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Gnomeratron VTF Club

#121
Gus1984,
I hope you understand this overall "attack" is merely in jest (although there always IS some truth in a joke... q:smug)

We, the Gnome Army, are so adamant about our Gnomeratons and fellow comrades, and for good reason; between the concept of the Gnomeraton itself, the actual execution and phenomenal sound, the insane amount of tonal shaping options, McSpunkle and his excellent customer service, and the fact that that the first run is a limited number of 25, a fierce loyalty quickly developed that is seldom seen in the world of effects pedals (especially in the bass community).

There certainly is severe loyalty towards certain effect builders here on Talkbass, but I doubt there are any as quite as psycho as the Gnomeraton 1st Squadron, Division 25.

(Gnome Fist Salute!)
 
#128
My little Gnomeratron is on a truck, roaming somewhere in the vicinity. It's really cold here this morning, I hope he's dressed warmly.

It just so happens I have my 4 string Epic and a bass rig at work today, and a light schedule................................


BUT NO POWER SUPPLY!

It's Green! I'll post pix tonight.
 
#129
So it's here, I've had about 30 minutes with it so far, and I've formed some opinions.

As I said, it's green, with a green LED.

DSCF4857.jpg


As already pointed out there is a lot going on in this thing. In many ways it reminds me of the Subdecay Prometheus. In that it is very sensitive to input level, and ALL the various adjustments are highly interactive. So like the Prometheus, when you take it out of bypass, you can never be quite certain of what you'll get. Personally, I like both kinds of effects, the simple ones that are very predictable, and the wildly variable ones, that can surprise and horrify you.

The Gnomeratron, at first impression, seems wildly variable. I like that.

At one point in my initial run through, I tried some settings with the 4 side trims pretty hot, and the gain up as well, and it made some sounds that were very close to another Subdecay favorite, the Noisebox.

I'm not really a fuzz/distortion aficionado, I've played through a vintage silicon fuzz face, a Keeley BD-2, a Keeley Fuzz head, Big Muff, Little Muff, Bass Muff, Pork Loin, Subdecay Stupid Box, and Noisebox, and it seems like I found bits of all these inside the Gnome. And there is much more.

One of the things that struck me about the Noisebox, was that it was the first pedal I'd owned that by design, sometimes sounded "broken". This goes for the Gnomeratron as well. It makes some noises that I find very gratifying, that sound kind of "broken". I like that. I get the feeling that if an engineer from Boss or Digitech, or Dunlop got a look at the schematics, theyd be, "you can't do that! that won't work!" It's this living on the hairy edge of reason, that has made this peddle so loved by some, and loved but so quickly released by others. This is also why the single most important feature on the Gnome is the Gate.

So far, the biggest obstacle to overcome for me is the gain staging. This is what I will try and tame first. By this I mean, that many of the cool sounds I found resulted in HUGE increases in volume. It could be a problem playing live, that engaging the pedal might produce too big a boost in gain. I'm guessing there is a way to overcome this problem, I will find it, maybe with a little help?

It will be fun to figure this thing out. Once I have something a little more coherent to offer, I will record some clips of my favorite settings. It is smaller than I'd imagined.

DSCF4854.jpg
 
#132
So I got the manual, and a few tips from McSpunckle, and I have already sorted out some of my gain staging issues. Sure enough, between the Cleanish, Fuzz, and Gain knobs, everything changes in and out of "magic" mode.

Currently trying to figure out where it's going to fit on my main board..........
 

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