What Seymour Duncan pedal would you like to see next?

[ginormous]

Re: What Seymour Duncan pedal would you like to see next?

How about a bass preamp, with some EQ and compression?

[TimmyPage]

Re: What Seymour Duncan pedal would you like to see next?

I hope it's not too late to submit an idea, I have nothing specific but just.. something I'd like for you to keep in mind while you design this pedal. My current two favourite pedals that I have ever heard or played around with (I only own one) are the Talisman by Catalinbread and the Deco by Strymon. One seeks to recreate the huge 7 foot sheet of metal that gave the beautiful tones of plate reverb which saturated recordings of the 70s.

The other is a tape machine, it does everything that you can do with a real recording tape deck from slapback delays, tape saturation/overdrive, flanging and doubletracking, all of the stuff that was only possible in post-production, now at your feet. Everything from Les Paul to the Beatles and Hendrix, every tape trick ever used is somewhere in here.

What the two pedals have in common is that they seek to give you that.. indescribable quality that is present in so much classic music, stuff that used to only be possible in a studio, and it puts them on a footswitch so you can use them in a modern, controllable setting. Rather than tell you what kind of pedal I'd want specifically, I want this: Something that gives your favourite recording that indescribable quality, put at your feet.

So think really hard, we have a perfect 'tape machine' pedal on the market, we have some amazing plate reverbs, the pre-amp circuit to the Echoplex has been done to death. Search your favourite recordings for that special 'something' and design your pedal after that sound. It doesn't have to be a classic recording either, it doesn't have to be limited to 'classic' music.

[Jocelyn]

Re: What Seymour Duncan pedal would you like to see next?

A WAH someone already mentioned it.

[Securb]

Re: What Seymour Duncan pedal would you like to see next?

Systech Harmonic Energizer type of pedal would be cool. TWA made one but it is now discontinued. It was also very expensive. There are so many delays, chorus and flangers out there already. A parametric EQ boost adds something to the market that is not readily out there.

[Demanic]

Re: What Seymour Duncan pedal would you like to see next?

Ok, how about a pedal that, when activated, renders everyone within a 60 degree arc of the cabinet, out to about 600 yards (give or take the master volume setting), incontinent?

[sosomething]

Re: What Seymour Duncan pedal would you like to see next?

I hope it's not too late to submit an idea, I have nothing specific but just.. something I'd like for you to keep in mind while you design this pedal. My current two favourite pedals that I have ever heard or played around with (I only own one) are the Talisman by Catalinbread and the Deco by Strymon. One seeks to recreate the huge 7 foot sheet of metal that gave the beautiful tones of plate reverb which saturated recordings of the 70s.

The other is a tape machine, it does everything that you can do with a real recording tape deck from slapback delays, tape saturation/overdrive, flanging and doubletracking, all of the stuff that was only possible in post-production, now at your feet. Everything from Les Paul to the Beatles and Hendrix, every tape trick ever used is somewhere in here.

What the two pedals have in common is that they seek to give you that.. indescribable quality that is present in so much classic music, stuff that used to only be possible in a studio, and it puts them on a footswitch so you can use them in a modern, controllable setting. Rather than tell you what kind of pedal I'd want specifically, I want this: Something that gives your favourite recording that indescribable quality, put at your feet.

So think really hard, we have a perfect 'tape machine' pedal on the market, we have some amazing plate reverbs, the pre-amp circuit to the Echoplex has been done to death. Search your favourite recordings for that special 'something' and design your pedal after that sound. It doesn't have to be a classic recording either, it doesn't have to be limited to 'classic' music.

Interesting food for thought - a good exercise.

Not to throw it back at you, but why not take a stab at it yourself? Primarily because, as the person who came up with the concept, you're one I'd be curious to get an example from.

When I try, I keep coming back to the tonal qualities of the whole mix of specific classic records. It's rarely just got to do with guitar, but is usually a color or texture that affects the entire recording. A vibe. That would be very difficult to capture on a single instrument like a guitar that wouldn't sound out-of-context in the crisp aural setting of a live band.

