New (broken) pedal day!

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BearBoy
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Re: New (broken) pedal day!

Post by BearBoy » Sun Nov 20, 2022 5:40 pm

Pepe wrote:
Sun Nov 20, 2022 5:04 pm
My sister-in-law visited us today. She picked up an Alesis Mod-FX "Philtre" for me a few days ago. The seller sold it for a VERY low price, because it didn't work with his power supply. I saw in the photos that he used a weak DC power supply. I plugged in my original Alesis AC power supply and it works like a charm. It's a great unit, it is considered to be one of the best of that series, along with the "Bitrman" that I also own. Pics to follow.
Sounds like you got a bargain, Pepe. I've never heard of this range of effects. Were they designed for use with Synths? Are you planning on recording a demo?

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Pepe
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Re: New (broken) pedal day!

Post by Pepe » Sun Nov 20, 2022 7:31 pm

Oh yes, this was a bargain for sure. Local pickup for 15 EUR. For this price it is definitely a keeper. :D

I think the Alesis Mod-FX units were primarily designed for DJs and for amateur/studio recording, but they became indeed very popular among synth users. All of them offer true stereo and the sound quality (they are completely digital) can be really good.

I had the Faze for a while, but I didn't like that one at all.
The Bitrman is a great versatile noise machine and serves as a bitcrusher, sample rate reducer, ring modulator, etc. - a very sought-after machine and nowadays the most expensive one of that bunch of seven Mod-FX units.
The Philtre has four filter modes that can be modulated in different ways.
I also have the Ampliton that I managed to purchase for a low price earlier this year. This is a tremolo and panning effect at the same time, something like a pimped BOSS PN-2 - quite useful.

I don't think that I'm going to find the time to record a demo with the Alesis units, but you never know! Our youngest daughter is almost two years old now and she's the reason why I have almost completely stopped making music in the last two years. I cannot let my stuff be plugged in and lying on the floor. She rips it all apart or wants to play the guitar herself whenever I have it in my hands. The same goes to all my keyboard instruments. It's very annoying, but her siblings weren't much better. Once she's a bit older I'm sure that I can invest time on playing and recording my instruments again.
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fuzzbuzzfuzz
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Re: New (broken) pedal day!

Post by fuzzbuzzfuzz » Mon Nov 21, 2022 1:11 am

Blimey!

Very nice score indeed, don't you love days like those :D

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Pepe
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Re: New (broken) pedal day!

Post by Pepe » Sun Nov 27, 2022 12:25 pm

Here's finally a picture of the ultra-cheap Alesis Mod-FX Philtre plus another recent pedal that was declared as "defective":

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The Vox Wah-Wah V847 was made in the USA, apparently 1993 or 1994. The seller said that it doesn't do anything apart from a lot of crackling. I opened it, cleaned the battery clip and it was alive again. :D The potentiometer crackled a tiny bit at the start, but it works like a charm now.

I bought the VOX Wah along with a badly treated vintage KORG FK-3 volume pedal that I can use as an enclosure for a pedal project in the future. Yay!

I'm going to sell the VOX Wah again, because I don't like the sound too much. In comparison to my mid-'90s Dunlop GCB-95 Cry Baby it sounds totally weak. If every model sounds like this, then I don't know why the V847 became so famous. I once had a Jen Super Double Wah that had a great warm wah sound. I hoped that the Vox would produce a similar sound.
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Dirk
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Re: New (broken) pedal day!

Post by Dirk » Sun Nov 27, 2022 6:31 pm

I think that V847 was released when Jimi Hendrix became popular again after the grunge onslaught.
It certainly gained popularity when Kirk Hammett alledgedly used one pre-owned by Jimi on Metallica's black album.

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laurie
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Re: New (broken) pedal day!

Post by laurie » Sun Nov 27, 2022 9:52 pm

That philtre looks interesting.

I've always had a soft spot for Alesis gear. In storage I have a Microverb III and a QS8 synth (very nice old synth). I used to have a Midiverb and a Quadraverb but I think sold them a few years ago.
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QS8.jpg
QS8.jpg (97.67 KiB) Viewed 1854 times

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Pepe
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Re: New (broken) pedal day!

Post by Pepe » Sun Nov 27, 2022 10:08 pm

I bet the synth is cool!
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laurie
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Re: New (broken) pedal day!

Post by laurie » Sun Nov 27, 2022 11:07 pm

The QS8 has some really nice patches. Plus the action is fully weighted and has a quite good feel.

I can't play at all. I bought it and reconditioned it for Mrs Laurie when she thought she might learn. It is too nice to sell... have to have at least one keyboard in the collection!

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Re: New (broken) pedal day!

Post by Pepe » Fri Dec 23, 2022 5:03 pm

The KORG PHS-1 is one of my personal favourite phaser effects. The sound is very warm and lush and I like it a lot more than the sound of the BOSS PH-1. Over a year ago I purchased a beat-up and non-functioning unit. It had no battery cover, a broken battery clip, the plastic shield inside was missing as well as the original knobs. When engaged it only produced some kind of brighter bypass sound, but no phaser sound.

Since I already had a working and mint unit I left it how it was for a long time. Now I have finally found some time to investigate what was wrong with it. I swapped the tantal and the few electrolytic capacitors, resoldered some connections, added a new battery clip and tried it out. There was no real change, so I turned the trimpots. The phaser effect reappeared, but with a very odd waveform, similar to a sawtooth.

It was our dear Laurie again who found out what was going wrong. After some investigation we found out that a zener diode was the culprit. I replaced it and turned the trimpots until there was a proper waveform again. Yesterday I was able to make it sound exactly like my other unit. It only needed a very small turn of the depth trimpot - my former calibration by ear was almost perfect already! :geek:

I used thick foam to cut out a new protection shield for the circuit board. The replacement knobs don't exactly look like the original ones, but they are okay. Maybe I can create a 3D model of the battery cover, so I can do one with the 3D printer of my son. The plastic battery cover is the only weak point of these pedals - they are built like tanks!

Big thanks to Laurie who has helped me so much in the past with various pedal problems. You are awesome! :D

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laurie
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Re: New (broken) pedal day!

Post by laurie » Fri Dec 23, 2022 5:24 pm

Another great old pedal saved from the parts bin! Happy to help!

If you didn't have the other pedal beside it, those knobs would look they were meant for it.

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