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Strymon Volante -

You sound good! You are remarkably easier to use than I would have expected. The presets feature is nice. The "tape slow down" footswitch feature is goofy on its own, but you can really fuck it up nicely if you get egregious with it.

EarthQuaker Erupter -

You are almost the opposite of the Strymon because you also only have one knob, but you also sound good! I should have bought you years ago.

Line6 HX Stomp XL: You sound pretty okay, don't have glaring latency, and can do fun things with stereo input routing/splitting. Most of your effects are kinda meh compared to the neato fuzz and glitch boxes I have around, but you permit many effects at once, so weird combinations and stacking could be fun. And you fit easily into a backpack. I will try to love you more.

"For parts" EV 635a—You don't work. I thought I could repair you but I can't even figure how to get you apart. You were supposed to be indestructible.

blnkbnkr wrote: Fri Sep 03, 2021 6:54 pm Line6 HX Stomp XL: You sound pretty okay, don't have glaring latency, and can do fun things with stereo input routing/splitting. Most of your effects are kinda meh compared to the neato fuzz and glitch boxes I have around, but you permit many effects at once, so weird combinations and stacking could be fun. And you fit easily into a backpack. I will try to love you more.

I considered that one but went with the TC Electronics Plethora X5 which was cheaper and I think the effects are as good as their stompbox counterparts. I wish it had distortions like the Stomp, but I also suspect that's where modeled sounds probably lack the most.

But yeah it's nice having one little box do it all (built in tuner as well).

four_oclocker_2.2 wrote: Fri Sep 03, 2021 3:28 pm Strymon Volante -

You sound good! You are remarkably easier to use than I would have expected. The presets feature is nice. The "tape slow down" footswitch feature is goofy on its own, but you can really fuck it up nicely if you get egregious with it.

Man, that one looks nice. Like an instrument unto itself.

Spouse said "I used a Providence stampede at the studio, it was exactly the clean articulate distortion I've wanted, can you build one?"
Me: "I'm just going to buy this one because it's EXACTLY what you've wanted for years"

buys this: Spouse: "Oh no, I meant the big box one, the old one"
Me: "There's an old.... ah shit, It probably sounds the same"

I like it - a little "cold" sounding (not in a bad way), very useable EQ and tons of balls without losing articulation

I was mindlessly checking out garbage on Ebay and ran across a guy selling a pair of ART Pro Channel 2's with no bidders, Starting bid was $345 with a day to go so I jut in the minimum bid and won. These go for around $350/$400 new, so I figured what the hell. When they arrived, they had been very badly packed and were damaged in shipping. Bent rack ears, both VU meters broken, a button smashed in. Smashed in knob. They both powered up and functioned normally so I decided to keep them. The guy was unexpectedly cool and refunded me $200 for the trouble so I got both for $145 total. I replaced the button, fixed the smashed knob, and have ordered new VU meters. While I was in there I tossed in a couple of NOS RCA 12ax7's I had lying around. Not bad.

I haven really put them through their paces, but they are... OK. Pre is a MPA style, but the new version that has a "High voltage" mode, which is 180 volts, which I think is still a little low for a 12AX7. The pre sounds fine. Nothing super special. It's really easy to drive it but thats OK since my other preamps are Syteks and color is welcome. Comp is fine. It compresses. I hate compression so... meh. Eq is totally usable and not bad. So far I dont really care that much about them as a mic pre, but using the instrument input had given me pretty good results for bass and guitar. All in all, they will be used, and I got a pretty great deal. Might consider modifications.

chris wrote: Fri Sep 03, 2021 10:04 pm "For parts" EV 635a—You don't work. I thought I could repair you but I can't even figure how to get you apart. You were supposed to be indestructible.

The only one of these I have ever seen broken was because the foam melted to the diaphragm. I was able to fix it with a diluted mixture of rubbing alcohol and water, and a paint brush very lightly brushing the melted foam off the Mylar. Took a lot of rounds, but it works now. Sounds a little different than my other 635a's so it wears a piece of red electrical tape like a Scarlett letter.

Kniferide wrote: Sat Sep 11, 2021 2:36 pm pair of ART Pro Channel 2's

Well done, that's an awesome deal, they're pretty well regarded as stock for what they are. There's quite a lot of mods people have done to them so I foresee some google hours in your future.

Kniferide wrote: Sat Sep 11, 2021 2:44 pm

chris wrote: Fri Sep 03, 2021 10:04 pm "For parts" EV 635a—You don't work. I thought I could repair you but I can't even figure how to get you apart. You were supposed to be indestructible.

The only one of these I have ever seen broken was because the foam melted to the diaphragm. I was able to fix it with a diluted mixture of rubbing alcohol and water, and a paint brush very lightly brushing the melted foam off the Mylar. Took a lot of rounds, but it works now. Sounds a little different than my other 635a's so it wears a piece of red electrical tape like a Scarlett letter.

Thanks! I'll try this and report back in a few days.