The Sushi Box FX Secret Society

[Pedalnetics]

Seriously though, thoughts on a non-bypassable always-on More?

What's the other benefits here? Cheaper? Smaller enclosure? I.e. why would I want to give up the ability to bypass it?

I'd like the ability to slighty cut volume (a bit under unity), but not total silence. Maybe 1/4 knob == unity, and go as far as making a little dash in the art work to reference unity point?

 

[fivestringgecko]

Sounds like the guy is pretty excited about it. Confirming: This is the Finally with more features, correct? (Formerly known as the "Fancy," I believe?) I've been following to see how that one shakes out.

I vote for including a footswitch. I'm one of those "always on" guys with preamps, but it's nice to have a footswitch on there to "break glass in case of emergency." I once had a drunk lady trip onto the front of the (small bar) stage and she spilled half her beer on/around my board. Mostly around thank goodness, but she swiped the entire top row of my pedalboard as an added bonus when she went down... and dimed the level on my preamp, among other things going out of whack. I was able to make it to set break by turning off the preamp.

I'll also +1 to @Sonicblaze's vote for the Gain to be a boost/cut. If this is indeed a Finally with "More" features, that would mean there will be separate Gain and Level knobs, correct? If that's the case... Different basses have different levels, so one may need the boost, while another may hit the preamp considerably harder and need some cut on the Gain to remain clean. I've never tried a boost only Gain knob so I don't know that it would be a total deal breaker, but it would certainly make me think twice. Boost and cut seems like it would be more versatile for a wider audience.

5sg.

 

[Pedalnetics]

This is the Finally with more features, correct? (Formerly known as the "Fancy," I believe?)

You're thinking of Furthermore.

This is just More: More – Sushi Box FX

But speaking of, @Sushi Box FX should probably rename one of these (More, Furthermore); the names are too close/similar, especially for not really being related pedals.

 

[Mayo Fan]

Re: Greenhouse - yes it's too much knobs. Personally I don't see the need for a separate Send level knob. That should always be the same level as the input if you ask me. Any pedal that is sensitive to input gain has its own gain knob. And return + clean = blend I'd think, so those are doing double duty. My preference would be for it to have blend + master level. With only return + clean levels it's very hard to raise or lower the total output without messing up the balance. At least that's my personal experience.

Re: More - that sounds fantastic! I'll have it with switch and regular gain, easy to bypass in case of noise or failure and easy to control as it does what I would expect it to do.

 

[fivestringgecko]

You're thinking of Furthermore.

This is just More: More – Sushi Box FX

But speaking of, @Sushi Box FX should probably rename one of these (More, Furthermore); the names are too close/similar, especially for not really being related pedals.

Thanks for the clarification.

This thread moves pretty fast with all the ongoing discussions/ideas/evolutions (including about cereal ), and I was on a hiatus from Talkbass until just a few weeks ago. Admittedly (and probably obviously), I haven't gone back to sort through and missed where everything went on such divergent paths.

Maybe this is a dumb question then, but that link makes the More seem like the next evolution of the Westinghouse? If that's the case... a boost only Gain knob would make sense I guess, but I'd still vote for a footswitch.

5sg.

 

[Sushi Box FX]

I vote for including a footswitch. I'm one of those "always on" guys with preamps, but it's nice to have a footswitch on there to "break glass in case of emergency." I once had a drunk lady trip onto the front of the (small bar) stage and she spilled half her beer on/around my board. Mostly around thank goodness, but she swiped the entire top row of my pedalboard as an added bonus when she went down... and dimed the level on my preamp, among other things going out of whack. I was able to make it to set break by turning off the preamp.

That's a good note, my thinking was just that you won't likely turn it off so I can make it a little cheaper and easier to assemble, but even if you don't plan on turning it off it is good to have a just-in-case-of-emergencies ability to bypass it in on the fly.

You're thinking of Furthermore.

This is just More: More – Sushi Box FX

But speaking of, @Sushi Box FX should probably rename one of these (More, Furthermore); the names are too close/similar, especially for not really being related pedals.

