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A couple of impulse purchases for me this week, both cheap and cheerful.

First of all, I've bought into the HM-2 hype and bought a clone (the Eyemaster). It doesn't have the EQ controls, but my understanding is that it basically has them both all the way up, all the time (i.e. the Swedish death metal "chainsaw" tone). I didn't fancy paying Boss prices and I trust the construction of this more than the Behringer.

Secondly, I've been eyeing up chorus pedals for a while. Lewis (other guitarist in Thank) has a chorus which he leaves switched on literally all the time, and while we were tracking the LP last month I was really into some of the tones he was getting. The June-60 piqued my interest because it's based on the Roland Juno-60 chorus, plus I'm a big fan of simplicity, so I like the idea of two modes with a simple on/off for each and no other controls. It also looks cool as hell with the faux wood panelling, which works in its favour because I am a deeply shallow man.

Here they both are on the board. It's a bit of a tight squeeze so I've had to have a general revamp. Bought some flat-headed patch cables so my pedals can sit closer together, and replaced my old Johnnyshredfreak daisy chain with a Gear4Music one which doesn't need its own unit mounted on the board like the JSF did (and still puts out 2000mA which should be plenty I think). Signal chain is Boss DD3 > Mooer Pure Octave > TC Electronic Eyemaster > Tomsline Black Teeth > TC Electronic June-60 > Behringer TU300.



I've only played these at bedroom volume through the Vox Pathfinder so far. Excited to try them through my Peavey Classic 50 - moving into a new rehearsal space either this weekend or next weekend (!) so hopefully it won't be long.

So far I'm really into mode 1 on the June-60, less into mode 2 but I can imagine having both modes on simultaneously will be good for noise freakouts. Not much opportunity for noise freakouts living in a terraced house, sadly.

The Eyemaster is obviously very over the top, but it has much more scope for subtlety than I expected from the demos I've seen (possibly because I'm using single coils?). The sweep on the gain knob is actually pretty varied, although I expect I'll mostly keep it near the upper end. Intending to use this as my high gain tone and the Black Teeth (RAT clone) as a lighter overdrive from now on. Really into the chainsaw sound, in some ways it almost feels like a more musical version of a velcro fuzz type of sound.

Thanks for being the final nail in the coffin of my Eyemaster purchase, once I can spend a bit extra money again it’ll be the first thing I grab

flathead cables are a must on a crowded pedalboard, they changed my life!

really digging the eyemaster based on your description and it's stripped down controls. is there a compact version or a comparable competitor with a small version? my current chorus is a hotone which is tiny.

also, how do you like that pure octave? i have the tender octave which does all right but does have some issues in the upper registers.

Just for clarity, the Eyemaster is the distortion and the June-60 is the chorus! Reading Dots' reply I think maybe I didn't make that clear.

I don't think there's a compact version of the June-60. There probably could/should be, because I can't imagine it's particularly complicated under the hood.

The Pure Octave is great for my needs. The tracking/tuning isn't always spot on, but it's close enough, and the music I play generally lends itself to things sounding kind of wonky. I used it pretty liberally throughout the Beige Palace album, if you wanna hear it in context.

The June 60 is great, I also keep it on mode 1 99% of the time. It looks class too. Nice board Freddy.

Freddy V-C wrote:Just for clarity, the Eyemaster is the distortion and the June-60 is the chorus! Reading Dots' reply I think maybe I didn't make that clear.

I don't think there's a compact version of the June-60. There probably could/should be, because I can't imagine it's particularly complicated under the hood.

The Pure Octave is great for my needs. The tracking/tuning isn't always spot on, but it's close enough, and the music I play generally lends itself to things sounding kind of wonky. I used it pretty liberally throughout the Beige Palace album, if you wanna hear it in context.

bah, you were probably clear enough, and i was just in too much of a rush. will keep my eye out for smaller chorus replacements just the same.

checking out Leg now!

Any pedal that looks like a Hammond organ with all those lovely Opal fruits push buttons is alright with me

The HM-2 thing is baffling - making a daft pedal even more daft? Ok I guess

Fuck, I want some opal fruits.

Fuck a star burst



*heavy breathing intensifies*

Freddy V-C wrote:A couple of impulse purchases for me this week, both cheap and cheerful.

First of all, I've bought into the HM-2 hype and bought a clone (the Eyemaster). It doesn't have the EQ controls, but my understanding is that it basically has them both all the way up, all the time (i.e. the Swedish death metal "chainsaw" tone). I didn't fancy paying Boss prices and I trust the construction of this more than the Behringer.

