Friday, August 31, 2007

Keeping it simple!



Call me weird or, I don't know, shallow, non expressive, boring. I don’t think so. What I like is simple. I don't need a one pedal does all, gives all, sounds like anything you want. I'm analog by nature and so are your ears. Believe it or not thats why a true guitar tone freak loves tubes and analog. Its more pleasing to our analog ears and brain. Digital is great for some things but not others. As a live sound technian for over 25 yrs. I'll tell you, "you will not cut though the mix with digital effects and amps" or at least its much harder (from and sound engineers point) to do so. Digital was designed for the studio, so why try to make it work live. Also,why buy a pedal that claims to do everything, or are you just a switch and knob person? I find one or two good tones from every pedal and use only those setting 95% of the time. So does more or bigger mean better quality or better tone? The answer is a resounding "NO". Don't get me wrong there are many great guitar effect pedals out there (some with lots of switches and knobs). Each is unique and some are better than others. But lets be honest, do you use all the features of a fully loaded something or other. Sure you can play with all the knobs and switches, but does it sound good between your guitar and amp, or are there only one or two tones that sound good or even great. Does it sound good in your bedroom or only at stage volume. Does it sound better in a band mix versus stand alone. These are all valued questions.

I like simple. I don’t need much beyond volume, gain and some kind of tone shaping (as long as the pedal has a quality sound to begin with). I need the pedal to do its job simply and effectively. Do you constantly change settings on a pedal while playing live. I don't. I set the volume, gain and tone I like and need, stomp on the foot switch and play. Sometimes simple is just more efficient and user friendly. Knobs and switches are great for studio work when you have time to really tweak and use different tonal patterns, but most of us don't spend our lives in the studio, we play live. Just something to think about. After all isn't is all about the tone, and when you find it, it's HEAVENLY.
The 2 pedals shown are the "Spiritus Sanctus" distortion, base on the original DOD 250+, and the "Divine Echo" our analog voiced digital delay with up to 300ms of delay (can be modified to 600ms).
Contact Dana at: ao.heavenlytone@verizon.net for more details.
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