Denmark St Report - Epic Pedalage

monquixote

Gentleman of the forum I have been to pedal heaven and this is what it looks like:

http://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b197/monquixote/IMAG0599_zpsqquff7wh.jpg

Was in London for a meeting today and decided to call in at Denmark St.

First stop was Macaris where I tried out an EHX Tortion which showed off the often futile nature of trying out pedals in shops. Macaris seem to pretty much only stock Gibson now so I ended up using a Les Paul Studio into a Rockerverb 100. It was a total piece of junk, sahara dry fretboard, dodgy frets, intonation was out and it was so dark it sounded like it had a blanket over the amp. I asked to switch to an LP Special which was very slightly better, but still felt quite badly made and I could not get anything approaching a non muddy sound out of the clean channel of the Rockerverb. So I tried the Tortion and it sounded buzzy and muddy and horrible, but I think that was the horrible guitar and amp so I was none the wiser.

Next up was Westside Music who had the pictured amazing demo room. It contained everything made by Dunlop namely every Dunlop, MXR, Way Huge and CAE pedal all hooked up to a huge CAE switching and power system through a Mini Recto. The guitar was some kind of cheap Schecter Tele with buckers which felt about a hundred times better than the pair of firewood Gibsons I'd tried earlier.

My main reason for being in the shop was to try out the MXR Super Badass as I'm a huge fan of the Badass OD and apparently they are designed to work well together and also the WH Echo Puss as I had an Aqua Puss and it was great but for the short delay time and the lack of Mod. 

I tried loads of stuff and my reports are as follows:

MXR FET Drive - Sounds like a load of old muffly bollocks. Very poor.

MXR 78 Badass - Mod DS1 type distortion not me, but alright.

MXH VH Phase 90 - It's a more expensive Phase 90 in a pretty box!

WH Pork Loin - Nice mild OD pedal can see why it's popular 

WH Fat Sandwich - Very nice distortion perhaps a touch boxy

WH Green Rhino - As I suspected very similar to the Badass OD a nice beefy TS/SD type thing.

WH Echo Puss - Sounded very nice but I found the teeny knobs a bit fiddly. 

WH Swollen Pickle - I LUUURVE this Fuzz! Best Muff type I've ever tried. Have no need for it, but if I was doing grunge covers I'd have one like a shot.

But then I happened upon the loveliest combination of pedals known to man:

MXR Badass OD -> Super Badass -> Carbon Copy

The only phrase acceptable for explaining how good this sounds is "holy fuck balls". 

It sounded spectacular. So much so that two different blokes came up to me and asked what pedals I was using because it sounded great and the bloke from the shop walked past and said "Ooo sounds great". As I left the shop one of the guys was actually buying the Custom Badass and suggested they should pay me comission

So having just bought an Alter Ego I've now got epic GAS for a Carbon Copy and I'm going to need a Super Badass. 

Fun half hour

Nick

They're always very nice in Westside every time I pop in. The Swollen Pickle is a winner...

xSkarloey

I will have to try Westside if I'm ever near Denmark Street. 

BTW isn't the Holy Fuck Balls a rare discontinued EHX pedal?  

Drew_TNBD

Westside is a great little shop. I quite fancy buying one of those Schecters too.

hubobulous

I've never read a bad review of the Carbon Copy. Does make me think that I should just try one.

Sounds like you had a great time :-)

monquixote

I believe it's combination of the Holy Grail, Bass Balls and the Smallsound Bigsound Fuck Drive. 

monquixote

hubobulous said:

I've never read a bad review of the Carbon Copy. Does make me think that I should just try one.

Sounds like you had a great time :-)

Had a blast. 

Kind of wishing I'd bought a Carbon Copy rather than the Alter Ego now.

samzadgan

Westside is pretty cool shop...i love the fact that they stock a few brands, but unlike the other shop the stock is not lacking...they stock everything in that brand. Also...they don't bug you like the other shops.

@Drew_Fx, yeah I wouldn't mind one of the schecters too...the tempest is really nice!

dindude

Sounds like a very fun time. I had the Super Badass for a while, it's a versatile box for sure and does sound good, just sounded a bit sterile with my rig for some reason. Also had a Carbon Copy a few years ago, now that was a very good pedal.

