Could this be THE ultimate distortion unit?

[SoComSurfing]

Thermionic Culture Culture Vulture




I did a search and only found one mention of this in the past.

Originally designed as a "distortion box" to simulate distortion in valve amps it has found lots of uses beyond this. We know that some owners use them on drum loops, vocals, piano sounds and even across entire tracks (it is a stereo unit).

We have refined this so that distortion figures are reduced to only 0.2% at lowest to about 99.9% (at least that's what our distortion meter tells us!). Predominant distortion can be changed from even to odd harmonics with a simple switch. We know it's recently been rented to mix a JAMES BOND movie!

Key Features:

Warm sounds gently or create a noise like a 200 watt guitar stack with all the drivers slashed.
Independent channel operation

* Odd or even harmonic distortion, or combination of both.
* All valve design free from solid state additives.
* High impedance line input or instrument inputs.
* 4 & 7 kHz filters
* Overdrive & bypass switches

I REALLY want to hear this thing.

[irvinz]

if it is the ultimate unit... i'm dissapointed.... it doesnt fit on my board. =p

[SoComSurfing]

Originally Posted by irvinz

if it is the ultimate unit... i'm dissapointed.... it doesnt fit on my board. =p

Haha. Except for that one flaw, of course.

[JanusZarate]

Some of the greatest distortion sounds I ever heard came out of JFETs and digital circuits.

If this rack unit is the ultimate distortion unit, then why is it adamant about being solid-state-free?

Just playing Devil's Advocate, here.

[bongomania]

Their compressor is well-regarded in studio circles. But it's also 2 RU and a gazillion $$.

[Oreomeister365]

slap a blend knob on it and maybe?

[metalmariachi]

$1754 and change, may be a bit steep for us mortals.

MM

[TaySte_2000]

Originally Posted by metalmariachi

$1754 and change, may be a bit steep for us mortals.

MM

I just ordered 5 of them

[neuromancer]

Originally Posted by Oreomeister365

slap a blend knob on it and maybe?

I'm a huge fan of the blend knob, so I'm a bit disappointed that there isn't one to be found on a unit that's expensive, to put it lightly.

In the studio this isn't a problem, but I tend to do more live work.

[danomite64]

I never expected the ultimate bass distortion unit to be named after an Alan Parson's Project album.....

[SFjonstarr]

This is the one I've been looking at for a while. They also make a mastering version with better tubes and transformer balanced inputs and outputs. At this level they assume that if you're going to be doing blends you would be doing it externally, and probably processing the cleans separately, which an internal blend knob wouldn't really allow for unless you added a clean insert which would only add more to the cost for something easier to do separatly.

[Dave_W]

Originally Posted by neuromancer

I'm a huge fan of the blend knob, so I'm a bit disappointed that there isn't one to be found on a unit that's expensive, to put it lightly.

In the studio this isn't a problem, but I tend to do more live work.

If this thing is that good you wouldn't need a blend knob

[bongomania]

Originally Posted by SFjonstarr

At this level they assume that if you're going to be doing blends you would be doing it externally...

+1, This is designed for studio use where you'd do parallel tracking. Only a stadium-filling artist would have one of these in their live-performing rig, and they'd be likely to have mutiple amps and mixer channels for blending purposes.

[Taylor Livingston]

But see, there will never be THE ultimate distortion unit. For people who are into distortion (pedals in general, really), the quest for the perfect gadget is really more important than the gadget. It's like the end of Memento, where he finds what he's looking for, but then makes himself forget, because the looking is the important part.

[Stuggi]

Originally Posted by bongomania

+1, This is designed for studio use where you'd do parallel tracking. Only a stadium-filling artist would have one of these in their live-performing rig, and they'd be likely to have mutiple amps and mixer channels for blending purposes.

Oh, don't be so certain

[RickenBoogie]

Originally Posted by conical johnson

But see, there will never be THE ultimate distortion unit. For people who are into distortion (pedals in general, really), the quest for the perfect gadget is really more important than the gadget. It's like the end of Memento, where he finds what he's looking for, but then makes himself forget, because the looking is the important part.

Much as I would hate to admit it, you're absolutely correct. I think I have 2 or 3 really good od/dist/fuzz devices, but always willing to re do the board for the next greatest thing. And, it's all so subjective anyway. Sometimes I wonder why we care about our sound/tone so much, when our audience could care less, IF they even notice.

[irvinz]

i wonder if its vented at the back. that way, u could mount the rest of the pedals ontop of it. =p