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dubkitty wrote:as noted elsewhere, the Micro-Tron IV is so much better than the EMMA that i'm just going to order a second one.

Right, I am still really impressed with the thing! it's the first one I've found that I like as much as my old mooger.. with a bass it's instant Mothership Connection sound

dubkitty wrote:B&H saved my ass when i was putting the biamped stack together...i needed a ground loop isolator in 2 days and they got it to me overnight.

I am impressed! SW had "two day" where you get it on the 30th if you ordered on the 24th... and I needed something that sounded good and had a foot switch I could hit fast without sticking or glitching.. and not having to drive up to tacoma or seattle...

i still need to dig into the other functions the MT IV will do...i heard some stuff in the bandpass setting that has possibilities, but i've been doing so much stuff that i haven't really gotten past the surface. i have a new Behringer 606 clone and a portable sewing machine i haven't even plugged in because i've been dealing with car problems, getting to know the White Falcon, cleaning and adjusting various other electric guitars as needed, and remembering how to make lattes now that my Cheap But Effective Espresso Maker arrived from China. it's WAY more touch-sensitive than EFs i've used in the past.

Yeah I feel like I'm hearing in a demo that when hit hard it REALLY opens up to a very harsh sound. Is this a fair representation or is that all depending how you've got your amp/pedals? The attack seems pretty crazy when playing hard! Maybe I need to check other people doing demos.

I did just read it accepts expression pedal??? Now that's interesting if it does sound good. Sponsored by my wah pedal needs a jack fixed and I'm lazy

i swapped in the Red OptoMod board and i like the response a lot better. it has a slower attack/release than the Gold board and is thus more friendly to dial in. i found it hard to keep from taking the top of my cat's head off when the filter opened all the way up with the Gold board. the Blue board is intended for bassists who play a lot of 16th notes according to Mu-Tron so i doubt that would be what either of us are looking for.

i will say, though, that the EMMA is a lot easier to dial in and much better at fake wah-wah pedal stuff...i can get a pretty convincing "Voodoo Child (Slight Return)" out of it if i twiddle enough. i guess i should A/B them and see if one would be better suited to the big board or the Normie Board. i should probably be sensible and not buy a second M-T IV because those fuckers are pricey...i got lucky and snagged mine for ~$225, but mostly they're around $350-400.

yeah the price is pretty high... I may just fix my wah pedal, I'm more interested in regular wah with very, very occasional desire for auto-wah. But the idea of one box that can do both well was intriguing. What you're describing definitely sounds like what I was hearing of the gold board in the demo, yeah. So good to know there are options.

i decided to rework the main board somewhat. i needed to swap the EMMA envelope filter for the MT IV and one thing led to another. my first move was to put the MT IV at the front of the chain right after the tuner. i don't know why such an obvious thing never occurred to me before other than that i take pains to keep my fuzz's output at or close to unity gain with the unaffected signal. next i decided to take off the Tone Bender Mk II...other than the EQD i used to have i've never found a TB variant that works for me and that one was too gainy to use. all this moving around on the near tier created space, which i mostly used to give the pedals on the front tier some breathing room.

then i thought about the top tier, and decided that it would be better to have both tremolos side-by-side in the center quasi-tier, making a little tremolo section that's away from everything else and easy to actuate. moving the Pleasure Trem 5000 down made space to re-space the upper tier as well. with the more crowded upper tier i had to stagger the Canyon to fit it next to the Flashback because their jacks were exactly parallel, but now everything can sit evenly. and taking the TB II off opened up a power supply spot so i could take the Distortion+ off of the tuner's DC line out. now that slot will be available for outboard equipment, e.g. a wah-wah pedal or the Headrush E2 as a stunt delay/looper. i put the Great Wall in the third middle-tier spot because it's kind of my Nuclear Option. i could have put the smaller Ghost Echo v.2 on, but the bigger box would make the Normie Board layout too long for a Pedaltrain Nano Max which is what i'd like to use...since the stuff on either end (tuner and reverb) never get turned on/off while actually playing (i use the always-on option on the Strobostomp) that effectively makes the space i'd have to cover only about 20-22 inches which isn't too far to reach from a stationary position at a microphone stand.