Good call. I believe More came first, I'll probably think of something else to call the fancy D.I. I have a schematic drawn up for that one and it's all ready to put together a board layout and order prototypes, but there's A LOT going on in there, so I've been dragging my feel on the layout.

 

[gtirard]

I like the fact that your beta tester want less knobs rather than more.

I vote for the footswitch even if I would use it always on, because it's nice to be able to compare dry/wet when setting a pedal.

 

[Mayo Fan]

If the More circuit sounds so good, use it as the gain stage in the fancy DI. That way the Furthermore name would make sense, naming issue solved

 

[Derek Williams]

So I had a conversation with my unbiased third-party tester yesterday, I sent him More and Greenhouse to try out and he gave me some opinions:

• Greenhouse - he said he thought the controls setup isn't great, for something as simple as an FX loop it seems like it takes a lot of knob twiddling to get things dialed in. He suggested that I lose a knob somewhere, his recommendation was to hard-set the clean passthrough to unity volume and get rid of the clean level knob and just let the Blend knob take care of it. Currently the Clean level gives you the option of boosting the clean signal above unity, but if it's not necessary I can get rid of it. He didn't need the phase switch on any of the pedals he tried, and switching it when it isn't needed made the pedal "unhappy" and made some noise. He also said there was more noise than he liked, which he said may have been due to wiring in his 100 year-old house, but was something to look at. Overall he liked the tone, but he thought it needed some work. That being said he also admitted he's primarily a guitarist and suggested I have a bassist or two try it out and see how they feel about it.
• More - he said More is absolutely perfect, not to change a thing, and he wants four of them. Some direct quotes: "It's super, cancel all your other preamps." "I tried it before other pedals, after other pedals, between other pedals, I love it. Using it any which way it's awesome." He said it's hands-down his favorite "post-FX tube thing" he's ever tried. The only potential mods he suggested would be to get rid of the footswitch and leave it always on, and to set the minimum gain level at unity, so with the knob fully CCW you have unity signal, and you can boost from there. I'm not sure how I feel about changing the knob like that, but I was thinking of this as the sort of thing you leave always-on, how does everyone feel about getting rid of the footswitch?

Anyways that's pretty much where I'm at. If I hold off on August ordering until mid-July I should be able to get More revised and up to speed for an August release, but I want to hold off on Greenhouse until I can get some more opinions and make sure it's going to be useful and friendly for everyone. I'm sure just about anyone here would happily check it out, but for logistics' sake I'm going to prioritize local bassists so I can get quick feedback before deciding how far away I'm willing to let it go.

Seriously though, thoughts on a non-bypassable always-on More?

There is also the option of making the More always-on at unity and have the footswitch engage the boost.

 

[JackFawkes]

Seriously though, thoughts on a non-bypassable always-on More?

Maybe it's a "security blanket" thing, but if I wanted to turn the More off for some reason, I wouldn't want to have to manually disconnect it from the signal chain... I mean, the Westinghouse had a footswitch, and even the Finally has a Dry Pass switch. So I'd say keep the footswitch, or at least have a bypass toggle switch.
(Also, I'm really looking forward to placing an order for a More)

As for the Greenhouse, yeah that description does feel a little over-complicated and "tweaky"... it definitely shouldn't be any more complicated than the average amplifier's FX loop, anyways. If you really think someone is going to want/need input/output levels above/below unity, maybe just make them trim pots?

 

[melloncollie]

Is the Gondwana preamp section going to be based on anything specifically?

 

[FronTowardEnemy]

Gig report. It was insane, there was moshing, crowd surfing, bra tossing (remember panty catchers), and all around pure rock and roll fun. I am so wound up, probly wont sleep until Monday.

Dixon IL Petunia Fest, had my Sushi rollin’ through my in ears and out the mains, which were 8 subs on either side of the stage. Was incredible. This was one for the books. Love my UA and finally!

I can’t help but to believe that Sushi had this crowd roaring! Was great to play to the younger people, they seemed to have a blast.

 

[andare]

Disclaimer: I speak here as a fan who still hasn't bought anything. I also don't like to eat sushi. Just a terrible moocher.

