So Cornish Pedals.... Are they that good?

meltedbuzzbox

I know they have a strong rep and command high prices but are they really anything super special or is it just hype?

allicio

I believe hype but ive never tried one, but again there are a couple of guys on here that will say otherwise and they do own them so perhaps I'm wrong.
I would never buy a pedal thats gooped and won't let me look inside for voiding the warrenty so I won't be finding out if they are that good.

ThePrettyDamned

@Juansolo is selling a clone of a Cornish, has a couple of small mods but it's just a pedal - electrical components soldered together

So try it and see!

meltedbuzzbox

ThePrettyDamned said:

@Juansolo is selling a clone of a Cornish, has a couple of small mods but it's just a pedal - electrical components soldered together

So try it and see!

So you are buying it for me and posting it my way right?

John_P

Seeing Juan's pedal made me wonder how good they - I've just been reading up on them and I'm very tempted to put my name on the list - put £50 a month to one side instead of buying other guitar bits I probably don't need and the outlay for one doesn't seem that bad - if they are THAT good.

GavRichList

I wondered the very same the other day. Two things led me to a calm inner peace as a decided to investigate no further.

1. The website is awful.
2. My board is full anyway.

Just as well, because I'm skint and they're extortionate.

ThePrettyDamned

meltedbuzzbox;336537" said:

ThePrettyDamned said:

@Juansolo is selling a clone of a Cornish, has a couple of small mods but it's just a pedal - electrical components soldered together

So try it and see!





So you are buying it for me and posting it my way right?

If I hadn't just bought a chorus, I think I'd buy it.

I mean, I'm not sure if it would be for you, but still...

My post was more about the circuitry - which is all they are. They might sound sublime, but he *can't* do something no one else can. In other words, they're not magic.

But they still might sound amazing

Moe_Zambeek

I've had a tb83 extra - great sounding booster, similar to my mcboost though so sold it - and a g2/ss3 duplex which I hoped would give me 3 sounds in one. In reality it was only good for 1 sound and that was fairly generic sounding so I returned it to the shop (perhaps I should have flipped it on ebay for a profit!).
I also have 2 of his cables which are excellent - extremely durable.

I'd probably have a tb83 extra again if one came along at the right price but the over drives / fuzzes did nothing for me.

And fwiw the duplex came to me new from the shop with one of the warranty labels broken

juansolo

FWIW the Cornish stuff is generally tried and tested circuits fettled a little and wrapped in his buffers. They sound different to what they're based on. For example the G2 is a muff when you get down to it, but it sounds more distortion to me (which technically a muff is, but it's not got that 'muff' sound if you see what I mean). But it really thickens up a strat nicely. I really quite like it.

As for the stuff he sells. It appears to be bomb-proof. You're paying for that, the name, reputation and because people are prepared to. So why wouldn't he...?

FWIW I'm only selling because I just bought this from a fellow DIYer:



The one on the left.

In comparison to mine, mine has a different sweep on the gain control (his is pretty full on from 9'oclock onwards, mine gets there at about 3 o'clock). Otherwise they're very similar.

Gassage

I am as well qualified as anyone, so here goes:

Are they worth the hype? Depends. It's like all expensive stuff- you pay exponentially for a 5% quality increase.

How good? OK- the dirt pedals are brillaint- the CC1 and the P1 are aboslutely unmatchable IMO and if you want an EQ or Boost the ST2 is utterly magical- it does what an EP Booster does much better due to the controls. G2 is very very good, SS3 a bit meh and I prefer the Wampler Euphoria over it.

Once you're on the bandwaggon, the way the pedals stack and also the simple grading (ST2- boost thru to NG2- amp destruction) is very intuitive. Stacking is key- if you have a CC1 or ST2, whenever you use a Muff, you'll eq it off the ST2 or CC1- especially in midhumps.

Are they bomb proof? Nope- I've had a couple of failures.

The other stuff:

The Stereo chorus is magical- it's so clean and chimey and rich. However how often do you use chorus? One useful thing is it's a great stereo splitter too. But it's 900.

TES- I'll argue this one- as a pure, one trick delay- it's tone, clarity and depth are absolutely amazing. Does it have the functionality of the TL? Nothing near. Is it tonally better- yes, but maybe only 10-15%.

Re the TES- the Korg SDD3000 is gonna shake it up- this is a superb unit, and Pete's recently worked with Free the Tone to bring out a cheaper TES with tap tempo and read out.

They are the best, make no doubt, but when you start paying for them, you're paying double for 10-15% improvement.

One last point- the Cornish buffer, somewhere in chain, will make everythng better. That's a fact.

edit- if ever you open one up, which I have, the soldering, neatness and quality of assembly is a marvel to behold. No compromise whatsoever.

And- Pete designs these as buildling blocks to a system. When all working together the results are superb.

If you want one, grab one now- used prices are as low as ever. If you do, start with the CC1 and P1.

Gassage

Pic of the Free the Tone Delay enclosure- launching soon

xchrisv

Here's that delay in action:

Gassage

@chrisv and it sounds amazing- as I say Pete assisted to design it and it's his buffer in there.

