Line 6 "Roto- Machine" opinion ..

[MartyMart]

Arrived yesterday, anyone interested from the UK, it's on Ebay from "Oasis Music" for
£69 plus a free Line 6 PSU !   ..... forget trying to use a battery with any of the
tone core series ...

Sounds fantastic, even better in   <<S T E R E O>>   
Slow and fast rotor speed pots
Three "ramp up" speeds
Three Leslie cab sims
Drive amount and Drum/Horn balance

Instant "Leslie" happiness 
A very good "model" great on gtr and indeed organ too !!
9/10 , only because I'd like to turn the "drive" control "off" and can't do that totally ....

Marty.

[PharaohAmps]

Amen

  ..... forget trying to use a battery with any of the tone core series ...

AMEN.  I get about 2 hours on a fresh Duracell in my Echo Park.  I'm afraid to try it with the Liqua-Flange

But all the ToneCore pedals I've messed with have been VERY good.  I bought two already!  My "storebought" pedalboard is now almost half Line6!  (EB Volume, Boss TU-2, Ibanez MT10 Mostortion, Ibanez STL Super Tube, L6 Liqua-Flange, L6 MM-4, L6 Echo Park)  If the Dr. Distorto is as good as I think it is, that might tip the balance.  Of course, then I'd need a *5* output PSU, since all the ToneCores need their own DC supply (lame.)

Matt Farrow

[gez]

9/10 , only because I'd like to turn the "drive" control "off" and can't do that totally ....

From the sound clips I've heard the drive is really artificial sounding.  Pity, as it seems to get in the way of what otherwise is a fairly decent impression of the real deal.

I'll have to try one out mind...but I'm sticking to analogue for the moment!  

[Mark Hammer]

From the sound clips I've heard the drive is really artificial sounding.  Pity, as it seems to get in the way of what otherwise is a fairly decent impression of the real deal.

Actually, for a great many (myself included) the Drive control is one of the better features on the unit, and delivers a sort of grind which is reasonably authentic and hard to find elsewhere.  Some guys I've let demo mine crank the drive and comment how nice it sounds...while they keep playing and while I keep telling them I have to get going now.  Of course, if you even begin to consider the several hundred different distortion circuits that have passed through this forum, small wonder that no single distortion circuit or model could make everyone happy.

Marty, are you finding now that your desire to use a chorus is not quite as strong?

[MartyMart]

I'm guessing that the "drive" is in software ... if there was just a way to turn it off 100% ??
Still, at "zero" only a loud HB gtr kicks the drive in

MM.

[MartyMart]

Marty, are you finding now that your desire to use a chorus is not quite as strong?

No, I see them very much as two different things .....

Love that "swirl" though   OOOH AAAH  !

MM

[Doug_H]

Mine cleans up pretty good with the drive at 0, esp with the 122 filter. I agree that the drive sounds pretty "authentic" to me, and adds the "grind" just right. I'm glad you like it, Marty. I just used mine at rehearsal for the first time last night and it worked out really well. I think the 145 filter with a lot of drive is instant early Joe Walsh.

I'm getting kind of interested in the Verbzilla too. The clips of that are pretty awesome sounding. I'll have to check it out at the store.

Doug

[Doug_H]

Marty, are you finding now that your desire to use a chorus is not quite as strong?

No, I see them very much as two different things .....

Love that "swirl" though   OOOH AAAH  !

MM

Yes, it is different than chorus, although I'm finding I'm using it for some things I used to use the chorus for. I have a couple stereo choruses, but am kind of tired of the pitch wobble thing. I'm going to try out a Boss Super Shifter for the "detune" function, and see if I can get a "motionless" Dimension-C kind of sound with it. The harmonizer and other functions might come in handy too.

Doug

[aron]

Same with me. I really like it, although I switch back and forth between the roto and chorus.

[audiohub]

I have to agree with Doug about the quality of the 145 filter setting with Drive on this unit. It made me immediately go dig out Joe Walsh's early work to play along with...especially the first "Barnstorm" album. It's a great sound, something I've been looking for for years (too lazy to lug a Leslie around, I guess). I haven't really had a chance to set it up in stereo yet, but it sounds quite good in plain ol' mono. It's tended to replace the chorus sound for me, at least for now. I've also got the Echo Park, and will probably spring for the Flanger at some point as well (sigh). I'll certainly need to cobble together a supply for these soon. Even at Costco prices, there's no way I can afford to keep batteries in these things.

[Mark Hammer]

I would be negligent if I said nothing about the delay range and chorus character.

Many chorus designs follow a blueprint about as consistent as that for, say, a 3-tube practice amplifier (12AX7, 6V6, 5Y3).  Slight variations in component value, but generally the same.  One of the things that DOES vary a bit is the delay range selected by the manufacturer.  Some chorus pedals have a variable delay range, but the majority are "two knobbers" (rate/depth) or modded two-knobbers (rate/depth/mix), with a fixed delay range.  It is often the small-but-meaningful changes in chorus quality produced by what seem on the surface to be small changes in delay time that creates preference for this model chorus or that one.  Some models have a delay range selected closer to what is the upper range of flanger delay times, where others are much further away from flanger times.  The delay times achieved by some flangers (and some choruses) permits them to mimic slow Leslie swirl reasonably well.  In other cases, though, the delay is either too short or too long to nail that zone very well.

I say all of this because some people may use their own particular chorus or flanger pedal to achieve that sort of effect, where others may use their flanger or chorus for those sorts of sounds that are not mimics of anything else but are distinctive to that type of pedal.  "Jet plane" comb filtering and obvious voice doubling are examples of that. 

