Alembic Guitars Club

Connecting => Swap Shop and Wish Lists => Seen on craigslist, eBay, and elsewhere => Topic started by: elwoodblue on August 30, 2009, 10:51:56 AM

Title: Pluto Filter bank
Post by: elwoodblue on August 30, 2009, 10:51:56 AM

Here's (http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=250489677236 target=_blank) something you don't see everyday.
I wonder just how high the reserve is.
 
 
 

(http://alembic.com/club/messages/395/69694.jpg)

Title: Pluto Filter bank
Post by: sonicus on August 30, 2009, 12:11:57 PM

Interesting! I remember when George was making these  in the mid 1970's He showed me a prototype and later Installed his Pluto Filter design in my old  Guild Starfire that already had Alembic Pick ups and bridge and tail piece installed by the previous owner.

Title: Pluto Filter bank
Post by: sonicus on August 30, 2009, 12:28:55 PM

I  won't bid on this one,  I am saving my coins for an ALEMBIC SF-2  SUPER FILTER instead !

Title: Pluto Filter bank
Post by: David Houck on August 30, 2009, 03:40:56 PM

What do vertical and horizontal mean in this context?  My guess is that they refer to the shape of the curve before application of the resonance control.  That maybe the vertical filter would have a roll off of 3db per octave and the horizontal filter would roll off at 12db per octave.  I have no idea, I'm just making a wild guess.  Does anybody know?  It would be nice to see a picture of the sweep pedal.

Title: Pluto Filter bank
Post by: sonicus on August 30, 2009, 08:19:19 PM

If my memory serves me right the specially designed foot pedal  
that George designed to work with this unit is dual action and moved in 4 directions .He demonstrated it to me about 30 years ago ;so, my opening statement 'IF MEMORY SERVES ME RIGHT' definitely applies. The pluto filters that he installed in my Bass did not use a pedal.

Title: Pluto Filter bank
Post by: llobsterbass on August 31, 2009, 09:45:16 AM

Wow, cool. As the seller said, this is the rarest of the rare...I'd never even seen a picture of one before.
 
But I think he's wrong when he says the Pluto pedal can be used for quad output, as Phil did with Big Brown in the Wall of Sound era. For one thing, the pedal only has one 1/4 output!
 
If I were rich I'd grab it for rarity value...but I don't see anything on it that an Alembic SF-2 wouldn't do for less $$$, and under warranty.

Title: Pluto Filter bank
Post by: elwoodblue on August 31, 2009, 11:18:29 AM

I agree Steve,
 I'm curious about the footswitch functions.
It must be like the old fender pedal steel volume pedals that slide sideways for tone control.
 ...and if the resonance is set high on the pluto filter bank (like the damping factor on the SF-2's), wouldn't that make for some unreasonable boominess if you sweep the pedal into the low hz area without out making other adjustments(filter gain).
 
  On a slightly different subject...If Alembic ever makes a wah pedal I bet it would stand out from the rest.

Title: Pluto Filter bank
Post by: hieronymous on August 31, 2009, 12:43:25 PM

This thing is fascinating! Thanks for posting it.
 
I'm wondering if horizontal and vertical refer to the pedal directions? So sweeping the pedal up and down affects one filter and left and right does the other?
 
I think the pedal controllability makes it different from the SF-2, and of course the rarity/collectability/Dead connection/cool factor is considerable, but I agree that an SF-2 is excellent GAS relief on this thing!

Title: Pluto Filter bank
Post by: David Houck on August 31, 2009, 01:00:17 PM

Harry; that makes a lot more sense than my suggestion.  I think you're right.

Title: Pluto Filter bank
Post by: elwoodblue on August 31, 2009, 01:05:49 PM

That makes sense Harry.
Following that logic would make the pedal a sort of vector control of the filters.
 So it could be mono, but with two axis to work with you would have an almost infinite amount of   coordinates to choose from.
 I have a morley stereo volume/pan pedal that pan's sideways...I might have to try it out with an SF-2 ( or two).

Title: Pluto Filter bank
Post by: elwoodblue on August 31, 2009, 11:18:44 PM

Ended early...someone must have saved him the ebay fees.

Title: Pluto Filter bank
Post by: David Houck on September 01, 2009, 09:41:49 AM

How much time was left?  The last I checked the bid appeared to still be climbing.  It seems unusual to end early to save fees when the bid is still climbing.

Title: Pluto Filter bank
Post by: elwoodblue on September 01, 2009, 12:32:34 PM

It would have had 3-4 days left, the reserve was met and the bid amount was 1750 the last time I checked before it was pulled.
 
 Maybe someone offered him 2000 and he had some bills to pay ( just a guess ).

Title: Pluto Filter bank
Post by: pace on September 04, 2009, 03:20:56 PM

Well at least some of us now know what one looks like!!!  
 
(Message edited by pace on September 04, 2009)

Title: Pluto Filter bank
Post by: smokinbear on September 14, 2009, 09:39:26 AM

What Ever happened to George M. And the pluto pedal? Is the man still around? Please pardon my ignorance on this subject.

Title: Pluto Filter bank
Post by: hydrargyrum on September 14, 2009, 09:58:38 AM

Premier Guitar had an article about weird and rare effects.  They mention this effect briefly.  I'll provide a link if anyone is interested.
 
http://www.premierguitar.com/Magazine/Issue/2008/Nov/The_Wild_and_Wacky_World_of_Collectible_Effects.aspx (http://www.premierguitar.com/Magazine/Issue/2008/Nov/The_Wild_and_Wacky_World_of_Collectible_Effects.aspx)