I might have said this before but I think I have pedals that will stay on board now. I got last two last week. Order might change a little but pedals shouldn’t. I am starting to find use for Walrus R1. I like Surfybear so much it is almost always on. Second reverb after that doesn’t get much use but more I use it more I find use for it. There is another reverb I want but that have to wait until I start to build board for synths.
To last two pedals. I got two at same time because I had to change both pedals to get what I want. Boss NS-2 has buffer. I didn’t want always on buffer. I knew Boss TU-3W has buffer you can turn on and off. I was seriously considering get TU-3W and Fortin Zuul to replace NS-2. Zuul has two problems. First is price and second is you need to split you clean signal. It works with TU-3W because it has two outputs. Price was issue and I saw video which tested different tuners. Boss didn’t do too well in that video. It was time to check some alternatives.
I have used TC Electronic’s Polytune for ages. I have the first version of it. Current third version has both true bypass and buffered bypass you can select. If you get smaller version you can switch between them without opening the pedal. You can also have it not muting the signal chain when it is on. Another feature I wanted. In smaller version you can switch it on and off without opening the pedal. That is why I got Noir version. I would have liked normal sized version more but I want to be able change bypass without opening the pedal.
I got Stone Deaf FX Noise Reaper for gate. It is what Zuul should have been and much cheaper. Both pedals use separate signal to control gate and have only threshold control. Zuul has switch for range of threshold control. Noise Reaper give control signal back out. You don’t need to split clean signal. I don’t understand why Zool doesn’t give it back. Do they want clean signal to stay absolutely clean or something like that? I haven’t tried Zuul. Don’t know if it is superior noise gate. I can’t see noise gate being so much better than Noise Reaper that it justifies double the price. Noise Reaper works really well and I don’t need to split the signal to use it.
Compared to NS-2 Noise Reaper is more convenient to use. NS-2 has effects loop where you put your noisy pedals. Maybe you can add you amp into loop it you plan it well. You can use it without effects loop but to get best results you should use effects loop. Noise Reaper is easier. You put your clean signal to one side of pedal and other side gets signal where you want signal to be gated. In my case it is after amp’s effects loop’s send. Zuul works same way. You take clean signal to control the gate and add gate where you want it to be.
Currently I take control signal after tuner. I am considering taking it after early chain reverb and delay. Or maybe putting compressor right after them and taking control signal from compressor. Taking it after reverb and delay would keep gate open for reverb tail and delay but I am not sure if early chain reverb and delay could work with gain that needs gate. They work better with low to modest gain.
Then the reason why I got two new pedals. Fallout Cloud sounds bit different when Polytune’s buffer is on and when it is off. Fuzz is most affected pedal type. Muff style fuzzes handle buffers quite well. To get better test I would need fuzz with germanium transistors. I don’t have any. Those usually need to be first on signal chain. Haven’t tested how other pedals react to buffer. NS-2 was sixth pedal. Now buffer is first pedal in chain giving buffered signal to four more pedals. I will probably keep buffer on most of the time because it makes Fallout Cloud sound tighter and turn it off when I want to try if not buffered signal works better.
I moved compressor before dirt and Fallout Cloud between Revv G2 and G3. G2 into Fallout Cloud is more usable than other way. I am not sure where to place compressor. It doesn’t add too much to high gain sounds and with low gain I want playing dynamics to change how sound distorts. Lost Highway and Night Wire react to playing dynamics. Compressor before them would give more control to how they work and it wouldn’t increase their noise floor. But I also want their full dynamic and compressors sustain when playing clean sounds.
Current signal chain is from guitar to tuner. Then to Noise Reaper’s control side and lower row from right to left. From Revv G3 to amp. From amp’s effects send to Noise Reaper’s gate side and then upper row from Polychrome to left. Besides that one reverb there are no pedals I want. There are few I would like to try but not enough to buy them. I think this is it for pedalboard building. Next is to actually learn the pedals.