software

We've all encountered them at some point in time, effects boxes that piqued our curiosity or were mercilessly hyped by the salesman, and when we plugged in and test-drove, only to find that we'd been given a snow-job and had our ears offended!

Mine was an encounter with a DanElectro quot;Sitar Swamiquot; pedalSitar simlation pedal, sounded like a great idea. Plugged in, and was INSTANTLY repulsed by this horrrible raspy fuzz/phasing sound that literally hurt my ears. NOTHING CLOSE to a sitar at all! No wonder they discontinued this pedal, THANK GOD!!!

What were yours?

Mine would probably be either a Foxx Fuzz pedal.

The Foxx Fuzz was 1 I tried in NYC and was s'pposed to be a great, vintage Fuzz tone. I plugged it in and it was 1 of the thinnest sounding pedals I've ever tried (TO was there when I tried it, he'd probably agree). Maybe the battery in the pedal was dead? All I know is it was just horrible (imo of course)

Craig


Originally Posted by BrowMine would probably be either a Foxx Fuzz pedal.

The Foxx Fuzz was 1 I tried in NYC and was s'pposed to be a great, vintage Fuzz tone. I plugged it in and it was 1 of the thinnest sounding pedals I've ever tried (TO was there when I tried it, he'd probably agree).

1. Total crap.

1 to the Sitar Swami... sounds NOTHING like a sitar AT ALL... not even REMOTELY CLOSE!. It sounds like a whammy pedal's 2 octave up (a crappy one at that) with a crappy phaser built in. Absolute WORST PEDAL EVER.

Flangers are not my fav, but i tried a really nasty one in a store once that made me laugh so much that they kinda asked me to leave, thinking i was high...

probably the danelectro black coffee distortion pedal.

the danelectro flanger pedal. Lets just say that it was discontinued for a reason. It made my amp sound like their was a cat stuck in it.

Boss Mega Distortion....... Sounded good thru the stores amps... set up right it sounded like a beefy DS1 with more lows..... thru my amps it sounds like mud.

I also have an old AMPEX Phaser... it's a little metal box like MXR size... Has 3 knobs on it..... when you step on this thing it sounds like a jet engine!!! But at the same time when it is off it kills your signal so baddly!

WhoFan

Ah, mine would be the Digitech XP-200. I came across this pedal when I was looking for a leslie speaker simulator....and this one has one...but god it sucked...so did every other effect.....absolutely sucked the life out of my guitar tone...took me about two weeks to get rid of it, and that's including the one week test period I gave it, and one week it took to find a sucker to buy it from me. sold it for what I paid for it though, so I didn't lose any cash on the deal
My worst pedal experience was with a Boss Metal Zone. It was probably my 3rd or 4th distortion/od box i ever bought. As soon as i said i wanted a heavy distortion, everyone i talked to pointed me towards this. The guy in my local store set it up and it sounded decent, so i figured with some tweaking and my amp it would sound awesome...boy was i wrong. I had it for about 4 months and i couldn't find a good sound for anything. Everything i tried had a nasely, trebley, fuzzy overtone. This was about 3 years ago and playing through the Metal Zone made me hate any overdrive/distortion box for the longest time.

Another vote for that sitar swami thing.

Nothing except a sitar, sounds like a sitar.

Digitech PDS1550 Programmable Distortion. I think it was one of the first Digitech products to come out. Boy, did it suck.

The 'Grunge' pedal too, was that DOD? That just took the piss.

And these utterly useless clunkers, The Morley Pik-Pedals: The Pik Attakc, Pik-Wah and Pik-Percussion.

Couldn't find images of them right away but I do remember trying at least two of them (circa 1979 or 1980) The basic gimmick was the pedal had a special cord with a metal pick at the end. Supposedly, using this electric pick setup, these pedals would enable you to do auto-wah, smooth out your pick attack or the exact opposite. Needless to say, the series BOMBED!!! These things were BEYOND USELESS!!!

Here's an unusually positive review from Harmony Central of said vintage pedal:Ease of Use: 10
ACV is a pretty straight-forward piece of gear. There is a toe switch that switches the unit between volume pedal mode and Attack/Control mode. There is also a toggle power switch. And of course, an optical volume pedal. The power supply is internal which is very nice! No batteries or wall warts! woo hoo!!!!!! The ACV effect requires a special quot;Pikquot; in order to quot;triggerquot; the effect. The quot;Pikquot; is connected to the unit via a 1/8quot; Tip ring cord... Mine didnt' come with a pik, so I made one out of a guitar cord and a metal pick.. I just soldered the leads to the pik and taped it. A very ghetto approach, but it works.

Sound Quality: 6
Well, the thing is from the 70's. It sucked quite a bit of tone and I lost quite a bit of volume when in the Attack/Control mode. There was also some static/hiss noise when in Attack/Control mode. The effect itself is actually pretty cool. It did what I wanted which was to automatically swell and cut off the initial attack of a note or chord. Combined with some distortion and some delay, I can get some pretty cool violin sounds. I played Pach's Canon and it was very cool. Without distortion, it's almost accordian or harmonica sounding.

Reliability: 5
Again, this thing is from the 70's and pretty old and very rare. I would not gig with it period. I replaced the optical bulb, which thank heavens, is still the kind Morley uses today. The unit seems pretty well built... metal construction.. but more tin like than tank like. Having said all of that, mine works and probably works just as well as when it was new.

Customer Support: N/A
And yet again, this thing is a rare vintage hard to find piece of gear and Morley offered no support/assistance whatsoever. I pretty much expected that and I can't fault them... I was given some places where I can buy schematics, but no info on where to find the quot;electric pikquot; piece.

Overall Rating: N/A
It's hard to rate vintage gear, so I won't. I bought this off of Ebay DOA. I replaced the optical bulb, McGyvere'd an electronic Pik, and I'm in business. It does what I wanted it to do, although I was hoping for a better quality in sound and I didn't expect the quot;pikquot; thingy.. I'm primarily a fingerstyle player, so my style is cramped... However, the thought did cross my mind to solder up some metal finger-picks... that thought died a quick and quiet death.

wow, quite a few danelectro pedals here

I had a DOD mutieffect I hated. No good sounds whatsoever and soooo limited in its functions and programability...


Originally Posted by Kyuss_RockAnother vote for that sitar swami thing.

Nothing except a sitar, sounds like a sitar.

My Variax does....

I would have to say any type of ring modulator. I cannot find a use for one. On the other side, A friend of mine used an effect called a quot;Twisterquot; back in the early 1980's. It was in a gray box and sounded like a mutated flanger/phaser. I wish I could find one....


Originally Posted by Butch SnyderMy Variax does....

serious? sweet, maybe i should look into one of those.

My Danelectro Cool Cat chorus was really good, so I would say not all their pedals are crap.

I have never personally owned a pedal I didn't like (except an old Crybaby that broke repeatedly, but it sounded good), but a friend of mine bought the DOD quot;Grungequot; pedal. Terrible! The worst part is he used it on his bass!

I never cared for Octave Fuzz's or Ring Modulators.......no use for them.

The worst? Anyone remember the Digitech DSP 128 ??? That unit almost singlehandedly destroyed DOD/Digitech's reputation in the music world! That was the worst sounding, and most noisy, multi FX unit ever made......just horrible!!!

I couldn't even FIND a buyer for it.......I ended up giving it to a kid for free.


Originally Posted by ratherdashingMy Danelectro Cool Cat chorus was really good, so I would say not all their pedals are crap.

i think its all the quot;mini-pedalsquot; that are useless.