If what you often or always use a chorus pedal for is to get a "chimey" sound, my guess is that something like a Roto-Machine or (Boss) Rotary Station or a completely analog solution could easily supplant your chorus pedal, because either of these will do the chimey thing with more authenticity and complexity.  If the chorus pedal you normally use has a longer delay time, it will produce something other than swirly chime (such as obvious doubling), and the odds are unlikely you would stop using it. Calling something a "chorus" does not make it the same as another thing called a "chorus" I suppose.

It has a bunch of shortcoming, but one of the nifty things about the old blue rackmount MXR Digital Delay I have is the capacity to LFO modulate the delay time all the time.  So, if you felt like it, you could set it up to vary the delay time between, say, 80msec and 85msec.  This provides the opportunity to explore how the character of chorus-type modulation changes as you alter the delay range being modulated.  Chorus effects in the 30-40msec range are especially nice, and have that Pat Metheny ethereal quality.

[aron]

It has a bunch of shortcoming, but one of the nifty things about the old blue rackmount MXR Digital Delay I have is the capacity to LFO modulate the delay time all the time.  So, if you felt like it, you could set it up to vary the delay time between, say, 80msec and 85msec.  This provides the opportunity to explore how the character of chorus-type modulation changes as you alter the delay range being modulated.  Chorus effects in the 30-40msec range are especially nice, and have that Pat Metheny ethereal quality.

Deluxe Memory Man! For me, I haven't found anything to replace it.

[moosapotamus]

...all the ToneCores need their own DC supply

Really? Maybe I don't understand... I only have the Echo Park, so far. But, I'm running it daisy-chained on the same supply (One Spot) with 5 other pedals. All works and sounds great to me. Should I expect problems when I add the LiquaFlange?

~ Charlie

[PharaohAmps]

Charlie, I have an Echo Park, and it doesn't like being on the daisy chain with my Ibanez and Boss pedals at all.  I get ground-loop hum if I try it.  My supply is a linear setup, 10V transformer, bridge rectified into an LM2940-10 10V low-dropout regulator with good filtering.  Right now it has a dual-secondary transformer providing 10V to my Echo Park as well as to my other stomps.  My supply also has a 10VAC output from another transformer, for powering my MM-4.

I've heard that the ToneCores don't like being on a daisy chain with other boxes, even on a One Spot.  I know they don't like my power setup, anyway.

Matt Farrow

[aron]

I have an Echo Park, and it doesn't like being on the daisy chain with my Ibanez and Boss pedals at all

No problems here. Tried it with all sorts of pedals. They all run off one regulated power supply. Ironically the only pedal I ever had a problem with is the Deluxe Memory Man. 

[Mark Hammer]

Charlie, I have an Echo Park, and it doesn't like being on the daisy chain with my Ibanez and Boss pedals at all.  I get ground-loop hum if I try it.  My supply is a linear setup, 10V transformer, bridge rectified into an LM2940-10 10V low-dropout regulator with good filtering.  Right now it has a dual-secondary transformer providing 10V to my Echo Park as well as to my other stomps.  My supply also has a 10VAC output from another transformer, for powering my MM-4.

I've heard that the ToneCores don't like being on a daisy chain with other boxes, even on a One Spot.  I know they don't like my power setup, anyway.

Matt Farrow

I took a wallwart that came with my cruddy Zoom Amp Modeller ( ), and spliced a couple of barrel plugs into it to make a daisy chain supply.  Powers up 3 Tonecores just fine for me.  No hum or noise that I can detect.

[moosapotamus]

Charlie, I have an Echo Park, and it doesn't like being on the daisy chain with my Ibanez and Boss pedals at all...

Hmmm... Well, that's curious. Since the Tone Core pedals eat batteries, maybe it's a current thing? IIRC, the One Spot is something like 1.7A.

~ Charlie

[MartyMart]

Charlie, I have an Echo Park, and it doesn't like being on the daisy chain with my Ibanez and Boss pedals at all...

Hmmm... Well, that's curious. Since the Tone Core pedals eat batteries, maybe it's a current thing? IIRC, the One Spot is something like 1.7A.

~ Charlie

The "One Spot" is fairly robust,( 1200 Ma ) I'm powering 5 pedals, Including the Roto from a Boss RPW-7 half rack PSU.
The Roto is rated at 70Ma draw and the others combined are about another 150 Ma.
I think the RPW-7 is 400 Ma max, so I'm "OK", if however i had two more tonecores powered, drawing as
much, that might be pushing it some !!
Normal Boss PSU's are 200Ma max ...
Perhaps that's your problem ?

MM.

[MartyMart]

[quote author=Mark Hammer link=topic=41038.msg295793#msg295793 date=1137699499

It has a bunch of shortcoming, but one of the nifty things about the old blue rackmount MXR Digital Delay I have is the capacity to LFO modulate the delay time all the time.  So, if you felt like it, you could set it up to vary the delay time between, say, 80msec and 85msec.  This provides the opportunity to explore how the character of chorus-type modulation changes as you alter the delay range being modulated.  Chorus effects in the 30-40msec range are especially nice, and have that Pat Metheny ethereal quality.
[/quote]

I dont know how many of you record with PC/Mac software, but "Logic Pro" has a tape delay plugin
Not only can you simulate the nice "crunchy" roll off like a "WEM copykat" which can feedback into
distortion, but you can also "modulate" the delays .... great for instant U2 sounds ... !

MM.