steve_underhill's Reviews

If you didn't like chorus, you'll love it now.

If you don't feel like reading just watch this: https://youtu.be/32qrmB103ao. That said, it took me a while to figure out how to use this, mainly through experimatation and watching a lot of video reviews and tutorials. I think I have the way to explain it nailed down. Also fair warning, if you click on that link you won't rest until you own a Warped Vinyl. His videos are that good.

Joel Korte of Chase Bliss is a damned wizard. How he fits what he does in an enclosure this size is mind blowing in and of itself. The Warped Vinyl Mk II is no exception. There's a lot going on here so I'm going to start simple.

Start with a vibrato pedal. Add the usual controls for the level of the effect (Volume), tone (Tone), and rate of fluctuation (RPM). Then for extra flavor add a selector switch for vibrato rhythmic subdivisions. Finally, a tap tempo switch to override the RPM knob.

Now things start to get wild. Add switches to control the shape of the vibe. You can opt for a smooth sine wave, a dramatic square wave, or a sliding triangular wave. Again, you can select one of the three for each half of the wave. Now add controls for the depth of the wave (Depth). The Warp control isn't a 0-10 type knob, but a left side/right side control for the wave. It controls how accentuated one side is versus the other (so 12 o'clock would be both sides even).

What about chorus? That's where the mix knob comes in. All the way left is the unaffected guitar signal. All the way right is 100% affected signal. Blending the two (between 12 and 2 is best) gets you a lush chorus.

Okay, back to the Tone knob. When you activate the dip switches mounted on top of the pedal, which correspond to all the controls named so far and then some, the Tone knob becomes the Ramp knob. When you activate a dipswitch and turn on the pedal, the switched parameter will "ramp" up to the setting you have the Ramp knob set to. For example, if you switched up Volume and set the Ramp knob to max, when you turned the pedal on you would get a volume swell from zero to max volume. Apply to RPM, you hear the vibrato speed accelerate. Mix? The chorus fades in. My favorite switch is the "Bounce" switch, which will make the switched parameters "bounce" between minimum and wherever the Ramp knob is set. Applied to the previous example with Volume, the bounce switch would create a tremolo effect. Imagine the possibilities!

Oh and I almost forgot: it also allows you to store presets, and through a MIDI controller you could have literally hundreds of them. And you can use an expression pedal to control the RPM. And a million other things.

You know what, just watch this: https://youtu.be/32qrmB103ao

The sexiest delay sound you will ever hear.

Seriously. I've been racking my brain for the right adjective and that's it. The repeats are warm and full. The decay is smooth and deep. Its the best delay I've ever heard, analog or digital.

The new enclosure looks fantastic. I'm a big fan of the thick plastic cover on the top that keeps everything looking good. As always with AnalogMan, you get simple controls that do a lot, but easily the coolest thing about it are the expression out and the FX loop. Sad to say, I haven't used the loop yet, but controlling the delay time with your foot opens up some wild opportunities, especially when you start stacking other delays afterwards. In fact, the only thing I wish I could do with this pedal that I can't already is chain the two delays together in series. Maybe I'll just have to get a second one.

Accept no substitute

If you're in the market, or waiting your turn on the list, you already know what you need to know about the sound of this pedal. So I've pasted my comment on that below this. So here's what you need to know- First, get the toggle switch option. Yeah its $50, but being able to switch between Clean, OD, and Distortion modes without getting a screwdriver and then looking up how the dipswitches work again is worth every penny and then some. Second, as far as high gain goes, get it on the red side only. In my opinion this was meant to be played with clean boost on the yellow side, so save the ten bucks. Besides, one side high gain and the other side normal basically gives you 6 different pedals in one box. Finally, I thought I needed the four jack option, but I'm not sure I'd put anything in between now. You can't go wrong with more options though.

Oh, and keep your tube screamer too. Put it after the KoT and go crazy. If you want to know what that sounds like check out Kenny Wayne Shepard's Rig Rundown.

Okay, the review: My title isn't fair. There are plenty of great substitutes out there. That said, the King is in a class by itself. If you're looking for an overdrive that's going to hit you in the face, you'll be disappointed. Sure, you can do that, but it's gonna take a lot of cranking. That's not the point. The range of this OD is what its all about. From subtle to full blast, the KoT covers all the ground without doing anything drastic to the EQ. The distortion setting retains the smooth character of the OD, with extra bite. The clean boost is one of the loudest things you'll ever hear if you manage to get everything cranked.

Stunning. Positively stunning.

First of all, the mahogany. I absolutely love the lush, velvety rich tones these 15 series guitars create. The low end response is so broad and warm, I find it hard to go back to spruce tops.

Second, the finish. Pictures do not do the burst justice, and if you are in the market but don't want the Retro (WHY?), call them up and order one with the burst finish. It makes an otherwise flat finished top glow with a really gorgeous depth.

Third, the Aura +. Fishman really worked some voodoo into this system. As good as the under-saddle pickup is, compared with the images included with the Aura + system, its as quacky as any acoustic pickup. I leave it on preset 2 and forget it, but it really does fix any sort of issue you've had with amplifying your acoustic instead of using a mic.

Fourth, the neck. This wide, 1 3/4 neck is the bees knees I tell you. fingerpicking feels comfortable and easy, and strumming suffers no drastic change in feel or response. The taper on the neck is low and fast, perfect for sliding around as well as reaching those oddball chords. I can't say enough about how comfortable it is.

