Tone-Shaping Pedals

General Gear Discussion - effects, synths, etc.

Moderator: Ghost Hip

User avatar
friendship
IAMILFFAMOUS
IAMILFFAMOUS
Posts: 4182
Joined: Sun Mar 10, 2013 5:22 pm

Tone-Shaping Pedals

Post by friendship »

I thought it might be helpful to compile a list of pedals that shape your tone. For the purpose of this thread, I'm talking about pedals that change the frequencies (equalization) and envelope (compression/expansion) of your signal. I realize this is a very gray area, but if possible let's try to avoid the very obvious graphic equalizers and transparent compressors. Basically I'd like to make a compendium of pedals that add a lot of tonal colorization. It should go without saying, but I don't mean distortion and modulation and that stuff. It might be cool to go into detail about what they're really doing. This kind of shit is great for shaping fuzz pedals.

Here's a shortlist I came up with to get started:

1. Catalinbread Naga Viper: treble boost pedal, Range (frequency), Heat (gain), Boost (output/level). A Rangemaster that you can control the frequency and gain of.

2. Guyatone Sonic Shaper: Level (output/level) and Shape (“adjusts point and level of harmonic emphasis”).

3. Snarling Dogs Vari-Tone: Tone Selector (5-position notch filter) and Volume Compensator (output/level boost knob). Also has Attack control with Snarl/Bite settings (uncertain what they do). Basically a Gibson-style Vari-Tone switch with a preamp in pedal form.

4. Dunlop Q-Zone. Volume (output/level), Q-Zone (q or range of frequency), Peak (frequency). Basically a one-band parametric EQ similar to a wah pedal that you can set.


ADDED 7/23/2013

5. Smallsound/Bigsound Sparkle Motion: Rangemaster that can also boost bass and midrange and bias. Input attentuation, EQ, treble/bass switch, bias, volume.

6. Pigtronix Philosopher's Tone: dirty, colorful compressor. Grit, Sustain, Blend, Treble, Volume.

7. Boss SP-1/Behringer SE200: kind of a one-band parametric EQ/treble boost thing. Balance and Spectrum

8. Pearl Thriller TH-20: Frequency ("Adjusts the point where the frequency is cut-off by the low-cut filter, 600Hz-7kHz"), Color ("Boosts the levels around the cut-off point of the low-cut filter"), Balance ("Mixes the direct sound and the low-cut sound"), Multipeak ("Boosts the frequency of the six points of the high frequency range").

9. Death By Audio Kill Kill Filter: Two-band filter with Volume and Gain boost.

10. Spaceman Mercury III harmonic boost: seems Rangemaster based with the ability to boost bass, middle, or treble. Boost, Tone (6 frequency settings), Harmonic control

11. Telenordia TF-1 Filter: " Six frequency center points...available for a boost of up to 18dB...The shape of the filter curve can be either low shelf, bell or high shelf, with the possibility of blending between the three configurations." Boost, Frequency, Blend knobs.

12. FuzzHugger Magic Meter: multi stage clipping overdrive pedal with active T/M/B control and a frequency tripler (!)

BONUS ROUND

Ibanez PM7: can be set as a static filter

ADDED 7/25/2013

Parked Wahs
Wilson Parked Wah
Custom Guitar Gear Jekekoh
Keeley Nova
Logan Sound Wah Anti Wah

EQ
Dr. Scientist The Cleanness
Earthquaker Devices Tone Job

dirts with lots of shaping
EHX English Muff’n
Dr. Scientist Elements
Last edited by friendship on Thu Jul 25, 2013 12:32 pm, edited 4 times in total.
sound journal
actualidiot wrote:12-bit's almost analog, right?
User avatar
friendship
IAMILFFAMOUS
IAMILFFAMOUS
Posts: 4182
Joined: Sun Mar 10, 2013 5:22 pm

Re: Tone-Shaping Pedals

Post by friendship »

Here's a picture from Guyatone's site about what the Shape knob is doing.

