INPD: Still No Takers On The Helix

[andvari7]

Good afternoon,

I am slowly getting back to pedals, after experimenting with modelers for a year and a half. I have the Tech 21 VT Bass Deluxe, which I might actually be selling, in favor of the Orange Guitar Butler and a DiCosimo 800RB preamp pedal (swap them out, for either guitar or bass rigs). I have a Ftelletronica Anonymous Flanger, which is a clone of the Lovetone ? Flanger With No Name, but it’s at my house in Wisconsin, and I am at the Montana border. I have a Chicago Iron Parachute, which needs to be fixed, and Kurt Stier hasn’t sent me a price for the parts I need.

I will soon have the next piece of the puzzle: A copy of the Lovetone Meatball envelope filter. It should be at my house before I am, so I can start mapping out the pedalboard layout.

I’ll do a checklist:

Big Cheese: I’m getting the ThorpyFX Field Marshall, because I’d rather have the successor, with input from the guy who designed the original, than Josh “It’s not stealing, if you can’t patent a circuit” Scott, get my money.
Ring Stinger: Ftelletronica is the only game in town, unless I want to buy a Lovetone, which I do not.
Doppelganger: This one’s a tough choice: Do I get the Ftelletronica clone, or the ThorpyFX Mark II, which is called the Pulse Doppler?
Chorus: Lovetone never made one, but Dan Coggins designed the ThorpyFX Deep Oggin.
Brown Source: I would get ThorpyFX’s Bunker, but, if I’m getting the Orange, I don’t know if it’s worth it.
Wobulator: Ftelletronica, to the rescue. It’s not the highest priority effect, though.
Delay: Boss RE-202 Space Echo.
Reverb: Boss RV-6
Tuner: Boss TU-3

This is as close to the dream of every Lovetone pedal, short of inheriting a shit-ton of money from my uncle, as I’m going to get. Were they all that great? I’m not sure. The mystique, and the quirkiness, of Lovetone are its great appeals, to me. I do like the Big Cheese, Meatball and Ring Stinger, a lot. I liked the Wobulator, the one time I tried it at Chicago Music Exchange, in 2009. I have no experience with the phaser, flanger or overdrive. And, since Lovetone didn’t make a lot of the effects I actually use, I have to make do with ones that I have used, except for the Space Echo. I’m way out of my league, on that one.

My biggest aggravation is that nobody in Madison wants to buy my Helix; I’m priced within the range, the thing is damn near mint, and has the latest (as of last Friday) firmware. I may have to consider shipping.

Thank you.

[Dave]

yes

[andvari7]

Yes: It’s shaping up to be a good board
No: I will not be getting another Boss RV-6
Yes: The Space Echo has an independent reverb, which saves me some money
No: I will not be getting the DiCosimo preamp
Yes: I’m going with an Orange Bass Butler
No: I won’t be getting the ThorpyFX fuzz or drive
Yes: I’ll be getting a Valco BloodBuzz, which is an updated Cheese Source
No: I don’t have any idea of how big this board is going to be

[GuitarBilly]

I'd just put the Helix on Reverb. Yeah there are fees and the aggravation of shipping but that's the cost of being exposed to a much bigger buyer's pool. Just get that sale out of the way and move on. Selling stuff locally is hard unless you're in a major city with a music scene. When I was in L.A. I never needed Reverb. Vegas was hit or miss, I sold some stuff locally there but that's when I started to need Reverb. Pennsylvania, completely dead, all my sales were on Reverb. And now I am in DC Baltimore area and I've only made one local sale in 2 years, even though there is a music scene here.

[itchyfingers]

If you want to make it happen, make it happen. I'm a huge fan of ThorpyFX, but I guess I'm somewhat confused on the Lovetone clone obsession, as some of the clones you picked are pretty expensive in their own right! If you're concerned about the total cost, or realy want a RE-202, there are some much more affordable alternatives for modulations (albeit not as wacky), and certainly for drive pedals.

[andvari7]

It’s happening, make no mistake about it. However, my road warrior lifestyle means I don’t have a whole lot of free time at home to mess around with my gear. Therefore, I’m not in any hurry to get it done.

Wackiness is my jam - it’s what got me into effects in the first place - and I fell in love with the idea of Lovetone in 1999.

I will be buying dual-purpose pedals - the Valco being a modernized Lovetone Cheese Source, for the sake of consistency - because, if I can do two effects with one pedal, then I’m going to do so. Convenience.

Yes, they’re somewhat expensive, but this is my last pedalboard (I hope). The Orange Butlers are my preamps/DIs, so they are the most important pieces. They are also the last pieces I want to buy. They’ll definitely wait until the Helix and the VT sell.

I also just bought a Digitech Bass Whammy (again). It should be in my possession sometime next week.

[andvari7]

…And the Guitar Butler is on its way to my house; should be there tomorrow. Meatball clone is out for delivery today, and the VT and Helix will both go on Reverb as early as Friday.

[JiveTurkey]

Selling stuff sucks right now. Take the Reverb hit or drive to GC and get a not too humbling amount of cash.

[spawnofthesith]

Nice!


The re-202 is absolutely kickass. Just a heads up tho, you can't toggle the reverb on and off conventionally, (well, you can turn the reverb off of the delay but not vice versa) if you want to turn off delay and keep reverb on youll have to save a preset with reverb only and the delay off. I run mine like this when I gig my ENGL since it doesn't have built in reverb

[andvari7]

So, a dedicated reverb pedal may still be necessary?

If only I had thought to bring my Helix and my VT with me, and put them on Reverb last week. I would still be away from my rig, but I could have, at least, purchased more of the pedals I want.

[spawnofthesith]

So, a dedicated reverb pedal may still be necessary?

If only I had thought to bring my Helix and my VT with me, and put them on Reverb last week. I would still be away from my rig, but I could have, at least, purchased more of the pedals I want.

Really depends on how you run it.. it has 4 memory banks accessible just on the pedal (over 100 if you have a separate midi controller)

Despite the amount of options, I primarily just use one delay sound on it, so when I am playing out an amp that doesn't have verb I set up the presets to just be alternating between my delay sound and reverb only and just leave the pedal always on and hit the memory button to switch