Good vs great guitar effects pedals

Someone -- I think it was The Edge, in a YouTube interview where he shows off his guitar rig -- said that with most guitar effects pedals you can get at least one useful sound out of them -- and I think that's true.

I was messing around with some effects pedals this afternoon, and with some of them, yeah, I could get a useful sound. 

But with two of them, I could get many different useful sounds.  And -- probably not coincidentally -- the sounds I got made me want to keep playing and playing and playing. 


I guess you could say that the difference between a "good" and a "great" guitar pedal is that a great pedal makes you chortle, and want to keep playing.  And probably inspires recurring riffage.



--GG

This is my reasoning

As I mentioned, I'm slowly, methodically going through my belonging, and divesting of things that I don't use, and which don't bring me enjoyment.


One of the items is a guitar effects pedal, which I bought three(?) years ago, and have used perhaps 5-8 times since then.  It's... fine.  But it doesn't captivate me.  It's a Korg AX1G (pictured), which is a multi-effects pedal:  all of the effects are "stacked" (i.e. for each setting, one sound feeds into another) -- whereas I've discovered that I prefer the sound of only distortion, or only chorus, or only a phaser.  So.


I mentioned the pedal to a co-worker, who expressed interest.  So I brought it in to work, and we took it downstairs to the sub-basement parking garage and he played through it.  I keep an electric guitar and a small amplifier under my desk at work -- because, doesn't everybody?

He decided that he liked it, and would buy it off me.  I told him I'd sell it for fifty bucks -- which is what I got it for (it was originally stickered at $65, I think, but I'd haggled down the price to fifty); I didn't want to make a profit off a co-worker.

I held it for him at my desk for a few days -- but then yesterday (Wednesday) he texted me from home (he works from home on Wednesdays) to say that he'd had a few unexpected bills, so he couldn't pay me for a while.  He said that if I wanted to back out of the deal and sell it to someone else, he would understand.


I pondered -- and the next day I handed the pedal to him and told him to take it home and use it, and to just pay me whenever he could.  Here's my reasoning:

-I could bring it back home; hold it at my desk; or give it to him to hold at his desk or take home.  I'd prefer to not have it at my desk or at home.

-I could continue to advertise it on Gumtree (the AU analog to Craigslist); or I could just sell it to him (on credit, I guess it is).  I trust him to pay me eventually -- and it's more about "getting it out of my house" and "finding a good home, where it will be appreciated and used" than "immediately getting fifty bucks".


And that's what it is.


 --GG

Walco effects pedals or effects units

Sorry -- I haven't posted a blog entry for a while.  I actually have a few remedial ones that I've been planning on posting:  I just haven't had the time.  Well, first my PC died, and it took me a few weeks to get a new (used!) one and install Mint Linux on it.

Anyways...


I've been going through some of my music gear that I bought while living in Seattle -- placed in boxes prior to moving to Australia -- and literally have not been used in over a decade.  I've been putting a few things on Gumtree (the Australian analog to CraigsList) as a result.

One of the oddities that I turned up is a complete set of the eight little guitar effects units put out by Walco.  So I put them on Gumtree as a bulk set.

But then I thought that as part of my ad, I should link to some online sound samples -- maybe a YouTube video?  Oddly, I couldn't find any on YouTube.


So:  as a service to the online guitar community, I played through each of the eight effects units, and am now in the process of posting the results to YouTube.  Just search for "Walco - Effects" and they should come up.


Some thoughts on the series: 


I bought these in the late '90s as "New Old Stock", while living in Seattle. Some I took out of the packaging and had a play; others (two of them) were(!!!) still unopened in their original packaging -- until about a week ago.

That is:  until a week ago, I hadn't used them since I bought them. I've gone away from musical devices that **don't** allow A/C power and only run off of batteries -- so I'm unlikely to make use of these. So I'm putting them back in the ocean (i.e. selling them).

I'll try to make the following descriptions more or less align with their ordering in the photo (note the piano keyboard, as a scale reference [no pun intended]). I'll group my descriptions by form factor.


BOX W/ SHORT CABLE, AND CLIP TO HANG FROM GUITAR STRAP:

-BASS-TREBLE EXPANDER (blue pedal) -- A bass booster or treble booster. Has an "On/Off" slider switch, a slider switch that allows for a bass boost, or a treble boost, and a knob for the amount of boost. I accidentally found a YouTube clip here -- https://youtu.be/Zs3QcHCqVoM .  The treble booster is piercing; the bass boost is more like an octave pedal.  As you can see from the photos (below), you choose either treble or bass boost -- not both at once.

