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Post by real oldster on Apr 25, 2006 19:09:27 GMT -7
Four bills for a distortion box, any distortion box? Have we been duped, are the builders exploiting GAS, are we lemmings? Certainly some will say, "Pedal X sounds great, worth every penny." You can buy entire amps for $400. Look at the Captain Coconut 2, three effects-in-one for $400. Does the designer effect builder have no clothes? (end of rant)
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Post by BW on Apr 26, 2006 3:17:04 GMT -7
Preachin' to the choir.
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Post by billyguitar on Apr 26, 2006 5:03:49 GMT -7
If I could honestly say that I heard a definite improvement in the $400 pedal over whatever is my current favorite then I would pay it. That's a theoretical position because I don't think it's too likely. $400 for a normal pedal with normal parts doesn't seem like a good value. Especially since most other pedals are less than half that price. Like BW says "Preachin' to the choir".
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Post by John on Apr 26, 2006 5:09:52 GMT -7
I'm still angry at getting my Fulldrive 2 on Ebay for $155. It sounds great with my Route 66, but still, I think that's a pretty steep price.
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Post by Lefty on Apr 26, 2006 5:54:38 GMT -7
Ahhhh. the prices we pay for good tone (so we think). I'm guilty of shelling out big $$ for some floor toys...Klon (I'm on my 2nd one), Proanalog pedals arn't cheap, hell there isn't a pedal I own that didn't cost me less than 100.00 bucks. Pedals are a quick, fun way to experiment with different tones, cheap not really but it can be. But 4 bills is way to steep for me. And then you have guys like BW....don't get me started on that guy...Mr. the-only-pedal-I-use-is-a-tuner....sheeesh
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Post by rcrecelius on Apr 26, 2006 14:11:27 GMT -7
And then you have guys like BW....don't get me started on that guy...Mr. the-only-pedal-I-use-is-a-tuner....sheeesh You should block his access to the Effects forum...he obviously aint got no bid-ness being in here a' flappin his jaws!
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Post by benttop (Steve) on Apr 26, 2006 14:25:07 GMT -7
Guilty here! I have paid $399 for a stomp box (Time Machine Boost), and I've bought two and three of the same box (Tonebone Classic/British) too. My basement looks like a bomb went off in a stomp box factory! And I was looking at my pedal board this week - ten pedals on there and eight are new since January - holy cow! Oops... make that eleven pedals on there and nine new since Jan - I forgot about one I just bought last week... I gotta say though, I'm learning - this crop is pretty good, AND they sound even better through the Stingray, so I think I have the pedals I need.
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Post by prowler on Apr 26, 2006 20:23:25 GMT -7
I have paid big bucks for two overdrives. The Soldano Supercharger & most recently the Klon. Since both of these pedals are in rather high demand I was sure that I would have been able to recoup most of my money had I not liked the sound of them. The Soldano pedal was o.k. at best. Needless to say that was sold to a local guy who loved it & I didn't lose anything on it. The Klon was a keeper. It does what it does very well & hase a unique tone/feel to it. Other than that I've had a couple of Timmy pedals an OCD and a Fulldrive 2. The big bucks were spent on the Klon & the Soldano though. I guess I just had to see what all the fuss was about.
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Post by JASON (aka jgleaton) on Apr 26, 2006 21:41:03 GMT -7
My basement looks like a bomb went off in a stomp box factory! AND they sound even better through the Stingray, so I think I have the pedals I need. I'm right with ya Bentop... I've almost always relied on OD pedals for my drive so the bomb went off in the stomp box factory over here too.. And why is it you buy all of them but never seem to get rid of any of them even though you don't use most of them??But I must admit that even though I'm using the Landgraff stuff I think I only paid 250.00 around the time I got mine 5-6 years ago... I also have two of his boost pedals ( they are outstanding... I paid much less than what they are going for now when I got them also ) Gotta have some pedals for the 'RAY cause they sound so good through it... Shoot, If I could play like BW, tuner would be my only pedal too... ;D
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Post by foxx on Apr 27, 2006 6:48:47 GMT -7
I'm on the waiting list for a Toneczar Powerglide, a $345 tremolo. It is 2 tremolos in one pedal and it should be the last effect I will need. I would not usually pay that much for a pedal, but Ed's a one man operation and his effects seem to be in a class of their own. We shall see.
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Post by benttop (Steve) on Apr 27, 2006 7:34:11 GMT -7
And why is it you buy all of them but never seem to get rid of any of them even though you don't use most of them?? Well I might need one of them some day - after all, I thought enough of them to spend the dough, and I feel like a pretty smart feller for getting them, so selling them would be an admission that I ain't so smart after all. Wouldn't want to have to go on Dr. Phil over this.... ;D
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Post by Phil (aka Phil) on Apr 27, 2006 7:47:46 GMT -7
Oh yeah? I'm on the list for the Powerglide, Echoczar, *and* Angelbaby. And I own a Moogerfooger Analog Delay and a Fulltone TTE. If anyone needs their sanity checked, it's me.
