Jemini Pedal

[David McCarroll]

Originally Posted by Meedlyx10

it needs two things:

-a handle
-this is the good one here....a way to attatch a fan so that when you stomp on it for a solo boost, the fan engages and you get the windblown effect for the duration of your solo.

woo-hoo - I'd buy it for the latter - especially if it came with a limited edition Steve Vai swirled wig!

[screamndemon69]

Originally Posted by courtney2018

Send it on over.

PM'd

[screamndemon69]

I think it was clever to design the dual TS-9/DS-1 (style) pedal, name it Jemini (Jem guitar reference and astrology "twins" reference) and have a swirled (graphic) housing. Someone had their thinking cap on for that one

It looks cool even if it is a graphic but I think courtney2018 and guitarnutterUK would produce FAR nicer swirls

[hippietim]

Originally Posted by Axeshredder

My answer is Yes
it was discussed at the Vai site after the Westbury NY show....next show it was gone and a standard mxr was in it place...draw your own conclusion

Well I've been at three shows where he was happily using the EVH version. Draw your own conclusion

[hippietim]

BTW, Vai talked about the new pedal in an interview and described at as an OD and distortion - not two distortions. Given that he has had a DS-1 and a TS on his board for years it is reasonable to assume they will be some variant of those.

To assume they're the same would be a mistake though. His signature guitars are based on prior things but aren't the same. His signature Wahs are based on prior things but aren't direct copies of anything else either. Same with his signature amp. I think predetermining how it's going to sound or what the quality is going to be based on a few pictures on the Internet is pretty silly.

As for the price, well you guys all have (or want) JEMs. Right? Those aren't exactly on the affordable end of the price spectrum. The price difference between a JEM and an RG is dramatic while the actual guitars aren't when you distill it down to the important aspects (neck, tone, playability, hardware quality).

And $200 for the Jemini isn't that out of line. A TS808 reissue is $169. A TS9 is $99. A DS1 is $39. Most other production distortion pedals range in price from $50 to $150.

[Canadian Mark]

Originally Posted by courtney2018

I believe that the swirl is actually a graphic. This might be in this thread somewhere - don't know. I heard it was like a screen printed graphic that's put on, and there's like 4 different prints. Is that true or am I repeating a rumor?

Yeah, I think Rich states that it looks somewhat pixelated to him in one of the other threads.

[Guitarmiester]

Originally Posted by trondulseth

The JEM guitars (most of them at least) look very nice and classy. The Legacy amp looks even more classy. And then comes the Jemini and looks cheaper and uglier than anything I've seen in any toy shop.... :S

I agree. From pictures I've seen it doesn't look all that appealing. I'll have to wait and see when I come across one. For the price it's going for, I could get a Jekyll & Hyde. I doubt it's going to sound better than the J&H, but I could be wrong.

[sleepyone]

I recently bought a J&H to pull off the TS9-DS1 trick in one pedal, it actually has the JRC4558D chip for the Jeckyll part of it. This one works GREAT, amazing for bluesy things over the clean channel and tight for driving the distortion channel. VERY VERY versatile pedal, couldn't get the DS1 sound quite yet, but it can be done, I just have to spend a bit more time tweaking. Mine's not the V2 version, they put a noise gate in that one, I don't think that will work well...I prefer to stay away from noise gates unless I don't have another option, and in this case you just can't tweak that part of the pedal :S. I'm running it in front of a made in Argentina head, a Soldano SLO100 copy, has THE TONE I was looking for all along xD

[microdmitry]

Originally Posted by hippietim

And $200 for the Jemini isn't that out of line. A TS808 reissue is $169. A TS9 is $99. A DS1 is $39. Most other production distortion pedals range in price from $50 to $150.

Come on, dude. It's SD1 and DS1 in a single pedal and it doesn't even have true bypass. It should cost no more than $130, and that's already generous. I can find you distortion pedals that cost $500, that doesn't mean all distortion pedals should cost this much.

Personally, I'm holding out for Steve releasing his own clothing line. Or maybe pre-swirled toilet paper at $25 a roll.

[Ibateur]

Originally Posted by microdmitry

Come on, dude. It's SD1 and DS1 in a single pedal and it doesn't even have true bypass. It should cost no more than $130, and that's already generous. I can find you distortion pedals that cost $500, that doesn't mean all distortion pedals should cost this much.

Personally, I'm holding out for Steve releasing his own clothing line. Or maybe pre-swirled toilet paper at $25 a roll.

signed on every square... and NOT second hand.

[hippietim]

Originally Posted by microdmitry

Come on, dude. It's SD1 and DS1 in a single pedal and it doesn't even have true bypass. It should cost no more than $130, and that's already generous. I can find you distortion pedals that cost $500, that doesn't mean all distortion pedals should cost this much.

Personally, I'm holding out for Steve releasing his own clothing line. Or maybe pre-swirled toilet paper at $25 a roll.

Using your logic a JEM should be about $1200 brand new these days, and that's already generous.

BTW, true bypass is one of the most comically overhyped things out there. There are just as many respectable builders out there that will tell you a buffered pedal is a way better idea than true bypass. If you were playing guitar pre-Internet then odds are very good you never even knew it was an issue. Before boards like this most of us just bought and used our gear without knowing or worrying about that sort of BS - either it sounds good or it doesn't.

As for the toilet paper, that'd be pretty nifty.

[kotornut]

Originally Posted by hippietim

Before boards like this most of us just bought and used our gear without knowing or worrying about that sort of BS - either it sounds good or it doesn't.

You know I miss that. I miss the non-competitive nature of advice before forums and review sites. When you could actually just listen and play and decide.

I do however like geting some help when I would have been stranded before the internet came along.

You can't have both can you?

[screamndemon69]

Originally Posted by microdmitry

Or maybe pre-swirled toilet paper at $25 a roll.

Not sure I want to know if that would be a "brown/yellow(corn)" swirl

[hippietim]

Originally Posted by kotornut

You know I miss that. I miss the non-competitive nature of advice before forums and review sites. When you could actually just listen and play and decide.

I do however like geting some help when I would have been stranded before the internet came along.

You can't have both can you?

You can absolutely have both. Just have some common sense and ignore the hype. I see over-hyped gear being dumped daily on message boards just like this. The best example is at the Gear Page classifieds where you can buy last month's "greatest" pedal/amp/guitar.

[microdmitry]

Originally Posted by hippietim

There are just as many respectable builders out there that will tell you a buffered pedal is a way better idea than true bypass.

Yeah, as long as it's just ONE buffered pedal, the buffer is not noisy, and your cables are more than 30 feet long. For my money, I'll take true bypas, thank you very much.

And yeah, I think Jem should be around $1500 brand new. It's just an RG with a slightly thicker neck, monkey grip and a modified tremolo cavity, after all. I had a Jem 7VWH for a while and couldn't see what the hype is about. It's a great guitar, to be sure, but RG3120 is every bit as good.