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Looper's Delight
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We've been making the rounds through distortion and wah pedals so I thought I'd start another in this series on one of my favorite effects: _*Tremelos, Panners and Choppers*_ **************** I was really enjoying the youtube video by Sitonka which, amongst other things demonstrated a *Seymour Duncan SFX-07 SHAPE SHIFTER TAP TREMELO* /*http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p4ANwjSICUM&feature=related*/ and went and watched the excellent official Seymour Duncan demo video here made by Frank Falbo: */http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=80aYopZ_gIU /* and realized how much I love tremelo effects. I wanted to hip everyone to three pedals I own that are very unique and then ask people for their experiences and favorite tremelo pedals (and tremelos on amplifiers). ***************** Firstly, I have an endorsement with Gig FX and the reason I do is because I read about their amazing Tremelo pedal called a *Gig FX PRO CHOPPER *and basically, became a pain in their ass trying to own one and promote it because I found it so cool. I, by the way, only endorse products that I love before I approach the company so I'm raving about the pedal itself, not attempting to shill for the company (though I have to be honest and say that GIG FX do make some very hip and innovatively unique pedals that have expression control of distortion, wah, etc.) I couldn't find a video demo of it, but here are some cool audio examples: /*http://www.gig-fx.com/audio/prochopaudio/prochop.htm*/ Several things are uber cool about this pedal (built like a tank, by the way): A) it has a CHOP side (square wave tremelo) with an adjustable short or long chop percentage and the other side has a PAT/TREMELO.............each side---the CHOP side feeds into the PAN/TREMELO and each side has a different colored LED light so you can see what it active. B), this puppy has a midi sync that allows you to drive it from any midi sync outputting looping pedal (Looperlative, EDP, Repeater, et. al.), sequencer, drum machine or any midi-syncing effects (like the Electrix MoFX or Filter Factory) C) the pedal allows you to change the ration of the CHOPPING to the quarter note pulse, utilizing 1:1, 2:1, 3:1 , 4:1 and 8:1 rations............the rate can also be controlled by the built in expression pedal. I use this function a lot. By feeding it some really sickly fast mid tempi (by dedicating a drummachine with a tap tempo that is not putting out audio..........you can get some wicked glitchy effects. A really great pedal., not inexpensive but definitely worth the price. ***************** Secondly, I love my *Alesis AMPLITON* which was part of their modFX series that noone bought or used until they discontinued them and they became collectables. The Ampliton was (and still is) sadly overlooked. What's so hip about it is that it is a tremelo and an auto pan in one unit but one feeds into another AND they are rhythmically synced in multiples of each other, so that you can send a square wave tremelo set to rapid 32nd notes into a slower synced pan set to 8th notes. If you use hard panning and only use one side of the pedal this effects a doubled tremelo system. They had 48k/24 bit sampling with 28 bit internal processing AND they have a mod reset button which allows one to reset the tremelo to start at the beginning of a phrase (I'm not sure if there are other tremelos out there that have this feature but this is fantastic if you are not using synced tremelos. Additionally, if you have other modFX pedals you can chain them with a 9 pin digital connector so that they never enter the analogue domain. Unbelievable that they dumped these puppies for $40 each when they discontinued them. this pedal is awesome set AFTER a looper (or as I use it, between my DL-4 and my Looperlative, EDP or REPEATER so that I can rhythmically effect my loop and then reloop it for syncability purposes. *************** Lastly, I have to mention the new *Boss SL-20 SLICER *which is not a tremelo per se but can be used with one and has a lot of auto pan functions that can either be used in stereo or with a demo plug. this pedal has so much potential but , frankly, I haven't shedded it enough to give it a great review. Michael Peters , if you happen to have read this far, maybe you can chime in since I know you've used yours more than I have. ************** OKEE DOKEE, there are a plethora of pedals out there...............which ones do you love. Also, what specific analogue amplifier tremelos do you love. I won't spoil it, but it would be great to hear about my brothers simultaneous use of three small amps with tremelo effects. It's one of the coolest effects I've ever heard spatially but I'll give him the chance to tell us about it, since he invented it.