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The Spaceman Club

#421
Explorer is SO good at 18v. Great headroom, pretty low noise for a phaser, and I found it very intuitive to dial in. It sounds particularly awesome with my Moog EP-3 controlling the rate, and the manual sweep mode is super fun too. Manual sweep + fuzz gets some weird throaty sounds that I haven't heard from any other phaser.

Still in the honeymoon phase (ha!), but so far I feel like the Explorer is right up there with the Empress as far as my taste in phasers goes. I've tried a few 6-stagers that I haven't really liked, but the Explorer seems much more usable throughout the whole range of the phase sweep.
 
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#422
willsellout said:
I was tempted but I have the regular Explorer limited. I'm glad they made them again though for all the folks who have been wanting one. They really do sound incredibly good.
Click to expand...

I represent that remark! LOL!

I'd been keeping a not-so-close eye on these classifieds and Reverb to see if any of the original Explorers popped up at a semi-reasonable price. Obviously, that ain't happening. I'm pretty stoked to see that it's basically the same pedal in a smaller case.

The only thing that bums me out is, the week before they announced the Explorer, I just ordered a frickin' Heptode Virtuoso phaser! The two main reasons I ordered the Virtuoso is 1) I really dig the simplicity of it, and B) I, along with apparently a bunch of other folks, had beseeched Spaceman to redo the Explorer. All I got from that was crickets, so I, obviously incorrectly, assumed that a redo of the Explorer was a no go.

Now I got TWO phasers coming, and a flanger...:rollno::banghead:

:D
 
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#424
I love my Explorer Deluxe. It's the best phaser I've tried by far and is one of the very few pedals that go to every gig with me.


The Voyager is also an amazing pedal. They need to re-release that one as well. So very very lush.

They've re-released 2 out of my 3 favorite Spaceman pedals: the Saturn and the Explorer. The Voyager should be next.
 
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#425
pbass6811 said:
I represent that remark! LOL!

I'd been keeping a not-so-close eye on these classifieds and Reverb to see if any of the original Explorers popped up at a semi-reasonable price. Obviously, that ain't happening. I'm pretty stoked to see that it's basically the same pedal in a smaller case.

The only thing that bums me out is, the week before they announced the Explorer, I just ordered a frickin' Heptode Virtuoso phaser! The two main reasons I ordered the Virtuoso is 1) I really dig the simplicity of it, and B) I, along with apparently a bunch of other folks, had beseeched Spaceman to redo the Explorer. All I got from that was crickets, so I, obviously incorrectly, assumed that a redo of the Explorer was a no go.

Now I got TWO phasers coming, and a flanger...:rollno::banghead:

:D
Click to expand...

Nothing wrong with more modulation! Now that I've heard the Explorer, there are like 5-6 other Spaceman pedals I want to try.

The inside is a work of art as well. Take a look whenever you get yours!
 
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#426
cusar5 said:
Nothing wrong with more modulation! Now that I've heard the Explorer, there are like 5-6 other Spaceman pedals I want to try.

The inside is a work of art as well. Take a look whenever you get yours!
Click to expand...

I'm impatiently awaiting mine. Also, I didn't realize this thing had the 'secret' modes until I watched this demo. (12:00 mark if you want to skip to it...)

 
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#427
Iommian said:
@Proton Lenny sold me on quite a few pedals. I've spent a lot of money on little metal boxes because of him lol
Click to expand...
Ya'know,
Putting things into perspective,
I shouldn't be so put off by the price, considering I've spent a bit less for a compressor, and about the same price for a tube preamp pedal.

They "do less" than the Explorer, but sound great all the same.
And, considering the various shapes, and amount of range per shape of the Explorer, the price ain't so bad.

Well, crap.
I think I just talked myself into an Explorer:roflmao:
 
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#429
SquareWaveSymph said:
Oh man, the Aurora is so good! Definitely one of my, if not the favourite pedal of 2021. Pure, flange-y gold!
Click to expand...

I'm really trying to get the Aurora dialed in. It's been pretty trying. I was really hoping I could get a nice chorus sound, to maybe eliminate a pedal, as well as a great flanger sound, but the chorus sound I dialed up was way too subtle to be useful. The flanger sound I've got is not bad, but I know there's "THAT" sound in there somewhere, so I'll keep working on it.

cusar5 said:
Explorer is SO good at 18v. Great headroom, pretty low noise for a phaser, and I found it very intuitive to dial in. It sounds particularly awesome with my Moog EP-3 controlling the rate, and the manual sweep mode is super fun too. Manual sweep + fuzz gets some weird throaty sounds that I haven't heard from any other phaser.

