Ugly Guitar Truth: TC Electronic Drip Spring Reverb

Spring reverb. It's probably what most guitarists think of when you say reverb. That's one of the reasons why spring reverb is a hard thing to emulate. Not only do people have lots of different experiences with different reverb units, but to get a handful of electronics to make the same sounds as reverberating spring is no small feat. Many have tried and have had great levels of success. However, those units are typically expensive. TC Electronics has announced a pedal that wants to give us an authentic spring experience for a fraction of the cost. How well have they done? Well...

It gets close. It's not the most spot-on sounding pedal, but maybe my point of reference is a little off. I compare all spring reverbs to my Fender Twin or Blues Jr. But the name Drip probably points to a more vintage style. Reverb was used a little differently in the 50's and 60's. It was an effect. Think of nearly any classic surf song and the guitar will have a heavy spring reverb. That specific effect is called "Drip".

Will this unit do a subtle spring reverb? I don't know. The video by TC showcased a few interesting tones. But it's hard to call it a very detailed review of the pedal. It's almost like a teaser of the pedal. It shows just enough so that we say, "Hey, that's interesting. I want to know more about that." And that's where they leave us.

Fittingly, this pedal is about like the others in this line of affordable TC Electronic pedals. It's fine for what it is. It is a $60 reverb. I'd say that I like this one a little more than the Skyverb based on the fact that it can neat surf sounds. I could probably do something similar with my current reverb set-up but it could be nice to have a different style of reverb on tap. I'm not too crazy about these one-trick ponies. It does a neat trick, but it's only one trick.

Ugly Guitar Truth: TC Electronic Vibraclone Rotary Vibe

TC Electronics has put out yet another batch of affordable pedals. In this round of pedal, TC has included a Rotary speaker emulator. The Vibraclone is a vintage-inspired pedal enclosed in their tank-like boxes with top-jacks. There has been a lot said about this line of effects, but TC is putting a lot of weight behind them. So far, these are the only thing that we've seen out of TC for NAMM 2018. Is this what we have to expect from TC from now on? While I do like several of the pedals in this line, I hope to see more innovation from TC like their V.2 of the Flashback and HOF. Let's take a closer look at the Vibraclone and see what we're working with.

This isn't your typical rotary pedal. Yes, there are other two knobbed vibes out there, but this one has a little trick. These pedal are usually light on features, but this one has a switch. The switch is labeled Rotary/Chorale. Along with the Vibey goodness you'd expect, you can also get chorus and flange type effects out of this one pedal. It's not often you can pull more sounds out of a pedal than the pedal actually sounds. If you're looking for a fun pedal to add some mod sounds to your tone, this might be of interest.

While rotary is a great way to give your tone some cool vibes, This pedal has a little quark that would make me pause and want to try before I buy. There is no depth control. The is only Drive and Speed on the Vibraclone. Now, this might be where I show my ignorance. I haven't found a pedal that the Vibraclone is a one for one clone of. If the Drive is the same control as the Intensity knob found on others, then that makes a big difference. As I listened to demos of this pedal though, it sounds like it actually has some gain or overdrive/boost build in. All this leads me to believe that there is no subtlety to this pedal. It is either on or off. While the TC Electronic videos are not the best demonstrations, Gearmanndude has an excellent demo where you can hear all the sounds in this pedal. If your interested in this pedal, then give that a listen.

Conclusion

Is this pedal a most have? Not for me. I do enjoy a rotary sound. however, the lack of actual control of the effect gives me a little pause. Sure, you wouldn't be able to control the depth of an actual Liesly cabinet, but this is a bit of electronics. Why couldn't there be a depth knob? There are plenty of pedals that give you a lot more control over this type of effect. However, those pedals are generally much more expensive than this one from TC. There is our compromise. You get an effect that does a surprisingly sufficient job and you don't have to bust the bank for it. All in all, this is a solid addition to the ever-growing TC Electronic line.

Ugly Guitar Truth: TC Electronic Gauss Tape Echo

Just ahead of NAMM, TC Electronic announced the Gauss Tape Echo. This new pedal rounds out their line of inexpensive effects. Digital, analog and now tape echo gives you plenty of options to choose from. Delay, Volume and Sustain controls make this an easy pedal to control. Also, you can turn on and off the wow and flutter mod. All these features make a $60 pedal very attractive.

