robin_buckingham's Reviews

Since I was a kid

I had this in the early 80's. This and 2 other pedals were my sounds then and are my occasional sounds now. It is criminal to now have these pedals in consideration of their price. Why people deliberate over a few dollars, then rave about tone is a little odd to me. Get what you love and play!

Since I was a kid

I had this in the early 80's. This and 2 other pedals were my sounds then and are my occasional sounds now. It is criminal to now have these pedals in consideration of their price. Why people deliberate over a few dollars, then rave about tone is a little odd to me. Get what you love and play!

Does What It Says +

Is says boost. But you can actually get some overdrive out of this as well. It has a couple of settings. I personally use it to anger the input of my tube amps. A little hotter, a little fatter sound. Live it would be a great boost. And in conjunction with the other TC drive pedals this rounds out the family without adding unwanted noice.

That is my thing with TC, they are not noisy pedals. When I need a specific tone, I have pedals just for that, Tube Screamer, Rat, DOD OD from the early 80s, etc. But when you just need a good rick sound that is not the #1 identifying sound, and you are there to give the best tones for the song & mostly the singer, all of these basic TC pedals are a good call.

Wonderful Distortion

This picks up right where the MojoMojo leaves of, so I use them together. I often mix a little bit from this, with more tone from the Mojo. There are endless things you can do with the 2 pedals without introducing a lot of noise into the signal path.

Wonderful Overdrive

I have a LOT of drive pedals, most of them. Pedals are a guilt pleasure of mine. I only use a few, but I have most of them. Most of the time I will use a Kemper. But I still want an overdrive pedal. This is really all I need for any type of pop & rock I can thing of. Where this pedal ends... the TC distortion picks up right where this leaves off. So between 2 pedals, $100 for 90% of the tones a job will require? It is a no-brainer.

After 30+ years...

I am simply used to this speaker. I can jump from head to cabs, whatever. I know the difference a head makes because I am always using the same speaker. If I change the speaker as well then I really have no reference. I do like the other Celestions and a couple of other brands, but again, I gotta keep it simple. If someone prefers another speaker, you can call one up on your tone module or they will have it in their cab already.

If you love another speaker, use it. But if you need the AKG-414 of speakers, this is a good starting point.

Not A Keyboardist but...

I need sounds. This has a ton to choose from. Weighted keys. But as with anything, it is to taste. If you have a keyboardist, they are going to like what they like. If not, and you need something to have as a staple in your place, this was an obvious choice for me.

I have even made scores for indie film using mostly this unit, and I am not a keyboardist, so its rather easy. Mostly, it has all of the "go to" rock sounds you could ever need, plus great pad sounds and enough pop candy to please any singer...but if you are working with a writer & singer, they are going to have their own key rig anyway. Perfect for the main sound, or what I use it for and accentuations for rock.

Excellent "Go To" Sounds

I am referring to the tones in here as well as the Chris Lord Alge sounds. I strictly comment on items I frequently use. Not just my opinion, but feedback from who I work with. I am used to the ToonTrack sequencing already, but it is easy to access these sounds. They are already "produced" so if you are running session this is a very valuable addition. ...or if you don't want to get balls deep in tweaking drum sound like I do.

Super Cool

I have been messing around with exciters. AS we get older those highs aren't quite as high anymore. I notice the mistakes - aside from horrible source tone or excessive scoops and boosts is: Really detailing the low end and top. The Low end takes a bit of experience, but with drum samples, keyboards and idiot=proof bass recording we are left with the top end.

I have tries exciters. Even boosting 20k on things that don't even go to 20k. First, never boost frequencies that aren't even there. Never cut anything you don't want to lose. Now the top end...the very top end.

This is a cool EQ. Forget all of the other EQ possibilities and view this simply as a 28k "kiss to the top of your tone".

Set it to "mastering mode" with 'keep gain" so your level doesn't increase - there is a trim know next to it if you need make-up gain. Mastering Mode made the increments less drastic, for fine tuning. The High dial lets you select 5 extra settings for that knob. Choose 40k. Take any stereo mix you are familiar with and boost 3db Do this for a song you loved on CD but are stuck with a compressed mp3 and watch it get CPR and spring back to life.

Perhaps 3bd is too much for you, but it will show you the difference. Clearly. Now Exciters are great for clearing up muddy upper mids, like a bunch of guitar tracks. However, guitar goes maybe to 16k? Now the effects will go to 20k, so this will clean that up. It helps on anything that goes to 20l, Overheads, full bandwidth effects. keyboards, etc. And of course your stereo buss. I toss this in right before the compresses so i can press the top into the mix. That is just me. I am a mastering engineer, so i am gong to compress last.

I would say for any pass you might record where attention over 16l might need a little kiss, add a db of this. Try it on your stereo bussing, and especially on your stereo buss out. Use the "top down method" - set your buss plugins first, then tweak your channels as everything will go through this buss anyway so have it on.

Just do this. If you don't like it, hit bypass, but now you have a choice. Its completely free, no ads or email needed. So really, if you don't get this you only have yourself to blame.

