Post by newey on Jan 31, 2010 23:53:45 GMT -5
For Christmas, I told my sister I wanted a Line 6 Tonecore pedal. These have a pedal/docking station set-up, with interchangable effects modules, so that one pedal can be used for several different effects. Not much use for gigging, but nice for studio work since you can make one pedal pull double or triple duty.
But my sister misunderstood me, and bought just a ToneCore effect, the "Otto Filter" module:
This was nice of her, but of course I needed the pedal/dock to use it. So I scoured Ebay, found one with an "Uber Metal" module for about $20, popped out the metal module (I tried it first, as advertised, it's Uber Metal . . .) and popped in the Otto Filter. ( Note that, when I say "popped it in", this isn't as simple as it sounds. You have to undo 2 tiny hex bolts and then depress a release button.)
What this is, it's a moving bandpass filter, with the center frequency of the band moving in response to one's playing dynamics. A 3-position slide switch changes between a bandpass filter, a low pass filter, and a "twin filter", which has 2 bandpass filters moving in opposite directions. Another slide switch allows one to choose to have the filter move upwards in frequencies, or downward, in response to one's playing.
There are three knobs: "Sens" sets the sensitivity of the filter to playing dynamics- at high, even a soft pick attack gets the filter moving. Turning it down, a harder attack is needed. "Range" sets the length that the filter travels, up or down, the frequency range; set it higher to accentuate the higher frequencies. Finally, the "Peak" knob controls the shape of the filter- narrowing the filter shape gives a more dramatic effect, widening it mellows things out.
After about 10 minutes playing around with this thing, it's now my favorite pedal. It makes funky '70s sounds with an auto-wah effect using the bandpass filter, and synth-ey noises when in low pass mode. The twin pass setting is wild, you can get effects that sound like a talk box or a vocoder, as well as out-of-phase wah sounds.
This is all huge FUN!
But my sister misunderstood me, and bought just a ToneCore effect, the "Otto Filter" module:
This was nice of her, but of course I needed the pedal/dock to use it. So I scoured Ebay, found one with an "Uber Metal" module for about $20, popped out the metal module (I tried it first, as advertised, it's Uber Metal . . .) and popped in the Otto Filter. ( Note that, when I say "popped it in", this isn't as simple as it sounds. You have to undo 2 tiny hex bolts and then depress a release button.)
What this is, it's a moving bandpass filter, with the center frequency of the band moving in response to one's playing dynamics. A 3-position slide switch changes between a bandpass filter, a low pass filter, and a "twin filter", which has 2 bandpass filters moving in opposite directions. Another slide switch allows one to choose to have the filter move upwards in frequencies, or downward, in response to one's playing.
There are three knobs: "Sens" sets the sensitivity of the filter to playing dynamics- at high, even a soft pick attack gets the filter moving. Turning it down, a harder attack is needed. "Range" sets the length that the filter travels, up or down, the frequency range; set it higher to accentuate the higher frequencies. Finally, the "Peak" knob controls the shape of the filter- narrowing the filter shape gives a more dramatic effect, widening it mellows things out.
After about 10 minutes playing around with this thing, it's now my favorite pedal. It makes funky '70s sounds with an auto-wah effect using the bandpass filter, and synth-ey noises when in low pass mode. The twin pass setting is wild, you can get effects that sound like a talk box or a vocoder, as well as out-of-phase wah sounds.
This is all huge FUN!
