It's not that I dislike master volumes; there's plenty of MV maps I like. I just gravitate toward NMV for lower gain things. If I'm getting the majority of my dirt from the amp, I'd like a master volume, at least for live use. It just so happens that two of my three fave-o-rite maplification units I've spent a goodly amount of time on have no master volume in their best form. If it says "Mesa" or "Bogner" on it, though... Or probably even Marshall for that matter, because I'm not that much of a hater I want to kill everyone for miles just for some dirty tones. I can find better reasons to kill them for. I think it's kinda funny for someone who, comparatively, doesn't use that much gain I'm usually running at least a little dirty though.

Okay, the Good Doktor can have his thread back now.

You know how I love a good random tangent (sometimes a cosine will do).

I'll have to find something else you might want in order to get that box of coins.

Amp arrived today via inter-dimensional travel means. It sounds spectacular. Not incredibly gainy, but I like it. Much more so than the Blue Angel. Fuck that thing.

In the end, what did you wind up disliking aboot the Blue Angel? Just: that is required pedal distortion? Or something else also?

Also, as an aside, have you ever had a Badcat Extreme Tone/Matchless HotBox/etc, fall into your clutches?

I suppose I just didn't bond well with the sound overall, really. I suppose I'm just not terribly into the 6v6/el84 sounds. I like the bigger tubes. I'm much more fond of the clean sound of the Mark. The necessary pedal was just kind of extra icing on the fecal cake.

And no, I've never had a chance to use one of those. Are you considering building one?

I just ran across some schematics/layouts for those two i did a few years back, but never built.

I expect them to be awesome, but it is practically like building a whole amp/preamp, and so back then that is what i did instead. However, the idea of them still nags at me. I need to be less financially useless. As soon as i become so, i will probably build one.

Of course, then i will also have to build a large powerful cleanish amp to use it with.

A vicious cycle.

I forgot those pedals existed. They could be fun.

I would buy one from you.

I'd actually thought of commissioning a glitchy fuzz from Chris yesternacht, but one of those would work too.

I highly recommend chris in the building of dirt boxes.

Mine have had no issues, are nice and quiet (or understandably noisy given the nature of the beast [massive fuzzzzzz]) and look cool to boot.

me thinks we can keep the tinkerer busy and employed with our coinage.

Sure, i would build one for any of you. But the bits are kind of pricy for a "stompbox". Basically it is the whole preamp of something like their normal amps, just without a power amp section or output transformer.

So you save some cash on not needing big transformers or an OT, but that only drops it a $150 or so max below what it would cost to build a 15w amp. Still solidly $2-300 just in parts needed to build the thing. More depending on what is used for a power transformer.

If any of you ever want one, i would gladly build it though. Would certainly cost way less than Matchless/Badcat charge for it.

Anyhow, i would love to be notbroke enough just to build whatever. It is sooooo much easier to sell stuff that is already built than to have to do like take money up front to be able to buy the parts. That is totally one of the lamest business models evarrr.

I can't decide if I want a compressor, a rat or some sort of fucked up marshall-box-based dirt machine.

While i quite enjoy a compressor on occasion, i do feel like dirt pedals always seem to be more bang for the time spent building.

For guitar, i mean. I like studio compressors a lot. They can make things sound ridiculous.

But a typical guitar compressor, is a little more like a clean boost, in that, it can be boring. Mostly i use mine for that like Tame Impala super hissy compressed phaser thing. For that i love it, but other than that, i don't have a ton of use for it.

Dirt pedals though, i always like. Things you step on, and they go boom. Obvious results, drastic changes. I like that.

The compressor/pre device we discussed you don't even have the calibration equipment to properly build, so I suppose that should be a back-burner future project for when I have the proper facility to use the thing set up anyhow.

But a horrid fuzz is pretty well instant gratification for a comparatively small outlay in parts. Even the Matchless/Badcat preamp deal is what, maybe half as much as a bastardized blue-stripe 1176 with the preamp bits it already has used for... preamping, even in parts, never mind time and labor!

I really need to pick up an M9 before I get another dirt box. I needs delay, reverb and trem damnit

Aye. I eventually figured out that i could probably use items that i already possess to calibrate the oppressor discussed, with some fiddling. From what i read, the pure accuracy of the calibration signal is less important than the tediously detailed adjustment balancing act. I.e. that a signal provided does not need to be exactly however many hertz at exactly however many volts, as much as the meters have to be carefully adjusted so that exactly so much of a change in the controls results in exactly so much of a change in the metering, that sort of thing.

But yeah, while quite a bit cheaper than readily available commercial options, it is still a pricier bit of kit.

Also: I don't know how much it is BS, but i read a couple instances where folks were advising, other folks not to put a DI in a compressor such as that one, but rather to use a high quality fancypants DI box forit. As far as a matter of quality is concerned, i guess i can see that somewhat, as any DI tacked into such an oppressor is not likely to be of full-on preamp quality(fitting a full preamp in the box with the compressor would be its own party: technically doable, but the PCBs and chassis available don't really cater to it) so rather a simplified sort of DI solution. I.e. a simple JFET sort of preamp/DI with a toggle switch to insert it at the correct point instead of the XLR.

Anyhow, not to go wildly tangental or anything, just, i realized just now that i didn't PM you aboot all that shizz before.






ANYHOW. Yes, a terrorfuzz is magnitudes of cheapness less. Most pedlols can be done under $150 totale/shippt, sometimes well under, depending on what it is. Technically, i should charge more, but i don't like the way the math looks when it gets to the end of the equation. (i.e. why i am broke )

Yar. They are beslicked. The M5s also look doaptome.

The M9 i want for its looooper however. I require one badly. Any looper really. One of the few fx that there is not really a good DIY/cheapbastard solution to.

Yeah the M5 would most likely do everything I would want to be able to do in a recording situation, but I still want the ability to do most of that stuff "live" and I don't like recording things in a manner that I wouldn't be able to reproduce live (except drums, in which case I would just try and find a drummer).

Re: cost, I don't really care. I just want cool gear that does its own thing that I can keep and use forever. A tough-sounding FET compressor is readily available for a moderate to substantial bit of cash, but an oddball version like the blue stripe or something that's been monkeyed with less so. I figure if I'm gonna be rolling with more OTB studio gear, unique or unusual pieces are the way to go. Especially with compressors. And thank you for the update, Chris. I appreciate it.

Re: fuzz, I realize I'm using my Geiger Counter for that, where it should really be used for the even-more-awful things it does.