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

[newfish]

BOSS DS-1.

Have bought two over the years with half a mind to mod them.

I try them 'stock', then decide to put them *back* on eBay (where they usually come from), as anything that sounds *that* tinny is almost beyond fixing.

No matter which amp I try them with (Peavey Classic 30, Hughes and Kettner, Epi VJ), it sounds horrible.

Much as I love Slash's tone, I'm bemused how he can be using a DS-1 in his rig - maybe he's using it bypassed as a buffer...

Big Muff Pi is also a love / hate box.  Billy Corgan is one of my all-time favourites, so I picked up a 'fixer' BMP from eBay (£20, and 10 minutes to fix the bypass switch - hooray!), but until I'd monkeyed with the tone-stack, it was all 'sludge'.

Cheers!
Ian.

[Hides-His-Eyes]

Corgan used an op-amp muff didn't he?

[mistahead]

We could probably spend weeks discussing muff's alone (nomnomnom) - everyone seems to have a favorite axe-man who's got a muff on their board... I suspect it is rare for it to be an "Out of the box" one - they seem to vary way too much and be painfully dependant on EVERYTHING else in the chain/rig to make for an easy evaluation... but that is just the opinion of one effects geek who can't find a happy place for their own muff but loves what they've done for a bunch of other big names lol.

[newfish]

Corgan used an op-amp muff didn't he?

We could probably spend weeks discussing muff's alone (nomnomnom) - everyone seems to have a favorite axe-man who's got a muff on their board... I suspect it is rare for it to be an "Out of the box" one - they seem to vary way too much and be painfully dependant on EVERYTHING else in the chain/rig to make for an easy evaluation... but that is just the opinion of one effects geek who can't find a happy place for their own muff but loves what they've done for a bunch of other big names lol.

Yes, OA Muff for Mr.Corgan's Organ.

I have two Muffs (NYC re-issue and a Tonepad creation (Francisco makes *very* good PCBS, btw)), and I can't bear to part with either.  It's not a 'go-to' sound, but when it's needed, it's just *amazing* - and I do love Muff! 

[pinkjimiphoton]

ok, for the record, i'm almost 49, started on cello when i was 7, migrated to guitar at 11, met the texas tornado around 12 or 13 (he showed me the house of the blues and a pentatonic box) played my first professional gigs at 16 as an upright bassist and have played with and performed with countless peeps over the years since then including members of the blues brothers, the jb's, james cotton, steve miller and way more than i feel comfortable even listing here. (hint: i grew up near the legendary shaboo inn, and used to host one of the best open blues jam things years ago ...them two things led to me meeting a lot of heavy peeps)
my first fuzz was a kay plastic pos in a wah pedal, i've owned everything from ludwig phase II's to fuzzfaces, my least favorite pedals are anything made by dod, digitech, or zoom.
my favs of all time are my boss me5, the phase II, and this here fuzzface i just built.

i have to agree about the zoom 505...what a useless piece of overhyped buzzkill...but STILL more useable than an eh clone theory reissue.
at least the zoom is wedge shaped, so it makes a decent door stop...

[mistahead]

The remake (505II) was lighter and not wedge shaped... but slightly more usable... SLIGHTLY.. so doorstop is out of the question but put it in a true bypass loop and you might be able to use it for practice!

At the risk of annoying people I will say that it was the only thing at the time for $AUD200 that could introduce a poor high school student to more than one effect at a time... now
everyone (POD, Digitec, Zoom at least) have a low budget multi - asssuming they're not as noisy as the 505II I'd consider putting it in my effects loop but yeah I digress a little, I've played since 1994 and been an effects geek since '95 and the only thing I've come across other than that pedal that I truly despised was a Boss flanger from the late nineties - not sure if it was faulty or not but the thing squarked like a bird at the peaks of the swing...

[pinkjimiphoton]

i tried the 505 II, to me it was a slightly more useable version of the earlier pedal. i actually had one on my pedalboard at one point for a couple days, til i realized it was sucking the life out of my signal chain.

[bluesman1218]

Danelectro Fabtone - out of the box, it's on or off. No usable control, the tone is awful and the thing is useless at lower volumes. Let it sit on the shelf for years until I found Brian Wampler's mods for it. Now it's very usable and on my board, for the very few times I need it. On electric, I'm mostly a Blues guy, so it doesn't see much action from me. Have modded several and even have a few in stock. It makes a great A/B demo for my mod business!

[pinkjimiphoton]

wow, them things are fixable?

[deadastronaut]

most fuzz pedals really,...nasty..noisey...horrible...(pay £2.000 for a guitar to make it deliberately sound  shit) i dont think so..

dist+...pointless..pissy n weak..(good name for a band )..

boss sd1..as above...

[pinkjimiphoton]

that's a goof...lol...rob, my most used pedal live is probably my sd1!! it was tweaked a little tho...

i LOVE fuzz...but i agree, some of them sound like poo...

[bluesman1218]

wow, them things are fixable?

Yup! Cleaner when gain turned down, bass centered @ ~100hz (vs 200hz stock), lowered resonant frequency, more gain potential and assymetrical clipping.

[deadastronaut]

i LOVE fuzz...but i agree, some of them sound like poo...

most!..

[pinkjimiphoton]

cool, i thought they were about as unusable as possible...i've had a few i've acquired in some hoss trades, but never heard one sound good. :thu:

[Hides-His-Eyes]

Danelectro Fabtone - out of the box, it's on or off. No usable control, the tone is awful and the thing is useless at lower volumes. Let it sit on the shelf for years until I found Brian Wampler's mods for it. Now it's very usable and on my board, for the very few times I need it. On electric, I'm mostly a Blues guy, so it doesn't see much action from me. Have modded several and even have a few in stock. It makes a great A/B demo for my mod business!

Yet another one of "those" pedals; you know those things are used by the very successful Glaswegian rock band Mogwai for their distortion tones?

[pinkjimiphoton]

i LOVE fuzz...but i agree, some of them sound like poo...

most!..

lol....i think it depends on the circuit, and whether your guitar is cranked up or not. that said, i like 'em REALLY RUDE!!! LOL!!!

i wouldn't use fuzz for like, the last 30 years or so, now, i can't get enough of 'em. go figure!!

[ayayay!]

Those Morley volume pedals with the "minimum" knob.  Worthless.  Same for their Wah pedals.  I just hate them.  

But for me, this one took the cake.  I almost bought it (clearanced) just to take a look inside it.  I found it did almost nothing, so maybe it was broken, but regardless I don't think it was worth $130 for a passive "pedal"   http://www.thdelectronics.com/product_page_quintet_pedal.html

The manual looks interesting, I just didn't find it to do what it said it would.   http://www.thdelectronics.com/pdf%20stuff/Quintet%20Lit%20050307.pdf

[mattthegamer463]

I bought a MXR ZW OD for $50, its the only commercial pedal I own aside from a Crybaby, and I can't stand it.  Nothing on earth makes it sound good on my Super Champ.  Can't figure it out.  Maybe its broken.

On a side note, ZWOD for sale, $50...

[Gordo]

We should also exclude those with years of pro experience, since they're old and set in their ways and don't like anything new that they feel has too many buttons.   

HEY!!! I resemble that remark!...

Worst pedal was a Big Muff (although if the other guitar player in the band uses it, it sounds great).  Best pedal was a real Univibe with foot controller. My gear was stolen in Nashville and was never recovered. 

[Paul Marossy]

Compressor pedals. I hate them.