Author Topic: Adventures with boutique pedals (Read 439 times)

peoplechipper · « **on:** November 04, 2014, 11:41:17 PM »

so today I got to try a rather unique pedal made by a friend of mine, who's company (union tube and transistor) makes the Bumble buzz for Third Man Records(Jack White), among other pedals; look 'em up, they do cool stuff...anyway, I tried a pedal today, called the Sone Bender, which blends the Tone Bender and a Fuzz Face; as he explained to me, the tonebender had a boost before the fuzz that gave great output, but hindered the ability to use guitar volume to clean up; the fuzz face interacted great with guitar volume but sounded horrible if anything else was before it, and tended to drop volume a bit when on...Chris managed to add the boost of the 'bender( but less) to the fuzz face circuit, but allow it all to work with buffered pedals anywhere in the rig; it cleans up really well with the volume like all the good old fuzzes...it's way beefier than some of the old ones too; yeah, I'm buying one...the crappy part is he's only making 30-40 of them; the Germanium transistors needed have an 80 percent rejection rate, so that's a lotta money to throw away to make a pedal...I don't know if they'res sound bites of it on their site, but maybe if we all pestered him he might make more...his Sub Buzz bass fuzz is cool too...

tmoney61092 · « **Reply #1 on:** November 06, 2014, 10:49:51 AM »

that sounds pretty sweet! I've recently started building my own pedals, so far I've done a

-Tone Bender Sola Sound Clone which is a great fuzz but not a tone of bottom end
-Digital Reverb that sounds FANTASTIC(I play through a Bassman head so a reverb was a MUST)
-Delay which is digital but sounds exactly like an analog and behaves the same
-Tycobrahe Octavia Clone which is a cool fuzz that adds an octave up and gets these crazy robot tones
-EHX Rams Head Big Muff which is the end all be all of Fuzzes for me, absolutely love this thing
-Maestro Brassmaster Clone which is a great noise making pedal and is cool because it allows you to blend in the clean instrument
-MXR Phase 45 Clone that has an almost Univibe type quality to it

currently I'm working on doing a ProCo Rat and a Foxx Tone Machine which is another fuzz/octave up effect that sounds awesome

~Taylor

lbpesq · « **Reply #2 on:** November 06, 2014, 12:02:04 PM »

I built a couple BYOC pedals. Very satisfying.

Bill, tgo

pauldo · « **Reply #3 on:** November 06, 2014, 02:09:32 PM »

Are there kits for building your own? Or should I just run down to American Science and Surplus - they have everything!(http://www.sciplus.com/) Buy some capacitors/ resistors/ switches and knobs and throw it in an aluminum box?

:-`

tmoney61092 · « **Reply #4 on:** November 06, 2014, 02:27:27 PM »

Generalguitargadgets.com has grey kits that come with everything including wire, pots, pcb, enclosure, etc. but you can also be adventurous and find a pedal you want to make and look up the parts for it and go for it(not recommended :p )

I like building my own effects because as Bill said it's very satisfying and also you can build a pedal that sells for $500 for about $70

~Taylor

lbpesq · « **Reply #5 on:** November 06, 2014, 08:03:26 PM »

Paul:

Check out buildyourownclone.com.

Bill, tgo

peoplechipper · « **Reply #6 on:** November 06, 2014, 11:54:22 PM »

I have an original Foxx fuzz wah; if you ever wanted a pedal to TAKE OVER EVERYTHING, this is that pedal...not great for dynamics, but the fuzz output is huge and mated with the wah is like shrimp n' grits...I should check out that site, but the last thing I need is more pedals; at least I could say I made it myself...Tony

pauldo · « **Reply #7 on:** November 07, 2014, 06:16:16 AM »

Thanks Taylor and Bill - now that motorcycle season is winding down I can aggravate my wife by tinkering on pedals instead of two wheels!!!!
:-D

hydrargyrum · « **Reply #8 on:** November 07, 2014, 02:59:23 PM »

