Members LR Weizel Posted September 22, 2009 Members Share Posted September 22, 2009 For the last year or two, EHX have been releasing a lot of "quirky" Digital pedals, like the Stereo Electric Mistress, SMMH, and now the Cathedral Reverb and a bunch of others. Personally these kind of annoy me. While EHX turned out to be surprisingly good at Digital effects, I feel these pedals lack a real direction somehow. They just seem to be packing a bunch of quirky features and a nice cover into them, the actual sounds they produce individually aren't necessarily all that unique. A lot of these seem like the coolest thing ever when the demos first come out, then when people get them, they seem so awesome nifty for the first few weeks and get sort of stale after that. As much as I defend the use of Digital stuff, I think this can be a problem when companies delve head first into it. Even though EHX's digital sounds are very impressive coming out of next to nowhere, they're fiddling around too much instead of focusing on a really good sound. The casing to these pedals annoys me because even though it tries to look funky with the different screen prints, recently they all have that slightly awkward "Web 2.0" shaped case, and they all require mains power which is annoying as I like to run off rechargable batteries and play outside from time to time, I think some of the larger ones such as the Flanger Hoax require non 9v adapters too. The fact that they're quite large is frustrating too - it feels like they could make a pedal like many of the larger ones in the XO style casing, just with more knobs. It seems EHX don't like putting knobs anywhere but the top line of the pedal, unless it's making it EVEN BIGGER like with the Flanger hoax. I just can't justify the space for some of these on my board even if I'd like to own them. I loved the way they were finally releasing smaller versions of pedals that were also previously too large to justify, and using non standard jacks. But they also seem to be taking things in the opposite direction and coming up with pedals that I feel could be smaller, given they're digital especially. Plus a lot of the Nano sized pedals are a bit crap. I have an LPB-1 which is fine since it's about as basic as you can get, but I've heard plenty of naff things about all the ones. Some of the XO sized pedals are the same, and there's general noise issues all around. Certain things have gone digital that don't really need to be digital, the Boss syndrome. Then they come out with something like the Memory Boy, which IMO is a slight departure stylistically for these, and it is actually a pretty good concept pedal, even if it's just a variation on a theme like the SEM. I think EHX should stick to more "Old school" pedals like that. I'm not sure how to describe exactly what I'm annoyed at, but I'm wondering if maybe someone feels the same. I love EHX more than any other non-boutique company, but I feel like they need to shtall the buggy as we say over here, and focus on releasing great new pedals and smaller sized reissues of older pedals, instead instead of these "Hazari" type pedals. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members NetStar Posted September 22, 2009 Members Share Posted September 22, 2009 I don't agree. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Brambulance Posted September 22, 2009 Members Share Posted September 22, 2009 Companies evolve and pursue new challenges. Get used to it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members ollenorin Posted September 22, 2009 Members Share Posted September 22, 2009 i think it was a good step for ehx to move away from oversized tincan pedals with bad bypass and weird voltage Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Brian Marshall Posted September 22, 2009 Members Share Posted September 22, 2009 the only one of the newer digital pedals i have is the smm w/h. mostly it just seems hard to actually use. it does distort a bit if you really dig in to the strings. I kind of felt like they were on to something, but didn't really finish it. It is definitely better than the flanger hoax though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members LR Weizel Posted September 22, 2009 Author Members Share Posted September 22, 2009 i think it was a good step for ehx to move away from oversized tincan pedals with bad bypass and weird voltage Yeah, definitely. I don't see why they still have to make some fairly big though and why they can't make any digital stuff battery powered. I guess it's more environmentally friendly though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members triviani Posted September 22, 2009 Members Share Posted September 22, 2009 What kind of effects would you like to see in EHX range? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Brambulance Posted September 22, 2009 Members Share Posted September 22, 2009 Yeah, definitely. I don't see why they still have to make some fairly big though and why they can't make any digital stuff battery powered. I guess it's more environmentally friendly though. dude, f.e. the smm/h draws 100+ mA if used. Your battery would be empty before you know it... Alas, why would you want to use batteries in pedals anyway? Waste of resources and money... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members english_bob Posted September 22, 2009 Members Share Posted September 22, 2009 Long post is long. Other effects brands are available. