EVH '78 and ClinchFX EP-PRE clip

[paulscape]

Added 2 more tools to the striped shed this week: a Seymour Duncan '78 pickup and ClinchFX EP-PRE. I put the new pup in my destroyer and seems to work ok. Heaps better then the distortion pup that was previously in it. Its a bit hard to do a comparison with the ClinchFX...its like trying to look at coffee and tell whether it has sugar or not...it definately sweetens the tone though! Its the sort of pedal you just leave on permanently. Cheers

http://www.reverbnation.com/play_now/song_5741813

[GAR]

What's a ClinchFX?

[paulscape]

What's a ClinchFX?

ClinchFX are pedals made by Peter Clinch, out of australia. I'm using his EP-PRE pedal which, as the name suggests, is a pedal that replicates the pre-amp of echoplex EP3 tape delay units. It 'enhances, thickens and enriches your tone'. Makes it more 3 dimensional.

[jhale667]

So tell us more about the Duncan 78...

[paulscape]

So tell us more about the Duncan 78...

Awesome pickup - great mids and clarity. I picked it up second hand too so saved a few bucks.

[GAR]

hooshit.. no complaints here!

Hilarious thing about this is: a guy from China via mailorder purchases, gets one of the best tones I've heard in these VH fan lists/boards.. and by all accounts the past 20 years, EVH himself with all his Los Angeles resources seems to be unable to do the same.



Is it a younger ear? Fresher ear, i.e. fewer hours @ battle-formation volume levels or what I don't know but I'm really happy to hear your developments Paulscape - keep 'em coming. You're tone puts Ed's current one to shame and that's an ignoble fact: not too dirty, plenty of clarity, lacks the popular detuned-buzzbox distortion of the modern day I give it a TEN

[GAR]

btw I used to use two EP-3's one into the other, the second one as a reverberator for the first one's decays and I always noticed something very warm about the minimal 2 or 3db gain in that when cranked.

The first one that handled my repeat-decays, was already modified before I got it by someone who knew what they were doing and had large Sprague orange-drop capacitors in there. Wound up being sold off by the crooked folks at Cowtown Guitars on the innertnet... anyways..

It was special. I tried to trace out the circuit once for a diagram, in case something happened like it did such as when everything got stolen. But it couldn't have drifted too far off the original circuit and I'm glad to see someone's taken an interest.

I know Fulltone Mike liked this circuit, but I never thought I'd come across anyone else who picked this particular boost out by ear. Great choice, Paulscape! That pedal would be a keeper in my box of goto recording boosters.

[GAR]

The next pre-circuit that I think would be a great pure-and-simple yet tinny sounding preamp to isolate for a pedal would be the old Sony reel-to-reel such as Blackmore used from 73 through 87.

I own one but haven't looked at the schematic.. and I know between these old tape-based units most if not all the saturation comes from the playback circuit as the recording process trims much in the way of treble frequencies off.

- but there's always that certain WARM-something-something we all think we hear in a circuit or pedal as it responds to pickup outputs, and I would just like to try it (1) times... one of the reasons I've held on to so much junk in storage, waiting for the available time and energy to experiment with the fucking thing before I choose to keep it or toss it.

I have a few old Teac reel-to-reels as well, the best was the old 15-ips 4-chan (2340?) which was super-clean and perfect sounding - unlike the Sony. TEAC machines are pure, linear circuits - no fun at all.

Between the Teac and Sony though, I'd choose the Sony because Sony used cheaper components and sounded more organic. More noisey. More warm/rounded/whatever you call it.. alot like the Echoplex too! You pull an EP-3 chassis outta the box, it's all busswire and components strung together. Not even a circuit board..

If this company in Australia can do this well with the EP-3 they should do a Sony version, too because from what it sounds like they're doing something right nobody else has done yet and it's very unique. We've come along way with pedals going all the way to high-gain in the mid-2000's now, and the trend seems now the opposite direction: "How subtle of a gain?" can be had.. purely for the tone?

I like this trend, it's been going on for 6 years now.

[GAR]

Here's where you can hear Ritchie make the Sony shine, from 3:18 to 5:02 on in "Still I'm Sad" Munich, 1977 (I think Best Buy still has this show.)

Normally you roll the volume pot down on a high-gain amp, and the input section goes "waitaminnit why you starvin' me for?" and goes flat.

Well, Ritch has his vol maybe 2 or 3, but we see he's getting a clarity of signal that's very bell-like and dramatic, luring the audience's interest into it until WHACK! he launches into some power-chord interludes at which point all that clarity is pushed off a cliff with the full dirge of the band.

That's the Sony being used as a preamp pedal off the direct-out. I've seen where he's using the playback side as well, as seen in some vids where the reels are going but I can't find it right now..

As they years got by him, Blackmore's seem to have forgotten how to clean up 3 stacks for sonic spacial perception, or just didn't want to lug that unit around all over the place. It's a great circuit but not alot of demand for it - like the EP-3 - but again like I say one would hope somebody does it.

[Diamondjimi]

[GAR]

I guess the appreciation of the more subtle, finer things in life is lost on you.

Much like Rolex, Mercedes, Giorgio Armani, a job, life above-ground.. etc. life in general..

[Diamondjimi]

Much like Rolex, Mercedes, Giorgio Armani, a job, life above-ground.. etc. life in general..

More things you don't own....

[paulscape]

A better and brighter clip with EP-PRE comparison at the beginning (off on off on etc at beginning and then on for all the VH riffage). I had a bit of trouble with unwanted noise with this clip: http://www.reverbnation.com/play_now/song_5748754

[jhale667]

A better and brighter clip with EP-PRE comparison at the beginning (off on off on etc at beginning and then on for all the VH riffage). I had a bit of trouble with unwanted noise with this clip: http://www.reverbnation.com/play_now/song_5748754

Nice!

[GAR]

Just a touch of non-compander compression, it really pushes the Phase90 doesn't it.. I so appreciate it when someone takes the time like this to really work hard on their sound.

It's like a breath of fresh air! XLNT