guild thunder 1 1963

[Jeff]

Wow, Nice Amp !! Exceptionally clean, very nice indeed.

I just wish it had reverb .... reverb ..re..ver..b.b.b.b.b!!!!!!!h

I just replaced the battery in my Crybaby pedal, it's been sitting for months. I don't know much about pedals, what would a reverb pedal do.

 

[capnjuan]

...I don't know much about pedals, what would a reverb pedal do?

If not necessarily make you a rock star, then at least provide some tonal variety.

An acoustic guitar, through a reverb pedal will provide a sense of depth and presence; vaguely 'stereophonic' but not in the left and right sense, more front-to-back. There are lots of mfrs and variation. Prices new range from $70 for the Danelectro DE-1 to $100 or so for the current Electro-Harmonix Holy Grail.

I have an older DanEcho; $25 used; not scintilating but decent. I play my F212 through it into a single-ended tube amp; get deeper, darker, richer, more interesting sound. I might upgrade if my booking at Shea Stadium comes through....

How about it folks: who uses which reverb pedals; comments anyone?

cj

 

[Jeff]

...I don't know much about pedals,

My guitar pedal "ignerance" isn't 100%

I can say with some confidence a Dunlop Cry Baby, doesn't do much for an acoustic guitar, played thru a mike into an acoustic amp.

Does work OK with a T-5 & a Roland JC 90.

 

[capnjuan]

Perhaps I misunderstood... knowing you had the JC90 which has reverb (no?), I thought you were asking about acoustics. Did you ever get the grunge out of it?

Regards,
J

 

[Jeff]

Ya sure the JC has reverb, so do the acoustic amps. I was curious how a reverb pedal would work on an amp without it & you pretty much answered the quesion.

Grunge? Ya talking bout the irritating humm I was getting with the JC. If so, yes the hum is gone. Can't really explain where it went, I played around with cords & such & it disappeared. May have been some kind of electro interference from the Trace sitting right next to it & the AB switch. I dunno for sure.

I've sort of come to the conclusion What the JC needs is something like this:

 

[capnjuan]

...I was curious how a reverb pedal would work on an amp without it & you pretty much answered the quesion.

Yes, except for the messing with cords in out and in and out, they work fine.

Grunge?...Can't really explain where it went, I played around with cords & such & it disappeared.

You're fortunate!

I've sort of come to the conclusion What the JC needs is something like this:

Can't think of an amp that couldn't be made happy with that ... GAS in the tank?

At the end of the day, it's trade-offs; amps like the JC90 and many others have well-engineered integrated effects and functions missing on older 'single-shot', one-trick-pony tube amps. If you want some of the features found on modern acoustic or electric guitar amps, the only fix I know of is a collection of colorful metal boxes on the floor ... there's probably a simpler way ... I just don't know what it is.

John

 

[jp]

Depending on what your needs are, there are lots of cheap alternatives. Even as a working musician in the 90s, I couldn't keep up with the digital revolution and couldn't imagine what I'd do with some of the gear that was available back then. I'm not playing for my vittles now, so I still don't need'em. So in my own frugal way, I shop around like I do for audio gear. I look for well-taken cared of examples of what was great a few years back--legacy and discontinued gear.

Instead of having a gazillion pedals, I suggest a do-it-all cool rack unit that's about 10-15 years old--a dinosaur in the digital world. Prices for these units which used to cost up to a $1000, are often $200 or less, usually less, and more than suffice to get what you need. I suggest a Lexicon MPX110 or MPX200--lush and beautiful reverbs and delays. A Rocktron Intelliflex (a Billy Corgan special), which I think used to cost about $600 new is $100 item now. ART (Applied Research Technology) also made some crazy do-it-all pedals that are probably $25 items now. Roland units are also excellent. Not too difficult to hook these up either. Input from guitar, output to amp, and maybe a foot switch. Some of course came with fancy controller foot pedals which are often cheap. Check out reviews at Harmony-Central. http://reviews.harmony-central.com/reviews/Effects I'm partial to Lexicon gear.

You can get a super rack effects unit that does reverb, delay, chorus, flange, etc., for what you'd pay nowadays for one boutique stomp box.

Lexicon
http://www.lexiconpro.com/LegacyProducts.aspx?ContainerID=10
ART
http://www.artproaudio.com/default.asp?p1=6&p2=0&p_id=66

 

[capnjuan]

Thanks JP; good thoughts and good solutions....I just hadn't considered the 'black box' route; kept thinking blue, green, yellow, mauve boxes....

 

[jp]

Yeah. These units are like old black stereo units from the 80s. I think they still sound great, and they're sometimes stacked up in pawn shops for very little cash. I forgot to mention the some guitar specific units:

-- Lexicon Alex
-- Alesis Quadraverb (also GT and Quadraverb II)

These companies also offered really inexpensive little half-space rack units too.

The thing is they sure don't have the character that a Fender spring reverb, Echoplex, or an Electroharmonix Electric Mistress have.

