Re: Do I need that EDP?

[Matthias Grob <matilists@atarde.com.br>]

I have learned to be very carefull with analisis of problems that 
involve "old school tube amp tone", because there seem to be some 
para scientific influences...

but what you say splits in two separate issues:

1)  Any loop before a "old school tube amp" must screw it up, 
independent on what loop unit you use, because the guitar is not 
going alone into it, the loops change its characteristics.
as soon as you seriously distort, be it with tubes or any pedal, you 
get the interferences between your actual guitar and the loop content 
which usually sounds terrible.
The mentioned solutions with insert and mic are not perfect either. 
The closest seems to me would be to feed the loop unit from a speaker 
simulator (not a power soak, since you do use the real speaker) at 
the output of the tube amp and then go from the looper into some flat 
monitor.
I never tried it. Since 1974 I am perfectly happy with solid state :-)

2)  the EDP is not quite as noise free as newer equipment is, which 
appears more when you put a compressor after it. tubes do compress 
somehow...


>Christophe wrote:
>
>>  > From all I've read and heard you all say, the EDP with the pedal
>>  > sounds like the
>>  > gold standard (apart from the Eventides and such) and the only
>>  > real complaint I
>>  > think I've seen is that it's not stereo.
>
>One issue that has gone around a few times on this list is that of 
>gain staging in the EDP.  I've held a few different opinions on that 
>issue over the years
>and presently think there is still a problem there (a caveat being 
>that my sample group consists of my 2 older model beige face 
>Oberheim EDPs).
>
>Being more of an old-school-guitar-into-tube amp-equals-tone type 
>guy, I've struggled off and on with my EDPs as tone-suck culprits. 
>Here's the issue
>as I see it:  A large part of the sound I want to hear is the sound 
>of my amp "breaking up" as my guitar signal hits the preamp stage of 
>a Fender tube
>amp.  Any pedals that change the way that signal hits the amp are 
>going to change the tone.  When going through an EDP, I have met an 
>unwinnable
>fight in trying to balance the loss of gain through the EDP vs. the 
>noise produced by the EDP.  Through proper gain staging (setting of 
>input and output
>levels on the EDP), I can minimize the problem, but not make it 
>disappear.  I do not feel it is possible to simultaneously A) not 
>distort the input, B) have a
>quiet loop with no hiss added by the EDP, and C) still have a full 
>gain signal hit the amp.  I can get the loop hiss under control, but 
>there goes my amp
>tone.  I can get the amp screaming, but either deal with hiss or 
>digital distortion, depending on whether I'm leaning towards the 
>input or output of the
>EDP.
>
>Loopers who are not concerned with old-school tube amp tone issues 
>probably don't care about this issue.  If you have an amp modeler or 
>something
>BEFORE the EDP and are then going into a super clean power amp just 
>to amplify your signal, you may never even notice this.  But if you 
>are trying to use
>the tone of your amp as a big part of your sound (like most guitar 
>sounds from the 1940's through the present), the EDP can be 
>frustrating.
>
>Don't get me wrong.  I still love my EDPs.  They are an amazing 
>tool.  This is just one thing to think about.
>
>Cheers
>
>Joe Rut
>
>--
>_______________________________________________
>
>Search for businesses by name, location, or phone number.  -Lycos Yellow 
>Pages
>
>http://r.lycos.com/r/yp_emailfooter/http://yellowpages.lycos.com/default.asp?SRC=lycos10


-- 


          ---> http://Matthias.Grob.org