other artifacts.

I know other players like those things, but since I don't get it, I can't say how well it does that.

I can honestly say that I've had the thing on all the time since getting it, so I must really dig what it does! This is the first compressor I haven't taken off the board and put in the "rarely used pedals" cabinet after a day or two! So there's that.

I'm going to take a wild guess and say it isn't like the orange compressor the Keely is based on.

 

[Brad737]

Les, I've tried a bunch of OD pedals. Two of my all-time favorites are Analogman's King of Tone and the Zendrive 2. I liked the original Zendrive, but I found the Z2 to sound a little smoother and more natural. Check em out!

 

[László]

Les, I've tried a bunch of OD pedals. Two of my all-time favorites are Analogman's King of Tone and the Zendrive 2. I liked the original Zendrive, but I found the Z2 to sound a little smoother and more natural. Check em out!

I have had several Analogman pedals, they're good stuff! And I've tried the KOT and Zendrive...very nice sounding pedals indeed.

 

[Texas_minor_blues]

ODs are always a fun exploration
I, like most guitarists, have spent a hard amount of cash. I have settled on the SL Drive atm but still toying with that empty spot on my board.
fulldrive 2, plimsoul, lovepedal kanji, DMBL while awesome just didnt mesh well with me sadly
so still on the elusive search