ShortScale.org

we'll i'm in my 3 week of my new job. a lot to learn but really enjoying it. i feel a hell of a lot happier than my previous job, plus the prospect of progression makes me wonder why i gave my last job so much to get little back.

as you may know, i'm working in nottingham now right in the city centre. about five minutes away is hot rox. so much great stuff crammed into a little unit in a mini industrial unit. i nipped there the other day whilst on lunch and ended up doing a phaser pedal shootout with my friend who works there.

i tested 4 pedals side by side using a tele and a top 50 head into a 2x12 cab.

the pedals were an aria phaser, mxr standard phase 90, mxr CS phase 45 and a big box small stone.

the aria was very disappointing considering the build quality and price point. almost sounds like you've recorded your guitar using very bad mp3 settings.

standard MXR phase 90 sounded nice at slower speeds, but got quite OTT higher up. very in your face when engaged which some may like but others not.

big box small stone was nice over most speed settings, though it drops volume quite a lot. i think there discontinued, since the nano's sound much the same and don't have the volume drop.

my favourite has to be the CS phase 45. script logo style, hand-wired battery only reissue. 2 stage phaser for a subtler sound. very uni vibe like at higher speed without getting crazy. adds a nice bit of texture on slower speeds. probably my ideal phaser.


so, who else has had a trip out on there lunch to a local gear shed?
is it fatal on the wallet?

I'm moving campuses this summer, dangerously close to three of town's four guitar shops. Luckily, most of them are full of overpriced pap, but will enable me to try things out before buying them online for 33% less. I always endeavour to at least buy strings/plectrums whatever to support my local shop, but when local shops inevitably give nowt but bad advice and rip of n00bs for overpriced kit: fuck 'em.

i used to work across the road from denmark street in Soho and I found myself most lunch times either in the guitar shops or other record shops. It was a killer on my wallet that soon had to stop when I had kids. Now I'm in Bristol there aren't any good shops about really so I'm pretty safe.

I've bought from Hot Rox before and they were really helpful when I needed stumpy tubes. He got a few out for me over the phone and even measured their length. Great service!

I'm not too near the guitar shops where I work but there are 3 in Oxford:

PMT - Your general up to date music shop full of main brand kit
Oxford Guitar Gallery - Overpriced boutique pap. Seriously, they don't sell any normal brands like Marshall, Fender, Gibson etc at all
The Music Box - Amazing little shoe box Aladdin's cave full of secondhand and rare bits and pieces

For strings I tend to shop at the Music Box. Everything else I buy secondhand, or go online because nowhere in Oxford ever sells what I'm after. Today's quest for a CV strat for example.

I work in Central-ish London, on Blackfriars Road opposite Southwark Tube Station (very close to Waterloo and the Tate Modern) to be precise. No guitar shops near me, although Denmark Street is not too far away and on the way home if I cycle through Camden, so nowhere to pop into during lunch - which is probably a good thing.

I'd love one of those Phase 45's but the lack of LED and DC jack means that it wouldn't work out in my set up. I have the Custom Shop Phase 90 and it sounds great but would prefer something a little more subtle.

Was it one of the new 50 Top you used or an old one? They have just started making them again. I have one made in 1969 and it sounds great.

Hotrox are a fantastic shop. They ship incredibly fast, I got a Tech 21 Blonde pedal for use with the band at the drummers home studio setup - paid for it on the Monday, it was delivered on the Tuesday.

Great guys, good prices - remember getting a bargainous Memory Boy when they first came out.

pretty good for tubes and all that too. plus there not too pricey for a lot of the pedals.

matt's the guy to ask for if you ever go in.

Hot Rox have always been good when i've ordered stuff from them, although there was a time when I was looking to buy a pedal and they wouldn't price match against another online retailer despite them saying they would match any price on the web.

johnnyseven wrote:I work in Central-ish London, on Blackfriars Road opposite Southwark Tube Station (very close to Waterloo and the Tate Modern) to be precise. No guitar shops near me, although Denmark Street is not too far away and on the way home if I cycle through Camden, so nowhere to pop into during lunch - which is probably a good thing.

I'd love one of those Phase 45's but the lack of LED and DC jack means that it wouldn't work out in my set up. I have the Custom Shop Phase 90 and it sounds great but would prefer something a little more subtle.

