Here we have:
one Iron Ether Xerograph
in a custom greenish/emeraldy finish
made by Taylor Livingston
[/mlc]
Okay, so, here's what's up with this pedal. I got the chance to borrow one from Sir Behndovah a while back. I thought I had simply enjoyed envelope filters for a simple funk touch. But I was WRONG; his Xerograph proved to me that Iron Ether meant business and wasn't out just to make another silly quacker. I even recorded a silly video with no input, just to show off some of its self-oscillation capabilities (yes, you heard me right), though there is MUCH more to this pedal than that:
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1A24RmF5iRA[/youtube]
Pardon the howling..I think that was either my brother or his girlfriend.
So months past, and I had to sell a ton of gear for bills, but I kept saving a little bit, and eventually was able to order one of my own. And I sweet-talked Taylor to the point where he agreed to do a custom color on the deeper side of the etchings.
Here's how it turned out:
I actually waited to receive pictures until after I received it. These angles of photos were taken completely independent of each other. Weird!
I even set the knobs and toggles that way for the picture.
And when I finally plugged it in, it was....not what I remembered
It was BETTER.
I do have to admit, there is some warming-up-and-getting-cozy-with-it time, but once that passed, I felt like a sonic master of frequency. I HIGHLY recommend the use of an expression pedal with this beast (Taylor and I recommend a Moog EP-2 on the cheaper side of things, as it has a toe limit knob, so that you can set the high limit with that knob, and the Freq knob on the Xero will set the heel position with an expression pedal plugged in).
DAMN. I love this pedal. Video will definitely be on the horizon..especially since I have my big rig currently at home (GK 700RB-II -> Aggy GS115).
It's extremely dynamic, which I love out of pedals (yeah, yeah, it's an envelope filter, it's supposed to, but this takes it to an extreme). It's fun to simulate a peak n' notch type filter (or not, depending on how you let notes sustain). I actually put it AFTER my Rusty Box (1. Because I currently own no other pedals and 2. Because the Rusty Box itself is also very dynamic, so in conjunction, the dynamics work very well together), and I've been having a good time ever since.
At the moment, here's the setting that's been getting the most play:
Settings wrote:Slow-sweep
2-pole
Up-sweep
Resonance: 1:00
Sensitivity: 1:20
Frequency: 8:45
Clean volume: 9:00
Filter volume: 3:00
Moog EP-2 limit knob: around 10:30
I'm still not jiving with the new and improved down-sweep just yet, but I figure that'll just take some time.
I can't wait until my OG year4545 gets back to me...then we're gonna have some FUN.
No, really, I CAN'T wait
