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Blender for FX board w/ loop switcher

Colonel Monk

Colonel Monk

Feb 2, 2007
1,043
24
Greasy Grass River, formerly Santa Cruz, CA
#1
Howdy:

I just snagged a thin loop strip (7 ch) for my board. I'm finally gonna get everything hard mounted...

I've been blending efx w/ clean by using a buffered splitter and mixer but I'm kinda wanting to bring it on my board and simplify.

Most Blenders have switches to either bring fx in/out. Was thinking with the looper strip that might not be necessary.

So what am I looking for a static blender? Do you find times that you don't want the clean blended in?

I have the large Warwick Rockcase, and so it's 24 x 16 and I don't want to give up too much real estate to the blender. I'm thinking set and forget, maybe stash it under my back tier with the power supply....

Curious how you all are using them.

CM

Been looking at Barge, Wounded Paw, Xotic - just don't want to give up 5 x 7 without a fight.

Thansk
 
#2
Add a Link Removed and Boss LS-2 to your list. They're both dual parallel loopers with a ton of versatility. I use a Badger to split the I/O on my M13 so that I can run it as a clean blend, a parallel effect chain, or bypass the M13 all together.

If small is your primary goal, the LS-2 is the smallest on the market right now since Barge seems not to be producing. I really like my Badger, it allows for a ton of flexibility in my chain. The Xotic is also a fine choice.
 
#3
Cool thanks.

I'm not anti-Boss, but was hoping for something small and NOT Boss....

How about the bypass function? I see why they all have it - you can use it was the master bypass of FX for EVERY song if you like. How many people use it that way, as a generic stomp switch?

Most seem to have built in loops too - I really only need the box with a blend knob on it - maybe I could get one of these guys to make one for me...

Other accounts of how YOU use your blender?

Thanks
 
#4
The best thing about the Xotic is that you can instantly footswitch between 100% wet, 100% dry, and whatever % blended. I use that feature all the time.

But if you just want a blender with no footswitch, then talk to [sfx], Badger, and Wounded Paw about making a custom micro-blender for you. Forget Barge, they are kaput.
 
#5
bongomania said:
The best thing about the Xotic is that you can instantly footswitch between 100% wet, 100% dry, and whatever % blended. I use that feature all the time.

But if you just want a blender with no footswitch, then talk to [sfx], Badger, and Wounded Paw about making a custom micro-blender for you. Forget Barge, they are kaput.
Click to expand...

Thanks Bongo.

Yeah that sounds pretty interesting about the Xblender. Just one loop.... Hmmmm....

Do you think that having a strip is unnecessary if you have an xblender?
 
#7
Depends on the specific pedals and how you use them. For example, I have a DOD FX25 filter and a limiter pedal in the loop of the Xotic. The two modes of blend/100% wet, plus the limiter, make the FX25 awesome--and that setup is the only pedal/combo I have that requires a bypass loop. Every other pedal I have has excellent bypass on its own, and doesn't require blending.

If you have multiple pedals with crummy bypass, or multiple combos of pedals that you want to switch on/off simultaneously, then multiple loops are the solution.
 
#8
bongomania said:
Depends on the specific pedals and how you use them. For example, I have a DOD FX25 filter and a limiter pedal in the loop of the Xotic. The two modes of blend/100% wet, plus the limiter, make the FX25 awesome--and that setup is the only pedal/combo I have that requires a bypass loop. Every other pedal I have has excellent bypass on its own, and doesn't require blending.

If you have multiple pedals with crummy bypass, or multiple combos of pedals that you want to switch on/off simultaneously, then multiple loops are the solution.
Click to expand...

Gotcha. As you know, I also have the FX25 and the bypass is the reason I don't use it. So I'm hoping to be able to bring it back on board.

For some of my dirt pedals I just want to blend in clean where it's lacking some low end.

Like you, most of my pedals are fine in the BP department these days, but the loop strip will help me switch easier live....

I'll think about the mini-blender idea..... I should be able to use one of the open loops to bring the blend in/out....

Thanks,

Todd
 
#10
It's true. I approached Rob about some mods to the Schism Parallel looper a few weeks ago and he told me he doesn't have the time for custom builds anymore.

The only reason I was able to get a custom Gobstompper looper from him is because he built it a long time ago and never sold it.

You can definitely use the Badger Schism looper as a clean blend pedal, true bypass box, and loop selector.
 
#13
I love the X-blender, it lets you dial in just the amount of blend you need, takes pedals out of the signal chain if necessary and gives 100% wet with a footswitch. Adjusting on the fly, on the gig is easy, I do it all the time. Great for retaining enough low end stomp with fuzz pedals.
 

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