.: sound clips :.

sound clips and other snippets

let's make some noise...

Ibanez Wau Wau Fuzz

I had this pedal in for a tune-up, and decided to record its fuzz section just for fun. It sounds like a cross between a broken transistor radio and an Octavia, in a twisted sort of way. The wah is - for some strange reason - wired backwards (i.e. with the brightest sound in the heel position), which makes for some interesting sounds. Still, it didn't make that big of an impression on me - it wasn't dramatic enough for my taste, and the fuzz section more or less ate it up completely. But the fuzz was way cool... listen to the sick overtones it generates: ibz_wau_wau_fuzz.mp3 (370 kB)

Xotic Effects / Prosound Communications RoboTalk

Just a short clip, lifted from a rehearsal tape with Jade Ell. I'll come right out and say that it is extremely hard to follow the random arpeggiator, especially at this tempo. But it is also extremely rewarding when you get it right. Sadly, the guitar isn't miked here, so what you hear is what the room mics are picking up. After all, we didn't record this to make soundclips for my site... I've doctored the eq, to bring the guitar out as much as possible, and added a touch of room reverb. But other than that, it's just a rehearsal recording. RoboTalk.mp3 (283 kB)

Please observe that the rights to the material in the above soundclip is owned by Jade Ell.

The pedal also has an envelope filter mode, which is uber cool. It's so drippingly funky that at the last gig, people in the audience actually went "wohoo!" when I kicked it in... It goes much deeper than an Auto Filter or Auto Wah, and you can hear the filter manipulate the sound much more clearly. For now, the only clip I have is from the same rehearsal tape as the arpeggiator clip was taken from. It's from a cover version of the Pretenders song "Brass in Pocket", by the way. Anyway, I've messed around with the eq, to try and bring the guitar out, but this is the best I could do. Until I can properly record something, it will have to do: robo_env1.mp3 (197 kB)

Ibanez CS-9, Boss CE-2 and DC-2 chorus pedals

How many chorus pedals do you need? And do they really sound different enough to warrant more than one? The first question is easy - in theory, you only "need" one. In reality, you want as many as you can get your hands on - just as with all other things... But the second question - that's a little tougher. To investigate, I decided to record three chorus pedals, using the same guitar, same amp and the same riff. I used my no-name strat, in drop-D tuning, and my trusty '69 Fender Twin. First you will hear the riff played dry, then the Ibanez CS-9, followed by a Boss CE-2 and finally a Boss DC-2 Dimension C. The CS-9 and CE-2 were both on the same "industry standard" settings (speed at 11 o'clock, width at 1 o'clock), while I decided to rotate the DC-2 through all four settings available.

Here's a pic of the waveform, to help you follow the clip. Click it to hear the clip (297 kB).

Note how the Ibanez CS-9 stands out - it boosts the gain quite a bit. The clip is slightly compressed, but you can still hear it dominate the proceedings. The two Boss offerings are not as metallic sounding as the Ibanez, with the Dimension C being the most flexible of the two. But I'll be darned if I can decide which one of them should go on the pedalboard...

TC XII Phaser

This is the daddy - you can select how many phase stages you want (4, 8 or 12) and there's a function control that goes from "linear" (regular phasing) to either fully "peak" (the phaser is augmented with a frequency peak as it sweeps - not unlike a wah) or "notch" (an inverted version of the "peak" mode - now it's a frequency dip that is swept up and down the frequency range). The clip features the no-name strat again, as well as the Twin, and speed is set at "1" (from there you can decrease or increase the speed by a factor of 10). "Width" is set at "5" - close to full, but not quite. "Function" is set at 11 o'clock - almost the linear setting, but with a slight peak. I start out with 4 filters, then move to 8 and 12 respectively - you will hear the effect thicken as we go. Right at the end, I turn the speed down a little and set the "function" fully counterclockwise (full "peak") - note how the even order harmonics start to jump out. TCXII.mp3 (194 kB)

The pedal originally came with two program plugs - essentially two stereo tele plugs with different resistors wired into them - to change the sweep range. The red one lowers the sweep range, while the blue raises it. When I got the pedal, the blue plug was missing. They're easy enough to make, though, and the manual has complete instructions on how to do it. It also has instructions on how to wire a cable to use a regular volume pedal as a manual control. I'm not exactly sure what the manual pedal does - if it manually controls the sweep, or if it alters the sweep range - and I eventually sold the pedal. So I guess I won't find out, then.

