“Modeling cured my GAS” : The Relapse Chronicles

DrewJD82

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Chapter 1: I’m on a bender.

For three years straight I continuously stated that modeling had cured my GAS and during that time it did, but right around the New Year I remembered the excitement of getting a new pedal in the mail or taking one home from the music store, plugging it in for the first time and finding a spot for it on a board. So I started snagging a pedal here and there and have been focusing on EJ/Gilmour tones.

Modeling has not cured my GAS. It’s given me more GAS. Not because I’m dissatisfied with it, but because I’m a fucking gear junkie.

I’ve been dragging these pedals between my studio and living room, a couple at a time, and it’s getting to the point I need to put them on a pedalboard so it’s not just a big mess everywhere. I haven’t had them all in the same place at once since I’ve gotten them and quickly realized that I’m completely off the wagon.



I had a couple of these previous to January, the Whammy, wah and Freqout. I’ve still got a ways to go before I’m “done” (🤣🤣🤣), so I’ll keep an running journal of my binge.

The Iron Bell, Dover Drive GE and Fuzz Face are the newest ones. The Iron Bell is stupid good, the most usable fuzz, across a fairly wide range. It does 70’s Gilmour just as well as 80’s and 90’s. I was a bit nervous about the Fuzz Face before I got it, I’ve had some nasty ones in the past and I haven’t heard a ton of great demos with the EJ FF. It definitely needs the right amp to work with (I’m putting all these in front of an FM9 or AxeFX III) and not surprisingly and can be really finicky, but it’s super smooth and the sustained notes have an awesome motion to them with all the fuzz.

I’m still getting used to the Dover Drive. I wanted it more for lower gain tones, but I think I might grab a Blues Driver for that purpose. The EJ violin tone is definitely in there, but like the Fuzz Face, needs to be paired with the right amp. It’s pretty crazy how the Fractal amps respond to these pedals hitting the front end and how much interaction they have together. I definitely wasn’t expecting that.

Here’s a quick clip of some Gilmour stuff, it’s the Iron Bell into the Dover Drive, into the FM9- Analog Chorus, Hiwatt, Delay, Rotary (in parallel) Reverb, two 2x12’s in my living room-


And now I’m off to find a Blues Driver….
 
Many thoughts but not ready on the coffee front :sleep::DBlues Drivers are awesome but I always feel like they are much higher gain oriented than their name would imply.

I've never used one and that's actually exactly what I'm concerned will happen. I watched a ton of demos last night and it looks like the Waza Craft might be my target. At least they're cheap enough where it's not a huge hit to the wallet if it doesn't work out.
 
I have sold like 20 of my analog pedals and I still have somewhere in the range of 60. I just bought a cheapy chorus pedal because I noticed out of all the pedals I still have, I don't have a chorus pedal. I dont give a flying fubar about chorus but I didn't have one. I do now. Who knows how it sounds? I dont care either. I just know I have a chorus pedal now.
 
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Chapter 1: I’m on a bender.

For three years straight I continuously stated that modeling had cured my GAS and during that time it did, but right around the New Year I remembered the excitement of getting a new pedal in the mail or taking one home from the music store, plugging it in for the first time and finding a spot for it on a board. So I started snagging a pedal here and there and have been focusing on EJ/Gilmour tones.

Modeling has not cured my GAS. It’s given me more GAS. Not because I’m dissatisfied with it, but because I’m a f*****g gear junkie.

I’ve been dragging these pedals between my studio and living room, a couple at a time, and it’s getting to the point I need to put them on a pedalboard so it’s not just a big mess everywhere. I haven’t had them all in the same place at once since I’ve gotten them and quickly realized that I’m completely off the wagon.



I had a couple of these previous to January, the Whammy, wah and Freqout. I’ve still got a ways to go before I’m “done” (🤣🤣🤣), so I’ll keep an running journal of my binge.

The Iron Bell, Dover Drive GE and Fuzz Face are the newest ones. The Iron Bell is stupid good, the most usable fuzz, across a fairly wide range. It does 70’s Gilmour just as well as 80’s and 90’s. I was a bit nervous about the Fuzz Face before I got it, I’ve had some nasty ones in the past and I haven’t heard a ton of great demos with the EJ FF. It definitely needs the right amp to work with (I’m putting all these in front of an FM9 or AxeFX III) and not surprisingly and can be really finicky, but it’s super smooth and the sustained notes have an awesome motion to them with all the fuzz.

