Re: Acoustic Guitar effects quest

[Richard Sales <richard@glasswing.com>]

If you wanna save money, the Ensoniq DP4 does all this.  I've seen them on Ebay for pretty cheap.  Not selling mine right now.  Haven't tried the pitch shift on guitar - no idea how it tracks.  But I bet you could get one for a fraction of the TC Electronics G Force.   I think I've seen them on EBay for a couple hundred US bucks.  Cost me about 1200 US new!  But I'm pretty sure it has all the features you want and I think it sounds good.  

It has a nice chorus, MIDI sync delays etc.  I haven't tried the distortion stuff on the DP4 yet.  I also have a Digitech Twin Tube that does pretty good distortion - 12AX7 tubes.  Does chorus and delays too... but no pitch shifting.  
I would check these out if you wanna save $$$.  The Twin Tube is mostly good for chain saw distortion - big Marshall kind of stuff.  

If you're not in a hurry I've been pondering hooking up the DP4 to my acoustic setup.  Maybe I'll try it and see how the pitch shift tracks.  But I'm pretty busy with projects right now.  Maybe a month or so.  I'll give the report if and when I can get to it.

I'm looking into a harp guitar to do bass lines while I play.  They're expensive though... and will require a lot of practice time to get good at.  So that might be a project for my next life.

Let me know if you find a good pitch shifter than can track an acoustic guitar.

I know Xavier Rudd uses a crossover to split out the lower freq's of the guitar to get bass live onstage.  Heard it = it was pretty huge.  Actually, TOO huge! Through an SVT cabinet.  Big woof!  They tried everything and nothing tracked well enough.  Also, live Xav uses one of those Ibanez Tube Screamers.  I've bought a Durham Electronics Sex Drive for overdrive - it's traveling to me as we speak.  I'll give the report on that when I have time with it.  219USD.

www.xavierrudd.com
www.durhamelectronics.com

Just to confuse things, my current fave echo is the Fulltone Tube Tape Echo.

www.fulltone.com

It's wonderful.  Fat, thick, sweet,,, a wee pinch of nasty if desired.  Great tube echo.  About 1100 USD.  You can get a used old Echoplex Tape Echo but they're like buying an old car.  You'll need to spend some $$$ to make it reliable if your'e gigging with it.  But tape echo sounds very sweet compared to digital.  I've seen old Echoplexes on Ebay for between 200-800 (high number for the old tube models) dollars.  Would cost about 250 (or more if trashed) to make reliable.  I'm doing that to my old one now so I can have TWO tape echos!  Oooh weee!!!  The solid state old Echoplexes still sound better than digital echo in my lowly and very humble old school opinion.  I used mine on my acoustic and it sounds great.

The king of pickups for wooden acoustic guitar, from my experience, is the K&K Trinity Plus (www.kksound.com).  Sounds amazing.  Like a real guitar!

The undisputed champion of chorus is the old Roland Dimension D.  It is the hand of God on guitars.  Like magic fairy dust.  Hard to find now and over a grand to buy.  But it's glorious.  Very.

Good luck

richard sales
glassWing farm and studio
vancouver island, b.c.
800.545.6846
250.752.4816
www.glassWing.com
www.richardsales.com
www.hayleysales.com
www.blueberryfieldsfarm.com
On 3-Feb-07, at 5:02 AM, L.A. Angulo wrote:

> i my ongoing quest for a good efx proccessor for my
> stereo acoustic guitar id like to have your input.
> At first i was looking for a 2 input stereo floor unit
> with tuer poly octave, boost, chorus, delay and reverb
> but there isnt any out there as far as i know.So now
> i am looking for a rack unit and
> I need the follwing features:
>
> A)2 input and stereo outs for my acoustic stereo
> preamp output,i am using a magnetic and transducer.
> B)poly octave effect that tracks acoustic guitar good
> enough for looping bass sounds(like the boss Oc-3)
> C)boost
> D)tap delays,old analog dealys and echo simulations
> E)easy readable tuner
> F)if possible overdrive or distortion
> G)A good EQ
> H)dual independent channel proccessor
>
> my recent considerations are:
> TC electronics G-force
> the latest lexicon boxes like the mx series
>
> My regards to you and thanx for sharing your
> experience!
> cheers
> Luis
>
>
>
>
> www.myspace.com/luisangulocom
>
>
>
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