Image
sound journal
actualidiot wrote:12-bit's almost analog, right?
User avatar
12XU2A3X3
FAMOUS
FAMOUS
Posts: 1199
Joined: Tue Dec 04, 2012 10:58 pm
Location: South Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Re: Tone-Shaping Pedals

Post by 12XU2A3X3 »

smallsound/bigsound makes a really fantastic treble booster with variable input and output gain, tone, and transistor bias.
Ugly Nora wrote:Maybe he should go back to mail order like Jandek.
https://soundcloud.com/christian-mirande

good deals: zzuFrepuS, backwardsvoyager, hatshirt, intothegroove x2, onyxrhino, oldangelmidnight, DannDubbleEwe x2, solarolosonoio, ghosteffects, smallsnd/bigsnd, john lyons, dandolin, rot gut
User avatar
kbit
IAMILFFAMOUS
IAMILFFAMOUS
Posts: 11509
Joined: Sun Dec 12, 2010 1:16 pm
Location: Philadelphia

Re: Tone-Shaping Pedals

Post by kbit »

If you turn the depth all the way down on the Ibanez PM7 it turns into a static phase / filter. Manual knob controls the frequency, plus positive and negative resonance with a three way switch to control it. It might clip if you send a really hot signal through it, but yeah. The best cheap pedal ever.
D.o.S. wrote:I'm fucking stupid and no one should operate under any other premise.
User avatar
rustywire
IAMILFFAMOUS
IAMILFFAMOUS
Posts: 4715
Joined: Thu Dec 13, 2012 9:54 am
Location: on.

Re: Tone-Shaping Pedals

Post by rustywire »

Fromel - Shape EQ :cool:
Empress ParaEQ
Telenordia TF-1
Spaceman Mercury III
Dr. Scientist The Cleanness
BJFE Sea Blue EQ

Basically any EQ pedal...but you already knew that :thumb:

Edit:
After rereading (and better comprehending OP) I think most of the Pigtronix line is what you're talking about here. Also Lovetone.
[B/S/T shoutouts] Shortlist: Hollow Earth|Ct5|856|Condor|Thermae|OP-1|half track reel2reel|Prophet6 ... :whoa:
rfurtkamp wrote:The only transparent thing I own is a set of drinking glasses.
Image
User avatar
Scruffie
Admin
Admin
Posts: 4647
Joined: Sun Jun 07, 2009 8:46 pm
Location: London.. ish, Uk

Re: Tone-Shaping Pedals

Post by Scruffie »

FuzzHugger Magic Meter
User avatar
coldbrightsunlight
Supporter
Supporter
Posts: 13666
Joined: Tue Oct 12, 2010 12:20 pm
Location: UK

Re: Tone-Shaping Pedals

Post by coldbrightsunlight »

12XU2A3X3 wrote:smallsound/bigsound makes a really fantastic treble booster with variable input and output gain, tone, and transistor bias.

Yeah I used to love the sparkle motion as a general tone shaper when I had one. It's cool having a fuzz pedal on one sound then kicking in a filter/EQ pedal and having a totally different sound out of the same fuzz.
füzz lover. Friend. Quilter evangelist.

I make music sometimes:

https://nitrx.bandcamp.com/

https://mediocrisy.bandcamp.com/

https://fleshcouch.bandcamp.com
User avatar
zRobertez
FAMOUS
FAMOUS
Posts: 1686
Joined: Sun Apr 08, 2012 11:56 pm
Location: Missouri

Re: Tone-Shaping Pedals

Post by zRobertez »

monkeydancer wrote:
12XU2A3X3 wrote:smallsound/bigsound makes a really fantastic treble booster with variable input and output gain, tone, and transistor bias.

Yeah I used to love the sparkle motion as a general tone shaper when I had one. It's cool having a fuzz pedal on one sound then kicking in a filter/EQ pedal and having a totally different sound out of the same fuzz.


Yeah I have monkeydancers old one! so :thumb: to the above! I really like it
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Housewife/331848200230566
http://housewifeofficial.bandcamp.com/
Tom Dalton wrote:Like a phoenix's butt, it will rise from the asses.
KLON KLON KLON KLON
User avatar
ryan summit
Supporter
Supporter
Posts: 6196
Joined: Wed Jun 06, 2012 10:11 am
Location: charlton hestons cold dead hands,exit 21,NY

Re: Tone-Shaping Pedals

Post by ryan summit »

rustywire wrote:

After rereading (and better comprehending OP) I think most of the Pigtronix line is what you're talking about here. Also Lovetone.


i was gonna up pig too
the philosophers tone is good at finetuning the high end
and the grit takes the edge off a bit
but doesnt do much for low end
its not like a "stomp this and check this effect out" pedal
its either on the whole time or off
its the closest thing to an eq that i have
and because it does so much for givin me the sound i want
(drippy with o.d.,ballsy as fuck with fuzz,sustain/feedback forever)
its never gonna leave my board
when i was searching for the gnarliest growliest sound
badascan>devi e.b.>philosophers tone
it dont get any more disgusting than that
you know unless i knew how to actually play
and by itself with the grit
is the only way id play without an actual distortion/o.d. on
User avatar
Glenouille
committed
committed
Posts: 334
Joined: Tue Nov 24, 2009 2:02 pm
Location: UK