Is this a pedal that can compete with a full-featured delay? No. But if you don't already have a good option for a Tape style echo, then you could do worse than picking up one of these. You won't be disappointed. You also won't be overwhelmed. Just like all the other pedals in this line, this effect is simple and light on features. And that's probably the worst thing you could say about this pedal. It does what it does, but that's it. What more do you want? It's a Tape Echo for the amount that I spend on energy drinks in a month.

Conclusion

I do like this entire line of pedals. They are everything the Behringer line of effects could have been. This pedal is an excellent example of the entire line. It is simple but well built. It gives you a great taste of a valuable effect, and it leaves you wanting more. I'll just take a second to remind you that you can pick up a second-hand Flashback v1 for just a little bit more. Just saying...

Ugly Guitar Truth: TC Electronic Fluorescence

It seems like every time I turn around TC is putting out yet another round of their compact, budget-friendly pedals. This time they have four new pedals. Typically, these pedals are stripped down, simple pedals that do a very particular job. These are no different. We are going to look at the Fluorescence Shimmer Reverb.

While the Skysurfer pedal has Spring, Plate, and Hall settings, it is more suited for shorter, more traditional type of reverb. The Fluorescence Shimmer reverb is built more as an ambient, long-tail reverb. Simple controls make this pedal very easy to use. Reverb, Mix, Tone, and Shimmer are all rather typical for this type a reverb. Shimmer has become an effect that many players have come to embrace. That makes this an attractive pedal for anyone looking to try shimmer, but not looking to really looking to replacing their current reverb.

Other than what you see up front, this pedal doesn't have very many features. TC is known for their endless customisation, but this line of effect is more about offering options for a reasonable price. TC has done a decent job putting out quality products. There really isn't a lot of complaints about any of these budget effects. Not all of them will appeal to everyone, but there is probably a few of them that would fit right into your pedalboard. The Fluorescence Shimmer might be a welcomed addition to your pedalboard.

What else can you say about this these effects? The Shimmer reverb is a winner in my book. If I was looking to add that particular effect to my board, then this might be just the thing. TC Electronics add a level of credibility to these inexpensive effects. At the rate that they are pumping out these effects, they must have a very streamline production process or a large increase in manpower. At the very least, There are a few very interesting pedals released with each one of these batches of pedals. The Fluorescence Shimmer Reverb is another solid offering.

Hands On Review Of Joyo Digital Delay

Those that shop thrifty pedal know the Joyo brand. It's been years since I've played my first Joyo pedal. It was an Ultimate Drive. I didn't like it very much despite the fact that it's supposed to be an OCD clone. I've tried other offerings of their to varying level of, "Meh". But I saw a Digital Delay sitting in my local music store's used bin and I bit. I've been on somewhat of a delay search, so I decided this would be the black horse. Oh boy...



Right Off The Bat

I wanted this pedal to be more. I wanted it to defy the expectations that pedal snob would have for it. I love to find a sleeper pedal. Too cheap to appeal to the cork-sniffers, but those willing to get it a shot would know it is indispensable. This pedal, well, it's not that. As soon as I power-up and plug in, there is a very audible, screeching noise (and it's not even on!). I turn it on and it's deafening. I quickly turn it back off and contemplate the mistake I made when purchasing this pedal. However, I realize that the delay is dimed and the signal bleeds through while in bypass. Not a good start.



Not Much Else

So, there are the standard features of a delay of this type. It has about 600ms of delay and standard Time, Repeats, and Level controls. The repeats are the rather standard digital type, nothing special there.



Conclusion

I know that there aren't as many points as I usually have, but there just isn't that much more to say about this pedal. That's about the worst thing you can say about this pedal. It is exactly what you might think. It's super cheap and you get what you pay for. Actually, you probably don't get what you pay for because if you have this pedal in your chain then you are going to get unwanted noise. You'd have to put it in a bypass loop. The only application I can see for this pedal is a practice rig, or a paperweight.

The Ugly Truth About TC Electronic Bodyrez Acoustic Pickup Enhancer

So TC Electronic brought this thing the Summer NAMM and I honestly have to say that I'm geeking out about it. It looks like a great solution for an acoustic player. The video (that we all expect to see from TC Electronc now) explains, and hypes, this tiny pedal. Like their ditto pedal, there are more features than you would expect from a pedal with one knob. There is a feedback filter, phase inverter, and mute function. In a pedal with ONE knob. Not only that, but the eagle eyed among us may have noticed that there appears to be a micro usb port. So this pedal might be a part of the Toneprint series, or at least give us more options with connectivity.

