Best effects for a Tele?

[oldrocker]

Well OK Markm you may not consider yourself a guru but with all the comp builds that you do, you definitely blow me away.   I haven't heard of the Saffron Squeeze.  Is Saffron the company name that makes them?  Keep me informed on how it goes with this one.  I'm always curious when I hear of something that I don't recognize.

[markm]

I haven't heard of the Saffron Squeeze. 

The Saffron Squeeze was the Comp of Way Huge fame.
It's a modified ROSS comp.
Don't know if it's better or worse than the original but, I'd like to find out!

[nightingale]

I am a tele guy too.
I dig the LPB-1, OD-250, and the Muff Fuzz [tranny version] all sound real nice to my ears w/ my 52 tele RI's. I am constantly flipping between these 3 pedals. For solos I have been using a shin-ei companion for that 1968 Neil Young vibe. I love it!

I guess It's time to try a compressor for slide?

cool thread!

[Gilles C]

A compressor for slide? Yep, it seems so. The same for me. Never used one, and never been satisfied with my sound.

I decided that in 2007, I would find a sound that I like. First move, a Tele. Next one... seems like a compressor.

I have a truckload of buffers , and many overdrives/distortions. Time to use what I built, and have fun.

The OD250? I'll have to check that. I don't remember if I built one. I know I built the Black Cat, VL OD, Ross Disto, TS-9, Tube Reamer V1, but can't remember about the others in this family...

[Dragonfly]

Sparkle Boost, Orange Squeezer, EA Trem, and OD250.... you're set...unless you want some Zep tones, for which you'll need to add a tonebender.

AC

[Gilles C]

No Zep.

Sparkle Boost, or Cattle Drive or Cream Pie that I already have?

[Mark Hammer]

Salut mon gar, et bonne année!

Welcome to Tele territory!
Much of the discussion so far has been with respect to preferred compressors.  The general question, though, was a list of effects that would bring out the best, or at least the "vraie nature" of the Tele.  Compression is obviously one of them, but there are others.

Certainly a decent tremolo is part of what you should have, but a smooth phaser and a decent slapback should probably also be in there.  I forget what you have for delay purposes right now, so maybe you could refresh us.

As well, there are certainly many cases where the "perfect" Tele bridge sound can be gotten just by pickup/bridge alone, but there are many cases where the idealized bridge pickup sound is just out of reach.  In those cases, some sort of either resonant booster or other voicing circuit for upper midrange is helpful.

Finally, if you have never played with an "exciter" circuit before, rhythm strumming on a Tele with one of those is a real pleasure, so add that to your list, though further down than the other things I've mentioned.

[Gilles C]

Merci Mark, and a toi aussi.

As you can see, I want 2007 to be the year for a come back to the guitar world in a "new and improved" way.

The only delays I have are part of a multi-effect. Like a Tonework that I never cared to use a lot, and a Fender Stereo Pak. These sound good, and I could/should probably use one of them for slapback.

But I forgot to mention that when I was younger, my dream was to get an Echoplex, because that's all there was in these years. Ventures, Jaguars, Venturfes, etc... Remember? And I could make that dream true with a modern version of it. I don't know yet... Boss DD-?, Echopark, or something like that. Just maybe. (Not maybe anymore, check added comment)

But you got me. Never really heard of the Exciter, except maybe for the name. You are making me curious...

Et tu as très bien compris ma question...

Cheers,

Gilles

Added: Oh btw, how is that for new, improved... and vintage 

I ordered the Analog Delay kit...

http://store.guitarfetish.com/modboards.html

[Mark Hammer]

The "exciter circuits" provide for that very glassy ultra-crisp sound you often hear in rhythm playing by funk and some country players.  It was first introduced over 25 years ago by the Aphex company with their Aphex Aural Exciter. 

Exciters are different than "enhancers" in that they create high end that did not previously exist, while enhancers boost the existing high end in response to properties of the input signal.   They do this in one of two ways.  One method is to simply highpass filter a portion of the signal, boost and clip it, then mix some of that harmonics-of-harmonics into the original signal.  This is often diode-clipping of a symmetrical or asymmetrical form.  A second method that Aphex (and probably others) use is to use frequency doubling of a highpassed signal to generate the extra HF content for mixing (this uses an LM13700 modulated by the audio input signal for frequency doubling).  Either way, the created HF content is mixed in with the unprocessed clean signal to create something that has more harmonic content than it originally possessed.  If the highpass filtering and clipping is just right, and the mix set not too high, it sounds like the best new strings and single-coil pickups you ever heard.  Usually it is used on acoustic tracks to make them sound "more real than real".  Any time you have heard acoustic guitar where you thought "Man, those are bright strings!", it was probably processed with an exciter.

Jules Ryckebusch had a circuit in Electronic Musician some time ago called the "Harmonic Sweetener" that provided an "exciter" function.  I adapted part this circuit into my Woody acoustic simulator pedal.  Since I know you have an AC-2,  that gives you some idea of what an exciter can add....only without the additional bass boost.  The posted harmonic Sweetener schem is actually not the original, but is, I believe, one that RG drew incorporating some mods I proposed.  The original has no adjustment of the filter frequency.  I found that such adjustment was necessary to get the best sound.  And of course, since the signal amplitude of the highpassed portion would depend on where the rolloff was situated, some adjustment of gain for the clipping section was needed to compensate.

