Mostly useless but fun effect pedal?

[FretNoMore]

I feel the need for something fun, maybe a Christmas present to myself ... what's your suggestion for a mostly useless but fun noise making pedal? I know of Earthquaker Devices; they have some weirdness in the form of the Rainbow Machine, Organizer and Arpanoid - do you have some other brands and pedals you want to nominate?

 

[tomhanzo]

Boss PS-3 is cool.

 

[Downunderwonder]

For what I'm playing lately delay is useless, but still very fun at home.

 

[Rickenmonster]

Hah! Good topic.

Wah. I don't find it very useful but it's fun to play around with.

 

[Bassmike62]

Loopers. I've had the RC-3 and the JamMan Solo. Love playing them home, absolutely useless for me in the band I'm playing now.

 

[WaldoNova]

Subdecay Noisebox and TAFM Year of 4545 qualified for this when I had them. Fun at home no use in my band situations.

 

[Swimming Bird]

This definitely depends on your band situation or lack thereof -- almost anything can be usable in some context.

Get an EHX Tube Zipper: it's a dirt + envelope filter that has an enormous range of tones, going from mild overdrive to self-oscillation to quacky strangeness.

 

[Adamixoye]

Anything synth. Behringer BSY600 or Digitech Bass Synth Wah for cheap examples.

My next choice would be something like an Eventide unit, which has both usable and, IMO, unusable but fun tones. I'm thinking of the Pitchfactor in particular, but obviously the H9 would cover the same ground.

 

[kohntarkosz]

The Rainbow Machine is a re-hash of the Boss RPS-10. That pitch-shifting delay effect was built into those wee half-rack Boss units from the '80s. Gibby Haynes used one a lot. They are far cheaper than Rainbow Machines usually.

 

[grygrx]

I have more than a few effects fitting this... I'll throw out the
LAL Misty Cave. I love it... but I really have no idea how to utilize it yet.

The "MISTY CAVE - analog resonance echo" (MC) is a effect pedal which creates a kind of reverb/echo.

Characterized by a sound of a space that is resonant to the pitches of the input signal.

It makes the sound of delay style oscillating feedback which decays naturally. This increases the playability of your instrument over other delay pedals. You can control which note oscillates using the D.TIME control.

There is the "CV PEDAL" jack to control the "D.TIME" with the expression pedal.

 

[CHILDISHGAMBINO]

Recovery Effects Bad Comrade.

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The Boss PS-6 is really fun. Maybe one of these:

http://www.copilotfx.com/caracol.html

 

[zwkoch]

Anything synth. Behringer BSY600 or Digitech Bass Synth Wah for cheap examples.

My next choice would be something like an Eventide unit, which has both usable and, IMO, unusable but fun tones. I'm thinking of the Pitchfactor in particular, but obviously the H9 would cover the same ground.

+1 to the Synth. I would add bit crushers and ring modulators to that mix. Fun in the basement, but......

 

[Shanannigan]

The Bomber effect in the Zoom B3 is pretty amusing. It creates the sound of a bomb, with no variation no matter what you play. It's amusing, and definitely useless.

 

[JBTucci]

I just got a minifooger ring mod and i'm trying to work it into a song. I had to try it and it sounds awesome - just don't know how much I'll actually use it.

 

[adamsmatthewj]

This is a bad topic for me, I'll pretty much figure out a way to sneak ANYTHING in and use it lol!

My current fav "prob shouldn't do that" pedal is my Malekko Trem. I turn both the "speed" and "depth" knobs all the way up, and stack it after my OC-2. The most fun sound EVER. Sounds like a stinkin funky helicopter!!

 

[nshuman]

I don't remember who, but somebody ordered one on here. The Industrialelectric Incinerator

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[ffutterman]

I think they're discontinued, but the Ravish Sitar pedal can be pretty interesting. They occasionally pop up on eBay or Craigslist in the $400-ish range.

http://youtu.be/bi4zPDLqn9g

 

[IncX]

i have a dBA Robot, its a bit crusher ... and outside of my originals band, i can imagine there would be no use for it.

also +1 to subdecay noisebox... even i cant use that in my originals band, but it sure it a lot of fun making "mew mew mew" sounds.

and oh, try a Boss Synth or that Digitech one ... you can pretend your bass is a laser gun and you can 'pew pew pew' your bandmates during rehearsals. the gag gets old though.

 

[the explode man]

You need to get yourself a Source Audio Bass Envelope Filter with a Hot Hand 3. I wouldn't say it's mostly useless, but it's definitely not an "always on pedal". It's very fun to play with and you can go from a "more usable" envelope to some experimental stuff with the Hot Hand. Great pedal!

 

[bkbirge]

I think they're discontinued, but the Ravish Sitar pedal can be pretty interesting. They occasionally pop up on eBay or Craigslist in the $400-ish range.

http://youtu.be/bi4zPDLqn9g

I just played with a guitarist yesterday who uses one (prog rock). It indeed does the job as advertised, instant sitar.