i'm happy with the result. it'll be way easier to pick out the switches that i want, and having the tremolos together just makes sense though it made the signal path a bit circuitous. i'm also happy because now that i have the EMMA off the board i can figure out just how much space i'll need for the Normie Board.

signal path: Peterson StroboStomp HD tuner->Mu-Tron Micro-Tron IV envelope filter->1978 MXR Distortion+->Fuzzhugger Algal Bloom->CMC Effects Buzzaround->Fuzzhugger 3-knob Great Wall (second left, middle tier->Mojo Hand FX Villanova optical Uni-Vibe->Fairfield Circuitry Randy's Revenge v.1->TC Electronics SCF chorus/vibrato/flanger (always in flanger mode)(far left, middle tier)->Boss CH-1 chorus->Ibanez PM7 Phase Modulator (wonky phaser)->Menatone Pleasure Trem 5000 (far right, center tier)->Zvex Sonar squarewave tremolo (center tier to left of PT5000)->EHX Canyon delay (top tier, center right)->TC Electronics Flashback delay v.1->Catalinbread Soft Focus reverb->EQD Ghost Echo v.1.

the lineup for the Normie Board is now set. there's quite a bit of stuff recycled from previous iterations of my boards.

TC Electronics Polytune v.1->EMMA Discumbobulator envelope filter->Marshall Guv'nor Plus->Höfner Fuzz->Danelectro 3699 fuzz->Empress Nebulus multi-modulation->Fender MTG Tube Tremolo->EQD Ghost Echo v.2.

i'm going to have to get a high-current power supply because the tremolo wants 200 mA and the Empress' manual claims 280 mA while the web page says 300.

Board I've put together for some upcoming dark-ambient/noise/drone concerts.
Drop > MASF Epilepsy > Raptio > Deathmetal > Throat Locust > Onward > HX Stomp (more or less the usual suspects I use for these scenarios).
After the Onward the signal becomes stereo.

That looks glorious! Would be psyched to see that board at a noise show.

VREEEEVROOOOOW wrote:That looks glorious! Would be psyched to see that board at a noise show.

Thanks! That HX stomp has helped me a lot to scale down my setup (in there I have all my delays, reverbs, filters and modulations). Onward I?m enjoying it a lot, and in a stereo setup is making some spreading and glitches!
The DOD I modified myself to have way more bass and added gain (and took the occasion also to have 4x more gain that the original unit!) and mid frequency knob, plus a clipping switch (alone with gain, bass and volume at max it becomes a subbass drone machine!).

Here pictured the setup I'm using lately for my ambient sets:

In celebration of the board coming back online, here's the rig I've been goofing off with recently. Chain is self explanatory.

That is a sweet setup! I felt a little crazy having 2 PS-5s on my board but now I feel justified haha. I have 3 but one of them needs a little TLC.

gila_crisis wrote: ↑Sat Sep 28, 2024 4:06 am Here pictured the setup I'm using lately for my ambient sets:
7E8F7075-EFCD-4BFA-99CF-591337526AA6.jpeg

is that a morningstar midi switch? how do you like it? easy to setup and use?

MechaGodzilla wrote: ↑Tue Oct 01, 2024 5:19 am

gila_crisis wrote: ↑Sat Sep 28, 2024 4:06 am Here pictured the setup I'm using lately for my ambient sets:
7E8F7075-EFCD-4BFA-99CF-591337526AA6.jpeg

is that a morningstar midi switch? how do you like it? easy to setup and use?

Yes, that's a Morning Star MC6 midi controller. I use it to expand the controllability of the Looperlative LP2 looper.
I like it a lot. It's very powerful and with its editor it's pretty easy to setup to your needs.