EHX Pedal Hacks

Started by DreamTheory, June 05, 2014, 06:15:21 AM

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Fusion

#25
Quote from: Bill Ruppert on May 16, 2015, 06:05:59 PM
Jeff Beck tried the EHX Soul Food a few weeks back and dug it.
It was going on his board last I heard.

There are no pedals that reproduce what some of the EHX pedals can do.

If you have 20 pedals in series on your board with out a switching system I have a deep sympathy for the poor soul who ever has to record you as well as the listener.

Levels are a part of tweaking and each song has to be mapped out in tones and gear not recorded on the fly as it were. Some engineers are simply hacks and arm chair quarterbacks. A good engineer knows what to do and how, much less a good studio has a enormous amount of gear. I have around 20 pedals and rack gear but that is not to say my sound is an over processed wash out. I might have only one or two pedals on at a time, they are merely tone options and color changes.
One might make the same statement using a guitar synth with the range of dynamics and levels from one patch tone to another.

Not saying Soul Food it is not a good sounding pedal or that many use EHX pedals here and there.
But the Soul Food is no Klon, how does one claim something is a clone lacking specific components of the Klon circuit?
Jeff's taste diverts a great deal from what I consider his better stuff and so on, but I heard the same thing about a Fulltone pedal he tried in the studio, a Catalyst, I think, which is a pretty good pedal as I hear, but that never made it on his board. As much as love Jeff's playing and fusion stuff he often does things I cannot listen to more than once. If he drops his Klon for a Soul Food I might start to question his senility. If You want a good Klon try and Archer, it is the deal. I like it for the great quality buffer and clean boost qualities. J.RAD's manufacturing arm made the first run of the KTR Klon for Finnegan, the Archer is their version had they had design input.
I am sure the Soul Food sounds good, many like it, but a plain old TS also sounds good, issue is there are a million different pedals out there and half the fun of guitar for me is experimenting and checking out pedals that are more boutique and higher end build. That sense of experimentation is why I play the guitar synth. I am sure some hate the GR, as when they try to windmill a string sound or a piano they have tracking issues.

What one has to consider is a great guitarist can make anything sound good. Like I said one would be hard pressed to label a "bad" pedal these days but indeed some are better than others it is not always about the price but more so quality. I tend to prefer hand made USA but that is not to say there are not good assembly line pedals. In general, in this life you get what you pay for. A $40 pedal is not going to out perform a $200-300 boutique job.
As always I merely recommend to anyone to use what they like and what does the tone for them.
I have seen plenty of name players looking at their boards one often gets the sense their tech has little sense of buffers, bypass, signal load, power supply isolation and so on. So trying to copy what some name player uses might be a bit of a goose egg as not everyone is a member of Mensa or even a good knowledgeable sound tech or engineer.
I am merely saying given a pedal type you could certainly find another pedal of the same type that is better.  There are a million pedals out there these day and a million more I have not heard of. Being a pedal user since they began, I have been through a lot of different makes and so on. I know what I like but that is also what suits my style and technique not to mention my musical taste. I am just saying experiment, break from the ordinary and generic, isn't that why we play guitar synth and love this site for the higher end users insights?
An experienced guitarist can ring the best out of any pedal and many do, but it is not to say there could not be something better that if you tried it you would push the other one off your board. I am certain of it. I do that probably 2-3 times a year as for one thing I get tired of the same tones and want some diverse newness.
"Long ago in days of old when magic filled the air..."