cammojodragon's Reviews

Brilliant, but not as Gilmour as intended

TL;DR: not a pitch perfect Gilmour emulation, but a damn near perfect pedal in its own right.

I'm not saying you CAN'T nail a good Gilmour tone with this pedal, but the really fun stuff is doing something decidedly less Gilmoury. The fuzz is a fantastically muffy affair, but it's a little more aggressive than the silky smoothness one typically associates with the man himself. I'll stick to my Muffuletta for Comfortably Numb, but honestly, the roided out sound of the Dark Side's fuzz lends a super gnarly, almost Hendrix-esque blues vibe to Money. I was hoping this fuzz would eliminate the need for my Muffuletta, but they're two different beasts; no mode on the Muffuletta matches the grit of the Dark Side's Fuzz, but the Dark Side is quite a bit darker than the Muffuletta and lacks some clarity and articulation (the former of which I resolved by boosting with a BD-2). Ultimately, The Dark Side captures a vibe that the Muffuletta doesn't, so I will likely be keeping both.

On to the modulation side then; I'll start with the Phaser/Vibe, which is fine, just fine. Blending between the two gets you some pretty cool textures, but as these effects are basically the same, it feels a little redundant to have the blend, and perhaps replacing either with something a little more oddball would have been more fun. Not that it matters to me much; the range of the rate/depth on my EQD The Depths, combined with it's tone and low end controls, make it much more useable for me, and I don't see myself really using the Phaser on the Dark Side.

The Delay actually sounds pretty great; it doesn't quite capture the atmosphere of my Boonar (to which I compare it directly because they're both supposed to be Echorec simulations) but it's a great sound; as I have the Boonar, I likely won't use it often, but it's rather brilliant in all honesty, and I'd be happy to use it if I needed to save space, or stacking it with other delays for some super ambient stuff. I keep my Boonar at classic Echorec time settings, but because the Dark Side's delay doesn't have the reverb-y quality of the Boonar, it'd probably be a bit better suited to rhythmic stuff (not that rhythmic stuff without a tap tempo is particularly ideal).

Finally, the Rotary/Flanger Mode. This is the holy grail of the pedal; this sound is immense. The rotary is deep and has that nice, crunchy churning you get from a Leslie, and the Flanger does a great job of capturing the more subtle nature of the original Electric Mistress (well, subtle compared to the Deluxe at least). On cleans, a blend of the two captures that great sound from the middle of Pigs. With the rate cranked and the Fuzz in front, I got the Pulse 'Any Colour You Like' tone effortlessly (though with a fair bit more aggression thanks to the fuzz).

But here, really, is why I say that this pedal isn't quite 'Gilmour'; this modulation is always either not quite enough or far too extreme for the majority of those tones. The jet-like swirl of the flanger starts blending in after not that much depth, and the Rotary mode is a little too leslie-ish (Gilmour did use on early on but it was the more chorus-y Yamaha rotary with which he really made his mark). These effects aren't overpowering, and they sound INCREDIBLE, but it's not Gilmour-specific, and people looking to capture those Hallowed tones from the 79-80 Wall tour would do well to look elsewhere.

I wouldn't, however, say that this is to the pedal's detriment. It nails the Gilmour vibe effortlessly, even if it doesn't nail the specific tones. And besides, once I'd had my fun trying to get that stuff, I ended up having far more fun dialling it in for my own stuff; I got down a fair few ambient pads, raging leads and rhythm/chordal textures as a result of the inspiration this pedal gave me.

Bottom line: it probably won't satisfy extreme Gilmour purists. But it's a great entry point to that vibe and those tones, and people looking for one of Keeley's Workstation-Type pedals that does a couple of different effects brilliantly for easy use and quick inspiration can do no wrong here!

