Category Outboard

In category Outboard on  October 27, 2013  No comments

The very first delay I owned was the first of the series FX90. I loved that thing until I seduced by the perfectly clean sounds of digital delays. Then I couldn’t get rid of this thing fast enough and replace it with a fancy rack unit. Not long after that I kicked myself because I missed some of the character an analogue delay brings to the table.

Recently I tracked one of these guys down for a fair price (under $100) and added it to my arsenal.

Specifications:
Input impedance = 500 k Ohms
Output impedance = 4.7 k Ohms
Gain = 0 dB
Band Width = 30 Hz to 25 kHz (dry), 30 Hz to 1.3 kHz (delay)

Notable IC chips: one MN3005 4096-stage BBD chip driven by a MN3101 clock generator/driver CMOS chip; one NE570N compander; and one misc op amp tied into the Mix control (early models always used a TL0...

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In category Outboard on  October 27, 2013  One comment

I bought a Line 6 DL4 pedal, which I thought was pretty cool. I used that on a few songs and was always frustrated the delay was in stompbox form. I don't really have a good place in the studio for these things. Come to find out, Line 6 made a rack mount version called the Echo Pro. It's the same guts with a few extra features - including patch saving.Read More

In category Outboard on  October 27, 2013  No comments

The VF-11 is an 11-band analog vocoder from German company MAM (Music And More). Read More

In category Outboard on  May 1, 2011  No comments

The overall sound is pretty good actually. It is quiet and the reverbs are typical - nothing awe inspiring but not crap either. The plate reverbs are kind of nice.Read More

In category Outboard on  April 27, 2011  No comments

I'm fairly impressed by this machine. The noise floor is nothing on the reverbs. Read More

In category Outboard on  September 20, 2010  No comments

I found another old digital delay. This one from the 80’s (if the colour of the knobs are any indication).

This device has two delay circuits which are wired independently to their respective connections on the back of the unit (more on that in a second).

One delay circuit (B) is just a standard delay. The delay times are from 4 to 1024 milliseconds. Time controls are in 4 time blocks with a time sweep knob. Pretty standard for a unit of this age. There is also a effect mix control and a delay repeat control. The other delay circuit (A) has a shorter delay time – 0.5 to 256 milliseconds – with the same style time controls. It also includes modulation and speed controls for flange/chorus type effects.

The jacks on the back of this delay are everything you need and more...

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In category Outboard on  September 11, 2010  4 comments

This is a strange 2 unit rack mount multi-effect from the 1980's with a 5 button petal board. It has "Heavy Metal" Distortion, Flanger/Chorus, Digital Delay, and a Parametric Equalization.Read More

In category Outboard on  September 9, 2010  One comment

I didn't really seek out this little half-rack unit. It found me. Read More

In category Outboard on  September 9, 2010  No comments

It needed a little work but for $30 it was a good price.Read More

In category Outboard on  July 23, 2010  One comment

I just got this and haven’t had much time to play with it – but so far I’m digging it.

4 inputs, 4 outputs.  The in/out level controls are dedicated knobs on the front panel. You can define 4 different effects with each channel or combine them. You can also stack up to four effects (4 reverbs in series anyone?). I’ve also seen it has a 4 band vocoder but I haven’t played with it yet. At first glance the programming is a little funky but another hour playing with it and I’m sure I’ll figure it out.

All this in a nice two unit case.

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Acquired: 2010

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