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OT- Whats the worst effect you ever bought? Play with?

Started by jimbob, February 01, 2004, 09:56:47 PM

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troubledtom

#20
February 02, 2004, 10:37:20 AM
the dan'o talk box, it's a feeding back piece of shit, the battery holder broke too.
         - tom

rog951

#22
February 02, 2004, 10:57:46 AM
Quote from: troubledtomthe dan'o talk box, it's a feeding back piece of shit, the battery holder broke too.
         - tom

I stand corrected. This thing is so bad I must've put it outta my mind completely.

RDV

#23
February 02, 2004, 11:50:25 AM
The worst I ever 'store-bought' was a Ibanez FL 9 Flanger that did almost nothing(may have been defective).

The worst I've built is probably the Kay Tremelo, I can't imagine a musical use for that, unless you mod it to blend some straight signal in. A close 2nd worst would be the Muff Fuzz which should be renamed Muffley Fuzz. I also could not get my Blackcat OD-1 overdrive to sound anything like 'good'. Opamp distortion has a fingernails on chaulkboard feel that I cannot get next to.

RDV

Ge_Whiz

#24
February 02, 2004, 12:31:23 PM
Genuine Colorsound Octivider. There is no sound, pure or not, nor any signal level, that it can reliably lock onto. Gurgles and jumps about from note to note all the time. Hopeless.

petemoore

#25
February 02, 2004, 01:40:03 PM
It seemed at the time of my trying a batch of Ibanez Soundtank Serios.  The little ones...I had 60's Dist, Tube Screamer, Classic Fuzz [another I think too, been a while].
 I always wondered [neve did a A/b with 'real' Tubescreamer, what the difference is...but I had the feeling and thought that these were like ckt seconds [if there is such a thing] maybe used with less than 'funky' parts or something...I used 'em for a while and tried to convince myself that each of these [8-15$] purchases was something I liked using..alot.  
 I did have doubts right away about bass and treble response as well as midrange presence...they left a memory of just being dull and flat sounding...but Like I say I wasn't able to do much A'Bing...I got a Fab Tone and Shredmaster and the Soundtanks just kinda disappeared...if that's any indication..
 The only real problem I had with them was fighting the feeling that they just plain sounded crappy,... sometimes. And had me feeling the sufferings from lack of 'juice'. Oh yeah somehow the switch plate borke on one.
 I know someone here has tried these, supposedly the Tubescreamer is a Tubescreamer Ckt?
 I'm interestid to hear anyone elses opinions of the Soundtanks Series Pedals.
 Do they actually suck rock or what?
 Digitech RPP100...WHOOPS...!!@#$%& Worked pretty good 'in the room' and had super wide pallete [For 100clams] of mostly garbage...but nice echos..fun to mess around with for a while...for stage use yekk [sorry guys] don't do it...unless you like long gaps [over one second] of NOTHING [no signal passes till the reverb/echo runs out on the last preset], and dry harsh tones or wet mud with glass in it...OUCH !!!
  Not to say that any of these boxes couldn't be used to great efkt in the studio or live under given circumstances...if I set up a clean EQ'ed echo on the DigiRP100...it could be cool...just for simple overdrive stuff the Soundtank would probably suit itself fine there..application has everythng to do with it...as does atmosphere and opinion.
  There are countless hit records with 'stupid' sounding guitars in them...the prevailing vibe has everything to do with what a pedal is percieved to be.
  The Soundtanks put themselves at an asthetic pre-disadvantage...the cheeepest looking plastic and leftover Tubescreamer paint with plastic everythng...knobs,sockets....
 There IS something about a solid metal box with shiny connectors and switch that inspires confidence...
  Oh yeah the jacks on the RP are designed weak spots [cheepness VS planned obsolescense]...those plasticcy things take your beautiful new unit and turn it to garbage if the plug so much as even looks at the jack...lol...especially the power supply...just take a roll of duct tape with it and tape the PS line down to the body carefully everytime and you should be fine !!!
 It still 'worked' [not] after that silly connection that can't [not easily by any stretch] be repaired broke halfway...set just 'so' with the wire just 'so' it would still work, JUNK IMO...total garbage...
  I traded the RP for a Boss [the one with the OD and Dist] and another Boss...that transition narrowly preceded the DIY transition and was a GREAT trade ! One piece of garbage for two decent pedals...gonna hafta try'n get me another 10$ BOSS [OD or Dist] unit, and see what I can get out of one these days with an Iron and a few mods...
Convention creates following, following creates convention.

gorohon

#26
February 02, 2004, 03:57:32 PM
I have an Ibenez Soundtank pedal.  It's the "Classic Metal" distortion.  It sounded like your average plastic cheapy and the little tactile footswitch broke in mine.  I just took the cover/actuator off, drilled a hole in the plastic case and put a real stompswitch in there.  I don't play it that much though.  Yeah, it was cheap, but not the best pedal by a long shot.  Pretty much grade-A crapola, if you ask me--like those little Danelectro pedals--but at least the Dano's look better.
"Come on in...I've got caaandy!" H.S.

