NPD: Ground-Breaking, Game-Changing - THE Best Pedal Made Thus Far ???

hotpickups

Blimey I wouldn't have even put that out into the open domain without it being perfect and ready for sale. As mentioned above this should've been a working option at the very beginning rather than an after thought for it's price tag. Again though I'm not the target audience LOL. I do like to read user comments about it though

Wazmeister

hotpickups said:

Blimey I wouldn't have even put that out into the open domain without it being perfect and ready for sale. As mentioned above this should've been a working option at the very beginning rather than an after thought for it's price tag. Again though I'm not the target audience LOL. I do like to read user comments about it though

I doubt that it is an ‘afterthought’ for Joel; everything he builds is quality, and the Automatone was ready bang on schedule and not delayed even with Covid.

Im not being defensive here; it remains one of the most incredible pedals Ive heard or seen.

ICBM

Vintage-T said:

Sad to say mine has already had to be returned as faulty. The pedal just stopped producing any noise. Everything worked, and the it crapped out (for want of a better word) and after that....nada. Sliders still working, presets still changing, but no glorious noise.

So it's gone back, and I'll have to think long and hard about buying another if it's going to fail so soon after buying. 

Sad times indeed.

If it uses a 3PDT footswitch for the bypass it wouldn’t surprise me at all if that was the fault.

It totally frustrates me that these have become the standard for most modern pedals.

digitalkettle

RaymondLin said:

The Instagram post says production model will be transparent. 

Nope...it’s just the tonez

crunchman

Not really come across the Benson preamp before until all the hype aroudn this pedal.

Fuzz Dog sells a kit for £50.  Might get one and build it.  Not spending £250 on a drive pedal, let alone £750.

earwighoney

crunchman said:

Not really come across the Benson preamp before until all the hype aroudn this pedal.

Fuzz Dog sells a kit for £50.  Might get one and build it.  Not spending £250 on a drive pedal, let alone £750.

Link? Not that I'd get one but it's interesting to find out what it is.

***

I have to say this really is a great thread, thanks to Waz for posting it up.

I've learnt a huge amount about different drives, switching and so on. Looking at my pedal board, where my drive pedals of choice have 1 control it's safe to say the majority of options here are out of my understanding, but it's been great to see/hear/learn of these avenues, it really is a great time to be a guitar player.

crunchman

earwighoney said:

crunchman said:

Not really come across the Benson preamp before until all the hype aroudn this pedal.

Fuzz Dog sells a kit for £50.  Might get one and build it.  Not spending £250 on a drive pedal, let alone £750.

Link? Not that I'd get one but it's interesting to find out what it is.

https://shop.pedalparts.co.uk/Chimera_PreAmp/p847124_20243972.aspx

£50 when you add an enclosure.

You can buy the PCB for a fiver.  With all the resistors and bits I have lying around, I might go that route.

earwighoney

crunchman said: 

https://shop.pedalparts.co.uk/Chimera_PreAmp/p847124_20243972.aspx

£50 when you add an enclosure.

You can buy the PCB for a fiver.  With all the resistors and bits I have lying around, I might go that route.

You should do it!

crunchman

earwighoney said:

crunchman said: 

https://shop.pedalparts.co.uk/Chimera_PreAmp/p847124_20243972.aspx

£50 when you add an enclosure.

You can buy the PCB for a fiver.  With all the resistors and bits I have lying around, I might go that route.

You should do it!

Looked at the parts list.  Got a lot of the bits.

J201 FET is hard to get hold of in through hole format though.  Never tried soldering SMT before.

prowla

I run stereo, so I'll have to get two.

Teetonetal

ICBM said:

Vintage-T said:

Sad to say mine has already had to be returned as faulty. The pedal just stopped producing any noise. Everything worked, and the it crapped out (for want of a better word) and after that....nada. Sliders still working, presets still changing, but no glorious noise.

So it's gone back, and I'll have to think long and hard about buying another if it's going to fail so soon after buying. 

Sad times indeed.

If it uses a 3PDT footswitch for the bypass it wouldn’t surprise me at all if that was the fault.

It totally frustrates me that these have become the standard for most modern pedals.

He normally uses one of the soft press style.

Musicman20

No idea how much the next one will be:

ruoma

So I've got one of these on demo at the moment. Comparing it to a Cruiser, CC1, Tim, bunch of Chase Tone fuzzes and an Audio Kitchen Flying Squirrel.