PDW
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Post by cheycaster on Apr 29, 2006 19:17:28 GMT -7
hEY pdw, hOW DO YOU LIKE THE tte??? cHEYCASTER
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Post by janinedoubly on Apr 30, 2006 17:26:00 GMT -7
I am SUPER guilty of dropping serious jack on pedals. I have (um, I am embarrassed to say) FOUR Pete Cornish pedals on my board. But, I wouldn't trade them for anything and would replace all of them if I lost them or had them stolen. It makes sense to me, 'cause I've never heard anything else do what they do and I've become very attached to them, but to each his own. I wish I could just plug straight in and play, but I have too many colors I need to work with.
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Post by tiptone on May 5, 2006 8:05:14 GMT -7
I've never dropped _huge_ cash on a pedal, though I have managed to end up with one that fetches a pretty penny. I lucked into getting on the list for a Clay Jones Overdrive and paid $220 for it. I'd spent almost that much on a Deja Vibe before so I didn't feel to bad about.
It has been tough to hang on to it seeing what they fetch on eBay.
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Post by benttop (Steve) on May 5, 2006 8:24:47 GMT -7
Although my most expensive pedal was right around $400 (two come to mind actually) I used to be an "all rack" kind of guy. Spent a cool grand on my DigiTech 2120, and spent the same on my Yamaha SPX-2000 processor (after my cotton picking TC Electronic G-Major gave out - different thread). Looks like the SPX-2000 works really nice in the loop on the Stingray, so I may reactivate it if I can find some floor space to throw down a midi pedal. You want nice reverb? Check the SPX-2000 - now THAT's cool reverb! And the SPX even has amp models in it, which all sound pretty nice with the Stingray contributing the harmonic complexity. Whoa! I doubt I'll do that, but it would clear out some floor space, that's for sure! ;D
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Post by JASON (aka jgleaton) on May 5, 2006 8:30:25 GMT -7
Tiptone, that is a NICE LOOKING head cab you've got there pictured in your avatar... is that a Z-28? Who made the cab for it? looks SWEET! Jason
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Post by billyguitar on May 5, 2006 8:40:53 GMT -7
Anybody heard the $360 Menatone Car Crash pedal?
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Post by southpawtone on May 5, 2006 16:03:26 GMT -7
Hey billyguitar.
I demoed the Menatone Kar Krash at last years Los Angeles Amp Show. It was very very impressive. It is based on the Trainwreck/Komet amps which, i have never played, but there was a guy there who owned the Komet 60 amp and said the pedal sounded just like it. It's very amp-like with a lot of nice crunch and touch response. It is pricey, but it's better than paying $10,000 or so for a vintage Trainwreck amp. In my opinion, all of Menatone's pedals have this amp-like vibe going on.
Luke
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Post by tiptone on May 5, 2006 16:53:26 GMT -7
Tiptone, that is a NICE LOOKING head cab you've got there pictured in your avatar... is that a Z-28? Who made the cab for it? looks SWEET! Jason Jason, Thanks and yes that's a Z-28, Bob Burt made the cab out of zebrawood. He also made me a matching open-back 1x12, I couldn't be happier with them.
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Post by billyguitar on May 5, 2006 17:00:52 GMT -7
Southpawtone: Do you remember how it sounds as a minimal overdrive? I mean low gain. I've played the Menatone pedals at True Tone Music a couple of years ago. They all sounded nice but it seemed they all had the same tone just different in the midrange. This was probably before the improvement you guys were talking about because I remember thinking they had too much edge.
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Post by brando on May 6, 2006 14:13:29 GMT -7
Oh yeah? I'm on the list for the Powerglide, Echoczar, *and* Angelbaby. And I own a Moogerfooger Analog Delay and a Fulltone TTE. If anyone needs their sanity checked, it's me. PDW I don't think it's insane if it helps you get closer to that ultimate tone. My Echo Park broke down on me a couple weeks ago and just freaked me out since delay is so important to my sound. So I nervously dropped 4 bills on a T-Rex Replica, because the reviews were just outstanding and in the back of mind, I just wasn't sure I could trust my EP again. Silly I know, and maybe I'm just neurotic. NOW I'm happy my EP broke down, because I absolutely LOVE the T-Rex. In combination with the Stingray, it's just beautiful. I'm sure there are plenty of over-priced pedals on the market, but I would just do the research before you drop the cash. I totaled how much $$$ I've spent on my pedal board and realized that I could have bought a Carmen Ghia head instead ,but as you all know, Dr. Z's love pedals and why not get the best if you can?
