It's pretty typical for a late '60's early '70's pedal. I bit noisy, but not bad like an EH. One problem it has that on a certain setting it makes a constant ticking sound, almost like beat.
Reliability/Durability:
Well, I'd deffinately gig with it because it's so cool looking, and sounds so wierd. Having a back up is hard because there are supposedly less than one hundred of them left. You have to be careful to leave it out of intense sunlight because old analog electronics' wires can brittle and crack....
Ease of Use:
If you're not familiar with this monster, it's just a trememlo/envelope filter in a big pretty case (there's a fuzz too, but it sucks. Quite distintive, but generally very weak). You can hear it on Sonic Youth's "The Diamond Sea" and Beck's "Cold Brains." (I think it's what he's using anyway.) It's basically a trememlo controled by a rate wah, and tends to be a bit quiet on the clean channel. Going between wet and clean can sound a little awkward if you're wet volume and clean volume aren't balanced. "Phase" and "Synthesizer" are both misnomers. It's not a phaser. No sine wave option, and basically worbles your sound like, "You you you you..."
Customer Support:
I looked up Ludwig in the toll free directory once, and came up with Ludwig drums and Ludwig modular furniture. That says it right there. I don't know if the present Ludwigs have anything to do with this monster, but I'm sure it sunk the company to begin with because the pedal was a flop. It's a cool toy, but generally hard to get a really useful sound out of, not to mention it was too over the top lools-wise for its time, and was too expensive.
Overall Rating:
This is a cool toy no matter what you are, and a good investment if you're a serious collector. It's not terribly useful, and I work it into my songs when I can. It's the gem of my collection, and despite the money, I'd buy it again in a second. This is the kind of pedal your likely to find at a garage sale for $40 bucks, and the old lady selling it says it was her son's amp and she's cleaning out the attic... The thing seriously looks awesome! It's about two feet tall, seven inches deep, and a foot long along the front. It's got a large wah that folds down from the front, and has all sorts of slider pots and switches on its top, which is covered by a panel. There's even a schematic printed on the metal plate covering the underside of its guts, right above the wah. Anyway, it's really pretty. I like to turn off all the lights and play with the different colored light switches. It sounds like I'm making this up, but it's really that much of a toy: like a cross between a Christmas tree and a Light Bright you can plug your guitar into. There's a picture of it in the CD booklet for Sonic Youth's Washing Machine. It's really worth checking out. As far as I know, Sonic Youth has two of them, Primus has one, Beck has one, Bruce from the Sound Barrier (now Sounds Fuzzy) has at least one, my friend has one, and I have one. If anyone has one he or she would like to sell, I'd be very willing and happy to buy ; -)
