More in the 'stories of minimalism' series

[Orvillain]

Some of the London rental ads you see for cupboards or toilets that have been covered into studio flats are terrifying and hilarious.

Yeah I know!! Mine is actually pretty decent!! You could happily live there as a single professional, blahblahblah.


The board performed really well tonight. I absolutely love the DD500. Really makes me wonder why I ever sold it, and why I sold it so many times!! There's a preset on there called 'Reverse Charges' which is the shiiiiittttt!

At the same time, the Plethora really pulls few punches. I'm regularly kinda gobsmacked at how good it sounds, considering it is from the evil B-empire, and consider how over the years TC didn't really seem to innovate all that much.

The very last Plethora update added midi clock sync so I have the DD500 as the master clock, Plethora follows it, and if I have any other pedals that require a clock, that will follow too. But I'm not clocking the MercuryX; pointless.

The first slot on the Plethora then is a Helix phaser. Genuinely sounds amazing. The second slot are delays - analog and then digital.

Speaking of reverbs... I'm running in a slightly odd way...

MXR Reverb is acting as a really subtle plate, not too over the top, and works with most cleans.
Boss RV-5 is set for a large hall sound, and I absolutely love the way this pedal slams the front of a crunchy and high-gain channel. Thinking back, that was the sound I fell in love with back in 2008 when I first bought an RV-5. So in many ways, a return to my roots.

The MercuryX, I'll be honest... I'm thinking of selling it. But also, tonight gave me pause. I've got a patch I made on it that is 100% wet, and the decay is set to something ridiculous like 98% ... very very long tail. It works splendidly for pads and washes and swells. The only other pedal that I really love for that is the Source Audio Ventris... sooooo if I wanted simplification, that could be a way to go. But the Meris has better spillover behaviour, and you can edit the entire pedal on the device. The Ventris, you cannot.

I was thinking that it would be nice to have something that can slightly push my clean channel into a slightly OD territory. Maybe a compressor, maybe a Klon type of thing. I don't know yet. I kinda wanna try the Cali76 pedal from Origin Effects.

 

[newpedals]

Welcome to The Orvillain Heights! The studio flat with a studio! Relax in the spacious 1.2 square meter closet where you can maybe fit right between my amp rig! Enjoy the luxurious Egnater breakfast when available! Marvel at the vastness of the parking lot visible from your room!

I will add a little to that.

It's snowing outside and you feel hungry. Don't worry. We have got complimentary breakfast of an omlette for you. Just put an egg on top of the amp in a bowl and turn the amp gain to 11. The tubes are cooking! Wait for about 5 minutes for it to be ready. Don't spill it on the amp while eating it though. Otherwise Her Majesty has decided to fine you 500£.

 

[newpedals]

Yeah I know!! Mine is actually pretty decent!! You could happily live there as a single professional, blahblahblah.


The board performed really well tonight. I absolutely love the DD500. Really makes me wonder why I ever sold it, and why I sold it so many times!! There's a preset on there called 'Reverse Charges' which is the shiiiiittttt!

At the same time, the Plethora really pulls few punches. I'm regularly kinda gobsmacked at how good it sounds, considering it is from the evil B-empire, and consider how over the years TC didn't really seem to innovate all that much.

The very last Plethora update added midi clock sync so I have the DD500 as the master clock, Plethora follows it, and if I have any other pedals that require a clock, that will follow too. But I'm not clocking the MercuryX; pointless.

The first slot on the Plethora then is a Helix phaser. Genuinely sounds amazing. The second slot are delays - analog and then digital.

Speaking of reverbs... I'm running in a slightly odd way...

MXR Reverb is acting as a really subtle plate, not too over the top, and works with most cleans.
Boss RV-5 is set for a large hall sound, and I absolutely love the way this pedal slams the front of a crunchy and high-gain channel. Thinking back, that was the sound I fell in love with back in 2008 when I first bought an RV-5. So in many ways, a return to my roots.

The MercuryX, I'll be honest... I'm thinking of selling it. But also, tonight gave me pause. I've got a patch I made on it that is 100% wet, and the decay is set to something ridiculous like 98% ... very very long tail. It works splendidly for pads and washes and swells. The only other pedal that I really love for that is the Source Audio Ventris... sooooo if I wanted simplification, that could be a way to go. But the Meris has better spillover behaviour, and you can edit the entire pedal on the device. The Ventris, you cannot.

I was thinking that it would be nice to have something that can slightly push my clean channel into a slightly OD territory. Maybe a compressor, maybe a Klon type of thing. I don't know yet. I kinda wanna try the Cali76 pedal from Origin Effects.

You can try my beloved tubescreamer type pedal to push your amp. Get a bluesbreaker type if you don't like TS9's (or TS mini's) mids. SD-1 if you are on a budget and uncomfortable with mini pedals because of not having small feet.

The bluesbreaker seems to have less mids to my ears, though I only tried the EHX Spruce goose. Please be warned that some of them don't have enough volume on tap.

My favourite was the Mooer Blues crab. Turning the Spruce goose's bass knob made it sound a little like a fuzz.