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Lightning Boy Audio Thread
- Thread starter HoochfromP
- Start date
So... bought a TI box to check out. It will be used mostly for recording right now, after an Arkham Oracle. In addition to the TI and Oracle, I have a handful of effects. Mostly higher end dirt, fuzz, octave type stuff. I do have a Utility Knife which is digital.
My question is, do you think this board would benefit from a 2020 or Two? I was thinking maybe one after the Utility Knife To start out with, Which is near the end of the signal chain. Eventually Maybe one early in the chain after whatever boost/buffer I’m using?
I didn’t know If using 2020s well also using a TI box was a good idea/bad idea/overkill?
My question is, do you think this board would benefit from a 2020 or Two? I was thinking maybe one after the Utility Knife To start out with, Which is near the end of the signal chain. Eventually Maybe one early in the chain after whatever boost/buffer I’m using?
I didn’t know If using 2020s well also using a TI box was a good idea/bad idea/overkill?
I have tried plugging a 2020 right into a TI Box and I will say that combination is a little too muddy sounding for my taste. You will likely get very different results if you place a 2020 between some pedals and then the pedals into the TI Box. I haven't tried a combination like that, but I expect it would work well.
I have the TI Box, and only tried it briefly as I'm working 7 days per week, and haven't had band practice since March. It really does thicken my bass up quite nicely. I let my friends band borrow it a few weeks ago for recording, and they said it was amazing on bass! He normally hates DI for recording (prefers mics on his cab), but was extremely happy with his DI sound for the first time.
I think a transformer like this in the 2020 box would be incredible, especially with the boost in volume. Call it the 2020 Hindsight.
My current pedalboard contains the LBA 2020, Thunder Knob and Nuvision. Great sounding pedals!
I think a transformer like this in the 2020 box would be incredible, especially with the boost in volume. Call it the 2020 Hindsight.
My current pedalboard contains the LBA 2020, Thunder Knob and Nuvision. Great sounding pedals!
Can't speak for Mike, but what i understood is the TI Box transformer isn't designed for the 2020 use unfortunately.
Nice pedalboard you got here ! Nuvision and Thunder Knob are super tasty pedals indeed.
Nice pedalboard you got here ! Nuvision and Thunder Knob are super tasty pedals indeed.
With the Treble Mod, it's glued on my board and always on. The OG version has (much) higher gain, but the modded one is able to sound a lot tighter. What you get in the mids with it is somehow unique in a pedal format. Best bucks i ever spent in a pedal, and it's best friend with the Oracle as well.
So you know how I was talking about using two 2020's on my pedalboard? I took one off for a while. I thought there was a problem with it. It turns out there wasn't. So I put it back today. What a difference!! At first it seems really subtle. But as I started playing more, I realized it has a big impact on my sound. I got the tone is was missing from about a week ago. As a test, I put it in a loop to switch it in and out. I noticed small changes in eq that are hard to replicate with a traditional eq. It takes some deep bass out and softens the treble. I would even say is cuts the upper mids by a couple of db. The secret sauce is what is does to the low mids. They are raised a couple of db. But it's not like normal broad band cuts and boosts. There is a change to the harmonic series that gives the eq a very dynamic response that you can't replicate with a normal equalizer. This became more apparent to me as I started to really play. It's not something that you will get out of a quick A/B test.
Two is the way to go!!
Two is the way to go!!
The pink pedal is an effects loop pedal that I built, and I run all of the pedals through it. If I have a pedal failure during a show, I can just bypass it. The treadle pedal is just a foot switch from an old sewing machine that I modified to turn on the Orange amps compressor. It has some nice bright orange LED's inside
I was just starting to look through this thread for other's impressions, your experience is interesting for sure.
I got a single 2020, put it in an A/B loop, unplugged the loop pedal power so the LED was off, stomped that pedal enough times randomly so I had zero idea what state it was in, then started playing. I heard zero difference no matter the loop state, even after cranking my boost to max to really hit the transformer hard.
I may have to throw it into a spectrum analyzer now to see if I'm crazy or what. IS there really a spectrum change that I'm not hearing.
Just curious, how did you determine if there was or was not something wrong? And is there any chance your experience was biased by knowing if it was or was not in the loop? And by all means I'm not discounting your testing/experience (and it sounds like you're very happy with yours), just truthfully trying to determine if I really need/want to keep my 2020 or not.
Where it is placed in the signal chain matters a lot.
I thought it was not working right because I was having issues with low audio output and loss of highs. It turns out that it was the patch cable.
I thought it was not working right because I was having issues with low audio output and loss of highs. It turns out that it was the patch cable.
There was mention of King Buffalo's use of Lightning Boy Audio gear earlier in the thread, which was really cool. Here is a recent rig rundown video.
So with Dan & Sean, both using LBA gear in their signal chain, and with using a proto LBA Trinity Channel strip for the recording- this gives one a good idea of what can be accomplished with a few choice (minimal) pieces of outboard gear. And from what I gather the consensus is that most folks really dig what they are hearing, the resulting proof is in the sound.
We really like what you are doing Mike! Please continue!
So with Dan & Sean, both using LBA gear in their signal chain, and with using a proto LBA Trinity Channel strip for the recording- this gives one a good idea of what can be accomplished with a few choice (minimal) pieces of outboard gear. And from what I gather the consensus is that most folks really dig what they are hearing, the resulting proof is in the sound.
We really like what you are doing Mike! Please continue!
Thanks very much. I appreciate the support. Sean recently purchased a TI Box for recording some upcoming KB stuff.
T.I Box en route....can't wait to try that bad boy out at the next practice.
With critical or acute listening the trained or experienced ear can discern nuances that very often not be measured by even the most accurate methods of measurement. Chances are your ears are a better set of reference than your measurement devices. As musicians we deal in an intangible medium open to all sorts of opinion, conjecture and of course voodoo.
I am still at 61 learning to listen and hear, constantly discovering. I was going to return my LBA2020 thinking it did not add that much 'value' to my sound until I heard different from a client who did. I kept it and it has become a fixed part of my recording path. Ymmv.
Could have been, it was pretty close, but it will be a one-off. It may be followed by new offering as i understood though.
Guts pic :
Sorry, i'm teasing and i'm pretty bad at it ! Fact is i'm in the middle of some work, will explain what it's about very soon.
Guts pic :
Sorry, i'm teasing and i'm pretty bad at it ! Fact is i'm in the middle of some work, will explain what it's about very soon.
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