Lazy sprocket

[Happyorange27]

Here is a swell pedal. Yeah it swells. Except I just want to use it so that it is barely noticeable. So that I can attempt some Trey legato. I know that amp sag could achieve this possibly but I'm not sure. I have no sag. On the song off Joy "I've been around awhile" or whatever that song is called, Trey has some sweet legato. There is no hard attack at all. If you can tell me his trick I would love to know. Anyway this is how I would do it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TprN_l9RIno&feature=youtube_gdata_player

[Heady Jam Fan]

Interesting... I don't have the album Joy, the couple songs I heard didn't make me want to buy the CD honestly, but I believe I do know what you mean in Trey's Legato, though I always assumed it was compression from the lead channel of his amp(s) as well as his touch and I never considered how he used his tremolo (the effect hasn't jumped out at me in his music and I haven't sought it out, mostly I am interested in the core tone and not the extra gadgets, though I did spring for a vibe cuz it is awesome). Either way, I haven't gotten nearly as close to that sound (if we are thinking of the same thing) as I would like to eventually achieve.

If you want to introduce sag in your amp, Weber sells something they call a Copper Cap. Most of the models replace tube rectifiers, but they also have models called 'modules' that replace solid state rectifiers and mimic sag in a tube (though I think the copper cap is more linear rather than the complex curve in power that results in a tube rectifier). I thought about trying one out of curiosity, especially when I considered using only 6L6 tubes in the Mesa, they are supposedly fairly easy to install for someone with your abilities.

Anyway, I think this is a pretty cool clip, the guy rips and gets a pretty sweet tone with an RI TS9 and a Strat and I think he does the legato thing pretty well:
http://youtu.be/vYWSTuxmOs4

[Happyorange27]

Cool. That's the Alegid Artist. I don't even have to play the video. I've watched him a bunch of times. He is amazing. I'm amazed at how good he nails Trey. It should remind us all that technique and performance almost always beats out gear. Good post!

[Happyorange27]

http://www.justinholton.com/hotrod/sag.html

[Heady Jam Fan]

Yea - I am trying to keep the gear to a min - my newish addition to my signature, the Jerry quote, reminds me I play better when I think less, I think less with a simpler, more stable rig.

Alleged Artist does rip and after seeing some of his other vids, I asked if he would do a lesson with me and help me apply some theory, but he wasn't too responsive (seemed to dig the idea, but took him like a week to apply to each email, then no contact).

Looks like that link is another option to the Copper Cap. I hadn't heard of the technology till recently, but I guess you are familiar.

Anyway, sounds like you are looking for a subtle swell. My first though would be a volume pedal, other than that, if a trem is too extreme, modding in a clean mix (or depth control) might help.

[fulltone1989]

The Lazy Sprocket was based off the Boss Slow Gear pedal, and although it's super rare and sought-after on the gear page I can't really think of why 

I'll be the first two admit that I spend too much time fiddling with effects, overdrives in particular. I have to try every possible combination of my big three before I ziptie the cables down and everything becomes permanent and although this tactic is good I guess for getting a feel for the pedal and your moneys-worth because you get 100% of what it can do, it takes a good chunk of time at each practice session. What's weird though is that the pedals with more switches (MDV, Repeater) were almost set and forget after I found some settings I like.

[CaptainPeyote]

I've built a couple of Lazy Sprocket / Slow Gear clones, and to tell you the truth, I'm not all that impressed.  When built stock, the max swell time isn't very long, and the sensitivity doesn't work too well with hot pickups.  There are mods that can be done to compensate for both these things, but they still left me wanting a little more.  The pedal is basically just a noise gate, and playing it properly takes some getting used to - you pretty much have to mute the strings to "reset" the swell every time, making that legato sound harder to achieve beyond the first note in a run.  Ever since I got a POG 2, I use the swell on that instead.  Better tracking of new notes, longer swell times, and no real learning curve technique-wise.

[Happyorange27]

Thanks Captain.  That makes sense and I'm not really inclined to get one now.