All you really need in a bundle

Of course you will want more. But then get those ala carte. Spending 5,000 on a bundle doesn't even make sense to me and I have plenty of cash. I use even the Renaissance ones, but usually the CLA compressors and the H-Series. And of course the Aphex Exciter. everything else to taste, plus there are a lot of good stand alone & free plug ins... though I need to modify them to work with HD. I have a guy for that.

I have Final Cut Pro for simple editing. I thought it would be cool to add 1000 fonts to my Mac Font Book. They all appear in my Video editor now. Problem: it will only load about 300 fonts, so it only goes to the letter G now, So I really screwed myself adding those fonts. Plus it takes an extra 15 minuted to load fonts I can not even see now. -- My point, you CAN have too many plugins and scroll right past the ones that might best help you and not even know it. Get a reasonable bundle for 6-700 and learn them well. Make presets.

Whoever said "less is more" failed at kindergarten math. But sometimes "more" can be too much.

Love it!

If its good enough for my uncle, then its good enough for me. Chambered, it is still a little heavy, about 13 pounds? For the same price, if I didn't mind waiting, I had the usual bulky neck custom made as thin as one of those Ibanez super thin necks. I just sent the neck I wanted it to be like. 3 months later, these treasures appeared at my door. Or if I wanted to have a few thousand as I bought in bulk. I had them shipped to Vegas, no sales tax, and went and picked them up. ...I guess that would work only if you can even get this luthier to do this for you, and you are getting a dozen guitars... otherwise it guess it makes no sense. If you live outside of CA, then you are clear on the sales tax anyway. They are made near Santa Cruz, CA.

Between his and the music man guitars, everything i could need in tones. I must have 20+ Music Man & 12 Turner guitars, but only 1 of the other types, like Fender start with a hum-bucker, Les Paul & SG. And I never ever use them.

This can give you a semi-hollow or piezo sound without an extra guitar, its a real "all in this one" guitar...if you can afford it. I was fortunate to order many of these at once and was able to get them to my own exact specs for less than 4 grand each which is crazy cheap for a custom guitar hand-built. (my last order , in fear he would retire or worse, about 8 years ago? this was the price back then but I understand even a used one can cost more now).

Love it.

Have a bunch of Music Man guitars, but i always reach for this model,. I do have a bunch of different finishes from the 1990's. glitter, champagne, cools stuff. But I like ti for the ease of play as I don't have long fingers.

Its cool to have knobs for funky gear.

This unit has a few settings. One of them is a weird one. But go to youtube and you'll see, its almost worth it for the one cool sound.

My second choice.

I like it as I can have it right on my desk and pick my tones. Use an expression pedal if needed. I still will always use my overdrive pedals, as the chief complaint is the built-in overdrives are not the best. Again, problem solved.

I love this unit, but I love the Kemper slightly more. I don't play live, and when I do I just use an amp and a couple of pedals.

Love it.

Sure I use cabs. The biggest complaint is the digital overdrives built into these new sound boxes. So I use a shitload of drive pedals, problem solved, best of both. I have a choice between internal & enteral drive pedals fro pennies. I have not used the "modeling feature" once, not once. If I want an amp I have a couple dozen, so I don't need to model. I do have the other guitar units, but this is my top dog.

Just get these.

A whole lot of time and deliberation is spent on matters of "splitting hairs". Sure, get what you like, its your money. If you only record YOU. But if you have even one client, the industry standards are never a bad choice. Make 90% of my income (from recording) with voice overs. I I have the basic vocal mics, 414s 87s, etc, the Neve pres, SSL console and the closest to NS10s I can get. I really have no choice as the film studios expect continuity on their films.

I just use the same principle being "it is NOT about me" when recording others. These will do all you need. Why even deliberate this? The choice should be the size and color. I use the middle size though I can accommodate the larger ones. The full sized model is just a "whole lot of speaker".

Does its job

When you need to check the lows. Use in an apt, get evicted. If you don't have a home, then you probably aren't thinking subs anyway.

Used in a second room for a "second opinion" on mixes.

I even use these throughout the house where full range is needed. These are really the only 3 way speakers. Yes, that "one speaker looking thing" is a mid with a tweeter above it...but I honestly can't tell the difference. If you are expecting to have some Joe Perry guitar sounds pop out, forget it. U=I was. These are full range, low end heavy speakers - not really monitors. Speakers. I have the EQ on the rear with the bass almost off, the mids at 1/2 and the highs all of the way up... and it still has too much low end. his is great for the family, parties, watching DVDs, or NFL.

Rapped probably would love this shit. But as a recordist who does music, ala, before autotune, and a mediocre guitarist (not a great lead player), these are just cool to party with. No critical listening will be done on these.

I just use what everyone else uses, the Yamaha, and for checking the low, add the matching sub woofer. That is my basic theme. Same shit everyone else has used. 414s, U87s, 1073s, I have an SSL for mixing and a much of Neve Pres. Too much time is spent splitting hairs with this item a vs item b. Just shut up and play.