I've had one sitting in the garage since Thursday. Coastsonic, I think a yellow verision. Work and family stuff holding up the launch. This thread has been the next best thing!
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I think I may be letting my Redstone go. Like Deadpool, I tried it as a replacement for my Saturn....and a lot of things he's said are spot on about it, but I'm not sure it's for me. I do really like the character of the dirt overall, and some of the nice clank you can get with the treble turned up......but the EQ for me is too interactive - and very interactive with the gain as well.
For instance, I can get it to start breaking up with the gain at zero if I start dialing up bass and mid. And while that may be a great feature for a lot of people, I really like to dial in the amount of dirt I want and then EQ it (I guess I'd rather the eq be post drive instead of feeding the drive).....but as I decide I want a little more low end, I turn the bass up a bit and then it's driving more and compresses.....and then I need to dial in more highs and turn the gain down, etc. It really is flexible and has some really nice sounds in it, but I'm often tweaking live as I hear my bass in the mix.....and it was hard to quickly make the adjustments I needed without needing to adjust all 5 knobs. And although the bass control does offer plenty of boom, you can't really add "clean" low end (as you turn it up it muddies up and compresses the low end a bit).
For what it's worth, I've also just never been a fan of the FMV tone stack (at least not as an always on preamp - thought I could maybe like it for an on/off dirt pedal for a different sound). And maybe I should give it a shot at 12v - may change the game a bit for me.....but the Saturn is sooo easy to just dial in quickly. If I want a little more dirt, I just turn up the drive, and lower the volume to unity......and it's just there - perfect every time. Definitely doesn't offer the same flexibility as the Redstone....but I think the simplicity and naturalness of the Saturn is still more for me.
For instance, I can get it to start breaking up with the gain at zero if I start dialing up bass and mid. And while that may be a great feature for a lot of people, I really like to dial in the amount of dirt I want and then EQ it (I guess I'd rather the eq be post drive instead of feeding the drive).....but as I decide I want a little more low end, I turn the bass up a bit and then it's driving more and compresses.....and then I need to dial in more highs and turn the gain down, etc. It really is flexible and has some really nice sounds in it, but I'm often tweaking live as I hear my bass in the mix.....and it was hard to quickly make the adjustments I needed without needing to adjust all 5 knobs. And although the bass control does offer plenty of boom, you can't really add "clean" low end (as you turn it up it muddies up and compresses the low end a bit).
For what it's worth, I've also just never been a fan of the FMV tone stack (at least not as an always on preamp - thought I could maybe like it for an on/off dirt pedal for a different sound). And maybe I should give it a shot at 12v - may change the game a bit for me.....but the Saturn is sooo easy to just dial in quickly. If I want a little more dirt, I just turn up the drive, and lower the volume to unity......and it's just there - perfect every time. Definitely doesn't offer the same flexibility as the Redstone....but I think the simplicity and naturalness of the Saturn is still more for me.
Definitely try it before letting it go.
It opens it up enough that I prefer it at 12V.
And I totally get where you're coming from with the Saturn. Super easy to dial in.
yes it does! that's how I use it and it sounds soooo good!
Did some more futzing with the RS,
And with all EQ zeroed, I was able to make more use of the gain control.
The manual say flat when at zero, noon, zero.
But even with all zero, it doesn't really feel that scooped to me.
I turned the bass up just enough to hear it come in.
It sounded pretty damn good. And pretty clean.
Also, this is still with a G&L L-2000 full on, so it'll drive pedals harder than others.
And with all EQ zeroed, I was able to make more use of the gain control.
The manual say flat when at zero, noon, zero.
But even with all zero, it doesn't really feel that scooped to me.
I turned the bass up just enough to hear it come in.
It sounded pretty damn good. And pretty clean.
Also, this is still with a G&L L-2000 full on, so it'll drive pedals harder than others.
I tried it again, after running it at 9 for so long.
I forgot the extra openness it adds.
Circling back to this, to my ears, the midrange is at a pretty low frequency.Very curious to hear how it retains bass and to get an idea of the midrange frequencies. Enjoy when you get it.
It sounds like bass is deep lows.
Mids are low-mid thickness.
Highs are glassy, but not brittle.
I couldn't tell you what frequency it's at, but it's definitely not mid-mids, if that makes sense.
Glad to read your reviews/thoughts @dedpool1052 and @Eadger, thanks for posting them. I’ve been quite curious about the EQ frequencies as well and decided to write to Spaceman directly. They replied quickly and offered me this detailed, helpful description:
“Yep you've got the idea right. The tonestack is modified using the Fender tonestack as a starting point.
In the case of the Redstone, the Mid control is centered at 600Hz. When all 3 tone controls are at noon, there is an 8db dip from the Lows, and Highs to the mid scoop. When Mids are at max, with Highs and Lows at noon, the dip is more like 4dB. Turning Mid to minimum, with Highs and Lows at noon, the dip is huge at 15dB-ish.
