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Looper's Delight
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William Walker wrote:
> andy says
>> I got the Pigtronix Philosopher King, and I'm a bit unsure about it.
>> (it's the same compressor as the PT, but adds Attack/Decay/trem)
>
> Do tell, so is it a true ADSR and do the expression pedal ports do
> anything at all?
ADSR
Its possible that when you play a note it first swells
in (Attack), then it can Decay as quick as yo like down to
a level set by Hold.
So it's officially an ADS
The release part only works when you mute the strings,
and gets the ADS ready to do it's thing again.
Release isn't a knob, it's an LED that shines bright blue
when the Attack part is primed and ready to go...
...quite useful in getting used to the response.
Really I'd call that "Reset", there's no way to
vary the Release time, ...and of course in normal use
there's no need.
The Attack and Decay parts, called Swell and Fade
are individually switch-able, so you can have A without
the DS or DS without A.
There's a Sensitivity control that governs how quickly
the reset happens. Not sure exactly how that works,
for me I just put it up full for the quickest response.
There's extra goodies to be had when the AutoReset switch is engaged,
and the Fade is switched on.
This turns the PK into a triggered tremolo.
With Swell(=Attack) turned off the Fade control works as a speed
for a sharp stutter trem ( Saw Tooth). The first "trem" happens triggered,
then the repeats
come regularly until your note fades out, when they briefly slow down
before stopping.
With "Swell" also engaged the trem is a repeat of the AD cycle.
Swell and Fade knobe vary shape and speed.
When using tremolo, the Hold knob functions as a Depth control.
Here's what the expression pedals do
1) CV in. Disables the ADS part and works as a swell pedal when
compressor is switched on. Very nice.
Fade switch adds a slight boost to the signal
when engaged (intentional??).
Feeding in a standard control voltage (moog) does nothing.
2) Swell in. Controls swell(=Attack) rate. (and tremolo speed if
Auto-Reset and Fade are engaged)
3) Fade in . Controls fade rate. (and tremolo speed
if Auto-Reset and Fade are engaged)
CV Out... manual says its 2...12V
so not compatible with any known standard.
Wouldn't risk sending it to a 9V pedal.
Couldn't get it to do anything much useful,
as everything I have with CV in expects 0-5V.
Probably only works with other Pigtronix stuff.
Of course, if you hit Bypass the triggering stops working,
...so the CV out then becomes useless.
(all round, a but of a Non-Feature)
Trigger In.
Yup, that works, sent it an LFO voltage from a Moogerfooger.
It won't re-trigger all that fast though (same as with the guitar input),
I'm going to write to Pigtronix about that to ask if a mod is possible.
Running an LFO into it in combination with the PK Auto-Reset produces
a nice compound 'galloping' rhythm with a fast Auto-reset being 'gated' by
the CV input.
I found a problem with trigger in, if the audio input is continuous
and above threshold it stops the reset from happening,
so no triggering. (will ask Pigtronix about this, could be a fault)
>
>> A couple of time the sound dripped out completely, or went quiet and
>> distorted,
> that sounds like that wimpy solderless connector thing happening on the
> board
Right...well *that* can be dealt with.
Actually a soldered connection from a component mounted on the case
can also be a weak point, as this can lead to breaks in the copper
tracks.
..,but agreed, while it may be intended as an improvement, and probably
costs more, the solderless connectors seems to be a bad idea.
>
> >Also, there's a nasty click when the pedal is engaged.
>
> thats not good
yep, it's a consistent high pitched click, annoying if
if gets into a loop.
>
>> To me, the controls don't really seem to make the compressor
>> controllable in any way.
>> Doesn't seem possible to completely eradicate the 'phut' and the
>beginning
>> of the note, especially finger picking low notes.
>> ...but then I've been a "no compression" guy for a number of decades
>now.
>
> you talking expression pedals or the knobs themselves?
the regular knobs.
> again I say
> compression should be a subtle thing so to avoid the dreaded pumping
> turn up the input volume, turn down the sustain to between 9 and 10
> oclock and bring the blend up to taste, treble up full, unless your
> guitar is particularly bright.
right...that sounds good :-)
thankyou
I found that when using excessive compression it's better
to use the Attack/Swell as a noise gate, to kill off the hum
between notes (this being the regular guitar hum that's amplified, not a
fault of the PK)
> Ok so this brings us to the next issue, lets go out on a limb here and
> assume it was built in China, so the likely hood of a bad batch of
> components potentially effecting an entire run of compressors (assuming
> its the same basic compressor board in both pigtronix models) is not
> only possible its quite high actually.
ok, it's screwdriver time.
The King has only one circuit board, so it's not the same comp board as
the PK.
(could still be the same cheap component batch of course).
It actually look very well made. Every chip is in a socket,
and the solderless connector thing does look like a way
to avoid stressing the circuit board (a pity it's problematic.)
The components are not surface mount.
> now I feel really guilty for
> having sung such high praises of this compressor.
Please don't.
My hum problem goes away when playing through gear connected to the mains,
so I guess it's a bad earth via the supplied psu.
If those solderless connectors play up...they will be eliminated :-)
I liked the Treble control a lot.
..and thought the dreaded Grit control sounded ok
with the treble right down.
I like the way that the grit (unlike the tone)is only on the compressed
part of the
signal and can be blended out to create that clean amp alongside
the dirty amp sound.
Probably the PK is a keeper, I'm going to do a comparison
with a Wampler Ego unit that a friend lent me.
(it has an attack control for the compressor)
> Yes I think its a
> better sounding compressor than most on the market but this is very
> discouraging to hear.
I've really enjoyed checking it out, and having some guidance
in tone law from a master.
many thanks
andy
> Bill