Good Effects

chrisb · Post by **chrisb** » Sat Nov 25, 2006 6:24 pm

This is great, I've been wanting to get into this kind of discussion for a while...

After much experimentation, here's my setup:
360/12v64 into a Guyatone ST2 compressor--this is the best squash comp to get THE SOUND (and beyond) I've used, and I've put it up against Keeley, HBE, MXR and others. It's VERY transparent (on & off) and can be very aggressive or laid back; it also makes a great clean boost with no compression.

That feeds a Voodoo Lab Sparkle Drive, which is hands down the best mild OD I've used with my 12. The name says it all. It also makes a very good clean boost, and combined with the Guyatone, I can get a FULL range of distortion/sustain tones without losing any of the sparkle the guitar is famous for. [I also have to give very high marks to the Durham Sex Drive-it's designed as a clean boost with compression options to drive a class A amp like a Vox AC30. Though I haven't wanted to pony up the 2 bills to buy one, I love the sound they produce.]

From there we go to modulation, which is a Fulltone Mini Deja Vibe and/or a Motion Sound rotating horn speaker. I can't say enough good things about either of them: rich, creamy and beautiful, but they are not for everyone.

Which brings me to my favorite pedal of all time: the HomeBrew Mimic Mock I. This is the ultimate in reasonably priced analog delay for me: juicy, midrange-heavy repeats with tons of mojo and very little high end, but the original dry tone is absolutely unchanged (on or off). That said, it is a little noisy: it has a fair amount of clock noise which comes across as a high pitched squeal. This is below unity, so you can't really hear it when you're playing, but it is present nonetheless. A small sacrifice for such beauty. I had the good fortune to also own its brother, the Mock II, but in the end I preferred the more colorful (and noisy) Mock I.

And finally we reach the amp: a mid-90s reissue Vox AC15. The tone is the best I've heard for my taste, plus it has a nice tube vibrato and spring reverb (NOT as good as Fender, but it works for me). If anyone wants to know more about it, I'll elaborate, but the question was effects so I'll stop here.

This is more than most wanted to read, I'm sure, but I've spent a lot of time and money on pedals that did nothing for this finnicky guitar and I would have loved to have someone give me this many clues years ago when I started this quest!

I invite everyone to please keep this thread going, I love to hear about cool effects that work with Ricks. They are not the easiest things work with since their tone is so uniquely brilliant.

Now if anyone cares to hear some of the sounds, check my band's myspace page at myspace.com/greatercalifornia. We're finishing a new record and will be putting new songs up soon. (What's there now is older and much has changed since then.)
Also check out myspace.com/rockfour for some serious 12-string jangle. They are THE best modern band using THE SOUND!

alexrocks · Post by **alexrocks** » Tue Nov 28, 2006 5:43 pm

You know what? I'm trying a turbo rat right now, but after all this, I'm really liking the plug in direct sound of my amp. I'll still keep my eyes open, and I'm now curious about this Sparkle Drive.

Greg, You're really an EH dealer? My bandmate is the biggest EH fan in the world. You have to see his board. I'll take a pic and post it on here. I love the guy to death but he's gone so overboard with pedals. It's insane. But he's really good with them all. He knows when to and when not to use them but man...

ps... Is the HumDebugger coming out soon?

sloop_john_b · Post by **sloop_john_b** » Tue Nov 28, 2006 5:58 pm

I've had a bunch of EHX pedals - Deluxe Memory Man, Small Clone, Small Stone, Electric Mistress, Frequency Analyzer, three Big Muff Pi's, Dr. Q. I really dig their stuff.

For the pedal junkies, here's me tweaking my live pedalboards two years back:

byu · Post by **byu** » Tue Nov 28, 2006 6:54 pm

That's just overkill. All you really need is the TV.

sloop_john_b · Post by **sloop_john_b** » Tue Nov 28, 2006 7:04 pm

The TV idea was interesting - we had a camera that faced the audience, and the idea was that they would watch themselves on it. Unfortunatley we never got it working right. That was a fun band.

Also, note the NES Advantage Joystick on my board - it actually had a Big Muff built into it and did really bizarre stuff when the joystock/knobs were moved! Read more about it here: http://experimentalistsanonymous.com/stuff/index.html

byu · Post by **byu** » Tue Nov 28, 2006 7:08 pm

You were supposed to run the camera through the Electric Mistress first.

telebob · Post by **telebob** » Tue Nov 28, 2006 7:25 pm

I use a Boss BD2 modded by Analogman. www.analogman.com

This pedal gives you everything from a sweet, clean boost, to a hairy distortion and everything in between.

But perhaps the best feature is the way it retains your bass tone when you click it on. The lower strings remain full and robust and don't thin out the way other pedals can affect your sound. And we all know that further "thinning out" a Ric is something we nary can afford to do.

sloop_john_b · Post by **sloop_john_b** » Tue Nov 28, 2006 7:57 pm

Why didn't I think of that! Flanged picture!

sloop_john_b · Post by **sloop_john_b** » Tue Nov 28, 2006 7:58 pm

Bob, I use an Analogman-modded Ibanez TS-9 Tubescreamer. It's the "classic mod". What a fantastic pedal!

kenposurf · Post by **kenposurf** » Wed Nov 29, 2006 4:37 am

Mike/Analogman is one of a group of builders/modders out there doing some really fine work. Many on this site have likely heard of Don "Toneman" www.toneman.com and his work on VOX amps..builds a mean pedal also..Rangemaster

telebob · Post by **telebob** » Wed Nov 29, 2006 8:18 am

Right on John. I have the TS9 too. (and a King of Tone)

The BD2 is definitely much fuller sounding than the TS9 with a much more refined low end and fat bottom. It also sounds better as a clean boost or when used as a light OD. I have both on my pedal board.

sloop_john_b · Post by **sloop_john_b** » Wed Nov 29, 2006 8:22 am

Interesting! I may have to try it sometime. Though I do like the transparency of the TS-9.

telebob · Post by **telebob** » Wed Nov 29, 2006 4:05 pm

Your in luck John! The BD2 is equally transparent. I was doing a bit of a "pickup shoot out" at my guitar techs place over the weekend. I brought my '77 Deluxe reverb with Weber P12NT speaker in it and my Boss BD2. While we all liked the pickups we were testing a real lot, it seems the star of the show was my BD2. My tech just ordered one!

alexrocks · Post by **alexrocks** » Wed Nov 29, 2006 5:13 pm

I love the joystick pedal!. So, after saying yesterday that I'm likin how my stuff sounds direct; I buy a Big Muff. And it rules all. It's the fat NYC one. Got it used for 60. Thought that was fair. I love the fat thick tone on it. I'm still looking for a more crunchy pedal though. But my amp will be fine for now.

My band mate bought 3 pedals today: The fresh off the truck EH polyphase and HumDebugger. But He realized that the polyphase has an envelope filter that sounds similar to his Q-tron (that he bought a week ago) so he went back and sold the Q-tron and got a Little Big Muff. And he already has a Deluxe Big Muff (which rules) and a Vintage Pi on the way.

ps. at the store a clerk had his black 330 on a stand behind the counter for repair. I couldn't tell exactly what year but it was fairly vintage. very nice.

johnallg · Post by **johnallg** » Wed Nov 29, 2006 8:34 pm

"You were supposed to run the camera through the Electric Mistress first."

Made me think of running a mic through a flanger...