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Lightning Boy Audio Thread

View attachment 5424114 Here's where I have mine in the chain. No noise from mine. The killface pedal that drives it acts like a lpf so I'm not feeding much highs into it (which might explain the no noise). Pedal settings are accurate, this is my pre gig setup.

Thanks for that. I’m thinking now that the noise might have been some sort of interference due to something else, as I’m not sure how the transformer on its own could add that amount of hum. I played around with it again yesterday during a couple of decent practice sessions, and returned ultimately to the configuration mentioned earlier, right before the preamp.

I wound up buying the Analogworm fuzz; apparently I have a thing for discontinued effects (compressor, drive, and now this). I don’t think there will be any way for me to tell exactly what effect the transformer in that pedal is having; the circuit it’s in can be switched out, but that kills the whole passive pickup emulator, which will have a pretty profound effect, transistor or not. Other fuzz face types include a similar circuit without the transformer, but I don’t have one to try.

I notice that Lightning Boy is doing another run of 2020Ss for preorder with a bit of a discount. I could be tempted.
 
Thanks for that. I’m thinking now that the noise might have been some sort of interference due to something else, as I’m not sure how the transformer on its own could add that amount of hum. I played around with it again yesterday during a couple of decent practice sessions, and returned ultimately to the configuration mentioned earlier, right before the preamp.

I wound up buying the Analogworm fuzz; apparently I have a thing for discontinued effects (compressor, drive, and now this). I don’t think there will be any way for me to tell exactly what effect the transformer in that pedal is having; the circuit it’s in can be switched out, but that kills the whole passive pickup emulator, which will have a pretty profound effect, transistor or not. Other fuzz face types include a similar circuit without the transformer, but I don’t have one to try.

I notice that Lightning Boy is doing another run of 2020Ss for preorder with a bit of a discount. I could be tempted.
The preorder discount looks like a last chance to avoid the next price increase. Worth acting fast.

Great products here, though I wish salaries were increasing at the same rate as product prices. We seem collectively caught in a storm of rising costs we pass on to one another*.

*This comment includes a 3% fee for credit purchases which will be removed if replying in cash.
 
My 23Fe+ just arrived yesterday, so I haven't had time to really take it through its paces, but the detailed description on the website seems pretty spot on.

I compared it head-to-head with the original 23Fe and it is a bit less colorful, with its own satisfying smoothness in the sound. I plan on trying it on my small pedalboard at practice tomorrow to hear how it works at volume. The interesting part will be seeing if it ends up working better in a different position than the original. It's close in tone, and I like what the original does near the end of the chain, so I'm guessing that's where it will end up. I'll report back with any new insights.
 
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Here's the early field report on the 23Fe+. I've found that it pairs very well with a Sushi Box Underground Accelerator, as that extra bit of drive brings out the best in it. It doesn't have quite the color of the original 23Fe, but it's still warm and lamp-light cozy. I've decided to use it on my small, travel board, which goes: EHX tuner -> Sushi Box UA -> Joyo California Sound -> SolidGoldFX Supa Funk -> 23Fe+ -> Walrus Mira Compressor. The original is staying on my bigger board that starts with a Slampegg Bee Pre, goes through a few more bells and whistles, and ends with a Finally v2. The original works wonders right before the Finally in that chain. The 23Fe+ sounded very good there as well, but ultimately got along best with the UA, which seems to shine best on my smaller board.

I'm not sure that I really notice the wider frequency spectrum of the +. It sounds great on its own, though, and is only slightly different from the original 23Fe to my ears. I like the way that it adds a little viscosity to a clean amp tone. Overall, I'm happy with the 23Fe+, and am enjoying having a slightly different voice to play around with.

Next up - try stacking them and sending a hot signal their way to see what they do together!
 
Here's the early field report on the 23Fe+. I've found that it pairs very well with a Sushi Box Underground Accelerator, as that extra bit of drive brings out the best in it. It doesn't have quite the color of the original 23Fe, but it's still warm and lamp-light cozy. I've decided to use it on my small, travel board, which goes: EHX tuner -> Sushi Box UA -> Joyo California Sound -> SolidGoldFX Supa Funk -> 23Fe+ -> Walrus Mira Compressor. The original is staying on my bigger board that starts with a Slampegg Bee Pre, goes through a few more bells and whistles, and ends with a Finally v2. The original works wonders right before the Finally in that chain. The 23Fe+ sounded very good there as well, but ultimately got along best with the UA, which seems to shine best on my smaller board.

I'm not sure that I really notice the wider frequency spectrum of the +. It sounds great on its own, though, and is only slightly different from the original 23Fe to my ears. I like the way that it adds a little viscosity to a clean amp tone. Overall, I'm happy with the 23Fe+, and am enjoying having a slightly different voice to play around with.

Next up - try stacking them and sending a hot signal their way to see what they do together!
Interesting! I just got my 23Fe today, which I will pair with another pedal I just got: Underground Accelerator. ☺️

Gotta try a couple of different placements. Here’s my current signal chain:
  1. Sun Face
  2. Tuner/Buffer
  3. Henretta Mr. White (EQ)
  4. Alma Comp
  5. Future Impact
  6. Underground Accelerator
  7. Analogman Mini Chorus (stereo)
  8. T-Rex Replay Box
  9. Walrus Audio Canvas DI
My first try is either very early or right before or after the UA. (Can’t have it later than that, unless I want to buy another one, hehe.) Any advice?
 
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I think it's pretty fun to hit the 23Fe with a strong signal, so I might try going after the UA first, since you can give it a little more heat, if needed.

But, to be fair, half the fun of pedals is playing around with the signal chain. See what sounds good to you! (And report back, of course)
The Alma Comp is always on, so I could run that a bit hot as well. 🙂
But my bass is in shop, getting new frets and stuff, so can’t test it for a little while!

IMG_8432.jpeg
 
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It's going to be a fun day deciding where to place these in the chain. Last night I briefly demo'd the 2020S at the beginning of the whole chain: bass -> 2020S -> tuner and really liked it there. Any other placement suggestions?

View attachment 7083887
I really like putting a 23Fe+ immediately after a drive or boost. It does some fun things when you hit it with a hot signal.
 
I really like putting a 23Fe+ immediately after a drive or boost. It does some fun things when you hit it with a hot signal.
I've got both a Singular Tubedrve and a Fairfield ~900 on order and will be revamping my drive / dirt section soon, so experimenting with this is definitely in my future. I think putting it after the Barbershop will be fun too.

I'm interested to see what it does alongside other pedals that also saturate. The Opti-FET and the ParaEQ are both inherently pretty colorful.
 
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