spaceshipsovrglasgow's Pedalboard

Updates: - EarthQuaker Devices Aqueduct - Boss DD-5 Digital Delay (Alchemy Audio Mod) + Catalinbread Echorec

After messing around with my initial setup for quite a while, I realized that there was some room for improvement.

First, the presence of the modded DD-5 in my pedal chain never really produced a delay effect that I was pleased with. I tried all of the settings and different configurations, but either the delay was prominent but sounded out of place or it got lost in the mix. After doing some research, I realized that DD-5s are always buffered and don't play nicely with true bypass signal chains (i.e. basically the rest of my setup), so I went searching for a replacement. Having been blown away by the versatility (and fun!) of Catalinbread's Belle Epoch, and seeing some posts on Reddit of people running both in their chain, I ended up going with the Catalinbread Echorec -- and I couldn't be happier! Is it less flexible/customizable than the DD-5? Sure. But the delays it produces fit as neatly (or not) as I want them to in my sound, and it never feels like it shouldn't belong. Very happy I made the switch!

Second, as much as I loved the ability to produce a MBV-esque 'wwhhhrrrr' and some wacky seasick sounds with the EQD Aqueduct from time to time, I feel like the experience it provided always fell short of what I had hoped it would be. The concept of producing vibrato based on the strength of your strum is great in theory -- and might work for many musicians -- but I found that it confounded my ability to differentiate changes in volume from fluctuations in pitch. The presence of the EQD Acapulco Gold likely didn't help with this, but I am way too married to its tonal quality underneath the rest of my chain to remove it. So, ultimately, I decided to nix the Aqueduct with the intention of going all in on adding a Bigsby to my AS73 at some point. Moving the vibrato control from strum/stomp to a bar onboard my guitar feels like it will enable the level of control that I am looking for without complicating things. Plus, I found that I was able to replicate enough of the washing and wiggles that I got from the Aqueduct via the interplay between my Belle Epoch, Echorec, and Holy Grail Max that I haven't really missed it.

Nice setup! How do you usually use the Digitech Polara?

Thanks for the love!

When I was considering which reverb(s) to buy, I had a lot to think about. I wanted a fair amount of variety, including things like reverse, modulation, and shimmer. I wanted something that could go mono/stereo to mono/stereo. And I wanted something that wasn't going to break my budget.

In all that I read, the Polara was consistently brought up as a pedal that checked all of these boxes. But I was concerned about some reviews which mentioned it was too clean sounding and that the Reverse mode was lackluster compared to others. Ultimately, though, this did not deter me, and I ended up getting the Polara at the same time as the EHX Holy Grail Max, which I now use as my primary reverb pedal on either Plate (for atmosphere/wall-of-sound building) or Reverse (bc I'm a sucker for shoegaze). That said, my Polara is virtually always on. As mentioned, I mainly use it to convert my mono chain to stereo, but I have found it to be surprisingly versatile when paired with the rest of my mix.

For instance, I tend to play in lower tunings with more bass and mid heavy tone, so having it on Halo mode adds just enough shimmer to fill out the higher end of my EQ even while I play lower on my fretboard. A lot of people have said the Halo mode sounds gimmicky or "too ambient", but I find that it depends more on the mix you have it paired with. On it's own, sure it sounds a bit "Monty Python angelic chorus interlude", but at the end of an otherwise dark, distorted, delay and reverb heavy chain, it feels more like lighting a candle in a cave.

As for its Reverse mode, if I want to sound like Kevin Shields then I'm always going with the Holy Grail Max over the Polara. Why? The end of the Polara's reverse tail sounds more like clipping than washing. It's just too abrupt. Now, if I'm going for a bunch of noise, then having both the Holy Grail Max and the Polara on Reverse or Modulated mode is ideal. But it's still my second choice for Reverse. And that's basically the extent to which I've used the Modulated mode, so far -- it's good for adding delay-like obfuscation and repeats, but it definitely feels more manufactured than natural.

I can't really say enough about the Polara's more standard reverb settings, though. On their own they all sound brilliant and, yes, clean (but not sterile). The Hall setting is probably my favorite -- set after my Holy Grail Max on Plate, I can create crazy walls of sound and nearly infinite holds. On its own, it adds a ton of depth and space and is preferable to the Hall setting on the Holy Grail Max. The Spring and Plate modes are also excellent, though I find myself using them less in favor of the same modes on the Holy Grail Max. Though I rarely use it, the Room setting is great for adding just a bit of body and warmth as well.

For what it's worth, I am currently considering swapping the Polara out for the Red Panda Context 2 to give myself even more flexibility at the end of my chain. But that has nothing to do with how pleased I have been with the Polara, so far, and everything to do with my endless urge to tweak and fiddle with my setup.

That ended up way longer than I anticipated haha -- hope it was helpful!

Haha it is! I also have a Polara but I feel like I need to spend more time tweaking it. I agree that the Hall setting is amazing. I usually put Hall and add an MXR Carbon Copy Delay into the mix and it sounds really good! My only qualm with the Polara is that it's really hard to see which setting you are in right now lol

Totally agreed on the visibility aspect! That seems to be a common gripe with the Polara. Like, it's a cool looking pedal, but definitely not the easiest to read.