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Teijo K.
Commercial User
I've had my Explorer for couple of months or so and really love it. The first time I tested it and it had whatever random setting, and it sounded amazing. I think that was the moment I became a fan. I mean you can find some nice sounds from a lot of pedals, but Explorer sounds amazing with all of them.
If we're using classics as a reference point, Explorer sounds more like a Phase 100 than a 90 to me, but much more refined.
Teijo K.
Commercial User
That's actually it. I had Phase 100 about 30 years ago, sold it because reasons. It was older model, that I haven't seen since. No on led. But I have been hunting that specific sound a long time.
I had 5 mins to mess around with the redstone between calls at work, but initial reaction is that it is a more tweakable Saturn. I can almost get the exact same tone to my Saturn. The treble seems to be non-impactful in my rig, but that may be because my cab doesn’t have a tweeter. The lows knob is super useable and has great variability. The gain sounds so good!!
I think this one may be staying on my board.
I think this one may be staying on my board.
Update:
Definitely staying on the board. I have it running later in my chain after my Saturn and modulation pedals. I usually have a Tech 21 Leeds that I leave as my always on preamp. I think the Redstone will also become an always on pedal right in front of the Leeds. It just adds some nice harmonics. I have it running at 12V and the gain at 9 o clock, and the volume at Unity. Mids maxed out. Treble and bass both around 11 o clock. It sounds so good! When I use the Saturn as a low-mid gain drive in front of it, it gets a nice bit of hair on my tone. Then I use my Fuzzrocious lil fella for my heavy drive tones.
Definitely staying on the board. I have it running later in my chain after my Saturn and modulation pedals. I usually have a Tech 21 Leeds that I leave as my always on preamp. I think the Redstone will also become an always on pedal right in front of the Leeds. It just adds some nice harmonics. I have it running at 12V and the gain at 9 o clock, and the volume at Unity. Mids maxed out. Treble and bass both around 11 o clock. It sounds so good! When I use the Saturn as a low-mid gain drive in front of it, it gets a nice bit of hair on my tone. Then I use my Fuzzrocious lil fella for my heavy drive tones.
Last edited:
That's really helpful. There is a shop about an hour away that carries Spaceman. Looks like I need to pack up my bass and take a drive. Thanks!
So I have played with it quite a bit more....and I liked some tones I got at a session yesterday for a few songs. Definitely got further along than before after trying it at 12v (definitely opens it up a bit), and having a much better understanding of the EQ (as well as reading a bunch of stuff on the signal path, etc. of the FMV tone stack). Really did have some nice stuff going on.I'm curious to hear what you think after playing a little more.
So I got back home to try out what I arrived at after dialing it in yesterday with IEMs on stage (and also tried the whole mid cranked thing as suggested).....tried it on a couple of different basses, and was pretty happy with it - enough to keep it on the board for this coming weekend and keep trying it out. Then I just plugged in my Saturn in its place to A/B it (which I'd never tried at 12v before). Holy cow. It immediately just blew me away. I don't think I can take it back off the board now. I feel like everything I was trying to do with the Redstone was really me trying to get it to sound more like the Saturn.
I know some people said they could get the Saturn tone out of the Redstone (and also the Grizzly....which I think sounds a lot more like the Saturn than the Redstone)....and I can get it sort of in the ballpark, but it just never has that same type of clarity and openness to me that the Saturn has. And running the Saturn at 12v sealed it for me. I also think I just really like the character of my basses, and every time I play through something that has any inherent mid-thing going on (and you can't really take that out of an FMV tone stack), I keep trying to undo it. That's why I started only using preamps with James/Baxandall tone stacks - you can't really make them sound bad, and you can still do a lot of shaping with them without changing what your bass sounds like.
Anyway (sorry, got sidetracked), I made serious strides with the Redstone.....and it only made me realize how much I love my Saturn. So as impressive as it is, the Redstone is going to be leaving....and as much as I love my Saturn, I'll probably still be foolish enough to jump on the next thing that gets released - thinking it can somehow replace it.
my Redstone definitely did not replace my Saturn. The Saturn just hits the right spot. The Redstone with lower gain as an always on preamp, and the Saturn when I need to push everything further.
I really need to snag a Saturn, that’s my take-away….
If you can, I'd recommend having both on the board, and both at 12V if possible, and A/B'ing them at your next rehearsal.
Glad you tried the Saturn at 12V.
It just goes to show how great of a drive it is.
Yes I love the Redstone. But I can't deny how simple and excellent the Saturn is.
No, I will not be getting rid of my Saturn.
Yes.
I love the Redstone, but I'll never stop recommending the Saturn as a great low-mid gain drive.
what's a power supply with 3+ 12/18v power outputs? I have a Strymon zuma which has 2 selectable 9/12/18v outputs, but I have my fuzzrocious lil fella getting 18v, and my redstone getting the 12v. I originally had my saturn on that spot, but have moved it to one of the locked 9v outputs. still sounds good, but would love to get the redstone and saturn both at 12v.
D
Cioks / Eventide make great versatile power supplies with lots of power options.
I was looking at this one: CIOKS DC10 Link 10-output Isolated Section Guitar Pedal Power Supply
Tempting....
Go with the DC7, it is King. The DC10 doesn’t give you many 18V outputs whereas the DC7 gives you 9-18V on each of the 7 outputs. It’s sleeker too and weighs less. You can even fit it under a PT Nano+ board. Buy the Cioks Grip too.
The problem is I have 8 pedals…Go with the DC7, it is King. The DC10 doesn’t give you many 18V outputs whereas the DC7 gives you 9-18V on each of the 7 outputs. It’s sleeker too and weighs less. You can even fit it under a PT Nano+ board. Buy the Cioks Grip too.
Daisy chain two analog pedals. I've powered two 3Leaf pedals off one output. DC7 comes with a cable to do this, and another that will daisy chain 3 pedals. No noise in my experience.
