Cornish Pedals?

Brad

A slow burning itch may very well need to be scratched in the near future. It's more out of interest to see how they compare to the Kingsley stuff I use as much as anything really.

I currently use and abuse the Jester, Minstrel and Harlot and I think I've narrowed it down to the CC-1, SS-2, SS-3 and G-2 on the Cornish side of things.

Please note, it would have to be one of the above for the time being unless I get lucky on the used market.

As far as usage is concerned I play a Tele and 335 type semi and they'll be going into a clean amp. Like my Kingsley stuff, I'm after whichever can work well as part of my board stacking with other OD's etc yet also be used as a stand alone OD using the guitar's volume to clean up when needed. 

I know some folk here have extensive experience with all these pedals so any thoughts/comparisons will be greatly appreciated :-)

Jonathanthomas83

There's a lot of fuss around Cornish stuff at the moment. Can anyone explain?

out of those, I had the SS-3, right now I'm not sure anything in the Kingsley range would sound like it. If that helps. In fact, as a point of reference, I'm not sure what else sounds like it either, anyone?

I have found a few other boutique pedal makers that I think make some great stuff and Ive offloaded a few Cornish pedals in favour of those. Worth looking around because for some reason, folk are sometimes blinkered by Cornish and miss out on other great pedals. Just my take, as someone who's owned a lot of Cornish stuff. Can't speak highly enough of Pete's work, pedals and service though, impeccable.

Alnico

I'm having one later in 2017, a fuzz pedal.

I don't remember which one it is, one has active tone controls and one doesn't i think ?

I'll get whichever one @gassage tells me to get at the time !

Wazmeister

Alnico said:

I'm having one later in 2017, a fuzz pedal.

I don't remember which one it is, one has active tone controls and one doesn't i think ?

I'll get whichever one @gassage tells me to get at the time !

Get the P1 mate, if you are keen on Cornish 

Alnico

Wazmeister said:

Alnico said:

I'm having one later in 2017, a fuzz pedal.

I don't remember which one it is, one has active tone controls and one doesn't i think ?

I'll get whichever one @gassage tells me to get at the time !

Get the P1 mate, if you are keen on Cornish 

I shall have a look Sir.
Thanks.

Gassage

SS3's are the same as SS2's if you put bass to 10

Brad

Jonathanthomas83 said:

There's a lot of fuss around Cornish stuff at the moment. Can anyone explain?

out of those, I had the SS-3, right now I'm not sure anything in the Kingsley range would sound like it. If that helps. In fact, as a point of reference, I'm not sure what else sounds like it either, anyone?

I have found a few other boutique pedal makers that I think make some great stuff and Ive offloaded a few Cornish pedals in favour of those. Worth looking around because for some reason, folk are sometimes blinkered by Cornish and miss out on other great pedals. Just my take, as someone who's owned a lot of Cornish stuff. Can't speak highly enough of Pete's work, pedals and service though, impeccable.

Flavour of the month? Coincidence perhaps? It happens from time to time with brands. I've been using his cables for years so the idea of trying one of his pedals has been floating around for quite a while.

Well, it's good they don't sound like the Kingsley range otherwise there would be no point. How would you describe them, or the SS3 in particular?

It's not so much that I'd be blinkered towards only going Cornish, more that I'm interested to see what the big deal is to be honest, as I'm happy OD wise these days. But what other makers would you suggest out of interest?

Gassage said:

SS3's are the same as SS2's if you put bass to 10

So you'd favour the SS3 in that case?

Gassage

Brad said:

Jonathanthomas83 said:

There's a lot of fuss around Cornish stuff at the moment. Can anyone explain?

out of those, I had the SS-3, right now I'm not sure anything in the Kingsley range would sound like it. If that helps. In fact, as a point of reference, I'm not sure what else sounds like it either, anyone?

I have found a few other boutique pedal makers that I think make some great stuff and Ive offloaded a few Cornish pedals in favour of those. Worth looking around because for some reason, folk are sometimes blinkered by Cornish and miss out on other great pedals. Just my take, as someone who's owned a lot of Cornish stuff. Can't speak highly enough of Pete's work, pedals and service though, impeccable.

