What is your favorite modulation effect?

[mrpinter]

I have several different boards and each one has to have some sort of modulation - and I use them all a lot, so it's hard to pick a favorite. I use chorus, tremolo, reverb, phaser, delay, vibe and a Leslie simulator. If forced to just use one, it would be a hard choice but I'd probably go with  my Hughes & Kettner Tube Rotosphere. What about you?

 

[alterbridgefan]

Does delay count then? My Earthquaker Dispatch Master is the only pedal I don't think I'm willing to go without.

I actually really like pitch shifting if done very well. A light trem is great too. I did a series of shows playing bass drum and hats with my feet while playing guitar, so nowadays(ha) I tend to do any sort of trem with my volume pedal.

Just ordered the new(ish) EHX pitchfork. Hoping it's as great as it seems in the demos.

 

[mrpinter]

You played drums and guitar at the same time? That makes my head hurt just thinking about it.

 

[alterbridgefan]

Yeah! St. Vincent, Kimbra, sort of stuff. Had to learn fill space with just a bass drum and a really strong set of hats - Ended up using a lot of reverb on my guitar. The scariest thing was trying not to mess up the feet, while playing lead and bass lines simultaneously.

Difficult stuff. Still, just takes practice. That said, got me to a point where I can very easily pull off really rapid, accurate trem (Although I prefer slow and subtle) with my feet - Kind of eliminates any need for a trem for me personally.

Considering a Fender Excelsior though! The built in trem is quite nice, I'm sure I'd dial in something subtle and leave it on most of the time.

 

[swarfrat]

I've always hated thick goopy swirly choruses. Despise.

But the Multi-chorus on the 11 Rack can be dialed back to very little swirl, with up to 6 voices, and it has a HPF you can adjust on top of all that. It's gorgeous. Finally a good shimmer chorus that doesn't give me motion sickness.

 

[alterbridgefan]

As much as I too hate chorus and most cheesy effects(wah, flange, etc.), the EHX pitchfork has a "detune" setting that sounds rather like a chorus minus the "swirl". Might wind up using that a bit for some New Order influenced stuff.

 

[mrpinter]

Yeah, chorus can easily get over the top syrupy. The old Boss DC-2 Dimension C is great for a lighter, airy kind of effect that's really nice, I have one and use it in stereo. Also the Earthquaker Devices Sea Machine chorus is a great pedal with lots of range and versatility - it can almost nail the Dimension C effect. Sometimes instead of a chorus what's needed is just a slight thickening of the tone - and a phase or flange or vibe set to a really slow rate, or on a mild setting, can do that. And some of the tape echo style delays can have almost a chorus effect as well. Heck, even a good compressor can thicken things up a bit besides squishing and sustaining. I always like to have some kind of modulation to add interest at key points in a song, where called for.

 

[SustainerPlayer]

Lately I've been playing a lot around with the Boss Tera Echo in my GT-100. Mostly feeding two delays into it. Either cascaded or parallel. Cool sounds and lot of fun.

:icon_biggrin:

 

[Great Ape]

My favorite is changing keys! 2nd choice is the Fulltone Deja-Vibe (...very occasionally...).

 

[alterbridgefan]

Also the Earthquaker Devices Sea Machine chorus is a great pedal with lots of range and versatility.

EQD is amazing. Jamie is just incredible in design.

Anyone heard of the Earthquaker Palisades OD? I want one sooooooo very badly. It's basically a massively versatile OD/Boost/Fuzz. Rotary knobs for bandwidth and diodes. Really, really cool concept IMO.

 

[mrpinter]

I'm an EQD fanboy. I have eight or nine of their pedals and they're all great. Let's see... I have: Grand Orbiter phase machine; Chrysalis overdrive; Speaker Cranker overdrive; Organizer pitch shifter/harmonizer/organ simulator; Ghost Echo reverb; Sea Machine chorus; Disaster Transport modulated delay and The Warden optical compressor. Not a mediocre one in the bunch.

 

[alterbridgefan]

Dude... Very jealous. Only one I have so far is the dispatch master. Really want the afterneath and the palisades OD... They make such cool stuff.

 

[NLD09]

Lately I've been playing a lot around with the Boss Tera Echo in my GT-100. Mostly feeding two delays into it. Either cascaded or parallel. Cool sounds and lot of fun.

:icon_biggrin:

Yeah, the Tera Echo is where it's at for me. I've used it to record a few times.

Here's one example.

https://soundcloud.com/nolanderosia/song-10

 

[SustainerPlayer]

You get a nice sound on the guitar there NLD09.  :icon_thumright:

 

[swarfrat]

I set the rate real low on the 11R multichorus, crank the predelay up to 20ms and the HPF to 400 -z or so, and the voices up to 4-6 since the effect is so subtle. Sounds nice on top if Vox chime.

 

[DocNrock]

Some cool stuff in this thread.  If I had to choose one modulation effect, it would have to be my Boss CH-1 Super Chorus.  I only run it in mono, though.  I see a lot of comments about overdone chorus, and I couldn't agree more.  The way I use mine, it just make the sound more "glassy," if that makes any sense.  And that is "glassy," with high gain. 

 

[Rick]

I like them all, but have a special place in my heart for the Univibe.  It has that ramp up in tone, the slide back down, the heart beat ... all with a change in volume!  I don't use it much (I probably have my trem on all the time, even if it's just subtle ... but trem's not modulation.) but given the right setting the Univibe grabs your attention.

 

[Fat Pete]

My favorite is changing keys!

:laughing7:

Just in case you thought everybody missed that.

 

[swarfrat]

Yeah. I spent a bit of time as a 2nd or 3rd guitar player, usually electric against multiple acoustics.  If I was 3rd I almost always throw a capo somewhere between 3 and 7 frets up and play in a diiferent chord shape family. 

 

[Great Ape]

My favorite is changing keys!

:laughing7:

Just in case you thought everybody missed that.

Heh, heh, yeah, I was thinking that...thanks for restoring my faith, Pete!