Great but not perfect

I came back to this pedal after being mesmerised by the Fathom, Walrus' reverb pedal of a similar ilk. While I'm still blown away by the sound, I'm not as impressed with it as I am with the Fathom. Nothing to do with the sound really (although I will say that there's not really enough difference between the Digital and Analog modes to warrant them being separate modes); the digital is nice and pristine, and the LoFi mode is unique and incredible for everything from ambient nonsense to adding some character to more rhythmic stuff. That both switches have additional hold functions (one ramps up the repeats, and one ramps up the X knob) is also a great feature, one that is slightly eclipsed by TC's Mash function, but is still cool nonetheless. There are a few problems, though, that are worth mentioning. The biggest issue is that of the tap tempo switch, which is INCREDIBLY unruly. It seems you need five or six taps before it registers, and even then, sometimes I find it dials in a quarter note no matter which Subdivision I've got it set to. I don't know whether or not this is the case on every Arp, but I know I'm not the only one with an Arp like this. Getting used to those extra taps is the only answer I can see, and it's not an issue for me at the moment as I'm just recording stuff, but this sort of thing won't fly once I'm back to playing shows; we'll see when I get there whether or not it's enough for me to seek an alternative.

Other minor (but worth mentioning) gripes include: - The Slapback mode. I'm sorry, but it's pointless; add a few extra short subdivisions like 16th, and put the secret 5th delay on that last program position. - To that end, more subdivisions would be nice as well; if you're going to do away with a time knob (which I'm actually fine with), you should really substitute that with more control over what the tap results in! - I'm finding it hard to dial in a delay sound that's subtle but still noticeable, a-la David Gilmour (apart from in the secret mode, which as far as I can tell is an interesting delay-tremolo kind of thing that swells in the attack). I either get 'not enough to warrant turning on the pedal', or I get too much of the note of the attack to make it useful for anything other than rhythmic stuff. I have a Boonar that I use for this sound, so it's not a deal breaker for me, and I'm sure a combination of the tone and level controls will take you there, but this is a very bread-and-butter application for delay that should be easy to get right. - The simplicity of this pedal's design is one of its greatest assets, but an independent knob to control the modulation would be nice. Mostly because this would allow you to control the modulation in the LoFi setting, but also because it would allow the X knob to do some really interesting stuff with the other modes and make the pedal stand out a little more (I would LOVE a bit-crush style effect on the analog mode, for instance).

This has been a very negative review, but I should stress that I'm (mostly) happy with this pedal. It sounds great, it's at a fairly reasonable price point, and I'm a real sucker for Walrus' pedal artwork. But I do have gripes; the gripes don't bother me much, but they're worth putting out there.

Perfectly useable, worth the money.

I've got no problem with using this; sounds good, reasonable price, easy to dial in and a surprising amount of versatility (the rate knob goes from practically immobile to faux-leslie warbleness). I also have a CE-2w (which I left in my student res in Canada, and bought this to get some 80s-ness into the stuff I'm currently recording), and it's a perfectly fine surrogate, but it's no replacement: I can't help but feel like I'm losing a bit of high end, and that my signal is getting a little muddier. It's enough to be noticed but not enough to really bug me, though it's definitely the thing that's stopping me from swapping the CE-2 off of the board. Having the level/blend control is also a nice added bonus, though.

So, overall, as I say: perfectly fine, nothing to get overly excited about. I prefer using it with my synth than with my guitar.

Brilliant guitar.

I should start by clarifying that I don't think mine represents a 'stock' RG500: the one I have is Emerald Green and from 1991, but the pickups are dedicedly low output compared to what is typical for these guitars, and there's even a dipswitch to coil split the bridge (I think it's meant to do both, but it only seems to effect the bridge).

That being said, what an incredible guitar. Easily the most comfortable neck I've ever played, and no other Floyd-loaded I've tried guitar even compares to the reliability of the one that's on mine.

These are certainly no one-trick pony. Sure, these types of guitars have a certain reputation for shreddy stuff, hair metal, and the like, but I've used this for everything from ambient to jazzy stuff to metal to Pink Floyd to post rock and I've yet to encounter a scenario where it won't do what I ask of it (not saying there aren't other guitars I'd prefer for such applications, but if it were my only option I'd have no qualms about it).