Flavour of the month? Coincidence perhaps? It happens from time to time with brands. I've been using his cables for years so the idea of trying one of his pedals has been floating around for quite a while.

Well, it's good they don't sound like the Kingsley range otherwise there would be no point. How would you describe them, or the SS3 in particular?

It's not so much that I'd be blinkered towards only going Cornish, more that I'm interested to see what the big deal is to be honest, as I'm happy OD wise these days. But what other makers would you suggest out of interest?

Gassage said:

SS3's are the same as SS2's if you put bass to 10

So you'd favour the SS3 in that case?

Yes.

Gassage

Just re the prices...

A few years back Pete's son joined the biz and added extra soldering hands and help. Pete also got very fed up of people stagging on the pedals- so he started making them on a 2 week order, not a 2 year one!

Also, there's less need now for his uber rigs as gear has moved on. Even getting him to agree to making an all in one floor board is impossible.


As an example- I waited 3 yrs for my first P1 (number 35) - now you'll wait 3 days

Simple supply and demand.

Jonathanthomas83

Brad said:

Jonathanthomas83 said:

There's a lot of fuss around Cornish stuff at the moment. Can anyone explain?

out of those, I had the SS-3, right now I'm not sure anything in the Kingsley range would sound like it. If that helps. In fact, as a point of reference, I'm not sure what else sounds like it either, anyone?

I have found a few other boutique pedal makers that I think make some great stuff and Ive offloaded a few Cornish pedals in favour of those. Worth looking around because for some reason, folk are sometimes blinkered by Cornish and miss out on other great pedals. Just my take, as someone who's owned a lot of Cornish stuff. Can't speak highly enough of Pete's work, pedals and service though, impeccable.

Flavour of the month? Coincidence perhaps? It happens from time to time with brands. I've been using his cables for years so the idea of trying one of his pedals has been floating around for quite a while.

Well, it's good they don't sound like the Kingsley range otherwise there would be no point. How would you describe them, or the SS3 in particular?

It's not so much that I'd be blinkered towards only going Cornish, more that I'm interested to see what the big deal is to be honest, as I'm happy OD wise these days. But what other makers would you suggest out of interest?

Gassage said:

SS3's are the same as SS2's if you put bass to 10

So you'd favour the SS3 in that case?

@Gassage is spot on, and the prices are, IMO, spot on too. If someone is prepared to pay that then good on PC for charging it. The pedals are worth it.

How would I describe the SS-3? Its a fuzz, not voiced like a typical overdrive like a TS or Klon. So its not really tight, which is why I moved mine on. However, its one of the best low gainers I've owned and if I could have justified keeping it alongside my Klone, I would have, but there was too much crossover and I preferred the sound of the Klone for lots of other applications, not just low gain- it is more versatile. The SS-3 is a warm OD and you'll like it, I think.

The P-1 and P-2 are fantastic as is the OC-1. I loved them all. Theres a definite Cornish sound to them, probably something to do with the amazing buffer. The P-2 is higher gain and smoother than the P-1, but the P-1 for lead sounds immense as its got a grit to it that sounds very musical. Think The Wall for the P-1 and PULSE or better still, Delicate Sound of Thunder era Gilmour for the P-2.

the OC-1 is a very transparent compressor which, if left always on, acts as a tone sweetener and sounds incredible, couple it with an SS-3 with gain at 4-6 and it sounds heavenly. 

Other brands that I love are Buffalo FX, RYRA and our man Thorpy. All of whom make exceptional pedals, built to very high standards and they sound great. My setup is pretty much Buffalo M-1 for muff and the TD-X for overdrive sounds and right now I don't play a lot of Gilmour stuff, but those pedals really do sound incredible to my ears, for some reason they've struck a chord with me that has resonated more than what the Cornish pedals did, others may say that they would pale in comparison. Let your ears do the listening and enjoy the process fella! :-)

meltedbuzzbox

its all a matter of opinion. I would argue that a P-1 at £523 is very expensive. It might be very awesome but £523?!?!?! 

The price certainly isn't covering any design or styling costs

Jonathanthomas83

Of course it's a lot of money. But its worth what people are willing to pay for it.