Some observations:

- The pick attack is very sweet and clear and immediate, but the sounds do feel as if they live in a certain dynamic range. As if there's a limiter on at the very end. Every other single pedal on my board seems to have more spike in pick attack, more volume difference. Perhaps I can sum it up as having a very fun, juicy elastic feel which is very dependable. It plays very easy. The other pedals can poke out more though when digging in when playing SRV rhythm style for instance.

- It's a darker pedal that lacks a bit of airy highs and low lows. Due to that lack of air, it isn't as transparant as I'd have liked. And through my J20 more suited for higher gain sounds than low gain transparency. It definitely has it's own sound throughout the pedal that's always present. A sortof of midrangey polished sound.

- The real magic for me are the higher gain sounds, which can go from cocked wah to scooped muffy, all with a very thick and coherent clear fuzzy sound. This is where it's a very very addictive joy to play, as the higher gain sounds just sound very polished and together.

Bottom line for now: I want to love it, but I'm not sure it can replace all my pedals. I think the best contenders for replacement are the fuzzes, but not so sure about the low gainers. I can imagine through a stiffer cleaner amp this pedal is the bomb!

Lebarque

ruoma said:

So I've got one of these on demo at the moment. Comparing it to a Cruiser, CC1, Tim, bunch of Chase Tone fuzzes and an Audio Kitchen Flying Squirrel.

Some observations:

- The pick attack is very sweet and clear and immediate, but the sounds do feel as if they live in a certain dynamic range. As if there's a limiter on at the very end. Every other single pedal on my board seems to have more spike in pick attack, more volume difference. Perhaps I can sum it up as having a very fun, juicy elastic feel which is very dependable. It plays very easy. The other pedals can poke out more though when digging in when playing SRV rhythm style for instance.

- It's a darker pedal that lacks a bit of airy highs and low lows. Due to that lack of air, it isn't as transparant as I'd have liked. And through my J20 more suited for higher gain sounds than low gain transparency. It definitely has it's own sound throughout the pedal that's always present. A sortof of midrangey polished sound.

- The real magic for me are the higher gain sounds, which can go from cocked wah to scooped muffy, all with a very thick and coherent clear fuzzy sound. This is where it's a very very addictive joy to play, as the higher gain sounds just sound very polished and together.

Bottom line for now: I want to love it, but I'm not sure it can replace all my pedals. I think the best contenders for replacement are the fuzzes, but not so sure about the low gainers. I can imagine through a stiffer cleaner amp this pedal is the bomb!

Have you tried a Thorpy Warthog through the J20, @ruoma ? It's superb.

ruoma

Lebarque said:

Have you tried a Thorpy Warthog through the J20, @ruoma ? It's superb.

Nope not yet. Tried a peacekeeper and gunshot but didn’t hold on to them. Also can’t get over the form factor

Wazmeister

I did tell you it was a bit special...

https://youtu.be/KRr2Bc283iQ

Jonathanthomas83

ruoma said:

So I've got one of these on demo at the moment. Comparing it to a Cruiser, CC1, Tim, bunch of Chase Tone fuzzes and an Audio Kitchen Flying Squirrel.

Some observations:

- The pick attack is very sweet and clear and immediate, but the sounds do feel as if they live in a certain dynamic range. As if there's a limiter on at the very end. Every other single pedal on my board seems to have more spike in pick attack, more volume difference. Perhaps I can sum it up as having a very fun, juicy elastic feel which is very dependable. It plays very easy. The other pedals can poke out more though when digging in when playing SRV rhythm style for instance.

- It's a darker pedal that lacks a bit of airy highs and low lows. Due to that lack of air, it isn't as transparant as I'd have liked. And through my J20 more suited for higher gain sounds than low gain transparency. It definitely has it's own sound throughout the pedal that's always present. A sortof of midrangey polished sound.

- The real magic for me are the higher gain sounds, which can go from cocked wah to scooped muffy, all with a very thick and coherent clear fuzzy sound. This is where it's a very very addictive joy to play, as the higher gain sounds just sound very polished and together.

Bottom line for now: I want to love it, but I'm not sure it can replace all my pedals. I think the best contenders for replacement are the fuzzes, but not so sure about the low gainers. I can imagine through a stiffer cleaner amp this pedal is the bomb!

@ruoma I assume you mean a Cornish CC-1? If so, how does it compare? I love my CC-1 and SS-3. I have zero GAS for this but am interested in hearing how you think it compares to the Cornish, if possible.

ruoma

Jonathanthomas83 said:

ruoma said:

So I've got one of these on demo at the moment. Comparing it to a Cruiser, CC1, Tim, bunch of Chase Tone fuzzes and an Audio Kitchen Flying Squirrel.

