Good sustainer project???

[AM]

Hi people,
I'm trying to get a long sustained guitar sound to match a violin-like sustain. I have to work with a string trio and for the rhythm stuff I have my sounds sorted already.
Now for the lead stuff there is still something missing. I tried my Red Llama. I would be happy with the max distortion the Llama offers but I need more sustain. I thought of slamming Llama's front end with a booster but that brings my solo volume way too higher than my backing volume. That could be OK in a rock band context but if I'll do that with the string trio I will overpower everybody else in the group. At some point I brought into play my old Green Big Muff. I wish I could come up with something that gives Muff's endless sustain without all that buzzing wall of sound. I don't want to use a compressor. I never liked using compression for sustain. I just need more sustain with the ammount of gain I get from my Red Llama let's say or even a bit more. Maybe a RAT? A Llama into a Llama? Any ideas?

[ppatchmods]

I've used an ebow for years and like the results.  I also can recomend the rat(vintage of coarse) for that sustain.  If you were into compression, I use a dyna comp(true bypass) behind my rat and get outragous violin like sustain with the sensitivity low and the output at about 3 o'clock.

[AM]

Thanks for the suggestion. I already have a Cynacomp clone. It didn't do the trick. The e-bow is something which totally slipped my mind. I need to try one and see how it works.
Ideally I would like to get a second channel of distortion so to speak. As I mentioned in my previous post, if I could get the amount of smooth sustain my Big Muff gives me without the scooped sound and with some more focused mids I would be happy as Larry!!! (By the way, how happy was Larry  )
I guess what I'm looking for is an overdrive/distortion that provides all this sustain without changing the EQ of my signal so much. Does something like that exist?

[GhengisJung]

Not a pedal of course, but has anyone played with a Fernandes sustainer? I tried out a guitar that had one in place of the neck pickup, and it was nice - clean sustain, like an eBow, but without having to hold something in your hand while you play.

I haven't really investigated how they work, but I might need to look into it...

[ppatchmods]

What I like about the fernandes sustainer is you can use your pick...as with the ebow you are pretty much locked down to a bow effect(i guess that's why they call it e-BOW  )

Which muff do you use?  If it is a newer one, there are a couple of mods to make it less nasally...if that is a fair description.

Nevermind...I see it is a russian green one...you may check into a newer one and mod it.  You can check some sound clips @ www.jhspedals.com

[AM]

Not a pedal of course, but has anyone played with a Fernandes sustainer?

The Fernandes sustainer was the first thing that crossed my mind. I ruled it out though at the end. I don't want to change my basic tone. I need something which I can switch on and off and keep my meat and potatoes tone intact.

Nevermind...I see it is a russian green one...you may check into a newer one and mod it.  You can check some sound clips @ www.jhspedals.com

We were posting at the same time
Yeah, if everything else fails I'll get some muff kit and mod it to my specs. Actually, thinking about it, I would probably build a Rat.
I was just hoping that someone would come with a fresh idea about a pedal I wasn't aware of so far.

[ppatchmods]

You can also check out the Rat stuff on that site.  He does some crazy stuff too, but it can be as usable or unusable as you like it. 

[AM]

You can also check out the Rat stuff on that site.  He does some crazy stuff too, but it can be as usable or unusable as you like it. 

Man, I've never managed to have my typing synced so perfectly with somebody else. For every post I type and go back to check I see you were posting something at the same time! Spooookyyyyyy!!!

[ayayay!]

YES on the Fernandes Sustainer.  My buddy has one in his Fernandes guitar and I told him he's never allowed to get rid of it unless it's going to me.  Does Fernandes still make those?

[ambulancevoice]

http://www.storm-software.co.yu/diy/index.php?project=sustainer

[evilpaul]

I know that you are asking a guitar pedal forum for ideas, but really, the answer is outside of the signal processing domain. There is a reason there have been suggestions along the lines of the e-bow and the Fernandes sustainer. If your goal is to make your guitar able to prolong notes as long as a violin, you have to look at non-pedal options. As the amplitude of the signal from your note strum dies off, the signal to noise ratio increases, and there is only so much gain/compression can do. Have you considered using an actual bow? Talk about mojo!

[AM]

Have you considered using an actual bow? Talk about mojo!

ha, ha that is real mojo, you're right! Yeah, I've used a bow but it's not the sound I'm after. I think I got an idea how to get the sound I'm after but I didn't have the chance to try it out yet. We'll see. Thanks for your suggestion though.

[toneman]

look for the PAiA "Infinity Plus". 
It's a light bulb compressor/sustainer.
can give U the longggg sustain like Santana....
afn
T

[syndromet]

This is by far the best DiY sustainer. I have built one, and they actually work
http://www.diystompboxes.com/smfforum/index.php?topic=35062.0

[AndyA]

Thanks for the suggestion. I already have a Cynacomp clone. It didn't do the trick. The e-bow is something which totally slipped my mind. I need to try one and see how it works.
Ideally I would like to get a second channel of distortion so to speak. As I mentioned in my previous post, if I could get the amount of smooth sustain my Big Muff gives me without the scooped sound and with some more focused mids I would be happy as Larry!!! (By the way, how happy was Larry  )
I guess what I'm looking for is an overdrive/distortion that provides all this sustain without changing the EQ of my signal so much. Does something like that exist?

You can change the eq response from the big muff by swapping 1 cap. Download the tone stack calculator from http://www.duncanamps.com/tsc/ and change C1 until you get a response that you think you'll like. I use 22n, slight mid boost, sounds great

[AM]

Download the tone stack calculator from http://www.duncanamps.com/tsc/ and change C1 until you get a response that you think you'll like. I use 22n, slight mid boost, sounds great

Thanks for the suggestion. That's a good idea! I'll try different values at the tone cap and see what I get.