Re: Tone-Shaping Pedals

Post by Glenouille »

Boss SP-1 (and the Berhinger SE200), Pearl Thriller, and the DBA Kill Kill Filter probably...
User avatar
Gone Fission
IAMILFFAMOUS
IAMILFFAMOUS
Posts: 4926
Joined: Sat Dec 04, 2010 1:50 pm
Location: The ungovernable tribal regions southwest of D.C.
Contact:

Re: Tone-Shaping Pedals

Post by Gone Fission »

THD Quintet, which is a passive Vari-tone type pedal. Eq pre-distortion is always great for fine-tuning the sound, especially with how you can dial-in your sound with a parametric mid-band. But you've probably got fuzzes that hate having active, buffered pedals in front and get cranky. The passive Vari-tone is perfect for these pedals. I paid under $40 new for the THD when they were running three times that. DIY is a more cost effective option than paying full freight.
D.o.S. wrote:Broadly speaking, if we at ILF are dropping 300 bucks on a pedal it probably sounds like an SNES holocaust.
friendship wrote:death to false bleep-blop
UglyCasanova wrote:brb gonna slap my dick on my stomp boxes
User avatar
sylnau
IAMILFFAMOUS
IAMILFFAMOUS
Posts: 10403
Joined: Tue Jan 18, 2011 1:38 pm
Location: Quebec City

Re: Tone-Shaping Pedals

Post by sylnau »

Metal Zone
"I can't understand why people are frightened of new ideas. I'm frightened of the old ones." --John Cage

http://www.youtube.com/sylnau
User avatar
jrmy
IAMILFFAMOUS
IAMILFFAMOUS
Posts: 10645
Joined: Fri Mar 21, 2008 11:09 am
Contact:

Re: Tone-Shaping Pedals

Post by jrmy »

Earthquaker Devices Talons, and Earthquaker Devices Tone Job.
I'm more like a mids-ist than a bassist.
"The main rule on ILF is don't be an asshole." - Tom Dalton
I can't wait to annoy the shit out of you with my mountain of mids. - bigchiefbc
https://thewirechimes.bandcamp.com/releases
http://crotchthrottle.bandcamp.com/
https://www.instagram.com/jrmyfuzz/
User avatar
MEC
HERO
HERO
Posts: 4651
Joined: Sat Jan 01, 2011 4:04 pm
Location: Old North State

Re: Tone-Shaping Pedals

Post by MEC »

Dr. Sci The Elements/Cleanness
Stone Deaf PDF-1
Image
http://youthministry.bandcamp.com/
http://remainstheband.bandcamp.com/
Achtane wrote:FUZZ ALL DAY MAN FUZZ IS GOD ALL OTHER EFFECTS ARE SHIT
Caesar wrote:Dude, can you get the fuck out of my b/s/t thread with your bullshit.
PumpkinPieces wrote: This isn't America, this is I Love Fuzz.
Mudfuzz wrote:Remember when we were all just a bunch of weirdos that liked fucked up shit and not just a bunch of nerds buying bling to impress each other online?
User avatar
goroth
HERO
HERO
Posts: 13514
Joined: Wed Jan 25, 2012 3:50 am
Location: Eurothrash: Frozen northern outpost.
Contact:

Re: Tone-Shaping Pedals

Post by goroth »

Gone Fission wrote:THD Quintet, which is a passive Vari-tone type pedal. Eq pre-distortion is always great for fine-tuning the sound, especially with how you can dial-in your sound with a parametric mid-band. But you've probably got fuzzes that hate having active, buffered pedals in front and get cranky. The passive Vari-tone is perfect for these pedals. I paid under $40 new for the THD when they were running three times that. DIY is a more cost effective option than paying full freight.

Got a link to a DIY Varitone thing? I found something a while back that had some odd part, maybe it was a weird transformer or something and it killed my interest. Laziness. ha.
Gone Fission wrote: Thu Oct 24, 2024 2:21 pm That’s quarter-assed at best.
Music out on all streaming services and bandcamp and what not.
Spotify /// Apple Music
My band /// Instagram ///Bandcamp ///
Post Reply