Sleepers, favorite unknown gear?

[Primus]

I'm soliciting some feedback on old vintage or new effects (and I guess other equipment too) that people consider to be "sleepers". that is great but fairly obscure. Cheap, and strange/unique sounding are great traits too. I'll go first:

The Les Paul Recording - This guitar was the most expensive guitar sold by Gibson in the '70s. Les Paul himself has played one of these at the Iridium since the dawn of time, but no one really knows about them. I bought a 1971 the other week and I love it to death. and what's more they are about $1500 cheaper than today's top the of line.

No comment on effects, I don't have the budget to go and plug in a bunch of stuff but I'd love to hear what other people have to say! Well... have at it!

[Jay Doyle]

the MXR Commande series Time Delay. It's plastic, it's cheap and has a SAD4096 inside. Sounds good too...

[Ansil]

roland sde 3000 delay.  and this little gray box that i have used for years and have no idea who makes it

[Mark Hammer]

The Schaller/Kent Wah-Wah/Yoy-Yoy.  Had one, sold it, miss it.  Definitely distinctive in the world of wahs.

If this was 4 years ago, I would have said MXR Envelope Filter.  Thankfully, its not a sleeper anymore.

And just to resurrect the frustration, an Electro-Harmonix Hot Foot controller pedal.  It didn't consitute an effect in itself, but was able to completely reshape how you used other effects.

When I was in Kalamazoo in 1982, I bought a LP Recording low-impedance pickup at the Gibson facility.  Weighed a frigging ton.  Traded it to a guy for a Melody Maker pickup I think before I ever got to hear it.  Pity.

[petemoore]

It has been sanded to have bevelled edges like an SG, has TWO humbuckers, and was urethane on wood grain the last I saw of it.
 It was a really fine guitar and Christmas present...anyone seen it?
 Sorry for the OT...if you had one ripped, you'ld be doing the same thing...makes you wanna' get the guy, and turn into a completely different person !!!
 It has probably changed hands by now a number of times, at this point there's 1/1,000,000 chance of ever seeing it again...I'll take that chance!

[Brian Marshall]

rocktron austin gold overdrive.... i cant believe no one likes these.

Brian

[aron]

I love my Purple Peaker - but everyone knows Dan Armstrong.

DOD Bi-FET  - good boost to me.

Korg digital delay (forgot model number) with lofi and ducking.

Ibanez programmable distortion stomp pedal - somewhat like a Tube Screamer, but programmable.

Oberheim Voltage Controlled Filter - I never really read about this, but I liked it!

[travissk]

Not really a sleeper as much as it used to be, but the DOD Classic Fuzz is really versatile, so much so that (at least thus far) I've avoided building fuzzboxes

[troubledtom]

roland sde 3000 delay.  and this little gray box that i have used for years and have no idea who makes it

i have 2 sde 3000 delays i love them ,they're still high $$$.
    - tom

[troubledtom]

ohh,
the ALPHAWAVE & OMEGAWAVE.
   opps,
        did i say that ?
           - tom

[Exactopposite]

arion phaser (i forget the model #)


it's cheap, it's plastic, but i love em. a friend of mine has had one of those things for years still in the plastic case without a single problem. i want to put one in a metal case.

[bobbletrox]

Denio Super Overdrive:  it's a SD-1 clone with a JRC 4588DD.  I even did a 5-Star mod on it!

[cajununicorn]

hey y'all,  here's my favorite sleeper gear...super-secret! but you guys are pretty cool, so i'll spill my guts....this is anonymous, right?
 guitars: fender lead 2...like a poorman's tele/strat. replace the stock pu's and yer off! also, the very early japanese squire strats (3 bolt, big headstock, fat frets) are wonderful. people are getting hip to these quick... still some out there for cheap.
for acoustic, try the epiphone pr350sr or pr350sm. some of those sound awesome. around 200$
 amps: fender super 60...great sounding clean channel, loud, good reverb, small size, only red knob fender i like. around 250$
 effects: i'm with aron on the DOD bi-fet boost. it's cheap and sounds great. i also like the old boss tremelo/pan (not easy to find or cheap, but awesome if you find one).
 as far as chorus, i LOVE the ibanez CS-9 (same series as ts-9). you can use a dummy plug (dry out) to get straight modulation, like a boss vibrato...and they aren't too expensive.
 ok, i've said too much already. i will probably be "disappeared" for sharing this stuff...
:lol:    jon

[Samuel]

arion phaser (i forget the model #)
it's cheap, it's plastic, but i love me.

Well, then that's all that matters.

[Exactopposite]

arion phaser (i forget the model #)
it's cheap, it's plastic, but i love me.

Well, then that's all that matters.

:lol:
i have since fixed my typo.

[Samuel]

Making a liar outta me!

[Jason D]

Aron, the model number of the Korg Delay is the 301dl Dynamic Echo.
Yes, it is a very cool delay, a lot of variety.

I am going to put one up for sale this week on eBay if anyone is interested. I want to build my own Rebote 2 dealy.

-Jason D

[aron]

Aron, the model number of the Korg Delay is the 301dl Dynamic Echo.
Yes, it is a very cool delay, a lot of variety.

I am going to put one up for sale this week on eBay if anyone is interested. I want to build my own Rebote 2 dealy.

-Jason D

Woah, someone pick this up. It's a really fun delay, but it can be serious too. If I had to pick, I would use my Memory Man, but the Korg made me go out and buy it!

I had a great time with it and an old Blackface Fender + 1X12 Celestion cab.

[sfr]

I have the Ibanez digital delay from the Soundtank series (the black plastic cases with the rounded footpedals) I never did get around to cracking it open to see what's in there.  (Weird, I do that with everything) It's a reasonably good length delay, it was cheap when I got it, sells cheaper now, and while it doesn't have backwards playing or a wet only out (probably could be modded for the latter) or continuous loop or anything, from anything from Rockabilly-slapback to atmospheric "bignessifying" to shorter bits of delay-finishing-the-riff-for-you stuff, it's great.  Doesn't sound like a Digital Delay to me at all - certainly much more organic than any Boss delay I've played - I don't know - it's just got a really good sound, plays really well with distortion.  Eats through batteries like a mofo, but you can get longer delay times (at lower volumes) as the battery dies.  I can't remember the product number, something like a DE-7 or something, I don't know.  I also like the delay from Ibanez's new gray "Tone-Loc" series of pedals - my favorite trick is to turn the delay speed knob while lpaying, making htose wierd pitch changes (which I modded my soundtank pedal to do with an expression pedal) but in the Tone Loc delay pedal, this also effects the loop setting (unlike the Boss pedals, where the delay speed is constant once you record the loop) As you twirl it back and forth a few times, it looses fidelity - do it a couple times, then set the speed higher or lower, and it sounds like a funky synth loop - I actually managed to ape the intro to Baba OReilly (is that the Who song I'm thinking of?) like this, and then play guitar over it.

But yeah, I love my junky soundtank delay, and it will leave my pedalboard over my cold, dead body.

Also, my Crest Audio FF - In the nutso true-to-vintage-specs, super-rare-germanium-tranny FF fetishism that some get wrapped up in, I feel like the old Crest reissues don't always get enough respect.

[jsleep]

I second Mark's sleeper The EH Hot Foot.  If someone doesn't start making these again, I think I'll try to make one myself!!!  Probably not a big hit with the mainstream market, so I doubt if they'll ever get reissued.

I've heard it thru the grapevine that the Arion Phaser and Arion Chorus are excellent _sounding_...plastic and somewhat fragil makes it unattractive to some of us even at the ridiculously low prices.

JD