Setup of the day thread?

[backwardsvoyager]

More like setup of the month now, anyway I've been using this small board to write and pactice during lunchtime and it sounds amazing.

oof, that's real nice

how does the Longsword compare to the Elements?
I loved the Elements for high gain stuff and was thinking about picking up a Longsword at some point to scratch the same itch, so curious what the sound differences are side by side.

[Dowi]

how does the Longsword compare to the Elements?
I loved the Elements for high gain stuff and was thinking about picking up a Longsword at some point to scratch the same itch, so curious what the sound differences are side by side.

i meant to make a detailed review of the Longsword but last month's been kinda of a mess with life stuff, i promise i'll come up with it while on vacation.

Anyway, briefly: i bought it for the same reason - to compare the two - and if you do not consider the boost switch on the Longsword, the Elements has a lot more gain, period. If you crank the boost switch on the longsowrd you can get high-ish gain sounds, but still don't get to the Elements with everything at max.
BUT
In this setup i use the Elements as always on low gain, and then stack the Longsword set for mid-gain when i want to get a fat distortion, and eventually turn the boost on when i want the highest gain level (see Longsword boost knob maxed out in the pic ). Alternatively i just turn off the Elements and use the Longsword alone to get a beefier overdrive.
I did make a side-by-side comparison as they cover a lot of similar territory, and in the end i think the Longsword is more tricky to setup but has a lot more nuances than the Elements in the mid-gain area, as the tone knobs make some DRAMATIC changes in the overall pedal behaviour, and is capable of "fuzzier" sounds. On the other hand, the Elements to me feels more like a do-it-all straight od/distortion box, from low to high gain.

[qersty]

I'm scared of elements at max. Gain at 9 'o clock scares me

[lordgalvar]

D8480E9C-3A62-47D3-A81E-4AF8C961D186.jpeg (140.27 KiB) Viewed 3128 times

[Pepe]

I don't know the two pedals on the right, but I would love to spend a day with the trio on the left!

[Monarch]

To the right is The Carrier, the best pedal in the world.

Although to me looks better with stock knobs. Post us some recording with The Carrier if you have any

[lordgalvar]

My carrier is semi-broken. The rotary switches were kind of messed up when I got it (and i knew going in I had to fix it).

The LFO seitch was completely frozen but I fixed that by turning it really hard haha; it still feels wonky, but works.

The actual carrier wave one feels normal to turn but it doesn’t change off sine. I have test just about every thing around the switch (It’s what Piotr thinks is wrong too) but the switch is fine. I trace most of it, but I always put it back together and play it. Works great other than different carrier waves.

That’s the reason for the different knobs though: they were busted and I actually used them like that for a long time. But some started to crumble making the switches a pita to turn and all of those knobs were just around the house.

Might record something.

That carrier wave thing is really weird. There just isn’t much going on on that side of the pedal. I’ve gotta start look for bad solder joint on some of the smd whenever I get a magnifier of some kind and more time.

[Monarch]

Damn. Did you tried to ask Piotr to send him for repair? Mine arrived with one broken switch (LFO, same), which was replaced by local pedal repair dude with short instructions from Piotr.

[lordgalvar]

Nah, Piotr had the same suspicion as I that it has something to do with the switch (because everything else works). Too much money to send to germany for a switch.

Anyway, kids woke up late today. Forgot we had a microscope for them (Pepe knows what I’m talking about). Poked around for 5 minutes tracing the switch path back to the voltage regulator and the cpu. All looked good except the solder wasn’t great on the smd resistors around the switch. Melted some no clean kester on those but no success. Really looked how the switch was setup and it’s a voltage divider with the resistance to ground being selected by the switch (like if it was a pot with a fixed ohms at the first lug to wiper and variable ohm to wiper from the third lug. Lug 1 and wiper connected at the center pin of the switch).

Microscoped that and it kind of looked like flux residue. Checked ohms but it wasn’t reading what I would expect. Check continuity from top resistor to simulated wiper…nothing. Checked that connection again and the trace was very slightly damaged but covered in flux residue. No clean solder to bridge the pin to resistor. Reflowed all the over smd joints around the switch for good measure. All carriers work! Not bad for sitting down and actually thinking about it for 20 minutes (and working while people sleep) haha.

I wish I remembered the user I got this from on here (maybe 5 years ago?). They were in Ireland and super nice.

Rock n’ roll!

(I should order some rogans from thonk to dress it up haha).

[Pepe]

Hey, that's awesome! Great to hear that you got it working again. If you should ever need a way to get a switch shipped to you, you know who you can ask.

[qersty]

The Carrier is such a white whale pedal. How many did hexe make even? 5?

[Monarch]

Nah, Piotr had the same suspicion as I that it has something to do with the switch (because everything else works). Too much money to send to germany for a switch.

Too much for a switch, but not too much for The Carrier

Btw. what power supply do you use for The Carrier? I have some shitty non-original adapter, and now I'm in process making custom power supply for board in which I could include Carrier too.

Btw. pt.2; What is your The Carrier version; III A or III B?

The Carrier is such a white whale pedal. How many did hexe make even? 5?

Dunno, but I guess there's more then five

[lordgalvar]

It was an easy fix. Mostly asked Piotr where to look (like if it had an analog waveshaper or something and used the cpu for a mux) haha.

Version: no clue. I don’t remember seeing anything on the inside but I wasn’t really looking either.

Power supply AC10. Used to use Jameco and Amigo wall warts, but I had too many damn wall warts. Got AC10, threw the rest in the garage. I use a DC7 for most of my other pedals though (moog and stuff take around 300ma). My only complaint about AC10 is I don’t know what the hell breathing means (blinking light) and kind of guess at the switches for stuff (basically, I don’t use them, just the dedicated 12v ac). All worked the same as far as I could tell.

I’ve got frostwave, eowave, and a few other AC pedals so it was work it.

[Monarch]

[qersty]

Death metal without the lows dimed?