Your recommendations please!

[Tom Gilroy]

So now that I've got my dream amp, the time has come for me to add all those finishing touches to my rig, in the form of some shiny new effects. You guys know that I never do anything by halves, and I'm not afraid to pay for what sounds good.

Firstly, awesome as the Hellcat's own drive is, I would like to add some different colours to my tonal palette, and so I've been looking into a few overdrive pedals. I'd like something smoother than the Cornford's own drive. More Eric Johnson/David Gilmour than Paul Gilbert, so to speak. Which is precisely why the BK Butler Tube Driver caught my eye. With this kind of tone in mind, what other pedals do you think could give similar results?

The next type of drive I'd like would be in a similar vein to the Cornford. Very ballsy, raw drive. Just a slightly different flavour. I'm thinking the ideal pedal in this case would be something with a solid state construction, based on my experience. I'm particularly interested in your recommendations here, seeing as the range of products out there is, to put it mildly, quite extensive.

I would like a good wah. I hate crybabies and haven't been impressed by Vox or the Morleys (BH 1 & 2) that I've tried. I'm interested in Teese and the BudWah, but all I have to go by is some sound samples. If any of you have experience with any of these, or have any other ideas, please do share.

I think it's pretty vital that I get a good delay. I've been looking into the Electro Harmonix Deluxe Memory Man, which seems to get nothing but good reveiws. It also has the added bonus of a chorus effect, which I also want. Again, any personnal experience or other recommendations, please do share.

I'm also planning getting a phaser, but will probably just get an MXR Phase 90 unless somebody can tell em something infinitely superior that I cannot live without.

The final thing I can think of that I should get would be a noise gate to cut the high gain hiss from the Hellcat's pre-amp, although I really know very little about noise gates and the like. Enlighten me, please.

[JJEMMER777]

Originally Posted by Tom Gilroy

The final thing I can think of that I should get would be a noise gate to cut the high gain hiss from the Hellcat's pre-amp, although I really know very little about noise gates and the like. Enlighten me, please.

Tommy, check into the THD "Hotplate" Attenuator. I think it'll serve your purposes well You can get one for around $ 275 or so from MF.

[elcid]

I'd check out some other attenuators. I had a hotplate with my plexi ri and it sounded very lifeless with the hot plate.

[JJEMMER777]

It's all about the "adjustments" cid


Anyhow....you need an attenuator of some sort, Tommy

[Tom Gilroy]

Somebody mentioned that if I was planning on geting an attenuator, that the DR Z Air Brake was the one to go for. Anybody used one?

[David McCarroll]

In terms of pitch, delay and reverb tinkering, the TC Electronics G-Major is a superb bit of work - regardless of the fact that it is considerably cheaper than the G-Force or G-System, it just, y'know, works - easy to program, easy to tinker with, it will run your amp channel switching (does the Cornford have two channels?) and the quality of the effects is just phenomenal.

The other, uber-tweakable overdrive box is the Radial Tonebone - hey, it's good enough for EJ, so in my books that makes it good enough for, well, anyone! Also the Mesa V-Twin is a great, all-valve boost/overdrive thingy which really does sound great, as well as looking like a little Harley Davidson at your feet.

Wah, well, I'm afraid Slash and Robben Ford put me off wah forever, but back when I could be bothered I tried most of the more household wah pedals, and just kept coming back to the Vox CryBaby as the nicest sounding unit - horrible signal degradation unfortunately, but the nicest tone sweep I found - I would imagine some of the more boutique pedals available now might be better - good luck with the hunt!

Cheers

David

[screamndemon69]

+1 on the Radial pedals.
i use the Hot British and the Tri-mode. the TM acts as an overdrive and my serious gain is from the HB. real tubes, how can you go wrong?
the Boss DD-20 has a ton of features but i think Boss digital stuff screws with the overall tone a little. they are a little noisey and none have true bypass. great feaures otherwise on the DD-20.
for Wah stuff, i use the PW-10 Boss pedal with an adjustable frequency for 3 types of Wah's. that is some serious range. the Uni-Vibe is very nice on that pedal too but again, Boss digital stuff isn't as quiet as it should be IMHO. maybe that is why they sell the NS-2 pedals, due to the built-in noise from their other pedals.