The old models are well worth tracking down, and I have to say I paid an incredibly reasonable price for mine. Highly recommended.

A Perfect Compressor

There is a HUGE difference in price between each of the Cali76 models in Origin Effects' range. Even between the compact and the compact deluxe, there's about $100 or so either way, in spite of the fact that Origin claim that the only difference between the two is the amount of control you have. For starters, the Compact Deluxe sports a blend knob, which the Compact doesn't have at all. Instead of a knob for the ratio, the Compact has a toggle switch to swap between a high and low ratio. Likewise, the Compact Deluxe's individual Attack and Release knobs are here turned into a single knob controlling both parameters; as the Attack time goes up, the release time goes Down.

The manual claims that doing so results in only having the so called 'sweet spots' of those settings, leaving you with the most usable options and ditching what doesn't work. Normally I'd ignore such a statement as a marketing gimmick, but they aren't wrong; there's not a single bad sound in this thing. Other compressors, even other great compressors, often leave me wanting something a bit more, with a little more high end sparkle and less muddiness. The Cali76 gives me just that. It handles heavy handed squishiness I like for my clean tones perfectly. It can add smooth, incredibly harmonic sustain to my fuzz tones without having any kind of impact on the sound itself. And it can do everything in between. I have heard that as you up between the various models in the range, the biggest difference is essentially that the bigger boxes can give you more overall compression. Perhaps that's the case, but there's PLENTY on tap here, and if you really want more than what's on offer here, you can get the SlideRig compact for the same price as the Cali76 Compact, and literally double the amount of compression.

Long story short, highly recommended. Haven't yet found an application for this pedal that it can't deliver on beautifully.

Exactly what you asked for

Nothing more, nothing less, than a solid overdrive pedal; plenty of gain on tap, sounds great when you roll your guitar volume back, all that jazz. I have the gain rolled all the way off and the tone at around 2 o'clock and the level a little above unity; basically a mild treble booster. Pairs super nicely with a compressor for some beautiful low gain leads, and adds the extra little sparkle my Big Muff tones needed. I won't say it can't be beat for the price, but it's a solid option that'll suit most needs.

Great TS-type boosting

Love this pedal. It's not perfect; I use mine with the gain cranked. I don't typically use that on its own, but when you do, you get a nice touch sensitive light od. Pair that with a bit of compression and you're well on your way to some really smooth leads well suited to slow, bluesy jams. But I like to pair it with a very tame Red Witch Famulus, set with just a hint of distortion blended into a clean signal. These two together create an incredible soaring lead tone, articulate and powerful. I've had that experience with most pedals I pair this with actually. I've yet to find a combination in which the SD-1 doesn't improve pretty much everything

Not the best.

I had one of the older, Japanese models (it needed an ACA as opposed to a PSA adapter). Every now and then, I got a good sound out of it. It sounded fine when it was pushing some light overdrive, but on a clean sound, I found the sterile edge it gave to my sound that was too overwhelming to be enjoyable. It somehow sounded too bright without having any high end; something about it was super piercing, and I didn't find it enjoyable. Maybe newer models sound a little different, but I was expecting something close to the transparent brilliance of the CS-2, and I was quite disappointed. For their low-ish price point, you'd be better off with a CP-1X, and you can even find some great deals on the old CS-2s.

Brilliant guitar

Sounds great, looks great, plays great, and all for a very affordable price. The pickups are decidedly higher power than I would normally use, but I found them to still be great at getting gorgeous clean tones. I've used this guitar for everything from Mayer to Metallica, and I can assure you it's no one trick pony. The Floyd isn't the most stable but it's perfectly functional and unless you plan on dive bombing every solo, you'll get through a gig just fine.