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members neoflox Posted September 22, 2009 Members Share Posted September 22, 2009 Basicly I agree. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members LR Weizel Posted September 22, 2009 Author Members Share Posted September 22, 2009 What kind of effects would you like to see in EHX range? Polychorus reissue. New Ring Mod. More step based effects. Envelope based modulation. More dirt, the Metal Muff is pretty nice. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members english_bob Posted September 22, 2009 Members Share Posted September 22, 2009 I like to run off rechargable batteries and play outside from time to time. I'd like it if I could power all my pedals from my wife's exercise bike and play on top of a mountain in Tibet, but you don't see me bitching on the internet that EH aren't making that easier for me. Suck it up. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members n!k Posted September 22, 2009 Members Share Posted September 22, 2009 There's something very aesthetically pleasing about the giant old enclosures. It feels like you are controlling something substantial and "high-tech" in the way that stuff that was high tech must have felt in the 70's. The white font, black screenprint bass microsynth feels like operating at Mission Control in 1978. I love it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members LR Weizel Posted September 22, 2009 Author Members Share Posted September 22, 2009 I'd like it if I could power all my pedals from my wife's exercise bike and play on top of a mountain in Tibet, but you don't see me bitching on the internet that EH aren't making that easier for me. Suck it up. No need to be a prick. It's not as if batteries aren't standard for smaller stomps, even digital ones. There's a slight difference here. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Fender&EHX4ever Posted September 22, 2009 Members Share Posted September 22, 2009 For the last year or two, EHX have been releasing a lot of "quirky" Digital pedals, like the Stereo Electric Mistress, SMMH, and now the Cathedral Reverb and a bunch of others... EHX turned out to be surprisingly good at Digital effects... EHX's digital sounds are very impressive coming out of next to nowhere... I love EHX more than any other non-boutique company... This much I agree with The rest, not so much. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members LR Weizel Posted September 22, 2009 Author Members Share Posted September 22, 2009 You naughty boy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members english_bob Posted September 22, 2009 Members Share Posted September 22, 2009 No need to be a prick. It's not as if batteries aren't standard for smaller stomps, even digital ones. There's a slight difference here. Even BOSS have pedals they don't provide for battery power to. If the manufacturer knows the battery's going to last ten minutes, why would they bother ordering thousands of battery snaps to fit to them when 99.9% of their customers won't use them? Oh wait, LR Weizel wants to sit in a field and use our pedals with his mysterious non-electrically powered amp every few months. Well {censored}, we'd better make sure he can use batteries then. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members LR Weizel Posted September 22, 2009 Author Members Share Posted September 22, 2009 Even BOSS have pedals they don't provide for battery power to. If the manufacturer knows the battery's going to last ten minutes, why would they bother ordering thousands of battery snaps to fit to them when 99.9% of their customers won't use them?Oh wait, LR Weizel wants to sit in a field and use our pedals with his mysterious non-electrically powered amp every few months. Well {censored}, we'd better make sure he can use batteries then. The pedals shouldn't be lasting 10 minutes if they're in any way efficient to begin with. And you're still being a total prick. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Fender&EHX4ever Posted September 22, 2009 Members Share Posted September 22, 2009 You naughty boy In all seriousness though, EHX were among the first companies to make quirky digital pedals even back in the early 80s. Their then and current engineer, Dave Cockerell, designed the original 16 Second Digtial Delay in '82, which was a massive breakthrough for sampling and looping. Before that he designed the first mass-produced sampler, the Instant Replay. More recently, he designed the HOG, POG, 2880, and the SMMH. I'm not sure if he was involved in the Cathedral, but I'd be curious to know. I've always thought of EHX as a pioneering company. Boutique companies sometimes come up with fresh concepts (like Zvex's lofi loop junky). But generally most boutique companies work from an already time-tested concept, then recreate it with higher quality components, smaller enclosures, TB it, give it a quirky paintjob, tweak the component values, and then double or triple the cost. There's nothing wrong with that, but you gotta hand it to EHX - they're usually the ones with the machete in the bush. