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The Sushi Box FX Secret Society

an incredibly expensive (rightly so) pedal
I actually want to talk about that real quick, because I don't think I did enough before. The guys at Effectrode really did their homework on this one. There are plenty of places where corners could have been cut, including some that a customer wouldn't even notice but would have saved Effectrode money, but they didn't do it. They went all-out, and the LA-1A is an extremely well-designed and well-built product. 100% worth the price they charge for it. Which also makes me feel even better about changing the preamp, I don't want to feel like I'm trying to undercut them by cheaply cloning their product.
 
I actually want to talk about that real quick, because I don't think I did enough before. The guys at Effectrode really did their homework on this one. There are plenty of places where corners could have been cut, including some that a customer wouldn't even notice but would have saved Effectrode money, but they didn't do it. They went all-out, and the LA-1A is an extremely well-designed and well-built product. 100% worth the price they charge for it. Which also makes me feel even better about changing the preamp, I don't want to feel like I'm trying to undercut them by cheaply cloning their product.
It really is a fine piece of tubey goodness.
 
Hey, I've never quoted myself before. The goal is simple. I am still in the middle of a shoot out between my Cali 76B and my PDR. Everyone's needs are different, and I've tried most of the theoretical "best" compressors. The Effectrode is the only pedal that might have a shot at eliminating the winner of the previously mentioned battle. So that shouldn't betoo much pressure right? I have a slot reserved in March. Hoping hopeful hopefulness.
I had an LA-1A and a PDR...I still have the PDR. If you like the PDR don't waste any energy thinking about anything else, IMO.
 
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I had an LA-1A and a PDR...I still have the PDR. If you like the PDR don't waste any energy thinking about anything else, IMO.
I had a PDR and an LA-1A show up the same week. The PDR lasted a day.
I then was in the right place at the right time to score a PDRV. That has stayed along with the LA-1A.
Now with the new Empress Bass comp, the PDRV and Cali76cb are getting nervous. It’s a battle royale with no real loser. They’re all stellar.
 
I actually want to talk about that real quick, because I don't think I did enough before. The guys at Effectrode really did their homework on this one. There are plenty of places where corners could have been cut, including some that a customer wouldn't even notice but would have saved Effectrode money, but they didn't do it. They went all-out, and the LA-1A is an extremely well-designed and well-built product. 100% worth the price they charge for it. Which also makes me feel even better about changing the preamp, I don't want to feel like I'm trying to undercut them by cheaply cloning their product.

It sure is a phenomenal piece of kit. Sometimes products just feel overpriced when you hold them. Not so with the LA-1A. A fine compressor indeed. I’ve had a few compressors to compare to. :D
 
It sure is a phenomenal piece of kit. Sometimes products just feel overpriced when you hold them. Not so with the LA-1A. A fine compressor indeed. I’ve had a few compressors to compare to. :D
That lined up really nicely with your signature on my screen :p

Capture.JPG
 
I need to order some more boards for the December batch, so I figured now is as good a time as any to get an updated Deep Dish design put together. I'm playing with layouts right now, I'm leaning toward this one. I got rid of the boost, got rid of the Dynamic EQ, and ditched a tube, so I'm pretty sure I can get it into a 1590BB enclosure, still keeping the gain reduction indicator.

IMG_20201202_150945.jpg
 
I need to order some more boards for the December batch, so I figured now is as good a time as any to get an updated Deep Dish design put together. I'm playing with layouts right now, I'm leaning toward this one. I got rid of the boost, got rid of the Dynamic EQ, and ditched a tube, so I'm pretty sure I can get it into a 1590BB enclosure, still keeping the gain reduction indicator.

View attachment 4074563
When you outlined this enclosure I assumed it would be portrait, not landscape! Funny how minds work differently!
 
Fantastic! If I might make one suggestion it would be to have an LED indicator for power on. Maybe you are thinking LED's behind the tubes. Sometimes I think that LED's behind tubes makes them look like glory tubes and not the real deal.
My intention was to use LEDs mounted under the tubes, but depending on how the layout goes I may be able to find a spot for a status LED on the enclosure like normal pedals.