-SOUND-GO-ROUND (bright green) - Tremelo. The On/Off slider switch was broken, so I removed it and bypassed it -- so now it's always on (you could bypass it with a loop pedal). You could probably replace it with another switch -- or mod it with a footswtich-style pedal. Has a knob to control the speed.

-FUZZ TONE GENERATOR (pink) - Fuzz. An On/Off slider switch, and a knob for the amount of fuzz.


BOX WITH A INPUT JACK AND AN OUTPUT PLUG:

-AUTOMATIC LEVEL CONTROL (dark green) -- A limiter?  Had to tell, exactly. On/Off slider switch,and a knob to set the output level.

-SIGNAL BOOSTER (orange) (New In Box) -- Boost pedal, presumably --- except my version doesn't (it just chokes the sound, really). On/Off slider switch, a slider switch for the polarity of the unit (i.e. does the tip go into your instrument, or into your amp?), and a knob for the degree of boost.

-ACOUSTIC FEEDBACK ELIMINATOR (Yellow) -- It's some sort of gate -- like a noise gate... -ish.  The text on the back of the packing implies an expander noise gate -- but they don't use those words. A slider knob for On/Off, and a "Attack control" knob.  It also overdrove the input to my amp, due to all the make-up gain.  Or maybe it was internally overloading, due to low headroom or a design error in the gain-staging.  Overall, mildly peculiar.


BOX WITH SIMPLY AN OUTPUT PLUG:

-ACCU-TUNER (red) - Electronic tuning fork. Slider switch between generating an A-440Hz output tone, or an E-349.23Hz tone. No input, just the output plug.  Gives a steady tone.  If the slider switch was replaced with a better switch (a toggle switch?), you could possibly do something interesting with this -- like use it as a drone for a song in the key of E or A.


F/X PEDAL:

-"CHORD AND NOTE SUSTAINER" (brown pedal) -- From memory, like an over-exuberant compressor (see the YouTube video).  Useful for creating feedback but with the maximum volume still being mild.  No actual controls except the "On/Off" foot button.


None of them run off A/C adaptors: you have to use 9V batteries.


My web search indicates that they largely fall into the "So bad they're good" (or "So bad they're only bad?") category. Maybe for a hard core guitar effects pedal collector? Or for someone who wants trashy, low-fi sounds.



As I mentioned, I tried all of them -- including (somewhat reluctantly; but "for the good of science") taking out the two "New In Box" units.

Surprisingly, a few were actually good -- and most were... "interesting".

I wouldn't take them gigging or for live performance, because they're too unreliable (esp. the switches).  But they might have some studio/recording uses.  If you used them regularly, I'd suggest removing the slider switches and replacing them with more robust toggle switches.  And possibly getting an A/C adaptor -- although some people think that running small effects boxes off of wall current can introduce noise into the signal chain.


Here are two forums that make a brief mention of Walco effects units (I'm sure there are others):

https://www.thegearpage.net/board/index.php?threads/walco-effects.1722379/

http://www.harmonycentral.com/forum/forum/guitar/acapella-29/1877286-


I agree with the assessment in the first link, in that the Chord and Note Sustainer is interesting and potentially usable.  The guy also like dthe Signal Booster (if he recalls correctly) -- but mine was not terribly useful (as noted in the YouTube video):  the "boost" was only up to the input level, and it added a lot of dropouts -- but not in an interesting "glitchy" way.  (Hard to explain; just see the YouTube video, once I post it.)

A second poster in the first link also says that the Sound-Go-Round sucks; I disagree.  The second poster also says the she/he got the boost, which didn't work even though it was new out of the box:  that's more similar to my own experience.

And etcetera.  Just take a look at both of those threads.   ;)


Finally:  I'm going to post some pics of all of the pedals.  Since this is somewhat for archival/public service purposes, I'm going to leave them at full (cheap cell-phone!) resolution:  so about 400kB, not 50-ish kB.

Anyhow:  by the time you read this, these probably will be sold to the four winds.


--GG

Adorable pedal

There was an ad in the local, online, classifieds for this effects pedal (used -- at a very good price).  I picked it up today.

I think it's adorable:  it's about half the width of a typical guitar effects pedal, and maybe 80% of the usual length. It's so small that a nine-volt battery won't fit inside:  you have to use an external power supply.

It's a Mooer "Pure Octave", from their "Micro Series Compact Pedal".  The large white pedal chooses the harmony notes: e.g. "+2 -1" produces one octave below, and two octaves above. The small black knobs are "SUB" (the lower octaves), "DRY" (presumably, the wet/dry mix), and "UPPER" (the upper octaves).

I haven't had a chance to play it yet -- but I bought it on the strength of some of the YouTube demos.


--GG

Changing tastes

In my youth, I enjoyed oddball-sounding effects pedals for guitars -- ring modulators and the like.

