Z.vex Sonar

ragingben

What's the general consensus on the Sonar? I've gone from toying with the idea of picking up a cheap Joyo trem to full on gasage for some of the less wallet friendly options! 

It seems to be pretty versatile, has some great features and isn't absolutely huge. The tap tempo, start at 1, and wave shaping features look amazing, but the delta side of the pedal I can't see myself using too much. How's the form factor of Z.vex pedals in general - they look like they could be fiddly to stomp? It looks like it could be annoying to set the depth, seems strange that the delta knob wasn't a depth knob and the hidden feature being the delta rather than the other way around.

I currently have a EHX Stereo Pulsar, it's decent tremolo but too fiddly to adjust accurately because of the ridiculous range of the controls. Other pedals I have my eye on are the Drolo Twin Peaks, Seymour Duncan Shape Shifter, Suhr Jack Rabbit and the Earthquaker Hummingbird. The Drolo seems hard to find and the Hummingbird a bit limited in compassion. Anyone flipped between these? 

ThorpyFX

ragingben said:

What's the general consensus on the Sonar? I've gone from toying with the idea of picking up a cheap Joyo trem to full on gasage for some of the less wallet friendly options! 

It seems to be pretty versatile, has some great features and isn't absolutely huge. The tap tempo, start at 1, and wave shaping features look amazing, but the delta side of the pedal I can't see myself using too much. How's the form factor of Z.vex pedals in general - they look like they could be fiddly to stomp? It looks like it could be annoying to set the depth, seems strange that the delta knob wasn't a depth knob and the hidden feature being the delta rather than the other way around.

I currently have a EHX Stereo Pulsar, it's decent tremolo but too fiddly to adjust accurately because of the ridiculous range of the controls. Other pedals I have my eye on are the Drolo Twin Peaks, Seymour Duncan Shape Shifter, Suhr Jack Rabbit and the Earthquaker Hummingbird. The Drolo seems hard to find and the Hummingbird a bit limited in compassion. Anyone flipped between these? 

Have you looked at our Chainhome? It’s a trem and a high quality clean boost in one pedal. 

ragingben

ThorpyFX said:
Have you looked at our Chainhome? It’s a trem and a high quality clean boost in one pedal. 

Haha that's interesting - the pedal it would boot off the board is a Catalinbread Super Chilli Picoso, which I was reluctant to do. I'll take a peek now...

Edit: Looks cool, I do really like the form factor of your pedals. 

Moe_Zambeek

The Sonar is one of my all time favourite pedals, it’s amazing. You have control of wave shape and duration plus tap tempo so you can shape the trem any way you like, you get the delta function for slow down / speed up, a SHO circuit is engaged when its on so it adds a certain something and then you have the option of switching in the Machine for oddness. 

The hidden features are easy to access, you just hold down the tap button. I spent time tweaking it to get it where I wanted it as far as wave shape and then after that it’s been a case of minor tweaks to the depth and it’s not difficult to hold down tap and adjust.

I sold mine once and within a week had to go any buy another I missed it so much. It just has ‘something’ special going on. Very very highly recommended.

I’ve had the Demeter, Fulltone, Source Audio and Mooer trems amongst others and the Sonar beats them all into a cocked hat.

 The thorpy looks interesting but is limited by the wave shape being reverse sawtooth only, and I’m not a huge fan of that repeat percussion kinda thing. 

ragingben

@Moe_Zambeek thanks for the reply - awesome info. You've pretty much conformed what I wanted to hear even if my wallet didn't! I didn't know it had a SHO on in there, that is interesting. With the delta function there's one thing I'm unclear on, can you set the end speed? I get that it goes from the current setting to a slower or a faster setting, but I don't get if you can set the end point or not. 

Moe_Zambeek

@ragingben ;No, it slows to a stop (well...a very long interval) or speeds up to whatever the max range of the speed on the device is. If you retap it goes back to the original tempo and starts again.

bean7

The Sonar is awesome, not much to add to whats already been said - is just really versatile and the Machine aspect makes it more interesting than other trem pedals I've tried. I replaced it with a Flint to be economical with space on my board, but I'm keeping it anyway.

ragingben

@bean7 interesting - I kept thinking about getting a Flint, but then a Super Spring Theory came up last week which I bought instead, and decided to go tremolo separately. How are you finding the Flint? I guess it's a different beast. If you do decide you fancy selling the Sonar PM me, I've got a few things up for sale at the moment to help fund a Sonar.

bean7

I'm enjoying the Flint loads - mainly for the reverb to be honest though. I do miss the flexibility of the Sonar; the Flint is more like a couple of popular presets with some light tweakability, whereas the Sonar goes way more extreme in every way. Practically though, the Flint does the job as a solid trem while being a great reverb .. letting me add one more pedal

SRich

The Flint + an expression pedal gives an extra element for me.

Cookiemonster

I like the eqd one btw but it's a vox repeater clone I think so quire specific

ThorpyFX

Moe_Zambeek said:

 The thorpy looks interesting but is limited by the wave shape being reverse sawtooth only, and I’m not a huge fan of that repeat percussion kinda thing. 

in the same way the earthquake one is i guess, just dial the depth back and the effect is less in your face

ragingben

Torn between the Sonar and the Diamond Tremolo. I think the Diamond might be a better match as I'm not fussed about the delta stuff. Anyone played both and have any thoughts on the two?

bean7

I had the Diamond (still have the Sonar) - they're both great really, can't go wrong. I like having the machine / fuzz aspect, makes it more interesting and I found the various patterns on the Diamond a bit cheesy sounding.

ragingben

Is the machine a fuzz in its own right? I didn't get if it was just something to drive a different distortion further or if it was a fuzz itself. Interesting about the diamonds modes feeling cheesy.... I misunderstood and thought the manual mode would engage the trem as long as the tap switch was held down, but it appears to just function as a kill switch. If you had to pick one to cover hard and choppy and a bit more chilled which would you go for?

bean7

Its not really a stand alone fuzz, you can't really use it without the trem - and its not a fuzz in the usual sense. Its more of a special type of distortion that gets interesting stacked with other fuzz/distortion, which makes it somewhat unique if you like that sort of thing. I'd say if you use loads of fuzzes and drives etc, the Sonar is more fun, if you want a flexible + classic trem then the Diamond is a really solid option.

ragingben

Thanks for the advice, much appreciated! Went for a Sonar from Reverb, looks really fun!

bean7

cool - enjoy!

ragingben

Thanks, can't wait to try!