More knobs or less knobs - what are people into?

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Jaguar018
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Re: More knobs or less knobs - what are people into?

Post by Jaguar018 » Sun Dec 06, 2020 9:33 pm

I too have spent a lot of money of pedals with a lot of knobs only to realize that I generally prefer a simple interface.

My one main exception is my Moogerfooger 104M delay; lots of knobs on that.

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Re: More knobs or less knobs - what are people into?

Post by soggy mittens » Mon Dec 07, 2020 12:56 am

The way I see lots of knobs is that you get to sculpt a more personalized sound and at the least you only have to do it once, once you find the sound you like then you don't have to touch them again. So why would anyone be put off by them?? I guess the only way I can get my head around this is considering the kind of people that really don't even want to touch their pedals once and for it to just do what it does straight out of the box, beyond adjusting a volume dial to fit the dynamics of the situation. Or perhaps if you see there are a lot of knobs you can't help but turn them and then get lost in a myriad of tones you don't like and struggle to find a way back. xD
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Re: More knobs or less knobs - what are people into?

Post by adamrobertt » Mon Dec 07, 2020 5:17 am

I've always preferred less knobs. I hate pedals that have too many. What ends up happening is that you end up taking forever to dial in a tone because there are too many parameters to fuck with, and then you never feel like it's quite "right" because "what if I turned the high mids up a tiny bit but left the gain the same or what if I change the LFO but set the resonance at 4 instead of 12 and what if what if what if" etc.

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Re: More knobs or less knobs - what are people into?

Post by Jaguar018 » Mon Dec 07, 2020 9:19 am

soggy mittens wrote:
Mon Dec 07, 2020 12:56 am
The way I see lots of knobs is that you get to sculpt a more personalized sound and at the least you only have to do it once, once you find the sound you like then you don't have to touch them again. So why would anyone be put off by them?? I guess the only way I can get my head around this is considering the kind of people that really don't even want to touch their pedals once and for it to just do what it does straight out of the box, beyond adjusting a volume dial to fit the dynamics of the situation. Or perhaps if you see there are a lot of knobs you can't help but turn them and then get lost in a myriad of tones you don't like and struggle to find a way back. xD
I am a set it and forget it kind of person for most pedals. The thing that bothers me is how much the 'what am I missing?' factor increases with lots of knobs and dip switches. While I can wrap my head around how many settings would have not bearing/not be useful to be, I still sort of wonder. Chase Bliss are the WORST for this mindset I have. I'm sure I would enjoy a number of those pedals, but they scare me away.

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Re: More knobs or less knobs - what are people into?

Post by fuzzjunkie » Mon Dec 07, 2020 10:08 am

Jaguar018 wrote:
Mon Dec 07, 2020 9:19 am
soggy mittens wrote:
Mon Dec 07, 2020 12:56 am
The way I see lots of knobs is that you get to sculpt a more personalized sound and at the least you only have to do it once, once you find the sound you like then you don't have to touch them again. So why would anyone be put off by them?? I guess the only way I can get my head around this is considering the kind of people that really don't even want to touch their pedals once and for it to just do what it does straight out of the box, beyond adjusting a volume dial to fit the dynamics of the situation. Or perhaps if you see there are a lot of knobs you can't help but turn them and then get lost in a myriad of tones you don't like and struggle to find a way back. xD
I am a set it and forget it kind of person for most pedals. The thing that bothers me is how much the 'what am I missing?' factor increases with lots of knobs and dip switches. While I can wrap my head around how many settings would have not bearing/not be useful to be, I still sort of wonder. Chase Bliss are the WORST for this mindset I have. I'm sure I would enjoy a number of those pedals, but they scare me away.
When I saw this thread I immediately thought of Chase Bliss. I have never owned one of their pedals, not because I dislike knobs or don’t have pedals with multiple knobs, but because they cram too much into a limited space. It would be Chase Frustration for me.

I guess I can respect the engineering, but when I look at the layout I just wonder how I am supposed to hit the foot switch while playing with all those knobs and toggles right in the path of my foot wanting to stomp the switch. And so many knobs tightly packed together. Are most of their customers bedroom players that operate with their hands instead of feet?

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Re: More knobs or less knobs - what are people into?

Post by ElephantDNA » Mon Dec 07, 2020 10:00 pm

Yeah I like minimal knobs. Want to set it and forget it most of the time. Have been messing around with the phase 45 I picked up recently also. Very inspiring to figure out a one knob pedal. I'm sure you'll love the 90.

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Re: More knobs or less knobs - what are people into?

Post by Shadoweclipse13 » Mon Dec 07, 2020 10:48 pm

I usually use pedals as a set-and-forget, but I feel like I can't give a definitive answer here for all pedals: it really depends on the pedal. I have had and have some pedals that I wish had more control over the circuit, and some that didn't need as many controls for what it did. As long as there's no display for menu-diving, I don't generally mind if a pedal has a lot of knobs or not. I definitely prefer that a pedal is physically smaller overall, which affects how many knobs are there and vice versa.
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Re: More knobs or less knobs - what are people into?

