NMPD

alantig

Zombie Four, DFZ
Joined
Apr 28, 2012
Messages
14,840
One thing I've never been accused of being is an overachiever. I once had a high school teacher tell me - in class - that he and another teacher were talking about me in the teacher's lounge, and they both thought that I needed to apply myself more. My takeaway was not "I should work harder". It was "teachers talk about me?"

Yesterday, kind of on the sperm of the moment (to quote Archie Bunker), I decided to head to my local pusher to try out the new PRS pedals. They had all three in stock, and this was going to be my best opportunity for the next two weeks. Saturdays can be kind of busy there, but usually after the first 90 minutes or so, things settle a bit, so I figured I'd be able to hear things well enough. So I pulled out enough cash for the pedal I was pretty sure I was buying and headed off.

Got all three pedals and set up on an Archon 50. I figured that was close enough to my Archon 100 that the amp wouldn't color my impressions of the pedals, and it would give me a decent idea what they would do on one of my amps. First up was the Mary Cries, the compressor. Based on the demos and especially Tim Pierce's video, this was the pedal I was pretty certain I was getting. I don't use compression a ton, but I've been learning to use it more lately, especially with cleaner playing. It was pretty much exactly what I was expecting based on the videos. It may be the first compressor where I really felt the compressor at high settings. The big surprise to me - and I showed it to one guy there who said he hadn't had a chance to really play with it - if you crank the gain, it acts like a pretty crunchy overdrive. I was not expecting that. Going to be some fun playing around with this one.

Next up was the flanger. I've never played with a dual flanger like that before. For me, at least, there would be a bit of a learning curve getting a handle on this thing. It sounds gorgeous, but for me, finding those sweet spots would be a key. It doesn't do the big "jet engine" thing (at least that I found), but it was never advertised to do that. At the highest rates, it seemed less usable to me. That's a quick-ish impression, but that extreme setting was not something I think I'd hit a lot. Lots of control on this one, and it was pretty easy to dial in something I liked, from very subtle to in-your-face.

Finally, the Horsemeat. I've never been a big OD guy - I usually jump straight to the distortion side of things. I was pretty impressed with this one right away. As others have mentioned, "transparent" apparently doesn't mean what I'd expect with this pedal. I would have expected at unity gain and neutral tone settings that a transparent pedal wouldn't color the tone, but this one does. Not necessarily in a negative way, it just wasn't expected. There's a decent range on this pedal - it got crunchier than I expected - and you can dial in a lot of cool sounds. I played this one with a guitar that had coil taps, so I got to try it w/humbuckers and single-coils.

This is where the overachiever gene apparently finally kicked in. I didn't expect to like it as much as I did, and I did, so I ended up with two pedals - the OD and the compressor. My guy walked by as I was shutting things down and said, "Well, what do you think?" And I said, "Bastards! I wasn't planning on getting two of these." But I did.

So I walked out spending twice what I'd planned, but did you ever do that and feel lucky that you didn't spend 35 or 40 times what you'd planned? Because that's what happened to me yesterday. Before I started, I made a quick pass through the store. I'd forgotten that they had an Epiphone Extura (kind of a blend between an Explorer and Futura bodies). So that's what I figured I use - kill two birds with one stone (I still have a jones for an Explorer-type). As the guy was setting me up on the Archon, he asked what guitar I wanted to use. I looked up at the PRS in the area, and realized the one had a Floyd and a maple neck (I'd walked though here before and didn't realize what it was). I said, "Is this a Dustie Waring?" He said, "Wow - good eye." Two birds with one stone - I'd never played a Dustie before. So that's what I used at first. My primary focus was on the pedals, but that's a damn nice guitar - my focus wandered a bit, especially once I'd pretty much formed my opinion about the pedals. While I was playing with the flanger, I realized that the guitar hanging next to the Dustie was a beautiful blue Paul's. I'd never played a Paul's, and they were on my list. As I was switching to the Horsemeat, my guy walked by again and checked on me, so I asked if I could switch to the Paul's. He said it was really nice, and it wasn't a 10-top so it was a little cheaper. These two were newer - no price tags on them yet. In a rare fit of intelligence in a guitar store, I did not ask how much they were. I figured as long as I didn't know, I could pretend they were too expensive to buy. The Paul's was a very sweet guitar - the closest thing I had to a negative was that the neck is finished, and my hands were a little sweaty by this time, so it felt a tad sticky. Not really an issue long-term just in the moment. So those two guitars - sweet. I think my gas has returned. My guy said the previous Dustie they'd had in, he had taken it out of the box and put it on their setup bench to go over it. He said a guy walked past and did a double-take and asked if it was a Dustie. He said the guitar didn't make it off the bench - the guy bought it before he'd finished his initial setup. As for me, I figured I could come home and explain two pedals instead of one. Two pedals and two guitars? Not so much. But I can get back there in a couple weeks. And both guitars were cheaper than I expected. And the last big ticket guitar I bought was either the Silver Sky or the 594. I'm overdue...
 