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members RoboPimp Posted September 22, 2009 Members Share Posted September 22, 2009 For the last year or two, EHX have been releasing a lot of "quirky" Digital pedals, like the Stereo Electric Mistress, SMMH, and now the Cathedral Reverb and a bunch of others.Personally these kind of annoy me. While EHX turned out to be surprisingly good at Digital effects, I feel these pedals lack a real direction somehow. They just seem to be packing a bunch of quirky features and a nice cover into them, the actual sounds they produce individually aren't necessarily all that unique. A lot of these seem like the coolest thing ever when the demos first come out, then when people get them, they seem so awesome nifty for the first few weeks and get sort of stale after that.As much as I defend the use of Digital stuff, I think this can be a problem when companies delve head first into it. Even though EHX's digital sounds are very impressive coming out of next to nowhere, they're fiddling around too much instead of focusing on a really good sound. The casing to these pedals annoys me because even though it tries to look funky with the different screen prints, recently they all have that slightly awkward "Web 2.0" shaped case, and they all require mains power which is annoying as I like to run off rechargable batteries and play outside from time to time, I think some of the larger ones such as the Flanger Hoax require non 9v adapters too. The fact that they're quite large is frustrating too - it feels like they could make a pedal like many of the larger ones in the XO style casing, just with more knobs. It seems EHX don't like putting knobs anywhere but the top line of the pedal, unless it's making it EVEN BIGGER like with the Flanger hoax.I just can't justify the space for some of these on my board even if I'd like to own them. I loved the way they were finally releasing smaller versions of pedals that were also previously too large to justify, and using non standard jacks. But they also seem to be taking things in the opposite direction and coming up with pedals that I feel could be smaller, given they're digital especially.Plus a lot of the Nano sized pedals are a bit crap. I have an LPB-1 which is fine since it's about as basic as you can get, but I've heard plenty of naff things about all the ones. Some of the XO sized pedals are the same, and there's general noise issues all around. Certain things have gone digital that don't really need to be digital, the Boss syndrome.Then they come out with something like the Memory Boy, which IMO is a slight departure stylistically for these, and it is actually a pretty good concept pedal, even if it's just a variation on a theme like the SEM. I think EHX should stick to more "Old school" pedals like that. I'm not sure how to describe exactly what I'm annoyed at, but I'm wondering if maybe someone feels the same. I love EHX more than any other non-boutique company, but I feel like they need to shtall the buggy as we say over here, and focus on releasing great new pedals and smaller sized reissues of older pedals, instead instead of these "Hazari" type pedals. how many of these pedals have you owned? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members NetStar Posted September 22, 2009 Members Share Posted September 22, 2009 The Hazarai pedals of today, are the Big Muffs of yesteryear. Everything is relative. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members RoboPimp Posted September 22, 2009 Members Share Posted September 22, 2009 so wise Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members thisISjoel Posted September 22, 2009 Members Share Posted September 22, 2009 how many of these pedals have you owned? Dammit I wanted to say that! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members HeartfeltDawn Posted September 22, 2009 Members Share Posted September 22, 2009 Personally these kind of annoy me. While EHX turned out to be surprisingly good at Digital effects, I feel these pedals lack a real direction somehow. They just seem to be packing a bunch of quirky features and a nice cover into them, the actual sounds they produce individually aren't necessarily all that unique. A lot of these seem like the coolest thing ever when the demos first come out, then when people get them, they seem so awesome nifty for the first few weeks and get sort of stale after that.As much as I defend the use of Digital stuff, I think this can be a problem when companies delve head first into it. Even though EHX's digital sounds are very impressive coming out of next to nowhere, they're fiddling around too much instead of focusing on a really good sound. In short, bollocks. The sounds they create are pretty unique. The HOG and POG for instance come immediately to mind, and some of the SMMH sounds I played with I haven't heard quite like that elsewhere. EHX pedals are not 'one setting and forget' pedals. You have to tinker with them and put some time in to get the best from them in my opinion. In the hands of creative people, they do creative things. Many people don't gel with the pedals because they don't need the extra jiggerypokery that comes with them, and so those people would be better off with something simpler. I know that was the case with me with my SMMH so that went and i kept my DE-7. The Holy Stain was a huge mistake though. Bloody stupid design. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members english_bob Posted September 22, 2009 Members Share Posted September 22, 2009 The pedals shouldn't be lasting 10 minutes if they're in any way efficient to begin with. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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