My Dirt Bender - Another Jounal

[GrowlerBox]

If you want the Moog analog delay thing, this is the pedal: Products - ADG-1 — Asheville Music Tools

At the risk of overextending the tangent I inadvertently triggered, I ordered the Boss DM-101 today. I watched/listened to a nice comparison between the Moog and Boss delays (on synths, which I generally find to be more helpful than guitar demos). The Moog’s modulation can get crazier, but the Boss seems to be far more versatile as a delay per se. The basic tones (with Boss in “classic” mode) are pretty similar.

I will be sure to post any further impressions elsewhere .

 

[el murdoque]

I can't really tell why, but I only had one incident where I was at a concert and the delay that was used managed to bring itself to my attention because of how good it sounded. I made a mental note during the concert to check the pedal board afterwards and doing that revealed the Moog.
Back then, they were freshly out of production, but some shops had stock left and they went for around 800 bucks, which was enough to scare me off, since I don't really use delay anywhere.

But since we're talking about delays - if you're looking for something less standard, then the Hologram Microcosm is a nice choice. It can do delay if you force it to, but it much rather takes in what you play, chews it up, swallows it down where it is processed through a few inches of unicorn intestines and then thrown back at you. It feels more like jamming with a slightly mad person that took a hit of acid than playing with a pedal.

 

[el murdoque]

....and back on topic: The tracking says there will be mail today.

 

[el murdoque]

Off Topic:

 

[el murdoque]

On topic:

 

[el murdoque]

Let's start with a short word on the Analogman:
It looks nice and sounds seriously good. I have yet to figure out the depth switch and the mix knob. I would assume the mix knob does not go from 0-100% but something like 30-70%, so it's actually usable through the entire sweep.
The depth knob has three positions. Middle sounds a little anemic, lower position feels like its deeper and upper position sounds like it even adds a bit of bass.

It's not your 80's in-your-face chorus. It's luxurious, rich and lush.
In the synth chain with low speed and high depth, it works to give the sound a lot of room and texture. Playing solo, it does the chorus thing extremely well. I am happy.

 

[el murdoque]

Let's get to the Tumnus.

First things first: I have not used it in a loop yet. This pedal has no true bypass, it buffers the signal. That makes it hard to tell if it's cutting the low end - because if the buffer also cuts, the only way to tell is to put it into a switchable loop.
However, I did not have the impression that lows were lost.
The treble knob feels like it is boost only, with treble at zero it feels close to flat.

At higher gain settings with the treble riding higher, the pedal adds an abnormal amount of top end - and my guess is that this can be easily perceived as low
end loss. I have to try it in a mix - but listening closely with headphones, the low end remained untouched.

The dirt you get from the Tumnus is a great low gain drive sound. I'll have to play a little more before I can come up with a proper description, but up until now, I like what I'm hearing.

 

[warptheory]

Let's start with a short word on the Analogman:
It looks nice and sounds seriously good. I have yet to figure out the depth switch and the mix knob. I would assume the mix knob does not go from 0-100% but something like 30-70%, so it's actually usable through the entire sweep.
The depth knob has three positions. Middle sounds a little anemic, lower position feels like its deeper and upper position sounds like it even adds a bit of bass.

It's not your 80's in-your-face chorus. It's luxurious, rich and lush.
In the synth chain with low speed and high depth, it works to give the sound a lot of room and texture. Playing solo, it does the chorus thing extremely well. I am happy.

I feel the same about the deep switch. Up position seems like it adds to the lows, maybe thats just the full frequency getting chorus'd. Middle position sounds good with a blender, but on it's own is a bit thin. Down position seems to be more neutral. I go back and forth between up and down, just kinda depends on the room and vibe.

 

[Maxi Funkl]

Anyone try this one yet? BASS POWER DISTORTER | BASS DRIVER

 

[el murdoque]

Anyone try this one yet? BASS POWER DISTORTER | BASS DRIVER

first time I heard of it...

 

[el murdoque]

How does the Klon work? The treble knob is boost/cut?

 

[warptheory]

This has got to be on the list at some point...
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[el murdoque]

I really like the Tumnus so far. It certainly is a low gain thing.
It feels "right" with the gain between 11 and 2 o'clock. When you ride the gain higher I'm still not sure if the bass drops out, but you get an immense push in the uppermost mids, which sticks out a lot to the naked ear. I have not tried any combinations yet, but it feels like this is a good pedal to push things (by things I mean another dirt capable pedal or an amp) over the edge. It also works great alone in those lower settings.
The grind is somewhere between an overdrive and an amp. I am reminded of using wet chalk on a blackboard and applying way to much pressure. It's a hard grain, but nonetheless very easy on the ear. That barely there drive that makes things a little more exciting, the harmonics lending a nice definition to the note. It's smooth, a hybrid of velvet and satin.

