ambient/drone worthy board on the cheap?

[frigid midget]

I find myself messing with faux postrock sounds again, though in a lot less conventional and boring way, if I may say so myself
I sold most of my delay/reverb when I turned my back on the whole late '90s post-rock genre, which so now I'm left with just an DL-8 and an ES-2.
I'm not at all out to make boring whale sounds and annoying shimmery angelic choir noises, though I guess gear-whise I might be after the same stuff as the average p&w fanatic

The thing is, I KNOW I could just slap a Boomerang, a POG2, an El Cap and a couple big ass eventides together and be done with it.
But than I'd have to struggle to NOT sound like every other bedroom ambient geek, and most of all: I'd have to sell my car to be able to -almost- afford it :s

So what's the short cut to get somewhat big clear etheric drones?

Oh yeah, I also have an Afterneath, which I love, though it can't replace a good digital plate/hall reverb imo.
The ES-2 is way awesome. 1s of delay time, oscillation, tap tempo,...And the delay time fader is toe-adjustable
The DL-8 is a great bang for the buck too imo. Does a bit of everything, and there's a pretty flexible little looper mode inthere. Voiced nicely, it just sits great in a mix, works excellent with my amp/guitar. Most of the modes sound pretty damn similar though, and they don't really get super spacey. Plus I kinda miss not having somekind of psychedlic eery revers mode.

I already spend all my monies on fuzz pedlols, so this'll be a long term thing. I'd buy used, so I was thinking maybe a used RV-3 should be within reach, and/or maybe an Echo Park. I'm kinda sorta lusting for a POG2, I don't suppose there's a slightly cheaper alternative that's not TOO dumbed down?

Cheers.

[onyxrhino]

So what's the short cut to get somewhat big clear etheric drones?

You may want two of them

[frigid midget]

^Don't know why I didn't think of that one myself. I remember those being able to do up to 6 effects at the same time. Makes the M5 look kinda pathetic :s

[colossus]

EHX Freeze and some mod after it works wonders for cheap beds.

[frigid midget]

EHX Freeze and some mod after it works wonders for cheap beds.

I have a Freeze actually, it's my go-to drone pedal at the moment. It's always the base layer of whatevr I'm playing on top of it. So now I'm kinda looking for stuff to shape everything that goes on top of the freeze'd chord...

Also thinking about using the aby switch I have laying around, and sending one of the loops/drones/layers to a seperate amp, with a volume pedal and/or small mixer somewhere in the chain...

[rfurtkamp]

Timebender, sir. Timebender.

Hold down left pedal in most modes (sadly not reverse), it acts as a Freeze...with controls. And a real amount of hold time (up to 5s). And a harmonized delay option that's stereo. And expression control. And....

..you will not sound like everybody else on earth.

[greymedicine]

Current favorite Timebender thing: repeat hold a phrase, warp it by screwing with the time knob in tape mode, then pitch shift it in analog mode, then glitch it in digital. Then slice the phrase with tap tempo and start all over again.

[Uncle Grandfather]

just get an Industrialectric RM-1N and have drone/dirt/fuzz/reverb etc.

[gnomethrone]

You can get a used tc electronic HOF reverb for real cheap. Plug it into your computer, edit yerself a tone print and use that stereo out to go to space.

[rumfoord]

You have a looper, an analog delay, digital reverb, and a freeze? (and you don't like shimmer)
I lurve my volume pedal, so I guess I'd recommend one.
But mainly I'd just say, 'get at it'!


For me:
light fuzz -> analog delay -> transparent od -> volume -> hall reverb -> distortion

I like to set the fuzz about unity volume and barely fuzzy, the delay with a very low mix and long(it) delay time and fairly long feedback time but not really feeding back just washy, the transparent od about breaking up and a boost in volume, the reverb with a long decay and tone rolled back, and the distortion pretty dark and high gain with the mix only half way. With this setup, I really like EVERY combination of pedals. With a great clean sound, I have a ton of versatility..in the dynamic sense not the cover-band sense.

[frigid midget]

Ok, that's enough to convinced me. So what do time benders averagely go for?

The HOF isn't a bad call either. I was actually just checking out the HOF mini. I like the idea of not having to plow my way through a zillion of modes, or having to remember what settings I used the last time. I never thought of a reverb as a set-and-forget type effect, but I can see how it'd work if I spend some time tailoring one particular big washy hall reverb and just use my delay pedals to change things up for each different tune I'm playing. Don't even think I'd want bother hauling around my ipad to tweak on toneprints in the middle of a jam or gig or whatever.

[frigid midget]

You have a looper, an analog delay, digital reverb, and a freeze? (and you don't like shimmer)
I lurve my volume pedal, so I guess I'd recommend one.
But mainly I'd just say, 'get at it'!


For me:
light fuzz -> analog delay -> transparent od -> volume -> hall reverb -> distortion

I like to set the fuzz about unity volume and barely fuzzy, the delay with a very low mix and long(it) delay time and fairly long feedback time but not really feeding back just washy, the transparent od about breaking up and a boost in volume, the reverb with a long decay and tone rolled back, and the distortion pretty dark and high gain with the mix only half way. With this setup, I really like EVERY combination of pedals. With a great clean sound, I have a ton of versatility..in the dynamic sense not the cover-band sense.

Yeah, you're probably right, I am pretty close where I need to be gear whise. But I don't actually have a real digital reverb. As awesome as the Afterneath is, I wouldn't put it in the same category as say, an RV-series boss, or the Harwire RV-7.

My VP Jr is in pieces in a drawer somewhere. I spend more hours trying to fix it than I care to remember. I overpayed for a new spring kit, installed it, and the damn thing never worked the way it did when it was new-ish. Pulled it apart again, installed it again, still no dice

So at this point I'd much rather just shell out for a new DIFFERENT vol pedal.

Anyway, I'm now in the market for a HOF mini and maybe a time bender, in that order.

[gnomethrone]

The HOF mini needs an isolated power supply or you get this high frequency whine. I had one but it did not get along with my cheap powered pedal board. I use the full size now with no problems. And it's worth it to not have to break out your iPad to adjust decay & tone etc.

[greymedicine]

Ok, that's enough to convinced me. So what do time benders averagely go for?

$120-$200ish

There's one on Reverb for $181 with shipping, and another on ebay with a starting bid of $125. They haven't gone the way of the Space Station yet.

[OddKnowledge]

i'm not exactly sure what sounds you're after, but i think if you already own a Freeze, DL8, ES2, and Afterneath you have everything you need for awesomeness. play with your knobs and see what you can come up with.

... yeah, i know. TWSS