Against my better judgement I bought another pedal. (It's an EM-Drive.)

[marqueemoon]

It popped up on Portland Craigslist and my kind friends down there just nabbed it for me.

What is it?

[Unicorn Warrior]

Boss CE-1

[marqueemoon]

Boss CE-1

Not a chorus.

[Unicorn Warrior]

Boss CE-1

Not a chorus.

So, it’s a Boss from that era?

[marqueemoon]

Boss CE-1

Not a chorus.

So, it’s a Boss from that era?

No. It’s a newer boo-teek pedal.

[cestlamort]

Benson… preamp?

[marqueemoon]

Benson… preamp?

It’s another “son”.

[marqueemoon]

After a very meandering journey it’s finally here.

It’s a circuit I’ve mentioned quite a bit on here as one I’ve been curious about.

It’s *very* simple and contains a category of component that some folks consider snake oil when used in guitar tone circuits.

[marqueemoon]

Welp, here it is.



I've wanted to try one of these for ages. I think it's a looker too, unlike my bony and pale hand.

Took it for a quick spin with my JM and Vox Cambridge and it's pretty much exactly what I was expecting. It's an interesting pedal in that it gets very saggy and tweedy past about 3 o'clock on the gain control, and at low gain settings it's basically invisible. The extreme sag was not very flattering with this particular guitar/amp combo. It might be fun in combination with a treble booster or spitty fuzz for making stuff sound extra broken.

It's sort of Klone-like in that it adds a subtle low mid fullness and rolls back a little stringiness, but unlike a Klone the latter varies depending on when the gain is set. There seems to be a sweet spot between 1 and 2 o'clock where there's a little sag and the harsh clang gets rolled off that's quite nice.

I'm really not sure what to do with it. I was thinking of trying it the Rat spot on my board at gainier setting, but now I'm wondering if this should do the job my Archer was doing while the Archer does the Rat's job (i.e. a little dirtier).

It's very well made, and the switching is dead silent (no audible click in the audio).

[marqueemoon]

Took it to practice tonight for a proper test.

EM-Drive sounds fantastic at band volume. Just sounds like my amp, but louder and dirtier, and without any unpleasant high end fizz, even with brand new strings.

I think it’s actually better than my Archer at the low gain rhythm thing in that there’s less of a mid hump, so more of the texture of the playing comes through, and it doesn’t compete with the vocal range as much.

I want to do more experimentation, but sticking with what I know for our next show.

[marqueemoon]

Tried it with my 3 piece band tonight with the Cambridge Reverb and my Oceana Jr. It definitely wasn’t bad, but more of a baseline sound than a boost. A totally clean boost drives this particular amp better.

That said I am way overdue for a string change, so maybe with some more upper harmonic content the EM-Drive would be better.

Played a show with my other band last night with the Archer back on the board, and I’ve decided it’s staying.

So now I have a pedal I like, but don’t know what to do with. I have… a few of those

[sal paradise]

So now I have a pedal I like, but don’t know what to do with. I have… a few of those

We’ve all had periods of time with boxes full of those

I’m back at that stage again. Time to sell them all. Before buying them all again. Gotta try everything at least twice before you know it works, right?

[marqueemoon]

So now I have a pedal I like, but don’t know what to do with. I have… a few of those

We’ve all had periods of time with boxes full of those

I’m back at that stage again. Time to sell them all. Before buying them all again. Gotta try everything at least twice before you know it works, right?

Fortunately I don’t tend to re-buy things I’ve previously tried and sold, but that’s probably largely because I just tend to hang onto them.

I have enough local pedalhead friends that we should probably just work out some kind of lending library situation with each other.