Guitar Gear That Sparkles!

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mechanicalmastering
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Guitar Gear That Sparkles!

Post by mechanicalmastering » Sun Dec 11, 2011 8:44 pm

Pedals, pick-ups, amps, FX, mic/preamp-combinations, techniques whatever! Looking add some serious sparkle to various fuzz and overdrive tones in a way that is incredibly clean & musical.

What I've found so far,,

Running dirty pedals into sparkly preamps
Tech 21 xxl - Sparkle dirt
Deltalab Effectron II- Overloading it, works as an awesome limiter too!
Maybe the Voodoo Lab Sparkle Drive MOD pedal, whatever that thing does.

kslight
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Post by kslight » Mon Dec 12, 2011 4:54 am

Nothing a tube of glitter and puffy paint won't help!

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Post by Jim Williams » Mon Dec 12, 2011 8:41 am

These are easy to build yourself. I have a collection of home made vintage fuzz pedals. I used $6 colored 1592BB boxes from CE Distribution, 3PDT bypass footswitches, Switchcraft 11 and 12 series jacks and CTS pots. They are indestructable.

I have a Fuzz Face with a .22 uf input cap mod, a Colorsound Tonebender using AC128 germanium transistors, a Foxx Tone machine with that great octave split and a Roger Mayer Octavia. I also have a custom made job using a BB OPA1641 opamp, a J305 jfet and a 3 way switch to select silicon, germanium and asymetrical clipping germanium diodes.

You can get schematics for the classics from Fuzz Central's site. I got the germanium transistors from MCM electronics and the rare 1N270 germanium diodes from Jameco electronics. I used original transistor types for the Octavia and Foxx pedals from either Digi-Key or MCM. A piece of breadboard, a couple of aluminum 1/2" long spacers to mount and it's all easy to make.

Each sound completely different. The Colorsound is very smooth for a germanium fuzz, very 1960's. It's tone control is very wide and effective. The Foxx is that classic Hendrix octave split sound. The custom job does several things well, it's my go to box for live playing.
Jim Williams
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mysteriousmammal
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Post by mysteriousmammal » Mon Dec 12, 2011 11:08 am

BAX or Clarifonic EQ? That would be what I'd go for. Air and smooth presence for days.

KennyLusk
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Post by KennyLusk » Mon Dec 12, 2011 5:37 pm

Bill Lawrence pickups
Mullard 12AX7's
Electro Harmonix POG
Mogami gold series instrument cable (for the studio)
Heavier gauge strings - 10+

Dropped a Duncan Little '59 in the bridge of my tele once and loved it.
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mechanicalmastering
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Post by mechanicalmastering » Mon Dec 12, 2011 6:29 pm

Awesome guys, but I mean, like, reeeeeally sparkley. Like, almost in a cheesy kind of way, and very musical, but real,,, glossy, only, completely fuzzed-out, in a clean way. Like, the prettiest fuzz ever. Queen of the prom, only fuzzzzzzzz the f*k out. You can almost hear it, can't you?

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Post by cgarges » Mon Dec 12, 2011 8:19 pm

Chuck Collins Interfax Harmonic Percolator, especially at subtler settings.

Chris Garges
Charlotte, NC

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mechanicalmastering
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Post by mechanicalmastering » Mon Dec 12, 2011 9:38 pm

Chuck Collins Interfax Harmonic Percolator
That thing sounds awwwwwesome Chris.

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Post by cgarges » Mon Dec 12, 2011 9:54 pm

It's a pretty amazing box on a number of levels.

Chris Garges
Charlotte, NC

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JGriffin
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Post by JGriffin » Mon Dec 12, 2011 9:54 pm

mechanicalmastering wrote:Awesome guys, but I mean, like, reeeeeally sparkley.
Image
"Jeweller, you've failed. Jeweller."

"Lots of people are nostalgic for analog. I suspect they're people who never had to work with it." ? Brian Eno

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mechanicalmastering
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Post by mechanicalmastering » Tue Dec 13, 2011 9:20 am

Image
Exactly.

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Rufer
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Post by Rufer » Wed Dec 14, 2011 9:30 am

An MXR Micro Amp after my Super Fuzz sparkles it up quite a bit.

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Snarl 12/8
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Post by Snarl 12/8 » Wed Dec 14, 2011 10:14 am

cgarges wrote:Chuck Collins Interfax Harmonic Percolator, especially at subtler settings.

Chris Garges
Charlotte, NC
Albini likes it!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XzNXKrMynW4
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blungo2
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Post by blungo2 » Wed Dec 14, 2011 6:24 pm

fuzz factory. If you get the right one and the room temp is right, with just the right settings, it'll def do that. Good luck ff is the most tempermental pedal i know of...

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mechanicalmastering
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Post by mechanicalmastering » Wed Dec 14, 2011 7:17 pm

fuzz factory. If you get the right one and the room temp is right, with just the right settings, it'll def do that. Good luck ff is the most tempermental pedal i know of...
That's the only thing keepin' me from buyin' it! Talk-about "capturing the moment".

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