 

[capnjuan]

The thing is they sure don't have the character that a Fender spring reverb, Echoplex, or an Electroharmonix Electric Mistress have.

I can see there's a difference between the cheese-like food substances in your sig (and fridge?) and your tastes in effects gear. Without arguing sound quality, I have Gibson (Hammond) spring reverb in the GA19 and not prepared to take the financial hit with an Echoplex - they are not inexpensive; in the Binson range.

That leaves the Electric Mistress which I'll probably take a shot at. I have a GA18(T) no reverb but with 12AX7s, not 6EU7s and a 10" speaker that I like better than the GA19; quieter and not as dark. I've been using the DanoEcho in front of it; for not very much money, I get not very good reverb ... whoa baby ...

I have a running copy of a Gibson / Tel Ray GA4RE; Ray Lubow's effort at reverb and delay / slapback / Wailey thing ... not sure there's a better way to say it. Spinning metal disc bathed in conductive oil, signal imprinted, read by head, wiped by wiper, and then round again... When working well, produced weirdo wailing jittery tone - unique and interesting.

The reverb is pretty good by which I mean musically interesting but the unit is something of a Gyro Gearloose special ... I'm guessing the bushings at the junction of the spinning shaft and 'oil can' housing are worn or shot; the unit produces a high-speed wump wump wump wump / 'hammering' sound.

Just guessing but I think the only virtue in having this gadget in my 'arsenal' is if I get booked to an engagement that's free to get in but people have to pay to leave ... let's say you needed to drive the audience away...wump wump wump wump wump wump wump

Regards,

capnchedder

 

[jp]

After messing with a load of pedals for years (including a Fender reverb unit) and miles of chords, I found the greatest advantages to be simplicity, reliability, portability, ease of use, and silent operation. And in reference to your quote. . .

I can see there's a difference between the cheese-like food substances in your sig (and fridge?) and your tastes in effects gear.

. . . you may perhaps follow the logic of my reasoning in the words of Charles de Gaulle,
"How can you be expected to govern a country that has 246 kinds of cheese?"

 

[capnjuan]

"How can you be expected to govern a country that has 246 kinds of cheese?"

... about as easily as picking the 'right' guitar / amp / strings / effects where the word 'right' has no definition. Since my musical travels are pretty much limited to bumping my gear around the backroom IAW domestic requirements, I agree with your criteria.

When I want a break from the wump wump wump wump wump from the GA4RE, I tug out my Morley Tel Ray wailey jittery thing. Same Ray Lubow 'oil can' technology but licensed to Morley; looks great, built like tank, no shorts, and produces a machine-gun like sound but instead of buddabuddabuddabudda I get shshshshshshshshsh; a tone valued by pro musicians everywhere and useful when gigging outdoors and needing to hold down the corner of a tarp during bad weather. Also works as paperweight on a large desk.

No no, please don't beg me to let either of them go ... not in a position right now to pay you to take them.

capnroquefort

 

[krysh]

hey there,

the problem with reverb is that it only sounds good behind any overdrive. so with small tube amps which are easily "overdriven" at low volumes and reverb fx behind the guitar then to the amp it won't sound too good in most cases. As jp recommended I would suggest an older digital 19" multi-fx, too, if you don't mind a bit programming. The one I use for 10 years is the Studio multi-fx Digitech TSR-24S. I bought it new in 1996 for around 2200 US$, but you will get one nowadays @ ebay or craigslist for around 125 $ (I got my second one this way ). It was discontinued a few years ago, but still has got one of the best dynamics even for the nowadays "state-of-the-art-FX" and an reverb as good as in the high-end lexicon machines.
But, you should use it only before a clean amp, or inbetween the pre- and poweramp.

all the best

michael

 

[capnjuan]

... the problem with reverb is that it only sounds good behind any overdrive. so with small tube amps which are easily "overdriven" at low volumes and reverb fx behind the guitar then to the amp it won't sound too good in most cases.
Well, in the case of the DanEcho, this has been true for me. I've only used it in front of low-power, easily-distorted amps.

"...an older digital 19" multi-fx, too, if you don't mind a bit programming..." To tell you the truth, I'm more in the plug-and-play mode these days...hard enough finding time to play...as long as the Manual is one page long...

The one I use for 10 years is the Studio multi-fx Digitech TSR-24S. I bought it new in 1996 for around 2200 US$, but you will get one nowadays @ ebay or craigslist for around 125 $ Noted. I'm including this item along with JP's suggestions.

But, you should use it only before a clean amp, or in between the pre-and poweramp.The only 'clean' amp I have is on the bench then on its way out the door.

Thank you for the suggestions Michael. Your needs and abilities are far greater than mine; I'm just looking for is some variety and I think one of these integrated effects devices, provided it can function ahead of the amp's primary input, ought to do it.


Best Regards,
John

 

[krysh]

hey john,
glad I can help.

all the best

michael