To get ruler-flat response you would lower Highs and Lows to minimum. When this happens, the Mid control can be set anywhere, as it simply acts like another gain control.
With Mid, Low and High at noon, the Highs reach the peak amplitude at 10kHz, and from there gently slope downward toward the mid dip. At 2kHz they are roughly 3dB below peak. Lows reach peak amplitude at 40Hz, and slope gently downward towards the mid dip, 200Hz is roughly 3dB below peak.
Obviously, these numbers deviate as you manipulate the controls. The Redstone has great bass. I was really focusing on getting it sounding good with bass. I brought prototypes to my band's practices and based much of the tonal choices on feedback from my bass player. For reference, he mostly plays a vintage G&L L5000. So I know the Redstone can even handle 5 string basses pretty well. Other basses used in the process: my 1980 G&L L1000, an American Jazz Bass with '62 wiring, and a Peavey T40 with an aluminum neck.
It was a bit of a balancing act to make sure the Redstone sounded good with both bass and guitar. For example, I think the ideal bass high-end, would be a little different. It's also possible that some folks would want the the center mid-dip frequency a little lower for bass guitars. It also has probably more bottom-end than most guitar players need!
So the compromise I chose was to get great bass for bassists, decent all-around mid-band response that's less scoopy that a stock Fender, and highs biased towards guitar players. I think we did pretty good, hopefully you dig it!”
I’m excited to get my hands on one and move the mid frequency on my Lakland, which is currently set at 600Hz.
Hope this helps!
“Yep you've got the idea right. The tonestack is modified using the Fender tonestack as a starting point.
In the case of the Redstone, the Mid control is centered at 600Hz. When all 3 tone controls are at noon, there is an 8db dip from the Lows, and Highs to the mid scoop. When Mids are at max, with Highs and Lows at noon, the dip is more like 4dB. Turning Mid to minimum, with Highs and Lows at noon, the dip is huge at 15dB-ish.
To get ruler-flat response you would lower Highs and Lows to minimum. When this happens, the Mid control can be set anywhere, as it simply acts like another gain control.
With Mid, Low and High at noon, the Highs reach the peak amplitude at 10kHz, and from there gently slope downward toward the mid dip. At 2kHz they are roughly 3dB below peak. Lows reach peak amplitude at 40Hz, and slope gently downward towards the mid dip, 200Hz is roughly 3dB below peak.
Obviously, these numbers deviate as you manipulate the controls. The Redstone has great bass. I was really focusing on getting it sounding good with bass. I brought prototypes to my band's practices and based much of the tonal choices on feedback from my bass player. For reference, he mostly plays a vintage G&L L5000. So I know the Redstone can even handle 5 string basses pretty well. Other basses used in the process: my 1980 G&L L1000, an American Jazz Bass with '62 wiring, and a Peavey T40 with an aluminum neck.
It was a bit of a balancing act to make sure the Redstone sounded good with both bass and guitar. For example, I think the ideal bass high-end, would be a little different. It's also possible that some folks would want the the center mid-dip frequency a little lower for bass guitars. It also has probably more bottom-end than most guitar players need!
So the compromise I chose was to get great bass for bassists, decent all-around mid-band response that's less scoopy that a stock Fender, and highs biased towards guitar players. I think we did pretty good, hopefully you dig it!”
I’m excited to get my hands on one and move the mid frequency on my Lakland, which is currently set at 600Hz.
Hope this helps!
This is kind of what I was hearing.
They did note in the manual, that the mid control is very interactive with the other controls, especially gain.
Teijo K.
Commercial User
Thanks so much for this - that does help quite a bit to understand what I was hearing. Now I've got some more things to try!
The RS definitely leans towards a natural "amp-like" drive tone, while the MBD has always felt to be on the modern side of the spectrum, to my ears.
Don't know if you have one or not, but it actually feels pretty similar to the CAL Grizzly.
Just spent about 20 minutes comparing, and they can sound pretty damn close to each other.
I'm curious to hear what you think after playing a little more.Thanks so much for this - that does help quite a bit to understand what I was hearing. Now I've got some more things to try!
Those of you who have and use the Explorer Phaser: Does it sound like any other phaser you have used? If so, which one?
I am an admitted addict when it comes to phase shifters and I already have a bunch of them. Just looking for your opinions about whether the Explorer sounds similar to anything else you have tried.
I am an admitted addict when it comes to phase shifters and I already have a bunch of them. Just looking for your opinions about whether the Explorer sounds similar to anything else you have tried.
- Feb 16, 2008
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i have redstone on the way. i have a feeling that i'm going to dig it since i love the sound of germaniums.
I just got an Explorer a few days ago. I have tried a LOT of phasers, and this one seems to tick a lot of boxes. I was able to quickly get close approximations of most of the classic phaser tones I like (phase 90 and small stone probably). Also it can do lots of cool stuff that the old boxes can’t. I get a feeling of high fidelity and it has nice waveforms and resonance controls, but it also had a familiar sound if you want that.
