Portland Synth + Pedal Expo

[warptheory]

Went to the Portland Synth + Pedal Expo yesterday and took some pictures. Lots of great builders there, brought my bass and plugged into boards and tried out a ton of pedals. Met a lot of great people and had some interesting conversations with pedal owners and the Novation rep.

Delicious Audio puts on the event, every year I'm like a kid in a candy store. Legit spent 3.5 hours in here and didn't even try everything.

If you have the chance to go to one, do it.

Synth & Pedal Expos: Schedule Of The Upcoming Shows | Delicious Audio

USEFUL LINKS: Vendor Feedback | Videos of the Expo | Eurorack Builders Feedback

delicious-audio.com

Event shots



Proco

29 Pedals

Benson

MXR

Super Cool Pedals

Amp Mojo Pedals

Greer

Zvex

Spaceman

Keeley

Mojo Hand FX

BeeTronics

Chase Bliss

CatalinBread

Native Audio

RaingerFX

Tone for Punk

Strymon

Voodoo

Surfy Bear

Thorpy

Walrus Audio

Boss

Alexander

Cosmodio

Fairfield Circuitry

And a bunch of Synth:

 

[warptheory]

Mental Notes on Pedals I liked:

Proco Fat Rat
Greer Lightspeed
Zvex 59 Sound
Spaceman Saturn VI
Keeley Super Rodent
Keeley Octa Psi
Keeley Angry Orange
Beetronics Overhive
Chase Bliss Automatone Preamp
Catalinbread SFT
Catalinbread Topanga Spring Reverb
Voodoo Sparkle Drive Mod
Fairfield BarberShop
Benson Germanium Boost

 

[cheapbasslovin]

I took my guitar and I maybe got through half the stations in 2.5 hours.

I couldn't get at Blammo, Benson, Surfy, or Beetronics. (Edit: I missed a lot more than that, but those are 3 I had mentally noted to try and check)

I bought an SFT, which is a pedal I've wanted for a while, but if I cared less about food and shelter I could have gone CRAZY.

 

[DJ Bebop]

I stayed away. I had already spent my gear money for the month

 

[Obese Chess]

I was across the street getting groceries anyway so I popped in to check it out. I lasted ten minutes - it was so crowded that I could barely walk around, and that was without having brought an instrument. Thanks for braving the crowds and getting the photos. I may make another attempt today.

EDIT: side note, I've really wanted to try that Benson geranium boost. Most of their stuff sounds "eh" on bass but I've heard good things about that one, right now I'm using a Dirty Haggard Dirty Boost but I love me a good simple boost pedal.

EDIT 2: shamelessly plugging my establishment, Workers Tap and Cafe, a ten-minute walk north on SE 12th from the expo location. Mods feel free to remove and scold me if I can't plug my bar without a commercial membership.

 

[darev]

Thank you for the write up and all of the pix @warptheory. I am jealous but my family is grateful that nothing like that has popped up in my town. Baby needs new shoes

 

[logdrum]

Ha! Boss attended?

Loved the Volca and Roland skifs. And all the small builders specially that thing that looked like a chopping block. Synclavier is still around??

 

[Hillie]

Thanks for the pics, looks fun. Control Voltage was always a pretty cool store to visit.

 

[Michedelic]

Very cool, LA is coming up in June…roadtrip! There were many brands missing at NAMM, plus all the distractions otherwise. This will get to the point.

 

[FilterFunk]

Thanks for posting!

I hadn't heard of Cosmodio Instruments, but now that I have, that Gravity Well has me tempted. I'm about due for an "out there" pedal!

 

[deepestend]

Mental Notes on Pedals I liked:

Proco Fat Rat
Greer Lightspeed
Zvex 59 Sound
Spaceman Saturn VI
Keeley Super Rodent
Keeley Octa Psi
Keeley Angry Orange
Beetronics Overhive
Chase Bliss Automatone Preamp
Catalinbread SFT
Catalinbread Topanga Spring Reverb
Voodoo Sparkle Drive Mod
Fairfield BarberShop
Benson Germanium Boost

I've been wanting to try the greer lightspeed as well... great photos, thanks for posting!

 

[darev]

Mental Notes on Pedals I liked:

Proco Fat Rat
Greer Lightspeed
Zvex 59 Sound
Spaceman Saturn VI
Keeley Super Rodent
Keeley Octa Psi
Keeley Angry Orange
Beetronics Overhive
Chase Bliss Automatone Preamp
Catalinbread SFT
Catalinbread Topanga Spring Reverb
Voodoo Sparkle Drive Mod
Fairfield BarberShop
Benson Germanium Boost

I have a couple of Saturn VI pedals that I really like as well. I like to think that it could be made smaller and with top jacks then it would be perfect. We can’t have everything but it sounds great on my bass.

 

[faulknersj]

Very cool…any convincing bass synths?

 

[warptheory]

Ha! Boss attended?

Loved the Volca and Roland skifs. And all the small builders specially that thing that looked like a chopping block. Synclavier is still around??

Some manufacturers had boards, but no reps. Boss, Proco, Greer, Zvex, Thorpy, and others. Most were stationed by reps, a few like Catlinbread, MojoHand, Beetronics, and others by the actual builders.

Synclavier is still around, seems like they are spinning things up again and paying homage to the 80's instruments they manufactured. They are working on launching this new generator where you can plug in any MIDI device to control it. Seems cool, and expensive.

 

[warptheory]

Very cool, LA is coming up in June…roadtrip! There were many brands missing at NAMM, plus all the distractions otherwise. This will get to the point.

I've never been to NAMM, but this seems like the next best thing. Glad it happens in my backyard!

 

[warptheory]

Very cool…any convincing bass synths?

I was hoping to try out the Novation Bass Station, but they didn't have one. Though if you buy a Novation Launchkey a VST clone of it which can do polyphony is included, which is a major improvement over the original. Many of the Oberheim and Arturia keyboards can do a great Bass Synth, but there are others which I'm sure were there and great, I just don't really know what I'm looking at.

 

[Michedelic]

I've never been to NAMM, but this seems like the next best thing. Glad it happens in my backyard!

Was everything monitored by headphones? What was the ambient noise level?

 

[warptheory]

Was everything monitored by headphones? What was the ambient noise level?

Everyone had some sort of headphone amp, sometimes with a cab sim.

Ambient noise levels were high, headphones were mediocre to great. I thanked Catalinbread for having good headphones, DT770s. With all the crowd noise and so so headphones, it wasn't always great, but you at least got a feel for a pedal.

 

[DJ Bebop]

EDIT 2: shamelessly plugging my establishment, Workers Tap and Cafe, a ten-minute walk north on SE 12th from the expo location. Mods feel free to remove and scold me if I can't plug my bar without a commercial membership.

You don't mean this place.

Workers Tap

About Workers Tap & Cafe is a worker owned and operated all hours cafe and beer bar in Portland, Oregon. Our business is run democratically and profits are split amongst our members. We have 20 rotating taps of European inspired local craft beer and cider housed plus a speciality coffee menu in...

workerstap.com

 

[Pings Bass]

It's too bad there weren't more pedals there

You don't mean this place.

View attachment 7201516

Workers Tap

About Workers Tap & Cafe is a worker owned and operated all hours cafe and beer bar in Portland, Oregon. Our business is run democratically and profits are split amongst our members. We have 20 rotating taps of European inspired local craft beer and cider housed plus a speciality coffee menu in...

workerstap.com

looks lovely