catnine Posted October 23, 2012 Share Posted October 23, 2012 I tried out my rocktron Austin Gold yesteday through my Fender SF home brew amp and it sounded very good. The bass control really makes a difference and the sound with the unit off does not really change the sound of the guitar direct through the amp even though it is not true bypass. The only thing that bothers me is the design. It's like digitech and others who solder the pots and jacks right to the PC board. So if you need to replace a jack or pot you have to get their parts. Now Boss and Ibanez on the others have the pots and jacks mounted to the chassis and hard wired to the PC board so repairs and mods if one wants to do these is possible. This is one thing I didn't like about the fender blues deluxe and fender pro jr amps I had , everthing was ribbon wire with tube sockets soldered right to pc boards. Does this matter to others here or is it just me? What I do like about the Austin Gold is the sound,. it is not raspy and does not color the sound it just ad's gain just to drive a tube amp especially at low volume levels. Pedals I did have the boss SD-1 and blues driver and TS-9 sort of changed the tone on the amp and the tone control was not that useful to me anyway. They also added a lot more gain than I ever needed. I tried listening to sound clips on you tube comparing the TS-9 to the blues driver and the TS-9 to the SD-1. They all sounded close yet some are already modded so what is the point in that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EVOL! Posted October 23, 2012 Share Posted October 23, 2012 Nothing wrong with buffered pedals, especially if they are high quality buffers. I run five pedals and an outboard spring reverb unit so I need a buffer pedal in my chain to help the signal. In regards to the cheap construction, it would nag me, but not enough to dump the pedal if I liked it. Although I know that if the pedal ever broke I'd be cursing the manufacturer. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Californiaman Posted October 23, 2012 Share Posted October 23, 2012 I have several Overdrive and Distortion pedals. The difference often astounds me. If you like what you're playing, I say go with it. It doesn't hurt to try other pedals. If you like a certain application for it then you have a use for it. Carry On. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
catnine Posted October 23, 2012 Author Share Posted October 23, 2012 I like the Austin gold just fine. Right now I wouldn't know what other OD pedal to even get. I don't have the funds except for a Boss SD-1 or Digitech Bad Monkey. I had an older SD-1 I think I got it in 92 so I don't know if it was the made in japan model or Tai. I know I didn't care much for the TS-9 ,it did seem more open than the BD-2. I thought the Blues driver sounded a bit deeper and I had a Guyatone that didn't have a tone pot . If I liked them I would have kept them . I did compare them all to the Austin Gold but at the time I never looked at the way they were built just how they all sounded which was most important. I did play the SD-1 through a SF champ and at the time I liked it. Not that they aren't good pedals. The SD-1 and Bad Monkey are the same price so I suppose the SD-1 would be better since I could change a few parts perhaps just in the tone section and not be stuck with PC mounted parts and with the Gold together just might offer a different sound dialed in proper. I doubt I will break the Austin Gold since I don't gig these days. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dub-T-123 Posted October 24, 2012 Share Posted October 24, 2012 Board mounted pots are pretty much standard in pedals made in quantities. My Maxon AD-9 (Maxon built the Ibanez pedals) definitely uses board mounted pots. I know this because the delay time pot broke and I had to repair it. Boss and Ibanez use both board mounted pots and ribbon cables. It was an easy repair btw There's really nothing inherently bad about them. If you're one of "those guys", they provide a more direct connection between the pot and the rest of the circuit. They also provide a way to solidly mount the circuitboard in the enclosure so that the board won't move and short out on the box or hardware. You also don't need to use the same pot to replace them. You can use any pot of the same (or different) value and simply wire the pot lugs to the corresponding lugs on the circuitboard. Chances are the manufacturer will just send you the OEM part for free if you ask though. As for a new OD, I seem to remember you saying you've built some amps and guitars. Why not just build yourself an overdrive? It's pretty easy and cheap to build a better OD than the Bad Monkey. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ol fred Posted October 24, 2012 Share Posted October 24, 2012 I tried to keep my pedal board as small and portable as I could. Has a little backround buzz though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
catnine Posted October 24, 2012 Author Share Posted October 24, 2012 I tried to keep my pedal board as small and portable as I could. Has a little backround buzz though. Man !!!!! whne you turn on that pedal board does the neighborhood lights dim down? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
catnine Posted October 24, 2012 Author Share Posted October 24, 2012 Board mounted pots are pretty much standard in pedals made in quantities. My Maxon AD-9 (Maxon built the Ibanez pedals) definitely uses board mounted pots. I know this because the delay time pot broke and I had to repair it. Boss and Ibanez use both board mounted pots and ribbon cables. It was an easy repair btw There's really nothing inherently bad about them. If you're one of "those guys", they provide a more direct connection between the pot and the rest of the circuit. They also provide a way to solidly mount the circuitboard in the enclosure so that the board won't move and short out on the box or hardware. You also don't need to use the same pot to replace them. You can use any pot of the same (or different) value and simply wire the pot lugs to the corresponding lugs on the circuitboard. Chances are the manufacturer will just send you the OEM part for free if you ask though. As for a new OD, I seem to remember you saying you've built some amps and guitars. Why not just build yourself an overdrive? It's pretty easy and cheap to build a better OD than the Bad Monkey. I started looking into that but I couldn't find to box I wanted . I wanted something solid not metal stampings . I saw some boxes that hammond makes on AES that looked cast . Then I would need the parts and a pc board and a schematic . I have built tube amps but never SS with pc boards. Some places sell kits like AES others sell them too but they are pretty expensive. I do see what your saying about PC mounted pots and jacks . My thinking was if I got a SD-1 then if I didn't like the tone I could tinker with it. I read people talking about tone sucking pedals and want to avoid that. I'll check into it though. Thanks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
daveinspain Posted October 24, 2012 Share Posted October 24, 2012 I tried to keep my pedal board as small and portable as I could. Has a little backround buzz though. That can't be real... If it was you'd have to dance around on top of it like a ballerina to turn them on and off... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ol fred Posted October 24, 2012 Share Posted October 24, 2012 That can't be real... If it was you'd have to dance around on top of it like a ballerina to turn them on and off... Just "funnin" guys the only pedal I ever use is the one that came with my Marshall Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.