So what is so ugly about all these features being stuffed into a tine little box? Well, Lets look. If you are a acoustic player, then you probably don't use many pedals. A tuner as some sort (which may not be a pedal), A DI to run into whatever PA you use, and maybe a tone shaping tool provided that your onboard electronic doesn't do it for you. You might run a delay or reverb, but that is a Effect as apposed to signal processing. What TC Electronic has made is a super compact pedal that provides a simple and elegant solution. But these are other options.  BBE makes the AcoustiMax that does everything this pedal does and give you tonnes of control. It is also roughly 7 time larger than this pedal, but it includes everything but a tuner. Aphex make the Acoustic Xciter. I love this pedal as well. The controls are a little more open to interpretation, but the effect it has on a peizo pickup is amazing. It doesn't have all the function of the Bodyrez, but you'd be hard up to find a pedal that does what it does as well. I'll be first in line to get my hands on one come September, because these don't hit the market till the 29th of September. I guess we will have to wait till then.

The Ugly Truth About TC Electronic MojoMojo Overdrive

I took a trip to my local guitar Mecca and had a look around. I had been feeling like I need to get something out of the ordinary. Something that will challenge and inspire me in certain intangible ways (I wanted a new piece of gear). So, armed with a tiny budget and a little bit of trade-stuffs I ventured forth. What I found was something that caught my attention. It was the TC Electronic MojoMojo Overdrive. Four knobs and a micro toggle on an OD pedal was enough to temp me. Nearly all my dirt are three-knob-jobs, so I wanted to see if this could offer something that I currently cook up with my rig.

First I ran Modern Player Tele through the Mojo into a little Yamaha lunch box amp. My first thoughts were not good. I fiddled with knobs and ran through pickup selections and nothing was good. Of course this could have been due to the 2.5 inch speaker on the Yamaha amp so I changed to a Fender Deluxe Reverb. Clean sounds were great (duh) but this is about a pedal. I fiddled and fiddled with the pedal, looking for the sweet spot that would make the sound that is currently unavailable to me. I never found it. There was some nice voices that I found in the pedal, but nothing that made me want to commit. The best tones of the day were found running straight to the Deluxe. Here is how you know I was underwhelmed, it was new and half price.

The Ugly: It was generic, bland, didn't control low well, not very transparent.

The Pros: It was cheap(ish) and had great build quality

The Conclusion: The MojoMojo lacked just that, Mojo.

The Ugly Truth About The MXR Prime Distortion

So, I've always been a little confused about MXR's line of effects. I never quite understood their line up. The Three knobs were all familiar, but how did you discern how the classic distortion was different from the Plus, or III. Recently I've found myself with the Prime Distortion and some time, so I got know just what makes this pedal "prime".

Whats Not To Like

When first looking at this pedal, it is impressive. It looks like it means business. It's a painted aluminum case with pinstriping. Metal everywhere and really solid feeling knobs. It has a super solid feel and weight to it, so when you plug it in you expect great things. From the get-go, this pedal sounds familiar. This pedal has a hard clip that make me think of the 80's. For playing the songs of a time when hair was big and men wore fishnets, this pedal is pretty prime. However, if that is not what you are going for then you might find it a little troublesome to bring it down into something a little more subtle.

There Are Some Things Not To Like

The pedal it's self is pretty nice, but the effect is a little too familiar. What I mean by that is that it sounds like another pedal. Basically, the pedal could be a stand in for a Boss DS-1. I know there are fans of the orange box, but I've tried just about every mod for this (the DS-1) pedal and never really found anything that made it a keeper. I don't know for a fact that it is a clone of the DS-1, but it sounds so close that its uncanny. True bypass is a great addition, but you are paying for that switch. The MXR pedal runs a little more than the Boss unit. And then there is the matter of the power supply jack being next to the input. This is extremely bothersome to me personally. There most those that don't mind much, but it causes problems when arranging pedals on my board.

The Conclusion

If you are looking for something like the DS-1, but like to keep everything true bypass, then this might be what you are looking for, given that you don't mind have your 9-volt jack in an inconvenient place.

