OffsetGuitars.com

Some of the regular forum trawlers might know that my new year's resolution is to not get any more gear. Part of the reasoning behind this is that I went a bit nuts at the end of 2018 and bought a bunch of pedals I don't particularly 'need,' and a second pedalboard for nearly all of my 'spare' pedals to live on.

First board is my 'main' board that I would theoretically take to play shows and practice with my band that has been on hiatus for WAY too long. Plain pedal is a Chicago Stompworks DOD 250 clone.


Second board has all the extra pedals that were lurking in the basement. It is more versatile than my main board; perfect for noodling. Lots of custom hobby built pedals. Green one is a Harmonic Percolater/Systech OD (RAT pedal precursor) combo. Also have a Flanger/Phaser combo pedal. The plain metal delay is a Maxon AD 900.


I can also, theoretically, plug an ENTIRE board into the feedback/output loop of either the Moog Delay, EAR AD 4096 MKII, or the Rubberneck.

Jaguar018 wrote: ↑

Fri Jan 04, 2019 7:33 am

First board is my 'main' board that I would theoretically take to play shows and practice with my band that has been on hiatus for WAY too long. Plain pedal is a Chicago Stompworks DOD 250 clone.

[/img]

That looks great! (I think) I'm jealous of your EAR AD 4096 MkII (and the Moog TBH but that's another story). How are you finding it? I was super close to pre-ordering a few times last year but lost track of it.

I reworked the black Metro 24 board a bit to get the recently acquired Keeley Dark Side on there this afternoon, wired in between the Rat and the BoR on the drive loop:

The fuzz is quickly establishing itself as a favorite, it seems to work really well for me across the full range of the fuzz pot and pairs up w/ the excellent filter pot and the scoop/full/flat switch to give pretty intuitive access to just about any kind of sound I'm looking for out of a fuzz short of glitch/octave/zipper sounds while affording a whole lot of flexibility when compensating for different guitars and amps. Even dialed for sludgey, doomy chug it's got amazing chord clarity and delivers great lead tones whether I'm going for searing, bitey sounds or rounder, mellower fuzz-driver ones w/ a nice dynamic bloom.

Hooking up the expression pedal has revealed whole other layers of awesome fun w/ the left side of the pedal. Playing the flanger/rotary as a wah is extremely satisfying and swells of the chorus/univibe speed and Binson feedback are almost equally as cool, although the taper w/ my Dunlop pedal seems seem to have a bit of an abrupt ramp about half way through the range (right where I would want the most control). Still pretty darn cool and useful as is and if I could make space for my Expressionator on there would probably be a complete no issue.

Sid Nitzerglobin wrote: ↑

Sun Jan 06, 2019 3:35 pm

That looks great! (I think) I'm jealous of your EAR AD 4096 MkII (and the Moog TBH but that's another story). How are you finding it? I was super close to pre-ordering a few times last year but lost track of it.

The EAR is a really cool pedal. It has a nice murky delay sound with some unique character. It really seems to be designed to go off in strange directions. It's a little glitchy though. It takes a half-second to engage (and whenever I 'turn on' the pedalboard it's automatically engaged). If I was playing shows where I needed to turn it on and off during the same song for different parts it could be an issue. It might be a little better as a 'studio/basement' pedal. I was sort of hoping it could displace my Moog so I could cash in, but I think the Moog is still the champ.

Sid Nitzerglobin wrote: ↑

Sun Jan 06, 2019 3:35 pm

Hooking up the expression pedal has revealed whole other layers of awesome fun w/ the left side of the pedal. Playing the flanger/rotary as a wah is extremely satisfying and swells of the chorus/univibe speed and Binson feedback are almost equally as cool, although the taper w/ my Dunlop pedal seems seem to have a bit of an abrupt ramp about half way through the range (right where I would want the most control). Still pretty darn cool and useful as is and if I could make space for my Expressionator on there would probably be a complete no issue.

I have found that issue with a few Dunlop pedals as well. Really annoying.