This from FTT

Version:1.0 StartHTML:0000000149 EndHTML:0000000835 StartFragment:0000000199 EndFragment:0000000801 StartSelection:0000000199 EndSelection:0000000801 Dear James,
 
Thank you so much for your interest in the FREE THE TONE new digital delay pedal FLIGHT TIME FT-1Y.
We are going to release it in September to Japan market and October to worldwide market.
However, the availability is really depending on our dealers in UK if they carry it soon or not.
 
I believe we will be able to update our English website at the end of September.
Please wait for the information and photo by that time.
 

meltedbuzzbox

£400 for a pedal!?!?!!?

Christ on a bike. I wince at £150 for pedal. 

I think i will wait to try one. I cant punt that kind of money on a pedal. I am sure I cant get it back and all, but ouch!

I am not sure all that buffering will play nice with my fuzzfactory either 

Wazmeister

@Gassage has it bang on...

I've owned a few Pete Cornish, so I guess I'm as qualified as the next man, FWIW...

I currently only now own the CC1 and G2. Now, a bit of a information; I'm not a Gilmour/Floyd fan in any single way, BUT if you are the G2 is instant 'that sound'.

The build quality, service, packaging and communication are second to none. Truly built like a tank, wonderful to hold, feel and use.

I had the ST-2 and it wasn't that noticeably good BUT would really suit my rig now. The SS-3 was fairly generic, imho...

CC-1

A light overdrive/boost, with undoubtedly, the BEST eq section I have ever encountered. A slight turn of the knob yields amazing results; possibly the must have PC pedal. I had Pete fit the Fender style knobs to mine... Stacks beautifully, plays very nicely with the G-2, and the buffers are worth the admission alone. Superb.

G-2

Like the CC-1, this works fantastically at low (home) volumes. The 'sustain' and 'tone' knobs interact subtly, and like ALL PCs, you can dial in your tones very quickly... No steep learning curve here; WYSIWYG and I love that. But, it's at louder (rehearsal/gigging) volumes where the G-2 really comes to life. 'Amp' like is an overused term, but this is the real deal. Fantastically loud and full, and that power enables wonderful low gain tones. 

As an aside, both pedals seem to feed lovely into delays and 'verbs...

Expensive ? Yes, BUT I sold several average, generic pedals to get something magnificent.

Feel free to ask any questions.

http://i1160.photobucket.com/albums/q493/Warren3333/Pete Cornish/P1030161.jpg

Heartfeltdawn

I've had most of the OD/distortion pedals and my impression is that they offer a very polished sound. Some were quite bland to my ill-educated ears (I'm a Gilmour hater which will give you an idea of where my tastes lie). If money were no boundary to my pedalboard, I still wouldn't have them on my board. 

Wazmeister

http://i1160.photobucket.com/albums/q493/Warren3333/Pete Cornish/PeteCornish2.jpg

RaymondLin

The thing i find strange is that I've seen quite a few of these rig rundown on Premier Guitars but I have never spotted a single Cornish pedal in sight so I wonder if they are really that 10-15% better? Since these the price isn't a problem for these people.

Gassage

Raymond- go on his website and look at the client list. Re the dirt- the cc1 is hugely better than anything I've heard around that gain level and the p1 is sublime as a muff.

Van_Hayden

Yes and no. They're fantastically well built. The boutique pedal market has some shocking build quality on expensive pedals but the Cornish stud is solid. They sound great but only if you like the tone they make. I didn't like a few of them like the NG2. The TES is a bit of a revelation as you can hear what can be done with a basic boss pedal, it's very good but expensive.

£400 is expensive but then try buying an original tubescreamer. Also work the price backwards with VAT and dealer margins the trade price will be much less.

The wait time is coming down now though as there's three of them building. I suspect used prices will fall.

I've just sold my SS-2, mainly because it was too big and secondly because the Cali76 TX-P buffer does as good a job and I've got a King of Tone that suits me for what I want at the moment.

There's something about the buffer that the clones don't manage. I was on a quest for a Cornish buffer as that's one of the best parts of his pedals, it's great. You can put it at the front, in the middle or at the end of the board and it sounds better without adding noise. All the clones I've tried add noise unless they're at the end if the chain. I get less RFI through too.

I have a feeling they are hand selecting components to get the low noise and consistency, that takes time.

I'd like to try the CC-1 next.

And I wish I hadn't seen the delay above.

JDE

I cannot speak for most pros, since I ain't one and apart from his board builds (Graham Coxon etc) and PF tribute bands and Gilmour fans (nothing wrong with that!), I think the reason is that 10% better thing. To appreciate that 10%, you need to have 90% more time. Most pro guitar players have absolutely jack all free time, particularly not time to kill trying 30 different Muff pedals - it could be the best BM clone ever, but line up 5 of them to do a shoot out and you'd have forgotten number one by the time you hit number four. That and the fact online and in rig rundowns, you generally only see the touring rig. Which is basically built for ease rather than toanz.

I am sure PC stuff is on a boatload of records we don't know about, but that kind of high percentage of nitpicking, it's unlikely his pedals will be on the floor of The Goose and Bastard anytime soon. His cables are everywhere in the west end of london, though.