The Ugly Truth About MXR Super Badass Distortion

Recently I was able to sit down with a pedal that has had a lot of attention lately, The MXR Super Badass Distortion. The most notable feature that is present on this pedal is the Mid knob. Most pedals have a Tone knob. We are very familiar with a singular Tone knob, or even having  Low and High knobs, but having a three band Eq is surprising on a compact, sub-$100 pedal. This pedal has lots of knobs. This is great for those of us that love to tweak pedals. The controls are very amp-like. We have Level and Distortion that do exactly what you think they do. Then, you get your Low, Mid, and High knobs that do what they sound like they do as well. I am not the expert on MXR. I've played through most of their distortion boxes. I can't say that I'm super impressed with many of them. My local shop is a pretty big dealer of Dunlop (MXR's parent company) so when sitting down with my friendly, neighborhood, pedal-pusher he lined up a bunch of them and ran through them with me. I was unimpressed with most of the offering of the MXR line. This was rather underwhelming because I like the looks and features of most of the modern line. True Bypass and a rugged compact case are important to me. The Distortion+ was too fizzy and didn't offer enough range. It felt like I was playing around the pedal and not setting the pedal to how I wanted to play. The Classic distortion/ Distortion III was warmer and more usable than any of the other pedals. The one that stands above the rest is the Super BadAss Distortion

The Complete Spectrum of Distortion

If you believe what the manufacture description states about this pedal, then this distortion pedal does everything from clean boost to scooped metal tones. Let's start as the beginning, the clean boost is fair. This pedal probably cleans up better than nearly every other distortion I've played. Most pedals will just die when the distortion knob goes to zero. I guess in a pinch this pedal will work as a boost, but I don't think it will replace my GE-7 (modded to take care of the hiss that is associated with this pedal). Of course the most likely use of this pedal is going to include using gain. At 9 O'clock the pedal give nice soft clipping saturation. I'd describe this as, "Just beyond breakup". Straight up noon on the gain will give you large amounts of gain. This is about where the line is between rock and heavy rock. Past this point and you'll be flirting with metal tones. At 3 O'clock it's over saturated, heavy rock/metal. Scoop the mids and you'll find some lush nu-metal sounds that satisfy that niche. This is all pretty impressive, that this pedal can clean up all the way to "clean" boost. There is a down side to all that versatility. Cranking that gain will definitely give you more distortion, but it also comes with a little extra white noise. This is not much of a concern util after 9 O'clock, but pegging the gain is going to come with a cost. Also the pedal comes with a fair amount of compression. Many metal distortions will compress your signal, but as your increase the gain you start to notice that everything is getting squished. The whole range of gain on the pedal is accompanied by some compression, but it is the most noticeable at full tilt.

Does It Really Do Everything?

In a word: no. It is my opinion that no one pedal can do everything for you. Even if it peg every gain stage that you want to play at, you'd have to change your settings to get to more than one of them. Then there is matter of stacking pedals. You can push your pedals just like the front of your amp. If you were setting up a pedal board and had $100 to spend on your gain section, I'd recommend getting two of the lower cost options that cover that range instead of trying to get a single pedal that does "everything". The way your can combined and mix these pedals are going to be a lot more satisfying then trying to find one setting that works for anything. At the end of the day, one pedal can only make one sound at a time. $50 isn't a lot of cash to spend on a new pedal, but there are a lot of good options out there. Most of the Outlaw pedals are just under $50. Of course you can get the orange and yellow boxes from Boss, but if you like the MXR line then you might want things like True Bypass and such. You could get as many as 4 pedals for your $100 From Behringer. However, if you are typically a low gain player that needs to add flexibility to you board, but you don't want to buy a ton of new gear to make different sounds, or have little space to spare on you board, then the Super BadAss might be a great fit for you.

A (Ugly) Hands On Review of Outlaw Effects

In a world that seems to be filled with reissues and clones of everything, we have very little in the way of genuinely new products. While Outlaw Effects may not be exactly breaking new ground, their line includes the standard overdrive, distortion, reverb, delay, and chorus type pedals but, the way they approach each one breaths a little bit of new life into something that we are all very familiar with. Outlaw Effects have also done this with keeping costs very low. I honestly don't know how they make money selling these boxes for what they do. These aren't one trick ponies. They have more features than you'd see on your standard (and larger sized) three-knob-jobs. So, when Outlaw Effects reached out with an offer to review a couple of their effects, I jumped at the chance. Because the only thing I like more than getting to the truth about the gear that we use is to play with new toys!

