Slow attack/slow gear

MNM7

Howdy

Zoom pedals has an effect called slow attack which i've found on my zoom is a very nice effect that gives sort of like a violin-ish sound. Almost like a swell sound. Now I was wondering if their is any stompbox that can create that sound with me having to go buy an ebow.

AlanRatcliffe

Best way to do it is still manually with a volume pedal. Otherwise look around for an old Boss SG-1 Slow Gear or build the BYOC "Lazy Sprocket" kit.

Mr-M

? Alan just beat me to it...

Here it is nonetheless:
This would be what the effect is emulating:
http://www.bossarea.com/loadpage.asp?file=boxes/sg1.xml

Discontinued for years, but Build Your Own Clone sell a kit version of the Boss SG-1 Slow Gear: http://www.buildyourownclone.com/lazysprocket.html

Malkav

Most BOSS Multi-FX pedals still have the Slow Gear feature as well.

Warren

Somewhat OT:

Those BYOC kits look quite fun. Are the pedals themselves any good?

AlanRatcliffe

Pretty good yes. Classic designs updated where needed and left alone where it affects tone. Mostly good quality parts.

Gearhead

Ain't no swell pedal gonna do anywhere near what an Ebow can do. They're not that expensive second hand, hardly R200 more than a second hand Boss pedal.

AlanRatcliffe

Gearhead wrote: Ain't no swell pedal gonna do anywhere near what an Ebow can do.

True. I misread the OP - thought he meant he had an Ebow. Although if he wants to swell or violin, rather than have infinite sustain, a volume pedal or Slow Gear is the better option. An Ebow is also only one string at a time.

They're not that expensive second hand, hardly R200 more than a second hand Boss pedal.

Depends on the Boss Pedal. ? I've seen two for sale lately (Ebows, not Boss Pedals), one for R1,000, one for R1,200.

Gearhead

On some guitars you cannot escape the swell effect with an Ebow, on some (Strat) it's nearly impossible to get going and others (hot buckers) you have no swell at all. Yes it is one string at a time but a swell pedal also only works on single attacks. I bought my Ebow through this forum for considerably less, R1200 sounds like almost new price.

DonovanB

I was playing around with the Slow Gear on my GT8. I got a sound pretty close to that John Mayer song, "I don't trust myself loving you" in the intro. He uses a different effect, not the Boss one.

It just builds a little slower. You can almost make it sound like you're playing backwards.

Kalcium

Donovan Banks wrote: I was playing around with the Slow Gear on my GT8. I got a sound pretty close to that John Mayer song, "I don't trust myself loving you" in the intro. He uses a different effect, not the Boss one.

It just builds a little slower. You can almost make it sound like you're playing backwards.

Could it not be a reverse delay setting ? just guessing...

DonovanB

Kalcium wrote: Could it not be a reverse delay setting ? just guessing...

You could do it that way, but then you only hear it after you've played. so to get it in time live you need to play a beat early.

With slow gear you set the rise to be slow. I must record it some time.

Mr-M

Donovan Banks wrote: I was playing around with the Slow Gear on my GT8. I got a sound pretty close to that John Mayer song, "I don't trust myself loving you" in the intro. He uses a different effect, not the Boss one.

It just builds a little slower. You can almost make it sound like you're playing backwards.

John Mayer uses a Roger Linn Adrenalinn for that song.

From Wikipedia: "Most notably, unlike other guitar pedals, the AdrenaLinn specializes in beat-synced effects, including modulation and delay but also a sequencer that provides looped patterns of filtered tones, all moving in sync to its internal drum machine or to midi. Other unusual aspects of this pedal include note-triggered filter effects such as auto-wah, simulated talk box and guitar synthesizer sounds."

I don't think you'll quite nail the sound with anything other than an Adrenalinn.

AlanRatcliffe

Mr T wrote: John Mayer uses a Roger Linn Adrenalinn for that song.

It is an Adrenalinn III. Rhythm is a beat-synced filter. The intro lead, while also recorded with the Adrenalinn, could also be done with any envelope following bandpass filter or decent auto wah - sounds like it's set so the filter sweep is up, but with the range set quite low. A nice, mellow wah-type sound...