When you outlined this enclosure I assumed it would be portrait, not landscape! Funny how minds work differently!
Portrait was actually my original intention, portrait just feels more traditional to me, but I just couldn't find a good way to make it work that didn't look goofy. So the landscape works a lot better for this setup.
 
I need to order some more boards for the December batch, so I figured now is as good a time as any to get an updated Deep Dish design put together. I'm playing with layouts right now, I'm leaning toward this one. I got rid of the boost, got rid of the Dynamic EQ, and ditched a tube, so I'm pretty sure I can get it into a 1590BB enclosure, still keeping the gain reduction indicator.

View attachment 4074563
So what I see here is a Dr. Watson X - no excuses now lol. I will take one please :)
 
So what I see here is a Dr. Watson X - no excuses now lol. I will take one please :)
But Dr. Wattson has 5 knobs, not 4. I still have an excuse ;) But Dr. Wattson also doesn't have an LED bar, so maybe not that valid of an excuse.


Alright fine. I'll throw a Dr. Wattson X on my to-do list.
 
But Dr. Wattson has 5 knobs, not 4. I still have an excuse ;) But Dr. Wattson also doesn't have an LED bar, so maybe not that valid of an excuse.


Alright fine. I'll throw a Dr. Wattson X on my to-do list.
Thank you :) either ways cool, I was meaning to ask you this. When the X series come out will it be kosher to switch out tubes? AT, AX, AU? to play with gain/headroom?
 
A question for Nathan, as I have often wondered about Phaser / Chorus / Flanger / Pitch Mod pedals.

I see few pedals with them all, like your Octopus and the Swiss Army Knife.

If my understanding is correct, these all do basically the same thing but at different time intervals. If that is indeed the case, is it not relatively easy to build a pedal that has all of these in one box without a lot of different components?

I do like my 80s TC SCF Chorus / Flanger / Pitch Mod, but I miss having a Phaser and don't have space for two such mod pedals, so I may replace it. Plus it's big and requires AC (though there are mods for that).
 
A question for Nathan, as I have often wondered about Phaser / Chorus / Flanger / Pitch Mod pedals.

I see few pedals with them all, like your Octopus and the Swiss Army Knife.

If my understanding is correct, these all do basically the same thing but at different time intervals. If that is indeed the case, is it not relatively easy to build a pedal that has all of these in one box without a lot of different components?

I do like my 80s TC SCF Chorus / Flanger / Pitch Mod, but I miss having a Phaser and don't have space for two such mod pedals, so I may replace it. Plus it's big and requires AC (though there are mods for that).
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FYI there's the list of effects you can get the RobotButterfly (formerly Octopus) with, and you get to choose which 8 effects you want.
 
Thank you :) either ways cool, I was meaning to ask you this. When the X series come out will it be kosher to switch out tubes? AT, AX, AU? to play with gain/headroom?
Absolutely, any X Series pedal should work with any 12A*7 tube, 6021, 5751, etc. (let me know if you're adventurous and are tempted to try other dual triodes, I can let you know if others will work).


A question for Nathan, as I have often wondered about Phaser / Chorus / Flanger / Pitch Mod pedals.

I see few pedals with them all, like your Octopus and the Swiss Army Knife.

If my understanding is correct, these all do basically the same thing but at different time intervals. If that is indeed the case, is it not relatively easy to build a pedal that has all of these in one box without a lot of different components?

I do like my 80s TC SCF Chorus / Flanger / Pitch Mod, but I miss having a Phaser and don't have space for two such mod pedals, so I may replace it. Plus it's big and requires AC (though there are mods for that).
So that's a big question, I'll try to tackle it as simply as possible:

Phaser, flanger, and chorus are all very similar in that they take the original sound, delay it slightly and mix it back in, with various filters, phase modulations, etc. These can all be done with analog, and these days a Bucket Brigade Device (BBD) is regarded as the most "pure" analog way of doing it. That being said designing around a BBD is not very simple, and while getting one analog device can do all of them is theoretically possible, the chances of having one circuit that does all of them well would be extremely difficult, which is why you don't really see a lot of cool analog options out there.