On the MXR front, just took delivery of the Analog Chorus for my cheesy 80's board. Really like it so far, sounds very lush.

I only noticed the other day that MXR are probably the only "big" pedal manufacturer who don't dabble in digital tech (to my knowledge). My kinda pedal co.

samzadgan

MXR is my favourite mass market pedal brand...everything they do sounds good to my ears. I've had a carbon copy for about 5 years now and its never left my board.

monquixote

Just looked up the guitar. It was a Schecter PT.

http://www.dalesguitarshop.com/content/588735jpg.jpg

Apparently can be had for about £600 so not that cheap as I previously suggested, but probably reasonable given that it was producing some great sounds and the neck felt good.

randomhandclaps

I have one which it bought 2nd hand for £127ish.  It had the original pickups in the gig bag and had been upgraded with a SD '59 & a Custom Custom.  It is a superb guitar and if I had paid £800 for it I would still be incredibly pleased and felt I got a great amount of guitar for the £s.

Drew_TNBD

Aye, that's the one. The PT - looks lush!

Drew_TNBD

samzadgan said:

MXR is my favourite mass market pedal brand...everything they do sounds good to my ears. I've had a carbon copy for about 5 years now and its never left my board.

Yeah, I've got a few of their pedals now. They're bloody great.

monquixote

It's a bit "None more black" for me, but it was nicely made.

Drew_TNBD

monquixote said:

It's a bit "None more black" for me, but it was nicely made.

I liek teh black guitar.

JDE

You have discovered the magical trinity. It's basically MXR's 2014 take on the old Boss SD-1 > DS-1 > DD-3 combo. Always a ripping sound.

I think MXR have really been churning out some gooduns. Corksniffery aside, their current handwired reissue Phase 90, while expensive, is the best phaser I've ever played. Maybe the best I've ever even *heard*.

monquixote

Drew_fx said:

samzadgan said:

MXR is my favourite mass market pedal brand...everything they do sounds good to my ears. I've had a carbon copy for about 5 years now and its never left my board.

Yeah, I've got a few of their pedals now. They're bloody great.

I'm starting to become a bit of an MXR whore. 

My board may end up being a CAE Wah into a Badass OD into a Super Badass into a Carbon Copy. 

Drew_TNBD

monquixote said:

Drew_fx said:

samzadgan said:

MXR is my favourite mass market pedal brand...everything they do sounds good to my ears. I've had a carbon copy for about 5 years now and its never left my board.

Yeah, I've got a few of their pedals now. They're bloody great.

I'm starting to become a bit of an MXR whore. 

My board may end up being a CAE Wah into a Badass OD into a Super Badass into a Carbon Copy. 

Phase 90, Micro Amp, and the Dunlop 535Q wah, if that counts...

I really like their one-knob approach, and being able to turn them easily with your foot because of the knob style. Just works great.

monquixote

JDE said:

You have discovered the magical trinity. It's basically MXR's 2014 take on the old Boss SD-1 > DS-1 > DD-3 combo. Always a ripping sound.

I'm not sure if the Super Badass is a DS-1. 

The 78 Badass certainly was, but the Super sounded a lot beefier.

monquixote

Drew_fx said:

monquixote said:

Drew_fx said:

samzadgan said:

MXR is my favourite mass market pedal brand...everything they do sounds good to my ears. I've had a carbon copy for about 5 years now and its never left my board.

Yeah, I've got a few of their pedals now. They're bloody great.

I'm starting to become a bit of an MXR whore. 

My board may end up being a CAE Wah into a Badass OD into a Super Badass into a Carbon Copy. 

Phase 90, Micro Amp, and the Dunlop 535Q wah, if that counts...

I really like their one-knob approach, and being able to turn them easily with your foot because of the knob style. Just works great.

The older I get the more one knob pedals appeal. I'd rather have someone clever workout the best sound and then just have one thing to fiddle with. I did have a go with the Micro Chorus as well today which was very usable. 

That said the Badass has 5 knobs!