Necessity is the Mother of...Oh...Wait, I See...Just turn that knob...

[László]

So right in the middle of a project, my one month old Bogner Harlow boost/compress pedal went on the frazoozle. Bad noises. Not good. And I was depending on it to finish a track.

The store didn't have another one in stock. But I had a deadline today, and figured I'd have to make do.

I desperation I got my lazy butt off my chair, and twisted a couple of knobs on the DG30 I started the project with and...suddenly...I pretty much got the boosted tone I was looking for (though not the compression) but still it turned out great and I was really happy.

All of which leads me to ask myself what I needed the pedal for in the first place:

Me: "What did I need that pedal for again?"

Great Tone God In The Sky: "You didn't need it, dumbass. You merely wanted it. You need to get your rear end off the chair more and twiddle knobs to find tones. They're in there."

Me: "Oh yeah? Well we both know I can't get distorted tones just on the DG that I can get with the Bogner Burnley."

Great Tone God In The Sky: "Yes, but you still need to exercise your knob twiddling fingers and brain more. And fergodsakes, practice, willya? What's the point of good tone if I have to listen to you stumble around the fretboard like that?"

Me: "Am I the only human being you talk to, O Great Tone God In The Sky?"

Great Tone God In The Sky: "No. I also talk to Eric Johnson, David Grissom, The Allman Brothers Band, and Carlos Santana. And sometimes - not often - Clapton, but it's been a while with him. Of course, the difference is that THEY can actually play. I only talk to you because (a) I feel sorry for you, and (b) I read the PRS Forum and don't want you giving out misinformation."

Me: "You don't talk to Paul Reed Smith??"

Great Tone God In The Sky: "I don't need to talk to Paul Reed Smith, because he already taught me everything he knows."

 

[g.wizz]

Well... What can you say about that Les?
"HE IS RIGHT"
Sorry about the pedal farting out, but such new pedal
to do that makes me very worried about my Burnely .
Yicks...

 

[alantig]

Me: "You don't talk to Paul Reed Smith??"

Great Tone God In The Sky: "I don't need to talk to Paul Reed Smith, because he already taught me everything he knows."

This is how I know this is fiction - because the GTGITS doesn't have to talk to Paul, Paul can already hear what he thinks.

 

[László]

This is how I know this is fiction - because the GTGITS doesn't have to talk to Paul, Paul can already hear what he thinks.

Can't put one over on you, can I?

Well... What can you say about that Les?
"HE IS RIGHT"
Sorry about the pedal farting out, but such new pedal
to do that makes me very worried about my Burnely .
Yicks...

They use high end WIMA caps and other very high quality parts. But any part can fail, so I'm going to guess that's what happened. I'm not worried.

Great Tone God In the Sky: "You should be worried."

Me: "Why?"

Great Tone God In the Sky: "Because you think you're talking to Great Tone God In the Sky."

 

[Boogie]

It died in the middle of your hour of need??!! That is the true definition of Epic Fail. I suggest you call Ed and have him fix it.
(Caution: not work friendly!!!)

http://youtu.be/KpH1Zn3hPuI

 

[rugerpc]

I personally don't have any problem with the vid above, but the preview still probably isn't appropriate.

 

[toothace]

Me: "You don't talk to Paul Reed Smith??"

Great Tone God In The Sky: "I don't need to talk to Paul Reed Smith, because he already taught me everything I know."

Fixed it.

 

[Boogie]

I personally don't have any problem with the vid above, but the preview still probably isn't appropriate.

Yikes! Fixed it...sorry. :biggrin:

and Les, is there anything you want to tell us about, in the new pedal department?

 

[László]

Yikes! Fixed it...sorry. :biggrin:

and Les, is there anything you want to tell us about, in the new pedal department?

Yup. I found a Klon KTR as a gift for my son!

One of the guys on VR had one, and he'll be shipping it to him tomorrow. I'm excited for him to get it. I love the way they sound with single coil guitars, and Jamie mainly plays, tours and records with old Fenders.

I think he'll really dig it.

It died in the middle of your hour of need??!! That is the true definition of Epic Fail.

Happy ending: the store is replacing the Harlow for me today, they just got a couple in. Stuff happens with gear. Not anything to worry about IMHO.

 

[g.wizz]

Yup. I found a Klon KTR as a gift for my son!