I'd highly recommend guitarpcb.com. I've bought boards from them and built many pedals for myself and friends. It's a great hobby. I've also built some pedals from BYOC, but I like sourcing the parts myself because it's a little cheaper.

hydrargyrum · « **Reply #9 on:** November 08, 2014, 05:18:09 AM »

I'd also mention that if you do decide to source your own parts Small Bear Electronics is a great site to buy them. After you register you can save a set of components for a pedal in a library. Anytime you want to build it again you just select that build and click order. You can also start populating the build while you are researching component values, vintage capacitor codes, finding germanium transistors, etc. Very helpful.

peoplechipper · « **Reply #10 on:** November 10, 2014, 11:56:59 PM »

When I tried the Sone Bender I also tried the Electro Harmonix B9, which emulates a Hammond b3; my jaw hit the floor as it sounds like keyboardists losing their jobs...for sure I'm getting one, as it would be so cool for the occasional song intro or outro; haven't heard a bass through it yet, but if it's like the POG, it'll sound even better...Tony.

peoplechipper · « **Reply #11 on:** November 18, 2014, 10:46:01 PM »

So I bought the E-H B9 today and it is awesome; it works with bass too, but they warn that below certain notes it tracks poorly...it actually tracks low notes better than they say it will but does seem better with guitar. It is SOOO cool; I've never had so much fun just playing Em to Am chords and such...it's so cool to play guitar and hear an awesome organ with leslie; maybe the best inspiration pedal I've ever gotten...Tony

Ps. Chris might make some more Sone Benders, as the demand seems to be more than the few left, if there are any...

lbpesq · « **Reply #12 on:** November 18, 2014, 11:57:45 PM »

Playing organ with guitar is a blast. With my GR-33, I play guitar and organ at the same time.

Bill, tgo

sonicus · « **Reply #13 on:** November 19, 2014, 12:19:27 AM »

I have heard Bill's GR-33 organ sound , it's actually rather amazing !

JuancarlinBass · « **Reply #14 on:** November 19, 2014, 07:14:24 AM »

+1 on the GR33 thing!!! I have a Roland Ready Mex strat hooked to the GR33, and made -badly- myself a two-tier wooden pedalboard. The upper tier holds the GR33. Under it, are the power supplies on an AC strip, an active 2-channel DI box, and an Art Tube MP, which is fed with the Guitar only signal from the GR33, to add some colour and a little boost. From there, it goes to the lower tier, which holds a DigiTech RP2000, which then processes the guitar only signal. From there it goes out in stereo back to the GR33 guitar return, and then the GR33 output goes to the stereo DI box, ready for a couple XLR lines to the mixing board. Since I use full-range sounds and mix them from the guitar itself, I go direct to the board, no amps. Sometimes I?ve had to do the work of musicians who failed to show, and assign a bass patch to strings 6 and 5, or fade in/out some keyboard sounds using the GR33 pedal, layering with the guitar sounds, or simply adding some textures. Nice and fun, and gets out of the house somewhat frequently, although not my main guitar work or sound whatsoever (In fact, I?m more of the old-school huge guitar racks way of thinking, and use -at least primarily for recording- a rather complex W/D/W rack setup, and if going live, it?s either a small, cheapo DigiTech RP50 for those small, cheapo gigs -the majority- where I end up going direct to the board and nobody will -unfortunately- notice any difference, or a Boss GT-3 for some little bit higher-level gigs, either to the board or an amp. I?ve not used my pedals board on stage for YEARS! -nor my beloved rack setup, for that case). With the bass is somewhat the same. 4-space rack setup plus power amp for a nice, accurate sound, which almost never leaves the house, Boss GT6-B for most common gigs running into the board and whatever the backline provides, and even a small Korg AX3-B for the smallest gigs, if any gadget is needed -when not going plain-.