This is THE Echorec pedal

I've always wondered why there aren't more pedals on the market aimed at capturing the fabled sound of the Binson Echorec, but having tried out the ones that are out there, I'd wager the answer is 'we don't know how to get that sound'. Catalinbread, Gurusamps, even TC Electronic have given it a go, and while their results sound incredible (I'd love an Echosex personally), they don't really sound anything like the actual unit (the Echosex sounds to my ears more like an old analog delay like a Memory Man). Naturally, then, I was sceptical going into the Dawner Prince Boonar.

It took about thirty seconds for that scepticism to drain away.

This pedal is the real deal, folks. All the luscious ambience, all the hidden rhythmic delights, all the beautiful transients in the oscillation and sense of grand, unending space are all in this little unit the size of an MXR pedal, and a bunch of modern conveniences have been added. There's around a full second of max delay time on the fourth head if you want it. You've also got control over modulation, individual switches for each head to allow you to make your own combos, input control to drive the FETs just like the classic unit, switchable true/trails bypass, and even the ability to switch between a modern impedance and the 'classic' impedance of the original, which lends the pedal a more Lo-Fi sound.

And those modern conveniences are great; the extra delay time gives you more scope to get rhythmic with your delays, and it lends itself to a much wider range of sounds. Once I've spent more time with it I fully intend to make the most use out of everything it has to offer. But it's early days yet, and my favourite sound is still setting the drum speed for the classic Echorec times, grabbing a fuzz, and taking myself to that Gilmourish nirvana that we all love.

Get this pedal, guys. It's worth the money, and you could have ten of them for how much a fully functional 2T7E would set you back.

The standard size is better value for money

I love the Flashback, and there are some great sounds to be had in every version of it, but in my opinion the X4 isn't quite able to justify the huge amount of real estate it takes up on your board. Having 3 presets is nice; more TonePrint slots is nice; having the looper more accessible and being able to use a delay while the loop is engaged is also nice. But some of the extra modes on here feel a little redundant, and on a pedal this size, I'd rather have a bit more on-board control over the sound; even though I use the tone print feature, it's a little bit of a drag and very fiddly.

I'd like to have more on the fly control, I'm not going to keep the pedal plugged into a laptop for the whole show. Even just a Tone knob and some way of controlling the modulation would have been nice (I know you can change what the knobs do via TonePrint, and it's a feature I've found to be very handy, but I think they'd do very well to have a couple of extra knobs on the pedal itself).

The biggest selling point for this particular version of the pedal is the intuitive expression pedal input; you sweep the expression, you set the knobs where you want them, and boom, you have the parameters. That's super cool, and I love it. But for the size of the pedal, AND the fact you'd have to also lug around a big ol' expression pedal along with it to use that feature, make it feel a little bit too much. Besides, the Mash control on the Flashback 2 massively improves upon this, as well as several other things lacking on these earlier models (like being able to use TonePrint to set the delay subdivisions).

It's fine, perfectly fine. And the sounds are as good as they've ever been. But my money's on the smaller versions, to be honest.

Great, classic sound at a fairly reasonable price

If this is the sound you're after in your analog delays, you'd do very well to stop your search here. More delay time than the classic models, much easier to find, and incredibly easy to set up. The way the repeats get crunchier as they fade out is the stuff of legend, and you get a texture off of this pedal that you just don't get from anything else. The addition of expression pedal control is also a brilliant move by Boss, and lends the pedal even better to the noisey shoegaze stuff it's so beloved for.

Shouldn't have sold mine. You really can't find anything like it. I'm selling my DD-500 and going back to 3 or 4 delay units dedicated to specific sounds, and this one's on the list.

An incredible machine

This thing sounds amazing. It's ludicrous, really. Every mode retains the mojo of the pedals that came before them; the smoothness of the Ram's Head and Triangle modes, the aggressiveness of the Pi/OpAmp mode, the clarity and midrange howl of the Civil War. JHS' own proprietary Muff type is also fantastic, and responds to your volume knob much better than your typical Muff circuit (which means that the pedal can double as a very beefy overdrive if you like, and you will like.

