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Envelope Filter - Advice Please !!!
- Thread starter elbastardo
- Start date
I've got a Q-Tron and a DiscumBOBulator. I like both but the level on the Q-Tron (or lack thereof) and the size make it a bit of a pain in the butt. The DiscumBOBulator sounds good no matter what the setting, doesn't have any level issues and is my favorite.
I have the Haz MuTron III+ reissue and then later lucked into getting an original (MuTron III). The original one is pretty hard to use and just kills the bypassed signal, so I only use it for recording. The Haz re-issue is the one I gig with. Depending on the setting you can get a great bass fundamental and a nice controllable sweep, but it doesn't sound terribly liquid or trippy. It can get a bit gnarly when you really play hard, almost like some mild fuzz/distortion (hard to explain that, but it's what I've found).
The original one is real trip, very liquid and trippy, at times like a flanger in addition to the filter as the filter opens and closes, but is also very tweaky, hard to set up, kills the bypassed tone, and not terribly durable.
The original one is real trip, very liquid and trippy, at times like a flanger in addition to the filter as the filter opens and closes, but is also very tweaky, hard to set up, kills the bypassed tone, and not terribly durable.
does anyone have experience with both the emma discombobulator and the maxon af-9?
i'm really interested in hearing how those two compare.
thankzorz.
i'm really interested in hearing how those two compare.
thankzorz.
bongomania
Commercial User
I've owned both... twice! (Well, if you count an Ibanez AF-9 as equivalent to a Maxon AF-9.) IMO, the Discumbobulator was way too polite and gutless and nasal for my tastes. I owned one D-bob from the first run, which was known to suck, then I bought a newer production one, and it was "better" but still not at all the sound I like. I like Bootsy, not those namby-pamby funk-jazz slappers. I want fat, deep, pooping, squelching, burping, squawking, and booming sounds. But of course those sounds have wild volume variations, and they require a higher learning curve to play them well.
The AF-9 is the best compromise out there IMO. It is much wetter and squelchier than the D-bob, but without such extreme volume spikes compared to the original Mutron, Q-tron, etc. Although my current preference is to stay with the squelchiest ones, and stick a limiter at the end. The AF-9 does have a bit of a learning curve, but it's worth it if you take the time.
The AF-9 is the best compromise out there IMO. It is much wetter and squelchier than the D-bob, but without such extreme volume spikes compared to the original Mutron, Q-tron, etc. Although my current preference is to stay with the squelchiest ones, and stick a limiter at the end. The AF-9 does have a bit of a learning curve, but it's worth it if you take the time.
I bought the AF-9. Sounded good but I didn't like the volume jump when engaging it and the volume spikes when using it. I sent the AF-9 back for the EMMA and am much happier with the EMMA. True, the EMMA is more 'polite' but IMO it's much more useable.