Was it one of the new 50 Top you used or an old one? They have just started making them again. I have one made in 1969 and it sounds great.

though i might add this to make it work on my power supply. will one of those battery adaptors wreck it?

http://www.hotroxuk.com/zvex-power-plat ... 710-0.html

Funnily enough, just mailed hotrox about some new valves (the Vibrochamp could do with a bit of TLC) and they responded, usefully, within five minutes.

Rob, do you have phase going into drive? That's KERAZY!

I might try that when I get in.

George wrote:Rob, do you have phase going into drive? That's KERAZY!

I might try that when I get in.

Yeah I remember Rob suggesting that to me when I bought his Phase 90 off him - like you said KERAZY!
I do usually have it the other way around.

Speaking of which - Rob how does it compare to the script 90?

Progrockabuse wrote:

johnnyseven wrote:I work in Central-ish London, on Blackfriars Road opposite Southwark Tube Station (very close to Waterloo and the Tate Modern) to be precise. No guitar shops near me, although Denmark Street is not too far away and on the way home if I cycle through Camden, so nowhere to pop into during lunch - which is probably a good thing.

I'd love one of those Phase 45's but the lack of LED and DC jack means that it wouldn't work out in my set up. I have the Custom Shop Phase 90 and it sounds great but would prefer something a little more subtle.

Was it one of the new 50 Top you used or an old one? They have just started making them again. I have one made in 1969 and it sounds great.

though i might add this to make it work on my power supply. will one of those battery adaptors wreck it?

http://www.hotroxuk.com/zvex-power-plat ... 710-0.html

Are the Zvex and MXR pedals exactly the same size and with screw holes in exactly the same place? If so I don't see why it wouldn't work, but then I know nothing about electronics.

Thom wrote:

George wrote:Rob, do you have phase going into drive? That's KERAZY!

I might try that when I get in.

Yeah I remember Rob suggesting that to me when I bought his Phase 90 off him - like you said KERAZY!
I do usually have it the other way around.

Speaking of which - Rob how does it compare to the script 90?

i've always tended to run phasers that way, blends with the drive better. i've tried it after the drive. which also sounds good. to my ears it sounds better before. tends to keep your low end intact more.

i'd say the 45 is subtler but you can still tell when it's on. same warm sweep and not as fast on the higher settings. just moves the sound without getting too in your face. nails the floyd style phaser sounds and you can do hendrix/trower uni vibe sounds.

from what i can remember of my old phase 90, it's a more prominent phase sound, that's great on slow settings but gets a bit crazy on the higher one.

Progrockabuse wrote:from what i can remember of my old phase 90, it's a more prominent phase sound, that's great on slow settings but gets a bit crazy on the higher one.

That sounds about right. The 45 sounds like good fun.

basically if a phase 90 had a depth knob, the 45 would be it set at half.

plus, what you running these days thom

there is not one, but THREE pawn shops on the 10 minute walk between my home and my work.
A treacherous route paydays.

Progrockabuse wrote:basically if a phase 90 had a depth knob, the 45 would be it set at half.

plus, what you running these days thom

Nice sounds good. I always have the 90 set pretty low.
Haven't changed my set-up in ages! Probably the longest I have ever gone without doing so...though to be fair for the last month or so have just gone guitar > cable > rockerverb.

Love Hot Rox, bought stacks of stuff mail oder off them. Not sure it would do my bank balance any good working that close to them. My local lunchtime temptation has just shut down, sadly. Jamm Guitars are now trading online only. Shame, it was a lovely shop and they specialised in stuff you don't find in major shops. It was also the only place in Bristol (that I know of) that stocked George L's cables. With Vintage and Rare Guitars closing down in Bath, the area is getting very short of interesting guitar shops.

Rayjaysonic wrote:Love Hot Rox, bought stacks of stuff mail oder off them. Not sure it would do my bank balance any good working that close to them. My local lunchtime temptation has just shut down, sadly. Jamm Guitars are now trading online only. Shame, it was a lovely shop and they specialised in stuff you don't find in major shops. It was also the only place in Bristol (that I know of) that stocked George L's cables. With Vintage and Rare Guitars closing down in Bath, the area is getting very short of interesting guitar shops.

thats sad news on both counts, Jamm were one of the only places I used to trust for any guitar work and you are right about the George L's and some interesting pedals and pickups. In a way its also said to hear vintage & rare going as well. Its one of the nice things I look forward to when I have to visit the outlaws