I A/B'd this against my Thorpy Muffroom Cloud, to see which one got me closer to the articulate, smooth Gilmour-esque tones I was searching for. The Muffuletta won at that hands down. It's not necessarily a better sound, but I got exactly the sound I was chasing from it, and the Muffroom Cloud was unable to really get there.

Fantastic!

This is the one that looks the closest to the one I use, but I could be wrong. Mine was made in the USA and has a real Spring Tank. This is an incredible amp. Plenty loud enough that I've run it clean with a six-piece band and actually needed to turn down, with plenty of tonal options. It can get nice and warm for bassy, bedroom tones, and its fat and bright switches brighten it up to cut through in a mix, without having that harsh, brittle high end for which non-valve amps are somewhat notorious. Stellar unit, absolutely fabulous

It sounds wonderful, that's what's important here.

I know this thing has quite a tumultuous history, but as someone who paid a more-than-reasonable price for it, and already owns plenty of effects pedals to make up for the lack of powerful effects on board, I have to say, I love it. Its sound adds the exact kind of textures I was hoping to get out of it, and paired with a smidge of bitcrushing and some spacious reverb, you can't go wrong.

I find it really weird that I have to tune it, though. Is that normal for analog synths?

Submerge Yourself in Excellence

I've always struggled with Univibes. Hendrix, Gilmour and Trower all make 'em sound incredible, but I've never been able to get them to sound anything other than thin, brittle and lifeless, no matter the rig that surrounds the pedal.

That all changed with the depths.

A little tweaking with the voice knob, and I can get it to sit perfectly with any pickup, any dirt pedal, any amp. And WHAT A SOUND from this little piece of perfection. It does the classic uni-vibe sound, and then goes above (and below) that, everything from a slow, undulating undertow to stuttery, almost harmonic-tremolo-like effects. The Throb control is your secret to taking it from subtle to extreme.

Haven't found a sound on it yet that doesn't have its use yet. It's incredible.

great, but not for what I expected

I found this pedal to be surprisingly tame. Maybe it was my personal setup (I run my amps clean, after all), but I didn't get any of the searing lead tones I was hearing in demos.

But that's okay, because this pedal gave me the best damn light overdrive sound I've ever heard.

Running one drive completely clean, and then running the other one cranked but dialled WAY back in the mix, I get enough dirt to make my filters and delays go a little wilder, but still getting a mellow tone with a lot of clarity. Surprisingly perfect for ambient stuff.

Deep, Cavernous Reverbs You Won't Let Go of

What an incredible machine this is. Walrus already wow'd me with the Descent, but this is just as beautiful, quite a bit more versatile, and a good deal more pedalboard-friendly. Unlike the Descent, it won't take much tweaking to find your sound, but much like it, you'll find beauty wherever you turn.

It would be nice to have a little more control over the modulation, to have a dry mix AND wet mix knob (like the Descent has), and for the sustain function to get a little crazier, but these are really minor gripes. This machine is beautiful.

Haunting and beautiful

I never want to turn this off. I want to strike a note or chord with this thing in the morning, and be able to have this pedal's magic work on it in the background of my whole day. It would be Brian Eno's most effortless album, but it would probably also be the best.

Better for the weird stuff than the simple stuff

I love tinkering with this thing, and finding sounds that I've never heard before. You can do that an awful lot with how many algorithms are at play here. I'm having a lot of fun getting bit-crushed, filtered delays, and using patches to essentially create modulation lines. HOWEVER, I have found the basic stuff to be a bit uninspiring. I never use the standard mode, and while Vintage Digital and the tape emulations have a certain percussiveness that makes them great for dotted 8th and rhythmic patterns, there's something a little sterile about the sound that makes playing them feel a little flat and uninspiring when what you want is some Gilmour-esque space-making delay. It's a touch disheartening to have this incredible machine at my feet and still feel the need to pick up an ARP-87 or a Flashback to use alongside it, but I can't complain to much because the sounds I enjoy are hugely inspiring. If you're hear to tweak and discover, you just might find a sound you never knew you needed here.