These new TC Electronic pedals are basically the successors to the plastic Behringers, a link that's strengthened by the fact that TC Electronic are owned by Behringer. There's a fair bit of crossover between the two ranges, but the "cloning" isn't quite as obvious, and the TC ones are full metal construction with true bypass.

I've had my eye on the June 60 along with the Vibraclone for ages, but the Vibraclone is basically never in stock anywhere when I have the spare cash for it.

ekwatts wrote:These new TC Electronic pedals are basically the successors to the plastic Behringers, a link that's strengthened by the fact that TC Electronic are owned by Behringer. There's a fair bit of crossover between the two ranges, but the "cloning" isn't quite as obvious, and the TC ones are full metal construction with true bypass.

Oh absolutely, I'm aware they're still essentially ~cheap pedals~. In fact my entire board is ~cheap pedals~ apart from the DD3.

I'm still loving the Eyemaster. Liking the June-60 too, although I'm finding that I have no idea when to use chorus, haha. There's also a noticeable volume jump when the pedal is switched on, which I'm hoping might be less obvious when I play it through the Classic 50 (in general it handles pedals way more nicely than my Pathfinder). Tempted to try it pre-dirt as well.

I have a problem with chorus in that I pretty much always want it on if it's on. What I mean is, it'll be on for the duration of a song, it'll be the basic sound throughout. And then I start thinking, well, maybe this is just my basic sound? This is how my guitar is meant to sound...? Maybe it's because of the 80s. I don't even like The Police that much, but somehow I still KINDA wanna be Andy Summers.

Yeah, I get that. I like the sound of this one but it isn't subtle enough to leave switched on all the time (which, like I said, is what my co-guitarist does).

So then when do I switch it on???

ekwatts wrote:I have a problem with chorus in that I pretty much always want it on if it's on. What I mean is, it'll be on for the duration of a song, it'll be the basic sound throughout. And then I start thinking, well, maybe this is just my basic sound? This is how my guitar is meant to sound...? Maybe it's because of the 80s. I don't even like The Police that much, but somehow I still KINDA wanna be Andy Summers.

Summers is a beast though. If only the Police had a less annoying singer, they could've been huge

Freddy V-C wrote:Yeah, I get that. I like the sound of this one but it isn't subtle enough to leave switched on all the time (which, like I said, is what my co-guitarist does).

So then when do I switch it on???

Sounds like you really wanted some with knobs after all

chorus was nearly always on for my live playing for many years, especially when we were a three piece. i think in that setting it can add richness and thickness as well as enough bite to cut through the mix. anymore and i'm a bit more selective of when to use it.

I remember recording a demo (on guitar) in the early 80’s and the bass player asked the engineer to “put some color� on my guitar. I said “we won’t be doing that.�

Doog wrote:Sounds like you really wanted some with knobs after all

Me sowing: Haha fuck yeah!!! Yes!!

Me reaping: Well this fucking sucks. What the fuck.

plopswagon wrote:I remember recording a demo (on guitar) in the early 80’s and the bass player asked the engineer to “put some color� on my guitar. I said “we won’t be doing that.�

Respect.

Freddy V-C wrote:

ekwatts wrote:These new TC Electronic pedals are basically the successors to the plastic Behringers, a link that's strengthened by the fact that TC Electronic are owned by Behringer. There's a fair bit of crossover between the two ranges, but the "cloning" isn't quite as obvious, and the TC ones are full metal construction with true bypass.

Oh absolutely, I'm aware they're still essentially ~cheap pedals~. In fact my entire board is ~cheap pedals~ apart from the DD3.

I'm still loving the Eyemaster. Liking the June-60 too, although I'm finding that I have no idea when to use chorus, haha. There's also a noticeable volume jump when the pedal is switched on, which I'm hoping might be less obvious when I play it through the Classic 50 (in general it handles pedals way more nicely than my Pathfinder). Tempted to try it pre-dirt as well.

try it before your dirt

That's the plan when I can be arsed redoing all the cabling! Right now my daisy chain is so neat and tidy underneath the board, I can't bring myself to mess it up.

Freddy V-C wrote:

Doog wrote:Sounds like you really wanted some with knobs after all

Me sowing: Haha fuck yeah!!! Yes!!

Me reaping: Well this fucking sucks. What the fuck.

plopswagon wrote:I remember recording a demo (on guitar) in the early 80’s and the bass player asked the engineer to “put some color� on my guitar. I said “we won’t be doing that.�

Respect.

agreed. in a recording setting, all effects (including chorus) are sparingly used as a rule.