First Impressions

The pedals come in handsome boxes. Matte black, slick labels, and magnetic closures all seem like something you'd see on a boutique box. However, mine were shipped in a padded mailing envelope that got beat up along the way. The boxes aren't fully sealed and allowed some of the recycled material used as filling in the shipping envelope to coat the pedals. No big deal really, but the smaller knobs are directly mounted on the PCB and have small gaps between them and the case. Again, not a bad thing, you need these gaps so that you can actually turn these knobs, but they don't seem as "sealed" as their bigger brothers. Upon opening the cases, I discovered the same dust from the bag had worked it's way into the pedal. I don't think that will have any effect on the pedals performance, but lets just say that these pedals aren't impervious to the elements.

Upon Closer Inspection

These pedals are manufactured in China. No surprise there. They also seem to share the same case design as many of the other micro pedals on the market. Maybe even from the same manufacturer. I will go on record that the foam rubber pad on the bottom is not to my liking. It doesn't seem like that would facilitate a hook and loop (Velcro-type) strip very well and cleaning that pad off might become somewhat of a chore. Compared to the line of Joyo micro-pedals that come with a nice flat bottom to attach either an (included) 3M hook and loop strip or rubber pad, it would be a nice consideration. (Those Joyo Pedals run 10-20 dollars more than most of Outlaw's offerings.) Not only that, but the screws that secure the bottom plate protrude, so that if you were to remove the foam pad, you may not have a sure fit to your board. These pedals are basically meant to live on a pedal board. Their long and narrow shape do not bode well for them being a stand alone unit. Anyone with a clumsy, or over enthusiastic, foot might twist their ankle on these things. Having said that, I have not attached one of these pedals to my board yet, so we will just have to test them out and see.

Looking Forward

I've received two pedals to test drive: Dead Man's Hand and Five O'Clock Fuzz. I'm looking forward to giving them a thorough run through. The Dead Man's Hand looks to be a Tube Screamer with an extra toggle at the top. It's marked "Aces" and "eight". I'm not a betting man, but I'd wager that it has something to do with leveling out the mid hump. The Five O'clock Fuzz seems to be a pretty straight forward fuzz of the three knob variety. It's difficult to tell without playing, but I hear that it is closely related to the EHX Big Muff. If that is true, then I am going to be rather happy with this pedal. My current fuzz pedal of choice is the Big Muff Pi with tone wicker. The Big Muff sound is iconic fuzz with a little bit of tweak-ability. This could prove to be a home run since a notable downside to the Big Muff is it's size. I'll keep you updated as I clock some time with these pedals. Each one will get a detailed review and maybe some video. I'm very excited about these two.

The Case for Another Tube Screamer (EHX East River Drive)

So if you haven't heard, EHX has been cooking up some new dirt. There has been some backlash since a few of their "ideas" haven't been quite original. I posted my hands on review of their Mosfet (OCD) overdrive. This, if you couldn't tell be the extreme use of green or the title of this blog, is a tube screamer close. Cloning the TS-9 and it's derivatives have been copied so many times and ways that it is hard to keep track. Why on earth would anyone put another of the same thing into the world. Ibanez has cornered the market on their green box. They have the TS-9(the old stand-by $100), TS-7,  TS-5(all plastic), TS-9DX(TS with an extra knob), and the TS-808(an expensive all metal TS with a couple different resisters). They all share the same circuit. So it makes it hard to stand out in the middle of such a crowd. What makes The ERD different? It has a sexy boutique-style case, true bypass, mechanical switch, and a slick decal.

What about the sound? Those who follow the world of pedals know the name aNoLoG.MaN. I name synonymous with quality tone. He is the one who made the DS-1 into something so sought after that he was once backordered for a year. EHX bought the MaN himself in on the design of this pedal. He himself admits that it is explicitly an 808 clone. He consulted on the design of the circuit and the parts used in the build. Hopefully some of his Mojo rubbed off in the process. Everything I've read from EHX fails to mention the pedal guru by name, so kudos I guess for not name dropping. I would have been skeptical if I had not read the forum that he actually participates in.

So it looks like the ERD is a TS-9 with all the popular mods installed in it already in a pretty little boutique package designed by the "King of Tone" himself. Oh yeah, it's $58 and made in the USA. So there's that.