As much as I love one trick pony effects and as much as I hate options and knobs, the idea of a piece of gear that can't be turned off/bypassed is unappealing to me. Just like the Joe Dart Jr. bass that has no volume knob and no on/off switch.

On boost pedals I want a volume knob that can go from below to above unity. The TC Spark Booster (the poor player's UA?) is like that. And dirt pedals must have a way to adjust gain. Internal trimpots are fine.

This is because I might switch instruments, play through backline rigs or I might be stacking pedals.

 

[CH Design]

I’d also vote for the More being unity with the control set at 9 o’clock and leaving the foot switch on.

Question: Does the position of the control affect the sound of the More in any way, or does it simply control the output level with no other affect on tone?

 

[CochinoBass]

Could you try to describe the difference in the tone of the More relative to the other preamps? I know that is not always easy when you can't say "this sounds like a Fender/Ampeg/Soldano/Marshall/Sunn" but it might help if someone has a UA or Slampegg what tonal flavor they would be adding with a More.

 

[lomo]

.....another vote for More having a switch as well as both boost/cut capability.

 

[morrisonhendrix]

Leave the footswitch intact please.

 

[Sushi Box FX]

Is the Gondwana preamp section going to be based on anything specifically?

I actually still haven't decided what the Gondwana preamp is going to look like. The IR loader part is the most complicated, so I'm waiting until that is 100% solved before I make other decisions on it.

I’d also vote for the More being unity with the control set at 9 o’clock and leaving the foot switch on.

Question: Does the position of the control affect the sound of the More in any way, or does it simply control the output level with no other affect on tone?

No real effect on the tone, it's just output level. The tone is fairly consistent throughout the sweep.

Could you try to describe the difference in the tone of the More relative to the other preamps? I know that is not always easy when you can't say "this sounds like a Fender/Ampeg/Soldano/Marshall/Sunn" but it might help if someone has a UA or Slampegg what tonal flavor they would be adding with a More.

It's different if you have played either a (now discontinued) Deep Dish or an Effectrode LA-1A then you can imagine More sounding like that with compression setting super low/off. The gain stage is a single 12AU7 with both stages run in parallel for a fatter sound, there is no tone stack, and the output stage is a 12AT7 buffer using both stages in parallel as well. None of my other preamps use parallel stages, the only big-name amp maker I can think of offhand that does it regularly is Matchless, but I obviously wouldn't describe More as sounding like a Matchless.

 

[bonin in the boneyard]

My only thought on the More is that the name might be tricky to search. Some thoughts I had:

1to1 (1tube1?)

Mahi:Mahi

Otoro

 

[Biff Nasty]

I haven't changed the tone stack on the Smoke Signal from the original Meatsmoke, it's still a Fender-style TMB stack. Smoke Signal's wiring is approximately 8000% cleaner than Meatsmoke though, which helps tame noise and I haven't had any issues with noise in my Smoke Signal. Tidiness in high voltage and especially high gain circuits isn't just because it looks nice, it also helps eliminate crosstalk between sensitive lines, so it functions better as well.

View attachment 4420811




@mmbongo is absolutely correct, the artwork with the large dinosaur in the background is the full color version, this is the simple version.

View attachment 4420810

Yup, that is raw enclosure, full color artwork. Red and blue knobs are not available directly from me, but if you want to customize your pedals you can get them from here: Anodized Aluminum Knob | For Guitar Pedals and Synths (lovemyswitches.com)

And something I didn't clarify on the website which I need to update today, the two LEDs mounted on the face are for the channel indication, top is red and bottom is blue. Every Smoke Signal will have these LEDs, so the LED color that you choose in your order is just for the bypass indication LEDs behind the tubes.

Just stumbled in your work. I grew up in the surrounding towns around W.Dundee! C’ville, Elgin and lived in W. Dundee by the Squire! So awesome to see you getting some nice and intriguing noise makers. I’m interested in checking out the smoke signal at some point. But not sure about the ac needs of the pedal and if I can accommodate that with my existing power source.