Nice share Alan, was almost looking over your shoulder in the guitar store.

Please feel free to share another instalment, where you go back and purchase a “dog kennel (or two).

“Someone said guitar (mattress) to Mr Lambert, now we’ll all have to get into the fish tank and sing!”

Watch out for the Mormon Tabernacle Choir.
 
One thing I've never been accused of being is an overachiever. I once had a high school teacher tell me - in class - that he and another teacher were talking about me in the teacher's lounge, and they both thought that I needed to apply myself more. My takeaway was not "I should work harder". It was "teachers talk about me?"

Yesterday, kind of on the sperm of the moment (to quote Archie Bunker), I decided to head to my local pusher to try out the new PRS pedals. They had all three in stock, and this was going to be my best opportunity for the next two weeks. Saturdays can be kind of busy there, but usually after the first 90 minutes or so, things settle a bit, so I figured I'd be able to hear things well enough. So I pulled out enough cash for the pedal I was pretty sure I was buying and headed off.

Got all three pedals and set up on an Archon 50. I figured that was close enough to my Archon 100 that the amp wouldn't color my impressions of the pedals, and it would give me a decent idea what they would do on one of my amps. First up was the Mary Cries, the compressor. Based on the demos and especially Tim Pierce's video, this was the pedal I was pretty certain I was getting. I don't use compression a ton, but I've been learning to use it more lately, especially with cleaner playing. It was pretty much exactly what I was expecting based on the videos. It may be the first compressor where I really felt the compressor at high settings. The big surprise to me - and I showed it to one guy there who said he hadn't had a chance to really play with it - if you crank the gain, it acts like a pretty crunchy overdrive. I was not expecting that. Going to be some fun playing around with this one.

Next up was the flanger. I've never played with a dual flanger like that before. For me, at least, there would be a bit of a learning curve getting a handle on this thing. It sounds gorgeous, but for me, finding those sweet spots would be a key. It doesn't do the big "jet engine" thing (at least that I found), but it was never advertised to do that. At the highest rates, it seemed less usable to me. That's a quick-ish impression, but that extreme setting was not something I think I'd hit a lot. Lots of control on this one, and it was pretty easy to dial in something I liked, from very subtle to in-your-face.

Finally, the Horsemeat. I've never been a big OD guy - I usually jump straight to the distortion side of things. I was pretty impressed with this one right away. As others have mentioned, "transparent" apparently doesn't mean what I'd expect with this pedal. I would have expected at unity gain and neutral tone settings that a transparent pedal wouldn't color the tone, but this one does. Not necessarily in a negative way, it just wasn't expected. There's a decent range on this pedal - it got crunchier than I expected - and you can dial in a lot of cool sounds. I played this one with a guitar that had coil taps, so I got to try it w/humbuckers and single-coils.

This is where the overachiever gene apparently finally kicked in. I didn't expect to like it as much as I did, and I did, so I ended up with two pedals - the OD and the compressor. My guy walked by as I was shutting things down and said, "Well, what do you think?" And I said, "Bastards! I wasn't planning on getting two of these." But I did.

