Cirrus
Roadie
- Messages
- 288
So I like '90s U2. One of the pieces of gear the Edge used in those days was a Korg A3, a mid to late '80s rackmounted digital multieffects unit. I've always been curious about them but finally decided to take the plunge a few months ago.
And this thing is actually really cool.
It's obviously old. The LCD screen's backlight has nearly died totally. When it arrived it wouldn't store presets; it needed a watch battery replaced inside and it was a bit of a pain to get to it. New sounds and effects chains can be loaded onto it from actual physical ROM disks that you slot in the front. It's a million miles away from a Helix or Axe FX; the effects chain for each preset needs to be picked from one of 20 fixed configurations, so if you can't find a combination and order of 6 effects that pleases you, it just ain't happening
But at the heart of it... the sounds are great, and I'm finding them incredibly inspiring. The reverbs (you get two variations each of Room, Hall and Plate but honestly I can't really tell the variations apart, so it's basically 3 algos) are beautifully of their era. Warm, low fi digital with just a hint of graininess. The Modulation is lush sounding without being overwhelming - Chorus particularly. Even the digital distortions, despite being programmed in the mid '80s, are loads of fun to play with. The two main distortion types (OD and a "Hard Distortion") both absolutely hang with my analogue pedals into the front end of my AC30, with the added flexibility of a full 3 band tone stack.
Then there's the way the fx chains flow into each other (it can be shoegaze in a box if you ask it to be), and the possibilities that are opened up by some of the more unusual fx options. You can get the reverb algo to distort if you push it too hard with a preceding gain stage, and it's actually really cool sounding when it does. There is a Exciter algo that lets you pick just one frequency to either enhance or squash dynamically, and it results in some really out there sounds if you, say, push the mids in a distortion block and pull them back with the exciter. There's an Early Reflections algo that is way OTT and makes it sound like you're hearing the guitar through tunnels of sheet metal. Basically, it's fucking cool.
And it does it all beautifully in mono or true stereo.
Finally, it is THE "Mysterious Ways" Guitar sound. It's literally a stock preset. These are all a humbucker guitar through the A3 into a Helix Native AC30 sim;
And this thing is actually really cool.
It's obviously old. The LCD screen's backlight has nearly died totally. When it arrived it wouldn't store presets; it needed a watch battery replaced inside and it was a bit of a pain to get to it. New sounds and effects chains can be loaded onto it from actual physical ROM disks that you slot in the front. It's a million miles away from a Helix or Axe FX; the effects chain for each preset needs to be picked from one of 20 fixed configurations, so if you can't find a combination and order of 6 effects that pleases you, it just ain't happening
But at the heart of it... the sounds are great, and I'm finding them incredibly inspiring. The reverbs (you get two variations each of Room, Hall and Plate but honestly I can't really tell the variations apart, so it's basically 3 algos) are beautifully of their era. Warm, low fi digital with just a hint of graininess. The Modulation is lush sounding without being overwhelming - Chorus particularly. Even the digital distortions, despite being programmed in the mid '80s, are loads of fun to play with. The two main distortion types (OD and a "Hard Distortion") both absolutely hang with my analogue pedals into the front end of my AC30, with the added flexibility of a full 3 band tone stack.
Then there's the way the fx chains flow into each other (it can be shoegaze in a box if you ask it to be), and the possibilities that are opened up by some of the more unusual fx options. You can get the reverb algo to distort if you push it too hard with a preceding gain stage, and it's actually really cool sounding when it does. There is a Exciter algo that lets you pick just one frequency to either enhance or squash dynamically, and it results in some really out there sounds if you, say, push the mids in a distortion block and pull them back with the exciter. There's an Early Reflections algo that is way OTT and makes it sound like you're hearing the guitar through tunnels of sheet metal. Basically, it's fucking cool.
And it does it all beautifully in mono or true stereo.
Finally, it is THE "Mysterious Ways" Guitar sound. It's literally a stock preset. These are all a humbucker guitar through the A3 into a Helix Native AC30 sim;
