I used to play an old Korg E-Piano through an old-school fuzz pedal in a band and really miss that sound.
Thinking about buying Source Audio Aftershock since its stereo and algorithms can be exchanged/channels mapped. It also has a dry/wet mix knob. Are there any downsides I should be aware of when using it with synths (e.g. not good for line level)? Will the two in- and outputs work as expected when I feed them with two mono cables from the two cue outputs of OT? Did I understand correctly that I could just download presets (meaning algos?) from Source Audio’s other distortion pedals and even user presets and put them on the Aftershock? Or buy LA Lady or Kingmaker Fuzz if they are available cheaper second hand and load Aftershock presets onto it? Maybe @DonovanDwyer can share some more experiences.
I am looking for a pedal that is not too complicated and small, yet has a variety of distortion sounds that make synths sound guitary but also cover other sounds.
It’s been a while since I had the Aftershock but I remember their site saying the algos are interchangable between different pedals of the same type (distortion, modulation etc) so that should work.
I’ve since moved onto Retro Mechanical Labs pedals for the quality of tone, synth friendliness and variety of distortion options. If I were in your position I’d just get two of these (or two of their more esoteric pedals like the 432K, or a dual RML unit) and call it a day:
Thanks for the reply. That pedal looks interesting for sure. But it’s only mono, right? Using two pedals just to feeding with stereo is a bit convoluted for me.
Why would you recommend these over the Source Audio ones?
Not sure I ever chimed in on this thread, but the MTL Too Positive pedal ended my years long search for a versatile stereo distortion for my keyboard pedalboard. Sounds fantastic on my Nord,
I’ve been using the Acidbox III for the last few months on a variety of stereo & mono sources (MD, synths, entire mixes) and I’m still really enjoying it. It gets hectic pretty easily but I’m finding it really quite nice on subtle settings. Bit of drive with a smidge of resonance with the LPF almost fully open to add a bit of top-end excitement.
Plus it’s black, so it gets extra points from me.
The Fusion Box is not true stereo. The stereo output comes from it being an ensemble (chorus) effect, which means ch2 is identical to ch1, but phase inverted. It’s a weird and gnarly thing, that one. I still haven’t made my mind up about it. I actually mostly use it in mono mode (i.e. just drive/filter/delay, no ensemble).
Yeah i had one and loved what it does but on some settings the sounds isn’t mono compatible at all. I had tracks recorded with the Fusionbox that would completely vanish when listened to on mono speakers.
I’m a fan of using old junk… my go-to is a Boss SE-70 for distortion. It comes with a bunch of other effects (up to 16 effects at once, basically it is every Boss pedal in a box) but the distortion is particularly good I think (and you can crank the reverb till it distorts and sound like Prodigy SMBU if you want).
Can be had for a couple of hundred dollars used… if you also like old junk.
I didn’t realize that was stereo until reading your post here on the stereo distortion thread. I passed on one a while back, because I thought it was essentially like the Yamaha FX-500, but it sounds like it’s better. All Boss pedals in one box does sound convenient
I keep coming back to watch these videos. I am in love with this distortion unit and I don’t even own one yet. Thank you Donovan. I’ve really learned a lot from you. If you’re ever in Denton Texas, I would buy you a beer or two.
Edit: I also picked up a pair of iLouds after reading one of your posts.
I jumped on one of these when it was a kickstarter startup. Absolutely gorgeous overdrive. Wish I had two linked together via MIDI for stereo, would be grand!
But I guess if you have the cash for two Kernom Ridge, might as well get an AH…?
