Rig of the amateur: happyorange

Heady Jam Fan · January 29, 2012, 03:17:40 PM

Lol, Happy's a cynic!

To be honest, I don't know much about technical details, I know less than 4ms is a very short time (and I didn't know that was the spec until now), but I have not idea how that would effect initial attack. I also trust Analogmike, he is a great guy in every experience I have had with him and definitely seems to know what he is talking about.

I think the Retro Sonic is great for the price - I got mine off Ebay a couple weeks ago. I generally like enough attack to give some dynamic, but it can be a thin line between too smooth and continuous snapping/popping.

JHS has a mixed reputation. I have had two experiences with them and neither were ideal: I got a Morning Glory and the soldering was pretty crappy - two wires on the footswitch had come loose in the mail before I even got it so I had to resolder it myself; I sent them a pedal to mod, they said it would be a little tricky but not problem, after 2.5 months, they said they couldn't do it and the tech shocked himself messing with the pedal - they did a few changes that got half way to what I wanted, covered the pedal in JHS stickers and sent it back (I sold the pedal later that week).

IamWILSON · January 29, 2012, 03:26:59 PM

Quote from: Happyorange27 on January 29, 2012, 03:06:02 PM
OK Heady I read you. I saw that once as well. I think Analogman doesn't know what he is talking about unless he is offering 0-4ms of attack as something that's going to be noticeable. It's not. But hey I bet folks eat that shit up and say they have to have it. I'm just saying its a scam. You can't have a negative attack time either. Thanks for supporting your claim. If you can't tell I love all the details.

I agree with happy on this! Not to discredit anything that Heady is saying though. But if 12 o'clock is 4ms attack, then that mean the knob offers a range of 0-8ms of attack time/delay, whatever? Is that really much of a difference?

Another thing about Analogman, I have much discontent for anyone who openly attacks and questions their competitors and needs to explain why he is better than others.... kinda like a friggin politician who shouldn't be trusted. I

Heady Jam Fan · January 29, 2012, 03:30:45 PM

Lol, I sense a bit of animosity toward analogman on this site - people don't like his silver, his business tactics. Though I do see what your saying about comparing to competitors, but I also suspect that he is upset that he put a lot of work into retro-engineering the compressor, then to have other builders copy that effort.

PS - no worries about discrediting me! I am just relying on what AM said, who I personally think is a good guy/builder.

IamWILSON · January 29, 2012, 03:46:52 PM

I don't really have animosity towards him. I just question his character. Regardless, I mentioned in that other thread about getting the Keeley modded ts-9s and compressor back in '02. At that time I had no idea who analogman was. It wasn't like I chose Keeley over him. And this was also before Trey was using any of his gear, so my guess is there wasn't many musicians into the music we are into that knew about AM at that time. And I don't think others on this site have a problem with AM, as many probably have the silver ts9. From day one of 2.0, I didn't like Trey's tone as much, and I found out after the fact that he was using the AM pedals. So I feel like that is part of the equation. And as far as if anyone copied him or whoever pioneered the clone of the Ross, that doesn't matter to me at all. What matters to me is who is honestly providing a solid product that makes me happy about my tone. And besides, wasn't the Ross comp a copy of the Dyna comp anyway? And if AM is upset about someone else doing the same work he is doing I hope he's never been involved in writing a song that uses an chord progression similar to what has been done before.

Shit! Now I sound like I have animosity. Anyway, I hope this is read with a grain of salt as well as the idea that it's author has a dry sense of humor, and a touch of cynicism.

Happyorange27 · January 29, 2012, 04:00:26 PM

I don't mind AM at all. Just saying he might be sugar coating a specification.

Heady Jam Fan · January 29, 2012, 04:06:18 PM

Yea, I like the Silver's personally, more clarity than the modern TS9. I never really liked the Keeley ones, his mod seems to change the voice a bit in the upper mids, at least to my ears. I have thought about trying some other TS versions, but I am trying to stay away from the buy/sell thing for a bit. I was thinking about doing the Jack Deville Click-Less TB mod on the two I have now.

Happyorange27 · February 10, 2012, 10:53:55 AM

I got this new old 80s tube screamer from Wilson. It's the furthest to the right. I freaking love it.

Heady Jam Fan · February 10, 2012, 01:54:53 PM

Sweet! A second TS really adds to the board IMO.

IamWILSON · February 11, 2012, 03:30:59 PM

I'm glad your diggin' the pedal Happy! So as somebody who now has an original and a silver. What do you hear as the differences between the two. Maybe you can post a video or audio comparison of the 2. It might be hard with the straight plugs you have between them, but if you got an old rt. angle to rt. angle 6" cable laying around, you can actually have the pedals close enough to stomp at the same time, thus switching one off while switching the other on. That is what I do with my 2 pedals, I usually refer to my cleaner one as my "always on pedal," but I do sometimes switch to only the dirtier one, and then add the cleaner one back in as an extra boost later on in a solo.

Happyorange27 · February 11, 2012, 03:33:46 PM

I'll do that when I have a chance. All I can say is that the original is inspiring and every spot is a sweet spot:)

Happyorange27 · February 11, 2012, 07:41:37 PM

OK here is a quick comparison. Sorry it's not comprehensive.
http://soundcloud.com/happyorange27/ts9-tube-screamer-silver-vs

Heady Jam Fan · February 11, 2012, 08:07:06 PM

Sounds good!

The tone is slightly different, the Silver being a little brighter, and the texture of the overdrive is slightly different as well.

Both sounded good, but I liked the 80's on Tweezer more.

I think the milder hump of the 808 circuit might lends itself to chord work.

IamWILSON · February 12, 2012, 03:09:34 PM

Thanks for doing the comparison Happy! I've always wanted to hear something like that. I'll offer my take on what my ears heard:

During chord playing, they both sounded very similar, but when riffing and hearing one note plucked at a time as they blend together I hear this little fizzy or fuzzy sound coming from the vintage ts-9 that just makes it sound a little fuller, warmer, or maybe bigger is the word. I really like that element when the volume knob was tapered back to clean up the effect as I think it retained more body. It really stood out to me when you did the tweezer riff.

But my favorite part, when listening with headphones, is right after you say, "that's it for now," and you can hear one of your boys sigh..... epic!

phishlips · February 13, 2012, 08:42:49 PM

I liked the Silver better. Great demo.

the_great_lemon · February 13, 2012, 09:07:39 PM

You're rig sounds aweeeesssooommmmeee(seriously!!!) Happy! Great demo; I slightly prefered the silver just because I found it a bit less fuzzy compared to the vintage one. it makes me curious to hear how they would stack.

Btw, im looking into getting those billm mods before any more pedals....I'll keep yall posted if I follow through