Roland Jet Phaser AP-7

AP-7.mp3 (114 kB) - the first few bars of the song "Lover's game" by Jade Ell, performed live at club Alcazar in Stockholm. If you listen closely, you can hear the phaser change speeds - around 0.04 it slows down, then speeds up again. I usually start this song in the "slow" setting and immediately switch to fast, to take full advantage of the sound when the speed changes. And by the time the rest of the band joins in, it will be up to speed. But for some reason I didn't do that this time. "Oops, I forgot" is the phrase I'm looking for, I think... Anyway, there's an overdrive on there as well - either the Ibanez TS-9 or the Boss OD-1. I believe it was the TS-9 on this particular gig.

AP-7_2.mp3 (105 kB) - taken from the same gig. This time it's the first bars of "Chocolate". The phaser stays on the "slow" setting the whole song. No other pedals are in use here.

Copyright info: The rights to the music in the clips above is owned by Jade Ell.

Fender Vibratone

Just for fun, while I was recording some soundclips for my StinkFoot Electronics site, I decided to try and capture the Vibratone experience. I used my trusty Wahlberg strat with the neck single-coil, and the Yamaha T100 (the Bassman in the pic wasn't in my possession at the time of recording). As the recordings took place in my bedroom, I had to keep the volume down, so you will have no problem hearing me stomp on the "speed" switch... When the switch is activated, the cabinet does emit a small "click" through the speaker, but that is usually drowned out by the guitar (as the click is introduced after the amp, it doesn't get louder as you turn the volume up). This time, the major part of the "click" you're hearing actually comes from the switch itself.

Anyway, using a leslie is a bit different from using regular stompboxes. You need to plan ahead - if you want the "full speed" sound, you have to click the switch a few seconds in advance, to get the right speed at the right moment. It's like playing a separate instrument at the same time... you stomp on the switch when the leslie needs you to, regardless of if it's in time with the music or not. Get to know your leslie (or simulator) - you need to get a feel for how long it takes to get the thing spinning steadily at full speed, and how long it takes to slow down again. Oh, and listen to as many Hammond organ players as you can. The Hammond organ with a big leslie is quite possibly the coolest instrument around.

vibtone.mp3 (298 kB) - the clip starts with the rotor on slow speed. When used like that, you just know what the chorus pedal was invented to simulate... After a while, I start to change speeds (the footswitch clicks gives the game away). The rotor in my Vibratone needs about five seconds to reach full speed, and most times I switch back to "slow" before that. Towards the end you can hear the rotor spinning at full speed, and then it slows down again as the last chord decays.

Korg G4 Rotary speaker simulator

Korg introduced this one in 1994 as part of their ToneWorks line of floor units. It's designed to mimic the sound of a Leslie 122/147 cabinet, a job it does admirably. I'm still having a hard time getting used to it, though, as I'm used to playing a single-speaker leslie. The Fender Vibratone/Leslie 16 I normally use doesn't have a horn - only a 10" guitar speaker. The 122/147 the G4 simulates has a 15" woofer and a 2" horn, divided at 800Hz. To me, the horn seems to spin up too fast, and the woofer too slowly - which is exactly how a woofer/horn based leslie behaves... Basically, I'm used to more uniform speed changes. If you compare this clip with the Vibratone clip above, you'll hear what I'm talking about. Still, the G4 is a lot easier to carry, and that accounts for a lot...

The clip is played with the neck pickup on my no-name strat, tuned DADF#BE, and my '69 Fender Twin. The G4 drive knob is set at 11 o'clock. G4.mp3 (376 kB)

The G4 is great to have on gigs when the stage is too small for the Vibratone, or when I'm too lazy to bring it. Also, for festival-type gigs, where the backline is provided and there's not really time to set up and properly mike any new equipment, I can still bring the leslie vibe with me. I run it via a StinkFoot MiniLoop box, which gives me the ability to bypass the G4 completely when I'm not using it - since the G4 itself can't be properly bypassed. The input/output level section and the speaker simulator (if you decide to use it, of course) is always active. Since I like to use the drive section, the bypassed sound ends up being too weak. So a true bypass box is a must with this one.