One of the guys on VR had one, and he'll be shipping it to him tomorrow. I'm excited for him to get it. I love the way they sound with single coil guitars, and Jamie mainly plays, tours and records with old Fenders.

I think he'll really dig it.

congrats for your son, it's so happens that i shipped one via DHL for a friend of mine that he bought from Amazon of all places
and it arrives tomorrow morning and it is pricey...

 

[László]

congrats for your son, it's so happens that i shipped one via DHL for a friend of mine that he bought from Amazon of all places
and it arrives tomorrow morning and it is pricey...

Thanks on his behalf, Nabil! Also, you wanted a report on the Wessex, and now I have one:

When I went to exchange the Harlow for a fresh one, it turned out that they were confused about what pedals arrived. They had a couple of Wessex models, not Harlows.

Anyway, they offered a swap, and I said OK, since I wanted to try a Wessex anyway, and I'd heard it's a good clean boost with the gain turned down, which is true. But it really is a great OD. Here are my initial thoughts about the Wessex:

In the N or Normal mode, it's very transparent, with a finely grained overdrive that sounds very much a part of the amp, no matter where you set the gain. It doesn't conceal the tone of the guitar, either. It's full-range, in other words, it doesn't cut or exaggerate the highs or lows on the guitar.

In the Enhanced Mode, the Wessex boosts the bass and treble a bit, but it's still quite transparent, and sounds equally good, there's just a bit more "there" there. Nice for a change of pace when you want a little something different from your instrument!

I'm not sure which mode I like better, which is a good thing, because it means both choices are useful, as opposed to some pedals where the choice is there but only one setting sounds good to me.

Compared to my Xotic BB preamp pedal, the grain on the Wessex is finer. What I mean by that is that it's more like a Matchless with its "crushed glass" top end, than, say, a Mesa with its more bubbly, grindy top end.

The Wessex is quite a bit more transparent, and it's more responsive to the player's picking. Of course, there are times I want a more raucous, grinding sound, so it'll be nice to have the BB on the board, but comparing the two, I'm pretty confident that I prefer the kind of distortion the Wessex has slightly.

The BB also takes a lot of the bass out of the guitar, though you can boost it back in with the bass control. Still, each pedal has a very different feel. The Wessex is smoother. I wish I had one of my Fulltones on hand for a comparison, but I no longer do, however if memory serves, something like the OCD has a rounder, wetter sound, and the Wessex a "closer to the guitar and amp" sound. At this level of quality, both are great.

I'll probably hang onto both pedals, and of course when layering recorded tracks the more sound variations I can get, the merrier!

 

[László]

I shouldn't follow my own post with another post, but I'm going to hijack my own thread simply to comment:

Wasn't The Mothers Of Invention a great name for a band?

 

[g.wizz]

Thank you Les for the long anticipated Wessex informative tone report and I'm glad it got your thumbs up
well the Barber Gain Changer that I currently have can be a very powerful clean boost to transparent overdrive
to full on sweet overdrive (the name says it all I guess) courtesy of the 2 mini switches providing 5 variations of sounds
and all usable, still I would love to get my hands on a Wessex sometimes in the future, but let's see how it will stand up
to your demanding quest for great tone inspired of course by the God of Tone in the Sky...
oh, and I agree a 100% about what a great name The Mothers of Invention really is...

 

[prsrocker1988]

I'm a pedal dude. I recently got a EVH 5150III 50w to run my PRSi through for my harder rock gigs and it needs less in the way of pedals but I still use a volume pedal. For me, changing the guitar knobs is too distracting and I'm NOT a multitasker and I want to focus my hands on playing, and my feet on tapping and changing volume.

My old Fenders I use a lot of dirt with. The Blackface/Silverface amps and my 65amps Ventura I run as clean as I can get 'em and use dirtboxes - I get a great sound that way.

The EVH is the first amp where I've actually liked amp gain. Normally I've hated it. I'd love to try an Archon sometime for live shows where I need ultimate versatility, and a DG30 for more studio, local blues gigs, etc.