[musicdr]

I use a gmajor for effects and noise gate.It can also switch your amp.You can also program a boost for solos.I'm looking for a new wah also.Thinking of a crybaby rack wah modified so the controller is the spring type,similar to how the bad horsie works.Just need more money.

[Andy43]

Since we're both avid EJ lovers, I think we both look for similar tone.

-OD: the ultimate in smoother out an amp is the BK Tube Driver. I've never found a better pedal that cuts the high end so greatly.

-Wah: even though you claim not to like Crybabies, I'll guarantee you that you won't be dissapointed with the Dunlop 535q. That is, only if you like Satriani's wah sound, which I can't see possible not liking. I find it very Vox like.

-Delay: It depends on what kind of delay you are looking for. If you like EJ's delay, I suggest either tape delay (or tape simulator such as Ibanez DE7), which add's a certain warmth to your tone, or the Memory Man as you already suggested. The Memory Man is similar to tape except it doesn't have the typical tape wobble sound. The chorus on the MM is nothing to run home about. Digital delay is good if you like that kind of sound. High-end digital delay can be modeled to sound similar to tape or analog.

I don't know much about phase as I never use it, but many artists use the Phase 90 so it should do.

[David McCarroll]

Oh, if you want to go down the total stompbox route, the TC Electronic Chorus/Flanger is the only one worth considering - again it comes pre EJ approved, totally delivers those gorgeous Venus Isle clean tones and is indestructible - mine only got retired simply because the G-Major's pitch effects are very closely voiced to match the stompbox....

go on, you know you want it........

[Dee]

Yamaha Magic Stomp for your chorus needs. No need to spend a fortune. And if it's good enough for Holdsworth...

And I wonder why you didn't purchase the Cornford MK50 MKII rather than the Hellcat, Tom?

[bikeman]

How about a Marshall Guv'nor pedal for gritty overdrive??? Works great for me

[Tom Gilroy]

Originally Posted by David McCarroll

In terms of pitch, delay and reverb tinkering, the TC Electronics G-Major is a superb bit of work - regardless of the fact that it is considerably cheaper than the G-Force or G-System, it just, y'know, works - easy to program, easy to tinker with, it will run your amp channel switching (does the Cornford have two channels?) and the quality of the effects is just phenomenal.

You'd be surprised about something being "easy to program." I'm exceptionally useless at programming digital processors. Though yes, the TC gear looks very tempting and I will certainly consider rack gear. But I must say, I'm absolutely rubbish at programming digital effects. And yeah, the Cornford has two channels.

The radial pedals definitely look interesting, as does the TC Chorus/Flanger.

Dee, I bought the Hellcat because of the tone. Pretty simple explanation.

[Dee]

Indeed. But if you're not totally happy with the overdrive and you require something to improve it... that's why I asked. The MK50 MkII gain kicks ass, and it has tone to die for.

[David McCarroll]

Originally Posted by Tom Gilroy

You'd be surprised about something being "easy to program." I'm exceptionally useless at programming digital processors. Though yes, the TC gear looks very tempting and I will certainly consider rack gear. But I must say, I'm absolutely rubbish at programming digital effects. And yeah, the Cornford has two channels.

The radial pedals definitely look interesting, as does the TC Chorus/Flanger.

Dee, I bought the Hellcat because of the tone. Pretty simple explanation.

I hear you Tom - I am about the same, but the Mesa Tri-Axis was just a must-have for me (er: Andy Summers, Adrian Belew and Robert Fripp, as well as Reeves Gabrels - probably my four all time axe slingin' idols all use, or used the TA), so I just had to grit my teeth and read the manual, after that the G-Major was a snack! - there are two things that draw me to rack mounted do-it-all boxes: one unit (a good one) means only one point of signal degradation, and being a line level effect, I can run it between the Tri-Axis and the power amp, so in any case, signal degradation is a non-issue.

I used to run about eight pedals on a permanently set up board, and even with regular maintenance, the signal loss through the chain was diabolical, so in any case, if you want to go the stomp box route, you may want to have a look at Voodoo Lab's true bypass system, and maybe something like a Seymour Duncan Clean Boost pedal at the front end to juice up your input signal and buffer the effects pedals - I think wireless rigs do the same, as they generally have above unity gain and impedance buffering.... and they are fun too!

The Cornfords sound absolutely magic to me - do they have an effects loop?