But I was browsing YouTube this evening for demos of guitar effects pedals, and I realized that the oddball pedals don't appeal to me like they used to.  Maybe -- as I age -- I actually prefer things that sound pleasant, rather than jarring.  Or maybe I'm no longer worried about conformity:  I'm willing to have a "regular" guitar sound ("typical" distortion, flanger, phaser, chorus sounds).


On the other hand:  a few days ago I discovered, by accident, this interview with Tom Morello, guitarist for Rage Against the Machine.  Among other things, he discusses how he gets his odd sounds.

One of the things that I appreciate about his approach is that he trys to get interesting, unique sounds:  he says that most guitarists, when they first get a pedal, they turn all the knobs to the most extreme settings and revel in the joyous cacophony.  But then, once you're in a band setting, they tend to dial things back to better blend in with the rest of the band.  In contrast, he tries to keep things in the "joyful noise" zone.

Relevant insights start around 2:10, and again at 4:39.  Although I benefitted from the whole thing.



Also:  great quote at 5:40.  :)

Most  (or all?) of his guitar work in Rage Against the Machine is non-complex (although innovative and clever).  But, as shown in the segment starting at 18:00, he has the capacity to "shred" -- he (apparently) just chooses not to.


BTW, he also seems like a swell guy.  Although his voice is not at all what I expected it to sound like:  I'd always imagined him with a New York-y accent.


--GG

Oddball pedal

While intonating the Hanna Montana guitar that I keep at work (doesn't everyone???), the bolt that adjusts one of the saddles got stuck:  cheap hardware.  So, I'm going to replace it with a Les Paul-style bridge.

Since I'll be modding it anyhow, I decided to do some funky things with the electronics (which I'll describe when I actually **do** it).  So I had to dig though my pile of boxes to find the box (about the size of a shoebox) of electronics parts that I haven't used in three years.

Managed to find it!  And, in doing so, came across this oddball effects pedal.

I don't actually remember buying it -- but, clearly I did.  Likely off of eBay, around 2002 or 2003, in Seattle.  Presumably I tested it, to make sure it worked...


Guitarists will, at first glance, think it's a wah-wah pedal.  The rest of you can do a YouTube search for wah pedals; I'm sure there's a few videos there.

BUT -- note that it has an XLR output (microphone output) on the side.  The other side has a mic input.

As indicated by the instructions on the back (click photo to enlarge), you set a minimum and maximum volume level with the two knobs on the side.  Then you use the foot pedal to sweep between those two settings.

Kind of like a guitarists volume pedal -- except that it's for micing the amp for recording or PA work.


My immediate thought is that this pedal is clever -- but wrong-headed. Seems like you could just use a distortion, boost or overdrive pedal (with the level of distortion set to minimum) to get a louder or quieter volume ''on the fly''.  Or, just use a volume pedal (although, it wouldn't have the pre-set volume levels).

But my second thought was that if you leave the mic at the same level and reduce the guitar signal, then the room noise (and amp hum) will still exist, and may overshadow the ''good'' (guitar) signal that you want.  So having a way of keeping the guitar output volume at the same relative level to the room noise and the amp hum actually makes a lot of sense.


Still, I don't think I'll actually use it:  when recording, I don't tend to turn my effects on and off.  So everything for that pass is supposed to be at a fairly consistent volume.

So, oddball -- and I'll probably never use it.  But perhaps it's collectable.


Certainly, it's interesting.  :)

--GG


P.S.  For the Google search robots:  it's a Jim Dunlop ''Lead Master'' pedal, model SL-50.

Two infinite effects pedals

Modern technology is doing some spiffy things.

This guitar effects pedal -- http://line6.com/m5/ -- has a zillion famous pedals inside (well, emulated). It's supposed to be remarkable convincing.

This one -- http://www.zoom.co.jp/products/g3/ -- is a similar concept, but it's three pedals. I like the interface.

One of these days, maybe I'll buy one of them. But not any time soon. :)


--GG

Best 45 bucks I ever spent

I enjoy guitar effects pedals -- but they run off 9-Volt batteries, and that's a pain in the patootie.

It's hard to get into the battery compartment of most guitar pedals. Rechargeable 9V batteries don't last very long. Non-rechargeable batteries are non-cheap, and it's un-environmental to crank though them.

After mucking around with rechargeable 9V batteries (and running out of power at inopportune moments), I finally decided to pick up some "wall wart" power supplies (as shown). Decided to get three of them, as Jaycar has a price break when you get three or more ($15-ish, versus $17-ish).

Took 'em home, plugged 'em in, tried it out: Ahhhhhh....!!!

Magic.


--GG