KarbonHed

#27
February 02, 2004, 04:54:04 PM
Bought a Green Ringer about  11 years ago - totally useless.

keko

#28
February 02, 2004, 05:18:11 PM
Morley Wah's generally suck.

I recall around '94 reading a Guitar Player, going through those fab ads selling that POS. Then a friend got one....the wah didn't sweep...it stepped...so basically you get 'several preset Qs' so to speak.

Of course I teared it apart to realize that when you rocked it, there was this black cardboard disc with holes in it... very weak sound, horrible construction, and shamless switching....

...no, I only wish my own diy-boxes were as bad as this wah was...hehehehe  8)
.::keko::.
www.qpd.cl // desahógate ahora!
www.basa.cl // Digital « Design » Atelier

Tony Forestiere

#29
February 02, 2004, 05:28:54 PM
Mine was a VestaFire DDX digital delay. Sounded great in the store. Nice, fat delay to thicken up a blues rythem chunk. Got it home and it started to sound less and less thick. Crank in more delay--telephone sound!? Started hearing the delay clock in the background! Ate a battery every hour and a half. Don't even try an AC adapter! Just like Petemoore's sound tank, ya better use duct tape to hold the cables tight. Never heard of the company again.
"Duct tape is like the Force. It has a light side and a dark side, and it holds the universe together." Carl Zwanzig
"Whoso neglects learning in his youth, loses the past and is dead for the future." Euripides
"Friends don't let friends use Windows." Me

Arno van der Heijden

#30
February 02, 2004, 06:08:33 PM
Jim Dunlop JH-2 Fuzz. Sounds like farting..... :?

bobbletrox

#31
February 02, 2004, 07:30:32 PM
The worst:  Boss DS-1 Distortion.

Thin and no low end.  Mod time!  :D

petemoore

#32
February 02, 2004, 08:30:35 PM
I don't know what the 'new newer' ones sound like.
 Back in the latter half of the 80's amd 90's though, I had an "old DS-1"..not bad...actually a fairly nice sounding, pretty non-dynamic and 'generic' [useful for many things] type of Fuzz...pretty darn good for the 25$ new in box price...
 It was kind of a mistake to get rid of that [I could have used/modded it]...but I got another one for only 15 used !!! however it's tone control worked much differently...leaving the choice of harshness or mud...treble to bass...not too good and way different than I remem the 'old' one being...the 'newish' one got sold with no lament...plenty of room for improvement by modds I would venture to type...
  Does the new DS 1 have the ultra mini/hard to mod boards like the Dano's?
Convention creates following, following creates convention.

phillip

#33
February 02, 2004, 08:50:31 PM
The circuit boards in the newer DS-1s still use the circuit board that runs from front to back and from side to side of the box.  The parts on the board are the same type and size of through-hole components that we use to build DIY boxes :)

Phillip

Kenny

#34
February 02, 2004, 11:22:33 PM
This brown colored box from 1974 sounds bad... not even usable,
maybe for parts, I just bought it on ebay.
made by WALCO electronics. (JAPAN)
Tone is in your hands, not your effect...

Zero the hero

#35
February 03, 2004, 03:52:48 AM
I thought that boss was the indiscussed leader of stompboxes, but it seems that many of us had no good luck with some boss pedals.
Time to think about it...

Bill_F

#36
February 03, 2004, 07:44:03 AM
Quote from: Zero the heroI thought that boss was the indiscussed leader of stompboxes, but it seems that many of us had no good luck with some boss pedals.
Time to think about it...

I had a couple of Boss Choruses and hated them. Small Clone at Tonepad turned them into doorstops!

Arno van der Heijden

#37
February 03, 2004, 08:01:32 AM
QuoteI thought that boss was the indiscussed leader of stompboxes, but it seems that many of us had no good luck with some boss pedals.

FWIW, I like my Boss PH-2 phaser  :D The DD-5 delay is also pretty good...

smoguzbenjamin

#38
February 03, 2004, 10:44:14 AM
Many boss pedals are really good! But some of 'em are really crap. :? So I guess they are world leader as to sales (over 7 million worldwide according to them) and dependability, boss's are built like tanks.
I don't like Holland. Nobody has the transistors I want.

petemoore

#39
February 03, 2004, 11:12:01 AM
As long as you like what they do...
 they ARE built like tanks..I've had tens of them and Never had the slightest problem .. well the usual expected noise/high gain issues, or power supply noise...to be expected.
  But...They don't do FF or TB that I ever heard of so any their Fuzzes would be 2nd string in my playbook.
Convention creates following, following creates convention.
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