So I walked out spending twice what I'd planned, but did you ever do that and feel lucky that you didn't spend 35 or 40 times what you'd planned? Because that's what happened to me yesterday. Before I started, I made a quick pass through the store. I'd forgotten that they had an Epiphone Extura (kind of a blend between an Explorer and Futura bodies). So that's what I figured I use - kill two birds with one stone (I still have a jones for an Explorer-type). As the guy was setting me up on the Archon, he asked what guitar I wanted to use. I looked up at the PRS in the area, and realized the one had a Floyd and a maple neck (I'd walked though here before and didn't realize what it was). I said, "Is this a Dustie Waring?" He said, "Wow - good eye." Two birds with one stone - I'd never played a Dustie before. So that's what I used at first. My primary focus was on the pedals, but that's a damn nice guitar - my focus wandered a bit, especially once I'd pretty much formed my opinion about the pedals. While I was playing with the flanger, I realized that the guitar hanging next to the Dustie was a beautiful blue Paul's. I'd never played a Paul's, and they were on my list. As I was switching to the Horsemeat, my guy walked by again and checked on me, so I asked if I could switch to the Paul's. He said it was really nice, and it wasn't a 10-top so it was a little cheaper. These two were newer - no price tags on them yet. In a rare fit of intelligence in a guitar store, I did not ask how much they were. I figured as long as I didn't know, I could pretend they were too expensive to buy. The Paul's was a very sweet guitar - the closest thing I had to a negative was that the neck is finished, and my hands were a little sweaty by this time, so it felt a tad sticky. Not really an issue long-term just in the moment. So those two guitars - sweet. I think my gas has returned. My guy said the previous Dustie they'd had in, he had taken it out of the box and put it on their setup bench to go over it. He said a guy walked past and did a double-take and asked if it was a Dustie. He said the guitar didn't make it off the bench - the guy bought it before he'd finished his initial setup. As for me, I figured I could come home and explain two pedals instead of one. Two pedals and two guitars? Not so much. But I can get back there in a couple weeks. And both guitars were cheaper than I expected. And the last big ticket guitar I bought was either the Silver Sky or the 594. I'm overdue...
Nice ! I’ve to get to N Stuff to try the Horsemeat, and I’ve got little excuse as I’m renovating a bank in Harmar. I’ve definite got a want to try that OD pedal. So, who’s “your guy”, Billy, Joey or Jason?

So, you left that Standard 22 there with Steve, right?
 
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As others have mentioned, "transparent" apparently doesn't mean what I'd expect with this pedal. I would have expected at unity gain and neutral tone settings that a transparent pedal wouldn't color the tone, but this one does.
Lucy, you got some splainin’ to do. Please describe this "color the tone" thing.

Also, transparency doesn’t have anything to do with whether or not a device changes the EQ. A device that is transparent can have bass and treble (or mids, or even more) controls that manipulate frequency levels, but are still transparent. While lots of “audio words’ can be tricky to describe, transparency should be just what it says. A clear window to the tone presented to it.

I have mentioned before, that I believe most digital devices lack at least some degree of transparency. I’ve owned at least 20 amps in the last 10 years, and even the affordable ones had more transparency than any digital modeler I’ve tried or heard. Simple things like switching pickup positions make much more definite differences in tone when playing through an amp (even when using pedals) than through a modeler. There is a homogenization of the tone that is clear, IMO when using every digital device I’ve tried. The differences between different guitars, or guitars with similar but different pickups, etc., are all more clear on an amp and an amp and pedals.

Anyway, tell me about the pedal already! :D
 
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Nice ! I’ve to get to N Stuff to try the Horsemeat, and I’ve got little excuse as I’ve renovating a bank in Harmar. I’ve definite got a want to try that OD pedal. So, who’s “your guy”, Billy, Joey or Jason?

So, you left that Standard 22 there with Steve, right?
Jason, although a couple other guys got me started yesterday. And yes, I left the standard 22 for you. I did see it, but I kept moving!
 
Nice write-up! I look forward to trying out one or more of those pedals, eventually. Maybe Santa will be kind to me this year...
 
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