"Do you really need all that stuff ?" ~ ~ ~ "Not really - but it sure sounds cool..." .

ChrisMusic

"Do you really need all that stuff"

"Not really - but it sure sounds cool..."

Pete Thorn's Pedalboard 2014

What a fantastic format for a pedal board demo.

The usual considered and intelligent approach from Pete Thorn, along with some great playing.

Cacofonix

Like the format.

Looks like he's not using the G System any more.  Moved over to Strymon and Eventide for his mod sounds, it seems.

I'm not really struck on the sounds.  I prefer it with a bit more dynamics.

dindude

I'm a big fan of Petes playing, but most of those sounds are way too 80's style processed for me. 

Looking forward to the 2015 board when he says "fuck that" and returns to mostly Anolog loveliness.

impmann

I quite enjoyed that.

I like a board, me. :-)

ChrisMusic

Every time I see multiple Eventides or Strymons used in a fairly complex signal path, there sees to be something missing in the liveliness and energy of the guitar tone.

I was wondering if that was something to do with me listening to all this stuff on my iMac speakers, but I think it's something much more fundamental.

Maybe it is just how the guitarists I've watched choose to set up their patches, not sure.

What do you guys think about that?

lustycourtier

so all that to sound like mayonnaise which SP recorded in 1992? 

dindude

ChrisMusic said:

Every time I see multiple Eventides or Strymons used in a fairly complex signal path, there sees to be something missing in the liveliness and energy of the guitar tone.

I was wondering if that was something to do with me listening to all this stuff on my iMac speakers, but I think it's something much more fundamental.

Maybe it is just how the guitarists I've watched choose to set up their patches, not sure.

What do you guys think about that?

Kinda know what you mean buts it's impossible to tell from YouTube videos and the like, would need to hear in person.

Multiple Strymons and the like will pass through multiple AD/DA conversion stages, and I don't care how good the conversion, or what people say, this will start to degregate and loose dynamic range.   

ElectroDan

I love Pete's playing. And it's always enlightening to see what eventually makes the board of someone who demos so many pedals. Some of those sounds are a little over cooked to my ears too though. If I had a PT100, I don't think id have much more than a decent reverb in the loop.

AbandonMute

Multiple Strymons and the like will pass through multiple AD/DA conversion stages, and I don't care how good the conversion, or what people say, this will start to degregate and loose dynamic range.   

If they're bypassed they're true bypass so will have no impact on tone. Not only that but the timeline (at least) also provides analogue through, so the only digital signal - if digital really offends you for some reason - is the delay repeats. And show me an analogue delay pedal that colours the dry tone less than the Timeline.... It's completely transparent.

It's fine not 'care what people say', but you're just wrong about losing dynamic range. You can easily test it. The converters in the Strymon stuff are superb. I feel your digital=bad argument may be based on bad, outdated tech that none makes or uses any longer.

You don't have to like it, use whatever works for you, but gotta pull you up on this one old bean!

AbandonMute

ChrisMusic;242457" said:

Every time I see multiple Eventides or Strymons used in a fairly complex signal path, there sees to be something missing in the liveliness and energy of the guitar tone.

I was wondering if that was something to do with me listening to all this stuff on my iMac speakers, but I think it's something much more fundamental

iMac speakers, YouTube compression, bad recordings, could be anything. Go try the pedals, see what you think.

ThePrettyDamned

Just listened to this start to finish and the most interesting tone was the boss one, but all of it sounded... Gimmicky and kinda over done.

That said, he's a pretty neat musician, and the song was made to demo the distinctive stuff - probably more representative of the cliché tones rather than what he would use in real life.

dindude

AbandonMute said:

Multiple Strymons and the like will pass through multiple AD/DA conversion stages, and I don't care how good the conversion, or what people say, this will start to degregate and loose dynamic range.   

If they're bypassed they're true bypass so will have no impact on tone. Not only that but the timeline (at least) also provides analogue through, so the only digital signal - if digital really offends you for some reason - is the delay repeats. And show me an analogue delay pedal that colours the dry tone less than the Timeline.... It's completely transparent.