A couple pedals I'll tell you to keep an eye out for that are unspoken secrets are the Nobels ODR-1 (not so much a secret anymore thanks to Nashville), and the Ibanez MT-10 Mostortion (still kind of a secret but also popular in Nashville). They are like salt and pepper, bread and butter. They are my favorite low-med gain overdrives. I still have other boxes for higher gain (OCD, PlimSoul, BB Preamp, etc). I have a feeling the ODR-1 and the MT-10 would sound good through a DG30. The Nobels ODR-1 is a more flat EQ with slight mids and more bass than a TS, lots more. The Mostortion is a 3 band passive EQ pedal with mosfet clipping that to me sounds like a really tweakable tubescreamer but sounds more amplike with the mosfet. They are great boxes to pair with something like an OCD. Just a friendly PSA. I just discovered the Mos 2 months ago, been rocking the ODR-1 for about 2 years now.

 

[Boogie]

Wasn't The Mothers Of Invention a great name for a band?

One of my favs was always Jiff and the Choosy Mothers.


Ridin' the tracks of derailment...

 

[László]

I'm a pedal dude. I recently got a EVH 5150III 50w to run my PRSi through for my harder rock gigs and it needs less in the way of pedals but I still use a volume pedal. For me, changing the guitar knobs is too distracting and I'm NOT a multitasker and I want to focus my hands on playing, and my feet on tapping and changing volume.

My old Fenders I use a lot of dirt with. The Blackface/Silverface amps and my 65amps Ventura I run as clean as I can get 'em and use dirtboxes - I get a great sound that way.

The EVH is the first amp where I've actually liked amp gain. Normally I've hated it. I'd love to try an Archon sometime for live shows where I need ultimate versatility, and a DG30 for more studio, local blues gigs, etc.

A couple pedals I'll tell you to keep an eye out for that are unspoken secrets are the Nobels ODR-1 (not so much a secret anymore thanks to Nashville), and the Ibanez MT-10 Mostortion (still kind of a secret but also popular in Nashville). They are like salt and pepper, bread and butter. They are my favorite low-med gain overdrives. I still have other boxes for higher gain (OCD, PlimSoul, BB Preamp, etc). I have a feeling the ODR-1 and the MT-10 would sound good through a DG30. The Nobels ODR-1 is a more flat EQ with slight mids and more bass than a TS, lots more. The Mostortion is a 3 band passive EQ pedal with mosfet clipping that to me sounds like a really tweakable tubescreamer but sounds more amplike with the mosfet. They are great boxes to pair with something like an OCD. Just a friendly PSA. I just discovered the Mos 2 months ago, been rocking the ODR-1 for about 2 years now.

Great tip, and I have friends who use those pedals to great effect!

I like amp gain, so there's a different need in my case.

 

[Deleted member 5962]

Thanks Les, I KNEW there was a GTGITS, and I've been praying to him for years. Sometimes I think he might never talk to me. Sometimes I think he's not listening. Then I look in that music room and see PRS and Taylors, Mesa Boogie amps... and I think "you maroon, he's been giving you everything you ever wanted. The rest is up to you!"

But, I'd still like to hear from him some time. Please put in a good word for me.

 

[László]

Thanks Les, I KNEW there was a GTGITS, and I've been praying to him for years. Sometimes I think he might never talk to me. Sometimes I think he's not listening. Then I look in that music room and see PRS and Taylors, Mesa Boogie amps... and I think "you maroon, he's been giving you everything you ever wanted. The rest is up to you!"

But, I'd still like to hear from him some time. Please put in a good word for me.

Ha! Will do! We are some lucky dudes to have all this great stuff, aren't we?

 

[aristotle]

Had a snafu on my pedal board during my last gig. One of the small jacks connecting the pedals. No time to debug, so guitar -> amp. 20 seconds of knob fiddling and darn if it didn't sound great. Look Ma! No pedals!

Didn't hurt that the guitar was the new 30th custom 24 and the amp was a Friedman HBE... Which reminds me.... I never saw your review of your new 30th CU24 Les. Did I miss it??

 

[László]

Had a snafu on my pedal board during my last gig. One of the small jacks connecting the pedals. No time to debug, so guitar -> amp. 20 seconds of knob fiddling and darn if it didn't sound great. Look Ma! No pedals!

Didn't hurt that the guitar was the new 30th custom 24 and the amp was a Friedman HBE... Which reminds me.... I never saw your review of your new 30th CU24 Les. Did I miss it??

Yeah guitar >> amp is great! I actually prefer it sometimes, but the pedals give me some variety for recording. Not a bad thing!

I asked Jack not to ship the guitar until the weather warms up a little, so I don't have it to post the obligatory review. I'm told it has a sweet switch built into the tone control, something I've never had. So that should be interesting. But I do have some eye candy!