It Has Its Obvious Advantages
Yes, those of us that get excited about making weird noises with our guitars rejoice when a new, weird pedal comes out. Making a guitar sound like a piano is great. Being able to translate guitar notes into a piano sounds makes a lot of sense. If you don't have a piano player, or you need a piano for that one bit in that one song, then you can easily emulate that sound with your guitar. Just like the B/C9 pedals, EHX has a nack for creating convincing filters for making you guitar sound like different things.
It Has A Wide Range
It looks like there is a lot of different sounds in this box (dynamo, wurli, suitcase, wallets, eighty eight, tri-calculous, yeti, oregon, 9786 drums) Not just different voices of pianos, but Vibe, Steel Drums, and Melodic Percussion abound. This pedal takes the idea behind the B9 and C9 pedals and gets a little crazier with it. I would love to make Rhodes sounds with this thing. I like the the other two pedal they've put out, but I haven't bought them. There are a couple reasons.
They Don't Replace The Keyboard Player
There has been comments that go along the lines of, "The Organ player better not be late" or "The organ player better watch out". Sure, these pedal sound good, and they extremely easy to use, but it's not going to replace another musician. The most obvious reason being that you can have either guitar or organ/keys. (Yes I know that you can have a stereo rig where only one side is an "organ". But you are still limited to playing one part. (and BTW, not all guitar parts sound good through the B9/C9/Key9)
They Are Pricey
I'm cheap, I know that. But I get to spend about $200 a year on pedals. The other two of these pedals go for just north of that figure. So, am I going to spend a years budget on a single effect that I'm going to use once a set (maybe) or am I going to but a couple cheaper ones... All I'm saying is that it's hard to drop that much on a neat, but limited, pedal. The real question here is, "Why haven't EHX released a pedal that is editable." In stead of giving us a few preset voices, give us the option of editing our own sounds with a choice of custom presets. The internals can't be that different on the pedals. I can't see too many people running three of these pedals on their boards.
Conclusion
Out of the pedals in the series, this is the one that have gotten my attention the most. Roland have been turning guitars into pianos for a while now, but now we have it in-line in stead of running a weird midi pickup and with a record of good sounding voices. I really like this idea. I hope that they pull off these sounds as well as they've done with the organ voices. If they do, then they just might get my money... some day when I can stop being cheap...
if your budge is $200 a year, I'm surprised you review pedals. The pedals people want to read reviews about are usually $200+ each
ReplyDeleteGod that is untrue and especially for most people who actively gig and play original music vs covers. and especiallyfor art/punk and indie acts which there are a a bazillion in every major city. I think most suburban bedroom guitarists who dont really play out much or who play along to CD's or especially folks in cover bands...and the crowd that is looking to very specific and gear fetish central type stuff is geared toward the 200 bucks or more market; especially those guys who have or wanna be the EVH types with super chops. most folks want pedals for 35 bucks or less that are functional, simple and easy to use with out a lot of fuss and which are reliable in any setting/context
DeleteGod that is untrue and especially for most people who actively gig and play original music vs covers. and especiallyfor art/punk and indie acts which there are a a bazillion in every major city. I think most suburban bedroom guitarists who dont really play out much or who play along to CD's or especially folks in cover bands...and the crowd that is looking to very specific and gear fetish central type stuff is geared toward the 200 bucks or more market; especially those guys who have or wanna be the EVH types with super chops. most folks want pedals for 35 bucks or less that are functional, simple and easy to use with out a lot of fuss and which are reliable in any setting/context
DeleteIf you are serious about your craft dropping $200 on a pedal is nothing. Any other trade tools and equipment are expensive Why should it be any different with musicians? The retort might be. "musicians don't make as much money" Well that's not true. You set your own value and if you are good at what you do you get what you are worth. Also wondering how a gear reviewer can function on that budget lol. Unless you have deal to borrow gear for reviews.. . These look cool. Please do a review when you get one to try out
ReplyDeleteI agree w/u,plus I have key9,it's a luxury fx,not one u just have to have,but $200+ is what ur gonna spend on anything worth having in the boutique/luxury pedal.and at least $95+ on anything below 200 worth having. and I've had Behringer to boss,Boss wins,others are good.But ur review limit can't be just 200,u have no budget to compare with other fx
DeleteIf you are serious about your craft dropping $200 on a pedal is nothing. Any other trade tools and equipment are expensive Why should it be any different with musicians? The retort might be. "musicians don't make as much money" Well that's not true. You set your own value and if you are good at what you do you get what you are worth. Also wondering how a gear reviewer can function on that budget lol. Unless you have deal to borrow gear for reviews.. . These look cool. Please do a review when you get one to try out
ReplyDeleteHey guys! Thanks for the comments. The budget I mentioned is only for the gear that's in my personal rig. I swap, trade and barrow gear all the time. Not to mention having a good standing relationship with local music stores. Sometime you can't find something without slapping down the cash, but I try to avoid it.
ReplyDeleteAgreed, the Key 9 in not strictly "editable", but the presets are infinitely tweakable with the dry, keys, and two control knobs. There are also endless permutations out there when coupled with additional verb or drive effects.
ReplyDeleteIf you want these sounds to be more "editable", I think what you need is HOG. It seems to me, as awesome as these presets sound, you could get these sounds using a HOG in conjunction with a couple other pedals (tremolo, attack filter, etc). With that said, its also nice to have them readily available and easy to switch on. I own a HOG, but i am probably going to end up getting one of these "9" pedals here soon.
ReplyDelete