Still in the honeymoon phase (ha!), but so far I feel like the Explorer is right up there with the Empress as far as my taste in phasers goes. I've tried a few 6-stagers that I haven't really liked, but the Explorer seems much more usable throughout the whole range of the phase sweep.
Click to expand...

I was all about the "Great Phaser Battle of 2022"! I was really hoping the Virtuoso, which showed up the day after the Explorer, was going to be just a simple killer, great phaser sound with no work. Unfortunately, the Great Phaser Battle of 2022 turned out to be very one-sided. The Explorer, especially at 18v, like you suggested, is about as good as a phaser can get. It just sounds right. The Virtuoso just didn't sound very phase-y at all. The Boss PH-3 sounds better than the Virtuoso. Oh well.

Pretty happy to have a Saturn VI again.

thumbnail-291.jpeg
 
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#430
The one downside of the Explorer for me is that the CV jack is on the side, and the only TRS cable I have is the long one that came with my EP-3. Anyone recommend a low profile TRS cable? I might get an EBS one, since I like their patch cables a lot.
 
#432
Just got my Saturn VI back, after being on loan since around September.

Well, it's funny how views change.

What was once my favorite low-gain OD, is no longer.
I've acquired others that do it better.

However, that doesn't mean I no longer like the S6.

I'm just now using it differently.

Keeping the drive low, and boost/tone higher, I'm getting that "harmonic boost", which results in a very detailed and articulate tone. Even with old strings.

It once served one purpose.
Now it serves another.
 
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#435
pbass6811 said:
I'm really trying to get the Aurora dialed in. It's been pretty trying. I was really hoping I could get a nice chorus sound, to maybe eliminate a pedal, as well as a great flanger sound, but the chorus sound I dialed up was way too subtle to be useful. The flanger sound I've got is not bad, but I know there's "THAT" sound in there somewhere, so I'll keep working on it.
View attachment 4543040
Click to expand...

The Aurora didn't stay in my collection for long. I too struggled to find something useful in there and I discovered that the chorus pedals I have worked out better for my situation. Those also cost a LOT less.

I really wanted to like the Aurora but couldn't justify keeping it around. It was my first Spaceman pedal and I had read such good things about their stuff, I think maybe I had set my expectations too high.

Really interested to check out an Explorer though!
 
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#436
dedpool1052 said:
Just got my Saturn VI back, after being on loan since around September.

Well, it's funny how views change.

What was once my favorite low-gain OD, is no longer.
I've acquired others that do it better.

However, that doesn't mean I no longer like the S6.

I'm just now using it differently.

Keeping the drive low, and boost/tone higher, I'm getting that "harmonic boost", which results in a very detailed and articulate tone. Even with old strings.

It once served one purpose.
Now it serves another.
Click to expand...

dave64o said:
That's how I use mine - Boost is at 2:00-3:00, Drive is around 9:00, and Tone is all the way up. I use that as my standard tone.
Click to expand...

I just looked at my settings, and I'm actually pretty close to what you guys are doing also. I'm kind of resetting a few things, so I'll probably "noon" everything and start over. I still like it as a low-gain OD, so I'm gonna try to stay on that path, if possible.


bass-shy said:
The Aurora didn't stay in my collection for long. I too struggled to find something useful in there and I discovered that the chorus pedals I have worked out better for my situation. Those also cost a LOT less.

I really wanted to like the Aurora but couldn't justify keeping it around. It was my first Spaceman pedal and I had read such good things about their stuff, I think maybe I had set my expectations too high.

Really interested to check out an Explorer though!
Click to expand...

The Explorer is pretty great. I'm happy with it. Is it the last phaser I'll ever buy? Probably not, but it's a great phaser, and it's worth checking out.

I totally feel you on the Aurora. I really want to love this pedal, but I am not getting there. I've gotten way closer to what I was hoping for out of the Aurora, but I really didn't think it was going to be this hard. I think I'm in the same boat as you and I just had this idea that I was gonna plug in the Aurora and it was instantly gonna be 10x better than my lowly Boss BF-3, and it's not. It's not really better at all. I'll work with it a little longer.

My board does LOOK killer with all the Spaceman stuff on it, though...;):thumbsup::D
 
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#439
Charlie Tuna said:
Where?

[EDIT] BTW, there hasn't been much chatter about the Sputnik III in this thread. What's the take on it? Handles bass well?
Click to expand...

I pre-ordered mine through CME, but it's sold out, now. There might be a few other shops that still have one, though.

I haven't tried the Sputnik, yet, but I liked the demos I saw. Tried to score one, when they dropped a limited edition, last time, but I was too slow. So, I'm very curious, now. :)
 
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