I’m still getting used to the Dover Drive. I wanted it more for lower gain tones, but I think I might grab a Blues Driver for that purpose. The EJ violin tone is definitely in there, but like the Fuzz Face, needs to be paired with the right amp. It’s pretty crazy how the Fractal amps respond to these pedals hitting the front end and how much interaction they have together. I definitely wasn’t expecting that.

Here’s a quick clip of some Gilmour stuff, it’s the Iron Bell into the Dover Drive, into the FM9- Analog Chorus, Hiwatt, Delay, Rotary (in parallel) Reverb, two 2x12’s in my living room-


And now I’m off to find a Blues Driver….

Nice tone and playing! Yeah, I didn’t like the Fractal and Helix drives as much as the real thing, so now I’m spiraling back into OD pedals GAS
 
I've never used one and that's actually exactly what I'm concerned will happen. I watched a ton of demos last night and it looks like the Waza Craft might be my target. At least they're cheap enough where it's not a huge hit to the wallet if it doesn't work out.

The Waza is a good one, so is the BD side of the Angry Driver. You can also find a cheap old used one and do the Wampler mods yourself to get a really great sounding one dirt cheap.

Also worth checking out if you’re exploring lower gain drives are Blues Breaker style pedals and the Nobels OD-1

One of my all time favorites is the Morning Glory. With the right guitar/amp it’s amazing. It’s got this unique chime thing going on that is addictive
 
The Waza is a good one, so is the BD side of the Angry Driver. You can also find a cheap old used one and do the Wampler mods yourself to get a really great sounding one dirt cheap.

Also worth checking out if you’re exploring lower gain drives are Blues Breaker style pedals and the Nobels OD-1

One of my all time favorites is the Morning Glory. With the right guitar/amp it’s amazing. It’s got this unique chime thing going on that is addictive

After watching the JHS Show pretty much all weekend, I definitely think I’m going to grab a Morning Glory. I don’t think I heard that pedal sound bad in a single application.

I just REALLY gotta chill for a few weeks after buying that Strat this weekend. (I say this weekly)
 
Chapter 1: I’m on a bender.

For three years straight I continuously stated that modeling had cured my GAS and during that time it did, but right around the New Year I remembered the excitement of getting a new pedal in the mail or taking one home from the music store, plugging it in for the first time and finding a spot for it on a board. So I started snagging a pedal here and there and have been focusing on EJ/Gilmour tones.

Modeling has not cured my GAS. It’s given me more GAS. Not because I’m dissatisfied with it, but because I’m a f*****g gear junkie.

I’ve been dragging these pedals between my studio and living room, a couple at a time, and it’s getting to the point I need to put them on a pedalboard so it’s not just a big mess everywhere. I haven’t had them all in the same place at once since I’ve gotten them and quickly realized that I’m completely off the wagon.



I had a couple of these previous to January, the Whammy, wah and Freqout. I’ve still got a ways to go before I’m “done” (🤣🤣🤣), so I’ll keep an running journal of my binge.

The Iron Bell, Dover Drive GE and Fuzz Face are the newest ones. The Iron Bell is stupid good, the most usable fuzz, across a fairly wide range. It does 70’s Gilmour just as well as 80’s and 90’s. I was a bit nervous about the Fuzz Face before I got it, I’ve had some nasty ones in the past and I haven’t heard a ton of great demos with the EJ FF. It definitely needs the right amp to work with (I’m putting all these in front of an FM9 or AxeFX III) and not surprisingly and can be really finicky, but it’s super smooth and the sustained notes have an awesome motion to them with all the fuzz.

I’m still getting used to the Dover Drive. I wanted it more for lower gain tones, but I think I might grab a Blues Driver for that purpose. The EJ violin tone is definitely in there, but like the Fuzz Face, needs to be paired with the right amp. It’s pretty crazy how the Fractal amps respond to these pedals hitting the front end and how much interaction they have together. I definitely wasn’t expecting that.