Robot Butterfly is a digital pedal (analog dry path obviously, but the effects are 100% digital), and it uses the now ubiquitous FV-1 processor, which is generally the go-to for digital effects (especially time-based effects) for both hobbyists and professionals. I can't even begin to explain how much easier it is to do things digitally, and with chips like the FV-1 we can even make them sound good! I used to make a pedal I called "Black Mirror," which was essentially a clone of the original Deluxe Memory Man, and it was my go-to delay for sweet chorus-y delayed sounds. But analog has its shortcomings, and now I use an Echosaurus on my board (also an FV-1 based pedal) because it has more options and is 8000% easier to build.

Sorry for the big long rant, I hope there was a coherent answer to your question in there somewhere :P
 
Absolutely, any X Series pedal should work with any 12A*7 tube, 6021, 5751, etc. (let me know if you're adventurous and are tempted to try other dual triodes, I can let you know if others will work).



So that's a big question, I'll try to tackle it as simply as possible:

Phaser, flanger, and chorus are all very similar in that they take the original sound, delay it slightly and mix it back in, with various filters, phase modulations, etc. These can all be done with analog, and these days a Bucket Brigade Device (BBD) is regarded as the most "pure" analog way of doing it. That being said designing around a BBD is not very simple, and while getting one analog device can do all of them is theoretically possible, the chances of having one circuit that does all of them well would be extremely difficult, which is why you don't really see a lot of cool analog options out there.

Robot Butterfly is a digital pedal (analog dry path obviously, but the effects are 100% digital), and it uses the now ubiquitous FV-1 processor, which is generally the go-to for digital effects (especially time-based effects) for both hobbyists and professionals. I can't even begin to explain how much easier it is to do things digitally, and with chips like the FV-1 we can even make them sound good! I used to make a pedal I called "Black Mirror," which was essentially a clone of the original Deluxe Memory Man, and it was my go-to delay for sweet chorus-y delayed sounds. But analog has its shortcomings, and now I use an Echosaurus on my board (also an FV-1 based pedal) because it has more options and is 8000% easier to build.

Sorry for the big long rant, I hope there was a coherent answer to your question in there somewhere :p
Thank you, there was, and good to know. It also gave me something to geek out on for a while, The Revolutionary Chip Inside Your Favorite New Delay and Reverb Pedals.

I am keen to get a Octopus/Robot Butterfly, but have been agonizing over the choices of the 8 over the 16 without hearing some of them. I hope someone eventually does a demo of this pedal, on bass. As a bass player (only) I'd probably go with :
Chorus
Flanger
Phaser
Tape Delay
Spring Reverb
Shimmer Reverb
Room Reverb
Filtered Tremolo
Cathedral Reverb
 
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Thank you, there was, and good to know. It also gave me something to geek out on for a while, The Revolutionary Chip Inside Your Favorite New Delay and Reverb Pedals.

I am keen to get a Octopus/Robot Butterfly, but have been agonizing over the choices of the 8 over the 16 without hearing some of them. I hope someone eventually does a demo of this pedal, on bass. As a bass player (only) I'd probably go with :
Chorus
Flanger
Phaser
Tape Delay
Spring Reverb
Shimmer Reverb
Room Reverb
Filtered Tremolo
Cathedral Reverb
The worst part is doing demos for Robot Butterfly effects isn't even hard, I just need to sit down and do it. I'll tell you what, I'll put it on my to-do list for the next week or so. I'm working on the revised Deep Dish layout and getting the December builds kicked off, but I should be able to spare a couple hours to do some more demos.

Honestly I don't use many effects on bass, but as a (sometimes) guitarist I LOVE the arpeggiator. The patch came from the EQD Arpanoid (which also uses the FV-1) and sound awesome. I think Tape Delay, Shimmer Verb, Arpeggiator, and Dual Pitch Shift are my personal favorites.
 

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