Dude. Albini on Gearwire on Barge Concepts vs. Harmonic Perc

fiveways · Post by **fiveways** » Mon Mar 05, 2007 7:48 pm

PenPen wrote:
fiveways wrote:2 cents worth:

notice that through the entire video alibini doesnt touch the harmonics knob[except to make sure it is cranked], and leaves it cranked on the barge. now, maybe i am weird, but if i had a huge amount of high end treble harmonic content in my pedal, and noticed a harmonics knob all the way to the right, you figure i would want to turn it down a bit and see what happens. but he doesnt touch it.....not once.

this just makes me wanna try one more. that video was complete crap and showed me nothing of what the barge could do. granted the interfax sounds amazing.

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid ... e+concepts

notice the harmonics controls the over all tone structure on the barge in this clip. the drive the gain amount. i think steve probably needed a few days with it and to give it a touch more of a chance. granted i have factored in a lot of what he says into this, but this clip shows another side of it and i would be interested in hearing someone who understand the modifaction that barge has done to it [added a drive section, which i assume with both on sound like the perc with more controls].

basically, steve albini might have been defeated by a second footswitch and a additional knob.........
You must have completely missed the part of the video where Steve turned all of the knobs in every position.

Oh, and the part where Steve said that he uses his with the gain all the way up, and when he uses the exact same settings on this one it sounds nothing like it. Which I also hear in that google vid. The difference is the guitar being used, and we have no info about the amp being used.

show me where he touches the harmonics knob excpt to make sure it is cranked with teh second barge. because it doesnt leave cranked.

and as i said i did factor all that was said at the end into it. but i would rather see a more clinical example. like he doesnt play around much with the original perc at all, and the barge he messes with like a child turning knobs.

this isnt to hate on albini at all. i actually like his bands and i generally like his production. i agree with jcyphe, he doesnt want his name associated with the clones and did his best to make sure it wouldnt be associated.

Pens · Post by **Pens** » Mon Mar 05, 2007 7:56 pm

fiveways wrote:
PenPen wrote: You must have completely missed the part of the video where Steve turned all of the knobs in every position.

Oh, and the part where Steve said that he uses his with the gain all the way up, and when he uses the exact same settings on this one it sounds nothing like it. Which I also hear in that google vid. The difference is the guitar being used, and we have no info about the amp being used.
show me where he touches the harmonics knob excpt to make sure it is cranked with teh second barge. because it doesnt leave cranked.

and as i said i did factor all that was said at the end into it. but i would rather see a more clinical example. like he doesnt play around much with the original perc at all, and the barge he messes with like a child turning knobs.

this isnt to hate on albini at all. i actually like his bands and i generally like his production. i agree with jcyphe, he doesnt want his name associated with the clones and did his best to make sure it wouldnt be associated.

Fine. Give me a few moments to find the time in the vid. You still miss the point that this new one doesn't sound like the old one with it is cranked, which is how Albini uses his, and thus is NOT ANYWHERE NEAR what the original sounds like. Period. Even that Google video doesn't sound anything like the real one.

EDIT: DAMMIT, Quicktime doesn't show the times. Steve changes the Harmonics knob right after he says "I'm going to fiddle around with it to try to get it to mimic the original Harmonic Percolator here" and before he stops and says "There's some kind of high-frequency resonance in this pedal..."

Sloan · Post by **Sloan** » Mon Mar 05, 2007 8:43 pm

SONDZ ASS.

fiveways · Post by **fiveways** » Mon Mar 05, 2007 8:44 pm

PenPen wrote:
fiveways wrote:
PenPen wrote: You must have completely missed the part of the video where Steve turned all of the knobs in every position.

Oh, and the part where Steve said that he uses his with the gain all the way up, and when he uses the exact same settings on this one it sounds nothing like it. Which I also hear in that google vid. The difference is the guitar being used, and we have no info about the amp being used.
show me where he touches the harmonics knob excpt to make sure it is cranked with teh second barge. because it doesnt leave cranked.

and as i said i did factor all that was said at the end into it. but i would rather see a more clinical example. like he doesnt play around much with the original perc at all, and the barge he messes with like a child turning knobs.

this isnt to hate on albini at all. i actually like his bands and i generally like his production. i agree with jcyphe, he doesnt want his name associated with the clones and did his best to make sure it wouldnt be associated.

Fine. Give me a few moments to find the time in the vid. You still miss the point that this new one doesn't sound like the old one with it is cranked, which is how Albini uses his, and thus is NOT ANYWHERE NEAR what the original sounds like. Period. Even that Google video doesn't sound anything like the real one.

