What’s the most interesting pedal you own?

[fuzzjunkie]

I have a few semi-rare or unusual pedals, and I have coveted a few more, but the most interesting in terms of the sounds that come out of it is definitely the Lovetone RingStinger.



Lovetone made a number of pedals in the late ‘90s early ‘00s that are almost instruments of themselves. There’s probably 2-3 that I would love to have, but they are not pedalboard friendly. Out of the bunch the RingStinger was always the “must have” as I had other pedals that did Phasing, Flanging, Fuzz and Tremolo. If they had ever put out a delay I would certainly have taken a long look at!

The RingStinger is a ring modulation pedal and so much more. The ray gun, siren, and Dalek sound are all in there, but I mostly use it for Octave Fuzz, Tremolo, Vibrato, and a few atonal timbres. It can also be controlled with a light sensor, CV, or expression pedal. In addition to guitars I occasionally run drum mixes and keyboards through it.

Over the top sounds are easy to achieve, but often mixing in just a touch of effected signal really makes the tone stand out. A bog standard Fender Rhodes emulation with a hint of ring mod added sounds excellent.

Other interesting pedals and sound creation devices that I have are:
Roger Mayer Voodoo Vibe
Solasound Tonebender Mk IV
Fairfield Circuitry Four Eyes
A/DA Flanger and Final Phase (vintage)
Yamaha e1010 analog delay
Roland RE-301 tape echo
Electrix Filter Queen

But all of those are more easily replaced with a sound-a-like or “close enough” pedal than the RingStinger.
A/DA

[Unicorn Warrior]

Not really rare as it’s still in production but the Hologram Microcosm is both useful and weird and will probably keep me busy tweaking sounds the entire time I own it. Definitely the most interesting.

Beyond that, I really miss the CE-1 chorus I used to have. The clones just don’t do it.

[s_mcsleazy]

not rare but i do love my gamechanger audio plasma

[Zork]

EHX Ring Thing or Eventide Pitchfactor I guess.

[peterherman]

I have a Rose Pedals Black Rose fuzz (pre-Spiral Electric) that's pretty cool I guess.
Honestly though the pedal on my board that is most interesting is the Old Blood Signal Blender. I keep a Walrus Slö in one loop and an Old Blood Minim in the other.

There's a Yamaha FX500 that sits off-board and hasn't been turned on in ages, because when I hit both loops on the Signal Blender, plus another delay and a Neunaber Wet, it's as close to Slowdive as I could ever need anyhow. Blissful signal annihilation.

[fuzzjunkie]

Not really rare as it’s still in production but the Hologram Microcosm is both useful and weird and will probably keep me busy tweaking sounds the entire time I own it. Definitely the most interesting.

Beyond that, I really miss the CE-1 chorus I used to have. The clones just don’t do it.

Yeah, that seems like a box with a lot of unique sounds.

[i love sharin foo]

Lovetone RingStinger.

Oh yeah, the Ring Stinger is right up there with the best of them. This year makes it 21 years that I've owned mine. I've never, ever thought of selling it. Never! That octave fuzz setting is hands down the best octave fuzz that I've ever used. It's just so natural. But evil too. ...just perfect. There have been so many different things that I've used my Ring Stinger for. I've always like to use a looper and stack different in tune tones with it. With the shitty intonation of just about every guitar I own, you get all the weird microtonal rubbing that makes it even more sinister. Delay works wonder paired with it, too.

You don't get the dirty tones with it, but the trusty old Moogerfooger MF-102 Ring Modulator is another great one. It's pretty well known for it's fantastic pseudo-tremolo tones for good reason. They really are super. At higher frequencies, the modulation is really good too. It's LFO is super useful and the ranges are perfect. It's just a really solid pedal through and through. It is set up to work really well with the Moog expression pedals also. I have one of the Minifooger ring modulators too and it has a lot of overlap with the MF-102. But it expands in certain places.

I feel like those 3 pedals are my most interesting, as far as sound goes, to me. Ring modulation isn't for everyone I know, but once you put some time in, you are rewarded with some of the most unique sounds you could ever find.

[CorporateDisguise]

Mine is somewhat rare, and now getting to be really expensive since the company stopped making pedals. The Cooper FX Arcades.

I’ve been interested in a cartridge based fx system since the Devi Ever Console. This is in ways a bit more limited in scope since no one else ever produced carts for it, and it was only in the digital realm. But goddamn! All the stuff Tom put out for it was interesting and inspiring. It’s the pedal I go to when I’m stuck. Pop in a random cart, switch to a random program, and have at it. Something interesting always comes out. My favorite cart so far has been the Satellite, which aims to recreate the sounds in the Digitech Space Station.

Another weird one I wish I still had is the EHX Flanger Hoax. It was a battle to get a normal sound out of it. It would go into deafening oscillations on a hair trigger. But damn, if it wasn’t some of the most interesting mod sounds.

[jorri]

Not really rare as it’s still in production but the Hologram Microcosm is both useful and weird and will probably keep me busy tweaking sounds the entire time I own it. Definitely the most interesting.

Beyond that, I really miss the CE-1 chorus I used to have. The clones just don’t do it.

Yeah, that seems like a box with a lot of unique sounds.

Seconded. I will add the big 3 on my board though Eventide Space- although perhaps so many other reverbs. Ehx hazarai- weird, but ok, i got a microcosm its just for cheapness sake.

Two I built are fuzzes. Superfuzz clone has some very interesting harmonics, like difference tones (i boosted volume and carefully matched components). The other one is more original and can sound quite like a saw wave- or a standard sludgy fuzz.
I backed off them for a while having a DBA apocalypse but finding the superfuzz made it seem tame and i wondered why i forked out the money. Apocalypse is a jack of all trades, but a bit iffy (some inconsistent unusable volume and lack of high end makes it only 2 usable modes unless you stack it) and...boring, given DBAs reputation from other pedals.

[Plumerai]

it's in my broken pedals box now, but Jax hurricane/siren/wah pedal. sounds cool through a choppy tremelo. pretty much two flavors of white noise you can swell & then a button to add a siren. the wah part of it was always weak. i tried using it recently & the battery terminal fell off.

[marqueemoon]

I have very conservative taste in pedals, so I’ll go with my Magnetic Effects White Atom. When I started messing around with fuzzes I didn’t envision myself as a fan of the spitty/gated/broken sounding thing, but it turns out I like it a lot, and it has a range of other useful sounds.

[burpgun]

I've got a decent amount of pedals and the most unique and still usable one of the bunch is my EHX Super Ego. It's pitched as a granular synth pedal and it's great for drones or making icy synth sounds based on what you are playing. I kind of keep to one setting that's somewhat pad like, but I really love it and have found it quite useful for shoegaze sounds, and can't imagine taking it off my board.

[fuzzjunkie]

I've got a decent amount of pedals and the most unique and still usable one of the bunch is my EHX Super Ego. It's pitched as a granular synth pedal and it's great for drones or making icy synth sounds based on what you are playing. I kind of keep to one setting that's somewhat pad like, but I really love it and have found it quite useful for shoegaze sounds, and can't imagine taking it off my board.

Years ago a friend had a band called Super Ego during the OG shoegaze era. They preceded the pedal, so never used one, but that would have been funny in a Mudhoney Super Fuzz Big Muff kinda way.

[Maggieo]

Custom-built The Great Destroyer in purple sparkle.

[fuzzjunkie]

Custom-built The Great Destroyer in purple sparkle.

From our old pal Aen! Is he still around? I don’t think I’ve heard anything since his I’ll-fated collaboration* with Devi Ever.

* or whatever it was. I think he bought the rights to some designs and then they wanted them back?