Alnico

I see it the other way.
I'd get a massive buzz out of owning a P-1.

The cost is just what it costs.

I think amps are way more overpriced than effects like this.

meltedbuzzbox

Alnico said:

I see it the other way.
I'd get a massive buzz out of owning a P-1.

The cost is just what it costs.

I think amps are way more overpriced than effects like this.

eh? Given the amount of amp you can get now days?

Alnico

meltedbuzzbox said:

Alnico said:

I see it the other way.
I'd get a massive buzz out of owning a P-1.

The cost is just what it costs.

I think amps are way more overpriced than effects like this.

eh? Given the amount of amp you can get now days?

Do you not look at things like Marshall and Fender and think the same thing about their prices?

£1,500 for a 2203x ?

It's just things like that i mean. I guess i don't mean ALL amps are overpriced but when things like that exists and pedals like Free The Tone / Strymon cost almost what a PC pedal costs, is PC really overpriced?

I'm not saying flat out he's not but i don't see it as wildly overpriced when i look around at other stuff, like *some* amps.

wayneirie

meltedbuzzbox said:

its all a matter of opinion. I would argue that a P-1 at £523 is very expensive. It might be very awesome but £523?!?!?! 

The price certainly isn't covering any design or styling costs

thats second hand twin money maybe add a bit. I know what i'd rather have.

monquixote

It all depends on the context. 

Rig rundowns suggest a lot of guitar legends are filling stadiums with £30 Boss sd-1 pedals.  

meltedbuzzbox

Alnico said:

meltedbuzzbox said:

Alnico said:

I see it the other way.
I'd get a massive buzz out of owning a P-1.

The cost is just what it costs.

I think amps are way more overpriced than effects like this.

eh? Given the amount of amp you can get now days?

Do you not look at things like Marshall and Fender and think the same thing about their prices?

£1,500 for a 2203x ?

It's just things like that i mean. I guess i don't mean ALL amps are overpriced but when things like that exists and pedals like Free The Tone / Strymon cost almost what a PC pedal costs, is PC really overpriced?

I'm not saying flat out he's not but i don't see it as wildly overpriced when i look around at other stuff, like *some* amps.

You just spend £1600? on a Fender Strat didn't you? :-P
I wouldn't buy a Marshall amp so I will cant offer anything on those. 

You cant really compare a multi-fx device with a single pedal can you? 
A timeline comes with a truck load of delays and presets and midi, in a pretty case and you could argue is new technology (*cough* tweaked Line 6 DL4 *cough*)
Free the tone is kind of the same I believe.

Kudos to Pete, he gets what asks for price wise. 
But I am not sure I can see what you get for your extra money. 
If you compare a ford to a BMW I can understand the price difference.
I personally cant see that with a Cornish over a DAM/Empress/Juan solo/etc etc

ruoma

The three Cornish pedals I own CC1, BD1 and OC1 all have a certain Cornish sound to them that I'm still now sure I really truly like. It's a sort of polished sound with a magical sheen, but at the same time it makes them feel not as direct and connected to my amp as my other pedals. I think it has to due with the bass knob on them, it goes really really low, I think 50hz, which makes them very very juicy, but a bit slow. The BD1 is a fair bit tighter than the CC1 though and the OC1 is super transparent indeed!

I'm also beginning to suspect that pete's pedals are pretty much all based on muff pedals? To my ears there's a certain mid scoopedness to the ones I have, even the CC1. 

Alnico

Yes fair point, it was £1,400.
I didn't think that was overpriced once i bought it and beforehand, only a little but i get what you mean.

No you can't compare Multi FX's to a single stomp based on it's functions and in that way i can see why it feels overpriced but i more meant that there's always going to be top-end stuff that costs that much, as the Strymon's are for what they are. I admit the actual functionality is different but if that fuzz sound is that important to a sound, it (to me) becomes the same.

Hope that makes sense, i suppose it's all a bit subjective really.

meltedbuzzbox

oh its massively subjective. 

If this was a moogerfooger thread I would be giving my support for justifying the cost of those. 
And my CS Jazzmaster etc