Here are some links to circuits over at the experimentalistsanonymous website (thanks, Colin!), some of which do an enhancer function and others which accomplish an exciter function.

http://experimentalistsanonymous.com/diy/Schematics/OOP%20Japanese%20Electronics%20Book/harmonic-exciter.gif
http://experimentalistsanonymous.com/diy/Schematics/OOP%20Japanese%20Electronics%20Book/phase-exciter.gif
http://experimentalistsanonymous.com/diy/Schematics/Tone%20Control%20and%20EQs/Aphex%20Aural%20Exciter%20B.bmp
http://experimentalistsanonymous.com/diy/Schematics/Tone%20Control%20and%20EQs/Elektor%20Harmonic%20Enhancer.gif
http://experimentalistsanonymous.com/diy/Schematics/Tone%20Control%20and%20EQs/Elektor%20Harmonic%20Enhancer%202.gif
http://experimentalistsanonymous.com/diy/Schematics/Tone%20Control%20and%20EQs/Harmonic%20Sweetener.pdf

It is not the sort of effect you want to leave on all the time, and it will usually provide nothing of value if the guitar itself and/or the amplifier and speakers lacks any basic crispness, but if you like a nice glasssy rhythm sound from a Tele with the neck and bridge pickups on, that's the ticket.

The Echo Park has a nice slapback function, and with the "tape" simulation can sound pretty convincing.  However, it would be nice to have an MN3207/BL3207 or BL3208-based slapback that incorporates some sort of tailored filtering and coloration of both the overall delay and recirculated portions to emulate tape slapback.  Most of the time the filtering is really directed at simply keeping the delay signal clean and noise-free.

[Gilles C]

Ok, thanks for the details about the Exciter. I always wondered why the Harmonic Sweetener was called like that...  It just looked like a clipper with a blend circuit to me 

So once I'm decided on the other effects to use (I still want to have some distortion/overdrive sometimes, and will probably use the GDI-21 for now), I'll experiment with the circuits you posted. The Aphex Aural Exciter uses a nice bunch of stuff.

So for now, I could try the AC-2 and just cut the bass to check if I like the sound. But now I know that an Exciter does more...

Btw, the Stereo Pack that I have is based on the 3207 for the chorus and delay stuff. 

Gilles

[Mark Hammer]

Look at this one: http://experimentalistsanonymous.com/diy/Schematics/OOP%20Japanese%20Electronics%20Book/harmonic-exciter.gif

You can see that the lower 3 op-amps sections are a state-variable filter, with the highpass output tapped.  The first op-amp stage in the upper left (with Gain Adj) provides for producing a very hot treble output.  That results in the clipping by the diode by pin 2 of IC2.  The resulting extra harmonics are aded in with the mix pot.

That unitincludes a resonance control, however the filter itself is not especially steep, being only a 12db/oct highpass.  the Harmonic Sweetener uses a steeper (and relatively flatter) 4-pole highpass and symmetrical LEDclipping.  The "phase exciter" (http://experimentalistsanonymous.com/diy/Schematics/OOP%20Japanese%20Electronics%20Book/phase-exciter.gif) uses a 3-pole highpass, but no clipping.  It also inserts one stage of allpass filtering (IC1, pins 8/9/10).

I included asymmetrical clipping, 3 poles of highpass filtering, and one stage of allpass filtering in the Woody for the top-end section, and it sounds pretty decent.  No reason why the Harmonic Sweetener couldn't be amended to use asymmetrical clipping of some sort, and convert the unity-gain inverting section after the clipper portion into an allpass section by adding a cap between pin 10 and 12, and a resistor to ground from pin 12.

Why the allpass stage?  I remembered reading when Aphex first came out some 25 or more years ago that it incorporated "phase shift" in the processed signal.  I was never really sure why it did so, only THAT it did so.  So, I stuck a stage of it in the Woody and liked what I heard.  As other exciter/enhancer circuits started showing up, I found out that others had used it too.  Perhaps it places the added harmonic content in a more "natural" position, relative to the fundamentals.

[zjokka]

I refurbished my '72 Tele....

wow great job, great story. good teles are like wine, the only get better with age..

[Gilles C]

good teles are like wine, the only get better with age..

And it's never too late to get one... or two...

Cool Mark! That's the kind of explanation that I like. I'll have to work on that type of circuit for sure.

Btw, did you see this Caster? Just the type you like... 

http://home.comcast.net/~machrone/formic/formicaster.htm

it would be nice with a couple effects inside.

On my side, my love of wood made me build 3-4 Tele bodies. I just ordered another neck to have at least 2 playable Teles.

And of course, I'll then have 2 more reasons to work on effects again. Except that the wood working and finishing keeps me busy for now.

Gilles