Some observations:

- The pick attack is very sweet and clear and immediate, but the sounds do feel as if they live in a certain dynamic range. As if there's a limiter on at the very end. Every other single pedal on my board seems to have more spike in pick attack, more volume difference. Perhaps I can sum it up as having a very fun, juicy elastic feel which is very dependable. It plays very easy. The other pedals can poke out more though when digging in when playing SRV rhythm style for instance.

- It's a darker pedal that lacks a bit of airy highs and low lows. Due to that lack of air, it isn't as transparant as I'd have liked. And through my J20 more suited for higher gain sounds than low gain transparency. It definitely has it's own sound throughout the pedal that's always present. A sortof of midrangey polished sound.

- The real magic for me are the higher gain sounds, which can go from cocked wah to scooped muffy, all with a very thick and coherent clear fuzzy sound. This is where it's a very very addictive joy to play, as the higher gain sounds just sound very polished and together.

Bottom line for now: I want to love it, but I'm not sure it can replace all my pedals. I think the best contenders for replacement are the fuzzes, but not so sure about the low gainers. I can imagine through a stiffer cleaner amp this pedal is the bomb!

@ruoma I assume you mean a Cornish CC-1? If so, how does it compare? I love my CC-1 and SS-3. I have zero GAS for this but am interested in hearing how you think it compares to the Cornish, if possible.

Yep the CC1. To put it short and into very subjective words, I'd say this:
- My cruiser has a very in your face string separation analog sound, great for chords, less so for solo's as it gets too fuzzy for that.
- The CC1 has a big bouncy polished sound, great for it's boost, less for it's gain, but absolutely killer for solo's with it's velvety double gain staged compression on the notes.
- The MK2 is sortof inbetween. Very nice compression and clarity on the solo notes, even more focussed and great for chords, but less bounce and authority. Perhaps more mix ready but less oomph than the cornish.

Do you by any chance have Logic Pro X on mac? I've got a logic file with a bunch of riffs recorded through all the pedals that I could send over..

Jonathanthomas83

ruoma said:

Jonathanthomas83 said:

ruoma said:

So I've got one of these on demo at the moment. Comparing it to a Cruiser, CC1, Tim, bunch of Chase Tone fuzzes and an Audio Kitchen Flying Squirrel.

Some observations:

- The pick attack is very sweet and clear and immediate, but the sounds do feel as if they live in a certain dynamic range. As if there's a limiter on at the very end. Every other single pedal on my board seems to have more spike in pick attack, more volume difference. Perhaps I can sum it up as having a very fun, juicy elastic feel which is very dependable. It plays very easy. The other pedals can poke out more though when digging in when playing SRV rhythm style for instance.

- It's a darker pedal that lacks a bit of airy highs and low lows. Due to that lack of air, it isn't as transparant as I'd have liked. And through my J20 more suited for higher gain sounds than low gain transparency. It definitely has it's own sound throughout the pedal that's always present. A sortof of midrangey polished sound.

- The real magic for me are the higher gain sounds, which can go from cocked wah to scooped muffy, all with a very thick and coherent clear fuzzy sound. This is where it's a very very addictive joy to play, as the higher gain sounds just sound very polished and together.

Bottom line for now: I want to love it, but I'm not sure it can replace all my pedals. I think the best contenders for replacement are the fuzzes, but not so sure about the low gainers. I can imagine through a stiffer cleaner amp this pedal is the bomb!

@ruoma I assume you mean a Cornish CC-1? If so, how does it compare? I love my CC-1 and SS-3. I have zero GAS for this but am interested in hearing how you think it compares to the Cornish, if possible.

Yep the CC1. To put it short and into very subjective words, I'd say this:
- My cruiser has a very in your face string separation analog sound, great for chords, less so for solo's as it gets too fuzzy for that.
- The CC1 has a big bouncy polished sound, great for it's boost, less for it's gain, but absolutely killer for solo's with it's velvety double gain staged compression on the notes.
- The MK2 is sortof inbetween. Very nice compression and clarity on the solo notes, even more focussed and great for chords, but less bounce and authority. Perhaps more mix ready but less oomph than the cornish.

Do you by any chance have Logic Pro X on mac? I've got a logic file with a bunch of riffs recorded through all the pedals that I could send over..

That's really interesting, thanks @ruoma . I don't I'm afraid, but if you have audio clips, I'd love to hear them.

ruoma

@Jonathanthomas83 Any other daw? Are you on Windows? Perhaps reaper then? Handy thing about auditioning in a daw is that you can loop the sections and quickly compare. Otherwise I can just export the stems and wetransfer them.