Danelectro DJ-20 Rocky Road

Here's one you need to hear - it's the first leslie simulator I've come across that actually comes close to sounding like the Fender Vibratone. I have no doubt that the engineers at Danelectro would have preferred to be able to make it simulate a Leslie 122/147, with its separate horn and woofer rotating in opposite directions, and changing speeds at different rates. But the demand for a low sales price probably prevented them from doing it properly - which actually works in its favour... Yes, it sounds a little one-dimensional and weak compared to other (more expensive) simulators, but for the price it is sensational. One complaint I do have is that even with the ramp time switch set to "fast", it uses a bit too much long time to get from "slow" to "fast", which makes it a little hard to use. Oh, and the size thing... it's tiny, and the two switches are way too close - don't even think about controlling this one with your shoes on! You need to get in there with your big toe...

Here's what it sounds like - I plugged a strat straight into the Rocky Road, and fed it to a close-miked Fender Twin Reverb (the pedal is turned off during the opening chord): rockyroad.mp3 (252 kB)

Tech 21 XXL + Danelectro Fish & Chips EQ

I never really could figure out how to tweak the XXL to my liking. The tone control works both ways - it boosts the bass as you try to tame the top, and removes bass as you turn up the treble. I felt the pedal had way too much treble to start with, so I tried turning it down, and got loads of bass in return. No matter how I twiddled the knobs, the overabundance of either treble or bass always left me with a big hole in the midrange... Though, on the first gig I ever played with the pedal, it sounded awesome. I ran the XXL into a (then unmodified) TS-9, and into a Mesa/Boogie Blue Angel 2x10". The bass cut and mid hump from the tubescreamer smoothed out the XXL perfectly, and the natural honkiness of the Blue Angel topped it off nicely. But the TS-9 didn't sound that good on its own, so I let it have some more bass and took a bit of the mid hump out of it... and naturally, the XXL suffered as a consequence. Also, while it sounded great that one night, it also didn't seem to belong together with the amp - it felt like it had decided on its own sound, and wasn't about to let any amp be part of the process... I put it way back in the closet. Eventually, I started wondering if I could use an EQ pedal to lure out some of the midrange, like the TS-9 had done, and it actually didn't turn out half bad! The clip is played at low volume, in my bedroom, and the signal chain is Wahlberg Strat (w/ Lundgren bridge pickup) -> XXL -> EQ -> Fender Twin. I set the XXL's tone control to about 10-11 o'clock (where the bass was relatively normal) and used the EQ to dial out top and bump up the low midrange (250 and 500 Hz). First you'll hear the clean tone, then the XXL on its own and finally the XXL and EQ combo.

XXL+eq.mp3 (184 kB)

In the end, it wasn't enough to save the XXL - I was able to dial out most of the harsh treble, but there was still a certain "fakeness" about the tone. There was something wrong with the top, and the pedal still didn't gel at all with the amp - it seemed to float on top of the amp's own sound, rather than blend into it. It did the same on its own as well - there's a vaguely disconnected feel to it, that I just couldn't get my head around. I don't often sell pedals, but this one I saw no reason to hold on to. Plus the guy who bought it had been searching high and low for a replacement unit - it had been an integral part of his sound, until it broke down on him - so I was more than happy to let him have it.

StinkFoot CloneBender

Both clips played (sloppily) with fingers only. Wahlberg strat and the CloneBender (a Vox/Sola Sound Tonebender clone) into my '70 Fender Twin at bedroom level. It sounds a bit different through an old Marshall turned up rather loud...

CloneBender.mp3 (346 kB) - bridge pickup. About halfway the guitar volume is turned down a bit, then back up again at the end.

CloneBender3.mp3 (382 kB) - some neck pickup blues noodling. The fuzz really sputters here.

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