Vintage First Act Delay Pedal Demo

[taez555]

I'm not exactly sure why I made this demo...  

It's a First Act delay pedal.  Yes, the ones they used to sell at Toys R US right next to the Dora the Explorer guitars and plastic tamborines.

The thing is... it's actually a reallly really good pedal.  It's digital, but sounds and acts like an analog delay.  Anyway, they don't make them anymore, which is a shame, but... hey... if you're interesting in hearing how good a $29 delay pedal sounds, here you go....

You might be surprised.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N6KEDFK6t14

(and of course it was all played on my Warmoth below)  ;-)

 

[Cagey]

Y'know, another series of pedals like that is available from Behringer. Incredibly inexpensive, but sound like something you'd pay hundreds of dollars for. Thing is, there's nothing to any of those pedals. It's a chip and a bit of signal conditioning on a 2" square circuit board. Manufacturing cost is dirt cheap, no matter who makes them. It's just that some companies know that there are some people who will pay outrageous prices for a name.

 

[Patrick from Davis]

This is also why a lot of the clone or diy boards are so enticing.  You can make a repro or an upgrade clone for not to much, but with a huge upside.  Then there are the mods that are developed and so on.  The Clay Jones Overdrive was something that was in the mythical stratosphere of cost for a tube screamer with a Burr Brown OPA2134 and the Landgraph mods.  The boards are not complex, and people can make them for true bypass to get around any copyright problems.  Anyways, a lot of cheap-o things turned out to sound pretty cool.  Take the Champ for instance...
Patrick

 

[Cagey]

Take the Champ for instance...

Not to change the subject, but speaking of Champs I've got a Super Champ XD and I've gotta say that is one badass little amp. I don't care what style of music you play, that thing has you covered.

 

[bagman67]

I feel the same about my Mustang III combo.  It ain't a Bogner, but it's got some surprising oomph.

 

[Cagey]

That is an interesting amp. If I didn't already have the Champ I'd be looking at that one pretty seriously. I may still. The Champ has tubes in it, and I'm already looking at a second set in less than a year. Damn things have the life expectancy of fruitfly these days.

 

[bagman67]

They're pretty cheap used.  Got mine for $250 with the extra footswitch and all.  You can prob'ly beat that, but I wasn't interested in shopping any more.

 

[bagman67]

Dunno if this is geographically suitable, Cagey, but:  http://detroit.craigslist.org/okl/msg/2929572526.html

 

[Tipperman]

That is an interesting amp. If I didn't already have the Champ I'd be looking at that one pretty seriously. I may still. The Champ has tubes in it, and I'm already looking at a second set in less than a year. Damn things have the life expectancy of fruitfly these days.

Is the bias too hot?

 

[Cagey]

Dunno if this is geographically suitable, Cagey, but:  http://detroit.craigslist.org/okl/msg/2929572526.html

Yeah, you can get there from here. I used to live out there. It's a far northwestern suburb. They call it "Walled Lake" because there's a big lake there that's really shallow so you can't put much of a boat on it. If you cruised into it from an adjoining lake with boat much bigger than a 16' sportfisher, you'd bottom it out. Hence "the wall".

Surprising amount of fish in it, though. Made for fun in the spring because somehow the local yokels who ate out of it didn't realize that while it froze fast due to its shallow depth, it also thawed fast for the same reason, so they'd end up with their trucks falling through the ice. Nobody ever got hurt, but your truck was sorta stuck for a while.

Anyway, back to the subject at hand...

I appreciate the link, but I'm not in the market for any more amps. I've got an Axe FX II. It's all the amps in the world. I like the little Champ XD because it's fast and easy and good, so it's a nice test bed. I imagine the Mustang III is the same way on steroids, but I just don't need to go any farther for that duty.

 

[taez555]

Speaking of cheap amps...  Nothing beats the pignose....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y4f76ng49wA

At $75 a pop, that thing can sound like a $1000 amp given the right player and settings.