It's fine not 'care what people say', but you're just wrong about losing dynamic range. You can easily test it. The converters in the Strymon stuff are superb. I feel your digital=bad argument may be based on bad, outdated tech that none makes or uses any longer.

You don't have to like it, use whatever works for you, but gotta pull you up on this one old bean!

I get the true bypass bit, was thinking more of the times when you would have multiple digital effects on at once.

I'm not anti digital, I use a digital delay - which has analog dry through, but I would still be protective about putting my signal through too many conversions. Mobius - timeline I can square, but then adding a couple of H9's (which have no dry through if I recall) as on the PT demo might be a stretch.

I seriously considered a mobius recently, the demos sound great for the more way out stuff, but for basic phase and trem, which is my main mod use, a little overkill and I can't see it sounding better than top of the line analog equivalents for this.

Just to end, digital doesn't have to equal bad, but it definitely has it's own sound, at the lower end (I recently had a period of trying the new digitech multi fx unit), it can sound frankly terrible, this is their latest unit so the argument about no one using bad tech doesn't work here, it had ZERO dynamics. At the higher end, Strymon and the like, it has a very high quality sheen about it that comes through on every demo (some like, some don't), although can't speak for the dynamics on the Strymons. 

ChrisMusic

ChrisMusic;242457" said:

Every time I see multiple Eventides or Strymons used in a fairly complex signal path, there sees to be something missing in the liveliness and energy of the guitar tone.

I was wondering if that was something to do with me listening to all this stuff on my iMac speakers, but I think it's something much more fundamental

@AbandonMute said:  iMac speakers, YouTube compression, bad recordings, could be anything. Go try the pedals, see what you think.

I have to agree totally with that, it is the only real way to understand the "sonic signature" and capabilities of any piece of kit.  Then if it seems to fit you personally, buy it and integrate it into your rig and music for a while.  That's really the true decision point, keep it or move on in the search for that elusive sound in your head.

I was going to add another post to say that the "something much more fundamental" remark was one of the reasons for posting the original video.  I am searching for opinions on this.

Both you and @dindude alluded to the limitations in interpreting demos online.  Each of them has a significant effect on what you hear, and hence any judgements you make.

That was one reason for choosing a Pete Thorn demo.  The guy is a great musician, understands the gear and it's possibilities, knows how to record well, and even has his own studio, so his ear for a mix and the stability of the recording environment are a given IMO.

This sets a good baseline** to interpret anything he puts up, so as long as YouTube use the same compression algorithms, and I listen on (maybe substandard) equipment I understand, then I should get a pretty good comparison between this and his other recent demo recordings.

I know he is just messing around with some new gear and having fun, and has probably just completely over processed his sound in the name of experimentation.  Pretty much like he said in the video and I used as the title because I thought it was so appropriate "Do you really need all that stuff ?" ~ ~ ~ "Not really - but it sure sounds cool..." .

But across this "baseline**" demo and others where "Every time I see multiple Eventides or Strymons used in a fairly complex signal path, there sees to be something missing in the liveliness and energy of the guitar tone" that seems to be the case.

Maybe @Deijavoo or @hotpickups have something to say on this, as both of use have some very nice pedals in your armoury, and I suspect are experimenting a lot with the opportunities they open up sonically.

hotpickups

Blimey. Not sure how to respond after that reply

Deijavoo

 I personally can't speak on the Eventide piece as I don't have any, but I'm very much a fan of the Strymon gear. 

I have to say my overall tone has improved greatly since adding them but I ditched a lot of cheap pedals with crap buffers then got a great power supply and a dedicated buffer so that helps too. The effected tones and unaffected are the best I've ever had without a shadow of doubt. I use a great deal of dynamic range in my playing (or at least I try to) and haven't noticed any loss, although I will be listening out for it now when I get a jam in tomorrow night.

If that can be improved on again, then I'm always keen to listen.

:-)

ChrisMusic

Thanks for your replies, bit of a tough question I know.  I'm not sure what  make of all this, whether it is the patches that have been demoed or multiple effects pedals chained or what.  Individually the Strymons do sound stunning from what I've heard, along with some enthusiastic discussions from you guys on here.   Thanks for the input