 

[warptheory]

I really like the Tumnus so far. It certainly is a low gain thing.
It feels "right" with the gain between 11 and 2 o'clock. When you ride the gain higher I'm still not sure if the bass drops out, but you get an immense push in the uppermost mids, which sticks out a lot to the naked ear. I have not tried any combinations yet, but it feels like this is a good pedal to push things (by things I mean another dirt capable pedal or an amp) over the edge. It also works great alone in those lower settings.
The grind is somewhere between an overdrive and an amp. I am reminded of using wet chalk on a blackboard and applying way to much pressure. It's a hard grain, but nonetheless very easy on the ear. That barely there drive that makes things a little more exciting, the harmonics lending a nice definition to the note. It's smooth, a hybrid of velvet and satin.

Tumnus Deluxe with EQ up next?

 

[dedpool1052]

Anyone try this one yet? BASS POWER DISTORTER | BASS DRIVER

I got one when it was first released.
I dig it.

Low and high gain tones kinda sound and feel like two separate pedals.

If you need absolute flexibility, this may not be your bag.
The highs are what you feed it, so if you need a really clanky, grindy tone, you'll need to EQ it elsewhere in your chain.

The low gain tone, to me, feels like an amp breaking up.
It's also very even across the strings and neck.
Like, it doesn't feel like only the E & A are breaking up, and the D & G are still clean (*edit*like some dirt pedals can at low gain)

Also, the depth can add a ton of thickness/low-end.
My comfort zone is zero to just under noon.

Overall, I'm quite happy with it.
It's simple and gets tones that I like without much of any tweaking.

 

[GrowlerBox]

How does the Klon work? The treble knob is boost/cut?

I’ve never had a Klon (or a klone), but my understanding is that the treble control is a boost/cut at ~400 Hz, although this seems to be on the low side for a treble control. Wampler’s versions are not usually 1:1 clones, I believe, so the Tumnus treble control may behave differently.

 

[el murdoque]

Luckily, the Klon has been dissected multiple times and there are plenty of graphs online. Here is one. It seems like the treble knob is shelving, capable of a massive boost or a gentle cut and starts the gentle slope at around 200Hz.

That does match with my observations.

 

[el murdoque]

Furthermore I did learn that the Klon does hard clipping, and using germanium diodes to do that.
I'm not a fan of hard clipping and I am not a fan of germanium diodes, but it seems in this case, two wrongs make a right.

 

[el murdoque]

This has got to be on the list at some point...
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Seems like they will hit the German shops at the end of the month.
I will totally get one of those cables. For the metal band.

 

[el murdoque]

Keeping things busy, I'm starting a chapter I want to call

"The Cork Sniffer vs. The Frat-Party Cardbordeaux".

This one goes for 26 bucks on those Asian shopping platforms:

I bought a Mosky, but there are different brand names out there, I suspect they all come from the same source.

I gotta start this off with a rant. The unboxing experience was as expected. A black cardboard box with the pedal inside, wrapped in bubble wrap and nothing else.
However, looking at the graphic, this shows a centaur, wielding ... a Dane axe. Those weapons were in use in northern Europe from the 10th century, but the long shafted version pictured here came later, used as an infantry weapon until the advance in armor technique brought plate and the "meat cleaver on a long stick" needed refinement, which led to the poleaxe and the halberd.
The centaur is rooted in Greek mythology, and the ancient Greeks did not use long handled single bladed axes in their warfare, even the use of double headed axes was extremely rare.
This is my only shot at trying to explain what the creature is doing in that picture. The Dane axe is meant to be wielded two handed and swung like an axe. It's function is parting flesh and leather armor, also being quite effective against chain mail, but it cannot pierce a target. Also, the weight balance of the head and the shaft makes it very hard and quite imprecise to throw, it will most likely tumble in mid air. You want the center of gravity slightly shifted forward on a throwing spear, but put too much heavy metal in the tip and the balance is off. Since this creature comes from a culture that knew javelins but did not know the Dane axe, it might be that the centaur simply had not figured out how it works when the picture was taken.