Jaguar018 wrote: ↑

Tue Jan 08, 2019 7:21 am

Sid Nitzerglobin wrote: ↑

Sun Jan 06, 2019 3:35 pm

That looks great! (I think) I'm jealous of your EAR AD 4096 MkII (and the Moog TBH but that's another story). How are you finding it? I was super close to pre-ordering a few times last year but lost track of it.

The EAR is a really cool pedal. It has a nice murky delay sound with some unique character. It really seems to be designed to go off in strange directions. It's a little glitchy though. It takes a half-second to engage (and whenever I 'turn on' the pedalboard it's automatically engaged). If I was playing shows where I needed to turn it on and off during the same song for different parts it could be an issue. It might be a little better as a 'studio/basement' pedal. I was sort of hoping it could displace my Moog so I could cash in, but I think the Moog is still the champ.

Cool, thanks for the feedback!

Sounds like it might be a little too funky to be my go to delay as well (to be honest I usually don't need anything more than a great sounding slapback for playing music live w/ other humans) but I think I'd still love to have one for noisemaking/dinking around someday. The Meet Maude seems to have me covered pretty well on both fronts though so it would probably be a while...

My OCD compels me to update the photo of my effects setup. I recently replaced my TC Electronic Triple Delay with the Source Audio Nemesis Delay. So far so good.

I just threw these in the BCB the other day whitout thinking about in which order they ended up. I was in a hurry cause the almost 3-year old was demanding that she could play with them Haven´t tried this setup yet.. any thoughts?

I upsized a Nano + setup that I've been absolutely loving to include the Swiss Things and a couple other new ones last night:

guitar > Fulltone Fat Boost FB-3 > EQD Swiss Things [Loop 1 {Walrus Audio 385 > Keeley Super Phat Mod} > Loop 2 {Walrus Audio ARP-87 > Moog MF Chorus > Keeley Memphis Sun > JRAD Boing > Nocturne Nail Head Trem-o-flow}] > amps

In a perfect world I'd have one more bypass loop for the ARP-87 and MF Chorus, but it seems pretty manageable w/ just the 2. Loving the sounds out of this one so far. The Memphis Sun + Boing were providing really great surfy/emo-billy type sounds already and w/ the Nail Head coming in yesterday I think the combo is my current favorite for those sounds when they need to come from a pedal. That MF Chorus is super cool and thick w/ a really wide range of sounds all coming w/ a generous serving of quirk and character and a really cool interactivity w/ the dynamics of the input. I might decide to squeeze a fuzz on here at some point, but the drive pedals seem to cover 90% of the bases for me as is.

Cleaned up. The latest setup below. I am thinking about getting rid of the DM4 and getting individual OD and fuzz pedals. I like the DM4 for its variety of sounds but I am realizing now that it sounds so compressed and fake. Like a Mellotron. As if the tones are pre-recorded and I am just triggering them. You know what I mean?

The Nemesis is great though.

I wound up trading my Supa-Trem 2 for a VT Bass Deluxe on Friday and put this setup together on an empty Metro 24 to play around w/ it:

bass > Polytune 2 Noir > Empress Compressor > Tym Civil War Big Mud > Tech 21 VT Bass Deluxe {Loop: Fairfield Circuitry Unpleasant Surprise > Walrus Audio Lillian} > amp loop return/power amp in

The VT Bass Deluxe is a bit awkward in its dimensions, but I'm loving it (and everything else on the board) so far otherwise. I'm thinking about getting a pedal format amp w/ a phones/balanced out and a loop to pair up w/ it on whatever board it winds up on more permanently as a speakerless/practice and grab and go rig to pair up w/ either the 2x8 tc Electronic cab or the compact Eden 1x12 I've got for low volume jams . I think I'd probably go w/ a Quilter Interblock 45 unless anyone has any suggestions on something better for the application?