Post by peterherman » Tue Dec 08, 2020 7:43 am

Shadoweclipse13 wrote:
Mon Dec 07, 2020 10:48 pm
I usually use pedals as a set-and-forget, but I feel like I can't give a definitive answer here for all pedals: it really depends on the pedal. I have had and have some pedals that I wish had more control over the circuit, and some that didn't need as many controls for what it did. As long as there's no display for menu-diving, I don't generally mind if a pedal has a lot of knobs or not. I definitely prefer that a pedal is physically smaller overall, which affects how many knobs are there and vice versa.
I'm at risk of ditching a Zoom MS-70CDR because it's SO MUCH STUFF to go through. I like that I can more-or-less get the Slowdive soft focus patch on a unit smaller than a mini-rack mount, but I find myself just scrolling through things and fiddling with non-intuitive settings on anything time-based. Honestly, if Keeley would just put the Realizer into regular production, I'd probably swap it for that (I missed the 20-for-20 and they're going for double list price, thanks flippers).

But a few knobs vs. menu diving was the Iridium vs. HX Stomp decision for me.

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Re: More knobs or less knobs - what are people into?

Post by Jaguar018 » Tue Dec 08, 2020 10:14 am

peterherman wrote:
Tue Dec 08, 2020 7:43 am
I'm at risk of ditching a Zoom MS-70CDR because it's SO MUCH STUFF to go through. I like that I can more-or-less get the Slowdive soft focus patch on a unit smaller than a mini-rack mount, but I find myself just scrolling through things and fiddling with non-intuitive settings on anything time-based.
While I totally prefer simple pedals, I have a Zoom BT100.

My 'main' board that would I theoretically play 'shows' with in my 'band' just has basic pedals (and that fancy Moogerfooger 104M delay). The idea is/was always to get all the essential sounds I need without needing to fiddle with anything.

Currently is it sits next to my secondary board in the basement. Second board is more of a noodling board. It has a looper along with the Zoom pedal. It's fun to have the option to mess around and do deep dives.

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Re: More knobs or less knobs - what are people into?

Post by del » Tue Dec 08, 2020 10:56 am

In general, I prefer fewer controls. My no-knob green ringer is a joy!

The only time I'm genuinely discouraged is when a pedal has some sort of digital switching where the same knob controls two parameters depending on whether its held down or not. Those confuse me and I feel out of touch with what my twiddling is actually manipulating.
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Re: More knobs or less knobs - what are people into?

Post by soggy mittens » Tue Dec 08, 2020 4:36 pm

del wrote:
Tue Dec 08, 2020 10:56 am
In general, I prefer fewer controls. My no-knob green ringer is a joy!

The only time I'm genuinely discouraged is when a pedal has some sort of digital switching where the same knob controls two parameters depending on whether its held down or not. Those confuse me and I feel out of touch with what my twiddling is actually manipulating.
This is the worse thing ever, pedal companies STOP DOING THIS FFS. Unless there is a display read out of the setting that is like on the DD200, that is fine.. kinda... just. xD
If OSG has tort me anything...

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Re: More knobs or less knobs - what are people into?

Post by andy » Tue Dec 08, 2020 9:55 pm

I like the tele style setup. Easy peasY!!
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Re: More knobs or less knobs - what are people into?

Post by Singlebladepickup » Tue Dec 08, 2020 10:14 pm

fuzzjunkie wrote:
Mon Dec 07, 2020 10:08 am
Jaguar018 wrote:
Mon Dec 07, 2020 9:19 am
soggy mittens wrote:
Mon Dec 07, 2020 12:56 am
Or perhaps if you see there are a lot of knobs you can't help but turn them and then get lost in a myriad of tones you don't like and struggle to find a way back. xD
I am a set it and forget it kind of person for most pedals. The thing that bothers me is how much the 'what am I missing?' factor increases with lots of knobs and dip switches. While I can wrap my head around how many settings would have not bearing/not be useful to be, I still sort of wonder. Chase Bliss are the WORST for this mindset I have. I'm sure I would enjoy a number of those pedals, but they scare me away.
When I saw this thread I immediately thought of Chase Bliss. I have never owned one of their pedals, not because I dislike knobs or don’t have pedals with multiple knobs, but because they cram too much into a limited space. It would be Chase Frustration for me.

I guess I can respect the engineering, but when I look at the layout I just wonder how I am supposed to hit the foot switch while playing with all those knobs and toggles right in the path of my foot wanting to stomp the switch. And so many knobs tightly packed together. Are most of their customers bedroom players that operate with their hands instead of feet?
I don't have any CBA pedals but I've had them and enjoyed them a lot. You aren't going to be bending over to flip dipswitches, it is a huge hassle. You get the midi switch they make, "faves", and it saves all your knob and dipswitch positions. They aren't difficult to figure out, but if you're not going to experiment or use midi it's a waste of money. The Thermae was really fun, you can clock sync the delays and the pitch shift between intervals, there's a really awesome LPF, and being able to step on it to slowly glide down an octave or up a fifth is a hoot. I realized I was twiddling knobs a LOT, because I liked experimenting, so I ended up selling nearly all my pedals for synth stuff

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