EDIT: DAMMIT, Quicktime doesn't show the times. Steve changes the Harmonics knob right after he says "I'm going to fiddle around with it to try to get it to mimic the original Harmonic Percolator here" and before he stops and says "There's some kind of high-frequency resonance in this pedal..."

what i saw in the video was imo a guy ape his way through a pedal with 2 switch and 4 knobs in 3 minutes and come to that conclusion. the knob twiddling is adhd at best and he doesnt touch the harmonics knob one the second one when he is show messing with the knobs. all i am saying is i dont think he gave it much of a chance or even a tryout.

i'm talking with a guy on another board who owns one to confirm what the harmomics knob on his does and if it might be different then the original. and yes i understand the point, albini says it doesnt sound like his and i think he didnt give it much of a tweak or really put it through the step to confirm that. his demo felt like he was looking for "instant gratifacation" out of the pedal[in being able to achieve his tone] and when it wasnt immediatly there he dismissed it. and yes i understand his sound great. its 2 sliders and one switch. new one has twice as many controls. i just think it would be possible to get close to the original is all.

Pens · Post by **Pens** » Mon Mar 05, 2007 8:59 pm

If you turn a knob and you can't figure out what it is doing, then there is something wrong with the pedal. You saw what you wanted to see:

what i saw in the video was imo a guy ape his way through a pedal with 2 switch and 4 knobs in 3 minutes and come to that conclusion. the knob twiddling is adhd at best and he doesnt touch the harmonics knob one the second one when he is show messing with the knobs. all i am saying is i dont think he gave it much of a chance or even a tryout.

If you design a distortion pedal, and it has four knobs, and a guitarist you give it to can't figure it out or find a tone within 30 seconds then the design is flawed. Period. He turned the Harmonics knob all over the place, including cranked which is how he uses his real one, and it doesn't sound like the pedal it is supposed to have cloned. The tone on it is fucked. It has failed. No setting sounded like the real one. No setting came close to having the same character of the real one. If they market a pedal as a clone of something, it better damn well replicate the character of the original. A guitarist who's signature tone is based around the original that you are cloning can't manage to get it to sound the same in 30 seconds, then it is fucked.

And if they labeled the knob "Harmonics" which the original had a "Harmonics" knob, and they DO NOT do the same thing, then the designers are morons. I'm going to clone the DS-1, but I'm going to make the TONE knob control the volume, and the DIST the tone, and the VOLUME the distortion. Then I'm going to add another knob named KURDTZ and it will control the amount of shit feedback sound coming out of it. Wait, that would be logical, so I'll make that knob cause no audible change to the sound, but I'll tell people it controls the harmonic frequency clip boost threshold saturation, so they don't even know WTF that is, but they won't care, IT WILL BE AWESOME!!!

Post by **Hurb** » Tue Mar 06, 2007 12:30 am

more more more

http://www.gearwire.com/media/bp1-stomp ... hrough.mov

Post by **Hurb** » Tue Mar 06, 2007 12:49 am

how do you like it, how do you like it!

http://www.gearwire.com/media/pussy-fuzz-albini.mov

Post by **Doog** » Tue Mar 06, 2007 1:46 am

Hurb wrote:more more more

http://www.gearwire.com/media/bp1-stomp ... hrough.mov

Hahaha.. "Hi, me name is Dan Acosto".. he goes all Jamaican for a sec there..

Pens · Post by **Pens** » Tue Mar 06, 2007 5:35 am

Fucking yes.....I just tested out my version of the circuit, and I think I'm pretty damn close. I'll have to do a better test tomorrow when the kids aren't asleep and I can crank it, but my version sounds pretty good I think. I MIGHT try one thing to boost up the gain a bit, it is an odd sound that is nasty and fuzzy but not over the top and still has it's character of a clean note, and it cleans up really nice with the guitar volume control. I'm thinking it might do well with a tad more gain, I'll see tomorrow.

Thank you guys for posting these vids so I had some idea what sound I was aiming for....

Post by **Doog** » Tue Mar 06, 2007 11:20 am

Sweet.

Post by **Mike** » Tue Mar 06, 2007 11:23 am

Supersweet

Post by **Hurb** » Tue Mar 06, 2007 1:00 pm

i like penpens pedals. i want!

James · Post by **James** » Tue Mar 06, 2007 1:10 pm

Hurb wrote:more more more

http://www.gearwire.com/media/bp1-stomp ... hrough.mov

I've never heard anyone ever say 4-14 before, its always been 4-1-4.

James · Post by **James** » Tue Mar 06, 2007 1:13 pm

Mike wrote:Yeah it actually looks like one of the nice models - I like the fact it doesn't have the incomplete headstock.

You mean the bit where the T is cut out? His has a normal bean headstock.

Post by **Mike** » Tue Mar 06, 2007 1:16 pm

I think I'm confused between Bean and Electrical Guitar Company.

James · Post by **James** » Tue Mar 06, 2007 1:31 pm

Electrical Guitar Company TB500 copy (like timhulio has)

Original Travis Bean TB500 (like Albini has)

Post by **Doog** » Tue Mar 06, 2007 2:31 pm

I always thought it a little weird that a company called Electrical made Bean copies- renowned Albini guitars- and Albini runs a studio called Electrical.

James · Post by **James** » Tue Mar 06, 2007 2:39 pm

I dont think it was a coincidence.

Tweez · Post by **Tweez** » Tue Mar 06, 2007 3:59 pm

I prefer the original Bean headstock, but for Â£700 for the Electrical Guitar Company one compared to a lot more for an original Bean, it's not too much of an issue.