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Post by billyguitar on May 6, 2006 16:49:55 GMT -7
Are you running your delay in front or thru the loop on your Stingray?
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Post by brando on May 6, 2006 18:30:05 GMT -7
In front. I've never toyed around with the effects loop. You think it would be a big difference?
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Post by billyguitar on May 6, 2006 19:03:40 GMT -7
Not as much difference on a 'Ray as on other amps that distort more. You don't want distorted echos.
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Post by southpawtone on May 7, 2006 13:06:37 GMT -7
Hey billyguitar.
I did play it at lower gain levels, all levels really, and from what i can recall, it all sounded great. I didnt play it for long though, there were people waiting to try it out along with his other pedals. They are going to be discontinued i think so you better try one out soon. Musictoyz.com still has some i think.
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Post by billyguitar on May 7, 2006 13:47:27 GMT -7
Thanks but I'm not into delay that much. I love it but not enough to carry another pedal. I did used to carry some in the past and I've still got them; an Echoplex, a SIB Mr Echo, and a Digitech pedal that in the tape mode actually sounds good enough for me. I did have one of those Danelectro pedals from 5 or 6 years ago. I think I sold it. So long as a delay can imitate tape I'm happy.
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Post by tjstrat on May 8, 2006 4:05:28 GMT -7
I've never spent $400.00 for a pedal, but over the last 6 years or so have probably bought over 100 pedals on eBay, many well in excess of $100.00. I've sold most of them too.
My spouse often harangues me about my "expensive" taste in amps... Currently I own three Zs, and prior to that I had an '88 Mesa Mark III (bought new), a Budda Superdrive, and a Rivera R-55. A little pricey, but not exactly a Dumble with a harem of Fuchs and Carrs in tow.
Her point is that I could probably make an acceptable noise onstage with a Peavey Classic or two and bank the profits from selling the pricey gear. It would extend to pedals if she knew what THESE things run. And maybe it's a point well taken, because once our audience hears our gear, it doesn't matter whether it's a Peavey Bandit in the PA or an Overdrive Special being finessed to them. They hear the music and dance, or listen, or ignore it while hanging out.
The tools make a difference to US, of course. Like anyone, we could buy a bunch of DOD pedals and Crate amps, or a box full of no name socket wrenches, and still do our job at an acceptable level. But WE'D KNOW BETTER. The expensive stuff feels better, sounds better, and helps us do it right.
So yeah, I think $400.00 is pricey. I have a few under the radar pedals that sound very good, aren't mass market, but would still raise the hairs on the Mrs' neck. But if you want that $400.00 pedal and aren't spending the mortgage or putting off new shoes for the kids, why not? Life is short and for many of us, "playing" music involves many hours of rehearsing, driving, and setting up and tearing down before and after the fun starts. Those couple of hours ought to be a blast, so go for it.
That said, a few months ago I bought a $15.00 chorus pedal for old times' sake, and it's now on the board along with the Fulltone and Everman gear. Sometimes cheap really serves its purpose.
Sorry so windy. I've been thinking a little too much about this lately...
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Post by Hohn on May 10, 2006 12:06:34 GMT -7
I'll cop to (over)paying big money for some effects-- perhaps.
I own a Fulltone SupaTrem and a Fulltone Clyde wah. I went big on these because all the others I tried were so lame. Every Dunlop wah I had sucked, and every Vox RI was pretty cheaply made. Every trem pedal sounded thin and lame to me.
I have a tech 21 XXL that just collects dust because it sounds bad, but it's good at those coarse odd-order harmonics that make some Hendrix tones complete.
I have a TS9 RI that is on more than it's off.
My Line 6 delay modeling box is nice to have. Probably a good bargain.
I totally dig my little fish'n'chips EQ. A great pedal for $40.
I've been impressed with my Fulltone stuff, but I'd also like to try some of the Lovetone pedals as well...
JH
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Post by janinedoubly on May 17, 2006 10:27:05 GMT -7
I look at all of my gear as tools. Not to get too weird on the analogies, but I used to work at a bike shop. The most expensive tool we had was used to prep the threads for a bottom bracket on bike frames. Consequently, it was the LEAST used tool in the shop, but...We would never have even DREAMED of using a cheaper version of this tool, because it was so critical. I think pedals, very often, fall into this catagory. No sense in putting a cheap pedal in between a great guitar and amp. And contrary to what may seem excessive, pedals are not easy to design or build and they take time to put together because of their size. Oh well, I'm done with my rant now...I feel much better :-)
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