Sid Nitzerglobin wrote: ↑

Sat Feb 09, 2019 10:33 pm

I wound up trading my Supa-Trem 2 for a VT Bass Deluxe on Friday and put this setup together on an empty Metro 24 to play around w/ it:

bass > Polytune 2 Noir > Empress Compressor > Tym Civil War Big Mud > Tech 21 VT Bass Deluxe {Loop: Fairfield Circuitry Unpleasant Surprise > Lillian > amp loop return/power amp in

The VT Bass Deluxe is a bit awkward in its dimensions, but I'm loving it (and everything else on the board) so far otherwise. I'm thinking about getting a pedal format amp w/ a phones/balanced out and a loop to pair up w/ it on whatever board it winds up on more permanently as a speakerless practice and grab and go rig to pair up w/ either the 2x8 tc Electronic cab or the compact Eden 1x12 I've got for low volume jams . I think I'd probably go w/ a Quilter Interblock 45 unless anyone has any suggestions on something better for the application?

The Quilter would be just the thing for a setup like that. I have something similar and use a crate power block. A Quilter would be a step up from that, and I doubt one could do better for a power amp without going rack, which kinda defeats the point... seems like the ideal choice.

Jaguar018 wrote: ↑

Fri Jan 04, 2019 7:33 am

second board, top, second from the right side. Is it some kind of a spaghetti western fuzz?
Did you look up the guts yet/know what kind of Fuzz is inside? My Fuzzrite Clone doesn't quite get me there...
So I got my hands on the SERGIO( by Twangtone, a German boutique builder) which is currently on it's way. It's the prototype of the MORRICONE Fuzz - of which also only 17 were built. Sadly it's a super tiny enclosure (which you know I can't tolerate. Hahaha!) So I already got hands on a old EHX small clone enclosure (unit was broken) that I will either refinish, keep the original and use it as a template to bend some aluminium to fit the bottom of it or will use it anyhow just to confuse some effect board gazers.

mackerelmint wrote: ↑

Sat Feb 09, 2019 11:54 pm

The Quilter would be just the thing for a setup like that. I have something similar and use a crate power block. A Quilter would be a step up from that, and I doubt one could do better for a power amp without going rack, which kinda defeats the point... seems like the ideal choice.

Cool, the Quilter was the only thing I was coming across that seemed to fit the bill and they have a great rep but I've only really started looking for this type of thing recently. Thanks for the feedback!

The challenge now will be figuring out how to fit the stuff on a reasonably compact board in a usable way. I'm thinking I may wind up needing to clear off a PT Jr. or getting a Novo 18. Time to start another round of Photoshop Tetris I guess...

MayTheFuzzBeWithYou wrote: ↑

Sun Feb 10, 2019 1:37 am

second board, top, second from the right side. Is it some kind of a spaghetti western fuzz?
Did you look up the guts yet/know what kind of Fuzz is inside? My Fuzzrite Clone doesn't quite get me there...
So I got my hands on the SERGIO( by Twangtone, a German boutique builder) which is currently on it's way. It's the prototype of the MORRICONE Fuzz - of which also only 17 were built. Sadly it's a super tiny enclosure (which you know I can't tolerate. Hahaha!) So I already got hands on a old EHX small clone enclosure (unit was broken) that I will either refinish, keep the original and use it as a template to bend some aluminium to fit the bottom of it or will use it anyhow just to confuse some effect board gazers.

I admire your tenacity, and am a big fan of rehousing pedals. The pedal is an Ennio Fuzz, which is based of a Fuzzrite. I must admit that lately the pedal has become a bit temperamental turning on and off.

I have been thinking about seeing what other fuzzrite clones are out there, but most of the current offerings aren't compelling enough. I do think Fuzzrites are probably the way to go for that sound, you just need a good deep reverb to pair with it. I've also noticed that depending on the day and hour it can sound different. One day it is missing something, but later, not changing anything, it will sound great. That's sort of the nature of fuzz to my ears.

my fav germanium fuzzrite-alike is probably one of the most affordable. dunno if he'll still make one but god damn it sounds great.

i have a silicon fuzzrite from toetags which is great, runs off an adaptor but can be noisy