Here’s a quick clip of some Gilmour stuff, it’s the Iron Bell into the Dover Drive, into the FM9- Analog Chorus, Hiwatt, Delay, Rotary (in parallel) Reverb, two 2x12’s in my living room-


And now I’m off to find a Blues Driver….

Have you A/B against the tones you were getting from just your fractal? Other than the joy of putting together a new rig was dropping that kinda coin worth the end result?
 
Have you A/B against the tones you were getting from just your fractal? Other than the joy of putting together a new rig was dropping that kinda coin worth the end result?

For sure. As much as I’ve said “If you can program it, the Fractal can do it.” I have to eat my words because two things I haven’t been able to pull off or even get in the ballpark with is fuzz and vibe. The Face Fuzz isn’t even close to the EJ FF, no matter what diodes I select or how much I tweak it, at best I can feed an OD into it and it kinda gets there, but it’s still just not doing the thing that makes a FF awesome. And the vibe just doesn’t grab the tone and do that liquidy thing with it like a pedal does, hard to describe this stuff, but both the Vibes in the Fractal sound like they’re sitting above the tone rather than being blended with it. I’ll make some clips tonight.

“Worth it” is a moving target for me, in the context of me sitting on my couch getting a whole lot of nothing done musically, none of it’s worth it. :rofl Even for the hour or two of enjoyment I’ve had playing through them, even in redundant cases like the OCD (Cliff nailed that), it’s totally worth it. Haven’t tried replicating the Dover Drive yet, but between that, the EJ Fuzz Face and the Dry Bell, it’s absolutely been worth it. There’s tones in those that I’ve wanted to get since my teens, I just need to figure out what the hell I’m going to do with them. Overall, yeah, it’s totally been worth it. If I’m going to blow money, it’s better I do it on gear rather than the other extracurricular activities I’ve gotten myself into in the past; it keeps me enticed to play and satisfies long-standing itches.
 
For sure. As much as I’ve said “If you can program it, the Fractal can do it.” I have to eat my words because two things I haven’t been able to pull off or even get in the ballpark with is fuzz and vibe. The Face Fuzz isn’t even close to the EJ FF, no matter what diodes I select or how much I tweak it, at best I can feed an OD into it and it kinda gets there, but it’s still just not doing the thing that makes a FF awesome. And the vibe just doesn’t grab the tone and do that liquidy thing with it like a pedal does, hard to describe this stuff, but both the Vibes in the Fractal sound like they’re sitting above the tone rather than being blended with it. I’ll make some clips tonight.

“Worth it” is a moving target for me, in the context of me sitting on my couch getting a whole lot of nothing done musically, none of it’s worth it. :rofl Even for the hour or two of enjoyment I’ve had playing through them, even in redundant cases like the OCD (Cliff nailed that), it’s totally worth it. Haven’t tried replicating the Dover Drive yet, but between that, the EJ Fuzz Face and the Dry Bell, it’s absolutely been worth it. There’s tones in those that I’ve wanted to get since my teens, I just need to figure out what the hell I’m going to do with them. Overall, yeah, it’s totally been worth it. If I’m going to blow money, it’s better I do it on gear rather than the other extracurricular activities I’ve gotten myself into in the past; it keeps me enticed to play and satisfies long-standing itches.
Well that's good to hear... especially since none of those things you listed appeal to me. Would love to hear your A/Bs tho for sure.
 
Well that's good to hear... especially since none of those things you listed appeal to me. Would love to hear your A/Bs tho for sure.

Maybe if I post ‘em on the FAS forum it’ll light a spark under Cliff to get them accurate. I really think with the fuzz, it’s just the nature of the beast and how sensitive they are. All that alkaline vs non-alkaline, a Fuzz Face has to be first, fuzzes don’t like buffers, etc is all accurate, they’re finicky bitches and I suspect makes them that much harder to model.

The Pi Fuzz does a great job at being a Big Muff, but the Fuzz Face, even comparing it to other FF’s I’ve owned/used, is waaaay off.
 
For sure! That tactile nature of being able to turn a knob or two definitely offers me a more immediately rewarding
experience than sitting at the computer and using Fractal Editors to do it.

I do both, but they are different, and each has its place. For me. It's just not an either/or conundrum. I don't have
to choose, or declare a winner. In my book both options have their place, time, and setting. :chef
 
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