Wrapping it up: A 00 Martin with a huge, rich, amplified sound, delicious wood, and a gorgeous finish. Buy this guitar, and it will be your go-to acoustic in almost any scenario.

Incredibly deep synth platform

The only reason this doesn't get 5 stars is the $250 price tag. The variety of sounds you can create with this seemingly limited pedal is fantastic. Just finding new ways to blend the dry, lead, and sympathetic signals is variety enough, but the tone controls, key changing, modulation, decay, scale input (!!), and TWO expression inputs make it one of the most dense beasts I've encountered that doesn't say "Strymon" on it. If you're into experimenting, this is definitely on your list.

As to my one gripe, I really hope they make a mini/nano version of this eventually as they did with the POG. That would be a barrel of fun.

Its a RAT

Okay, I lied. Its also a Turbo RAT. And its less than the price of a RAT. And its a quarter the size of a RAT. No, you dont get the street cred from spending $200 on a hefty hunk of black 80's steel with rust around the inputs. You still get all the distortion you need. Careful with that knob. It doesn't take much. If you want to crank it, you'll want a noise gate. The only reasons I didn't give it 5 stars are because I prefer to be stingy with perfect scores and I don't know about its durability yet.

Tiny, tubes, and beautiful aesthetics.

Great little tube amp for not a lot of money. I picked it up to practice on and I bring it to any smaller gig when I don't want to lug the Deluxe around. The covering and grille are gorgeous, and its got the pure Fender clean sound you'd expect. You won't regret this purchase, and I doubt you'll ever sell it on.

The gold standard

She's a heavy beast, but she is the beginning and end of the conversation when it comes to a clean tone and glorious spring reverb. Well worth the investment, and nothing makes my Les Paul sound better. If it had a master volume control it would be perfection. The only way to get the tubes to break up is to get it up to 9 and deafen the block. However, if you really need to do that in a small space, you probably want a high gain amp anyway. I can always add an OD pedal. I can't get the sweet cleans anywhere else.

Solid choice when a Ditto isn't enough

With the RC-30 replacing this model, you can get the older one for a significantly lower price. As long as you don't mind the fewer number of memory banks and inputs, the RC-20 will do anything you need a looper to do. Easy to record, overdub, and store loops. Really cool reverse function. I wish my ditto would auto-start recording like the RC-20. The RC-20 also has a mic line in, although its unbalanced, and you can use that as a secondary instrument in as well. An auxiliary input is there if you have need for it. I have yet to explore its depths. This is a hugely useful tool.

Brilliantly easy to use

This thing is brilliant. You've definitely read about it already. Its small, works, and is easy to use. You'll need to practice your foot tapping to master using it, but that's an easy sacrifice for all the space it saves you.

EHX hits the bullseye again

The Silencer is a new offering in 2015. Its an effective and easy to use noise gate, but the extra bit of cool factor is a built in effects loop. Aside from the obvious uses for the loop, the two outputs can make for some pretty creative applications. Play around with your chain, with multiple amps. At ~$60, its an easy decision.

tubescreamer

Everyone should own it once. Most people should train one into another at some point. The EHX East River Drive is a better one for less money. Still keeping mine around anyway.

Unbeatable for the price

Its a five band EQ in a micro shell. It does its job. I got mine for $20 and used it as a treble booster. Can't beat it at the price.

TonePrints are cool, but not for everyone

I like TonePrints. They're very cool. They're overwhelming for some. If you don't want to nitpick and customize your chorus effect, just get your preferred Boss version or a Small Clone. As micro sized chorus effects go, this is your best bet though.

A tone of capability for the price

Near infinite possibilities thanks to TonePrints if you are willing to spend the time on choosing the perfect delay for you. If not, its an excellent sounding delay in a tiny, well built package. Worth the investment.

Easy to read, neat polyphonic features, upgradeable.

Super clear LEDs for easy reading on a dark stage. Polyphonic is clever, but not for everyone. Fortunately the Polytune instantly knows if you're strumming 1 or all strings, and the standard strobe tuner functions very well. Full size version has a mini USB port for firmware upgrades.

Its a compressor

It does what it says. You can find them under $50. If you've never used a compressor and want to find out how and why, try this one first. If you like it, hooray, it was cheap. If you want a better one later, at least it was cheap. It's footprint seems slightly larger than your average pedal, and you'll have to rip off the rubber bottom if you want to velcro it to your board. Whatever Joyo used as a foot does not like velcro to stick to it.

Solid, feature packed, and expensive

Fulltone makes great stuff. The Clyde Deluxe is packed with cool features- three different wah styles (Hendrix, funk, and their own take), a switchable JFET buffer to make it fuzz friendly, and a resonance trimmer (to adjust bass response and gain) mounted on the circuit board.

Its built like a tank, has heavy duty pots, and an easily adjustable treadle. However, its a $200 wah pedal. Unless you're REALLY into wah or don't care about money, you should probably get a CryBaby and spend the other $150 on more gear. The response on the Clyde is better than the CryBaby. You get more pedal travel over the range of the effect, making it easier to control. But its a lot of money for a wah, no matter how well its made.

Budget Klon

Its a transparent OD. Excellent clean boost. Satisfying amounts of dirt. Get it to find out what the Klon hype is all about and then don't bother with the horsie because EHX did the job for less than a tubescreamer.

Pure 808

A plain and pure 808 from EHX, made in consultation with the renowned expert on tube screamers, Analog Mike (Analogman effects). A bit beefier than a modern TS9, and half the price.