[frankfalbo]

Re: What Seymour Duncan pedal would you like to see next?

Not to throw it back at you, but why not take a stab at it yourself? Primarily because, as the person who came up with the concept, you're one I'd be curious to get an example from.

When I try, I keep coming back to the tonal qualities of the whole mix of specific classic records...

Not to throw it back at you, but you guys are supposed to be the pedal designers. LOL

What's great about TimmyPage's suggestion is that its actually why we have most of our non-gain based effects. Chorus was a poor electronic attempt at multitracking/doubling. But now it's an effect in and of itself. Flangers are (in most cases) a poor recreation of tape flange, but now is an effect in and of itself. Phasers and vibes were trying (horribly) to be fake Leslies. Reverbs, delays, etc. all of it comes from some visionaries creating sounds either mechanically or electronically, and then some other visionary trying to replicate that sound in some alternate format.

So Adam, you're thinking about why records sound and feel the way they do. Why don't you make an overdrive pedal that has a compressor and a sidechain that you can trigger with something else? If you trigger it with the drums submix, your guitar signal will compress like it's being mastered. Or if you make it a compressor pedal with a sidechain, you can use it to actually duck reverb and/or delays for real, not just manually faux-duck them by riding a volume pedal.

Want to get nuts? Make it a multiband compressor with sidechain, so that the midrange of your guitar comes out around the bass player and drums, but the full guitar frequency comes back when other band members aren't playing. You could even put a microphone input on it for the sidechain. Wherever I put the mic determines how my guitar signal will be compensated. How's that?

[jtougas]

Re: What Seymour Duncan pedal would you like to see next?

Call it the "Pocket Soundman"...

[Snake Aces]

Re: What Seymour Duncan pedal would you like to see next?

I hope it's not too late to submit an idea, I have nothing specific but just.. something I'd like for you to keep in mind while you design this pedal. My current two favourite pedals that I have ever heard or played around with (I only own one) are the Talisman by Catalinbread and the Deco by Strymon. One seeks to recreate the huge 7 foot sheet of metal that gave the beautiful tones of plate reverb which saturated recordings of the 70s.

The other is a tape machine, it does everything that you can do with a real recording tape deck from slapback delays, tape saturation/overdrive, flanging and doubletracking, all of the stuff that was only possible in post-production, now at your feet. Everything from Les Paul to the Beatles and Hendrix, every tape trick ever used is somewhere in here.

What the two pedals have in common is that they seek to give you that.. indescribable quality that is present in so much classic music, stuff that used to only be possible in a studio, and it puts them on a footswitch so you can use them in a modern, controllable setting. Rather than tell you what kind of pedal I'd want specifically, I want this: Something that gives your favourite recording that indescribable quality, put at your feet.

So think really hard, we have a perfect 'tape machine' pedal on the market, we have some amazing plate reverbs, the pre-amp circuit to the Echoplex has been done to death. Search your favourite recordings for that special 'something' and design your pedal after that sound. It doesn't have to be a classic recording either, it doesn't have to be limited to 'classic' music.

Now this is a great idea. In a market saturated with recycled ideas this kind of approach could lead to something people not only want to have but have to have.

[sosomething]

Re: What Seymour Duncan pedal would you like to see next?

Frank, unlike you, I've never designed a retail product in my life! But you've proven (again) why I wanted to pose this question in the first place.

That's great stuff. I'm interested in the idea of pedals with built-in side chain triggering. In my head I'm a little unsure of trying to control that from a pedalboard as a tone-shaping/live mix solution, since that kind of thing might still be more efficiently handled from the boards.. but I LOVE the idea of using it in creative applications, like a side chained fuzz on a guitar that triggers from the kick and snare, or a modulation effect side chaining off a tremolo.

But regardless of the specific application, you make the correct point: most of our current effects are attempts at recreating studio sounds. There's no reason that can't happen again.

[dd12939]

Re: What Seymour Duncan pedal would you like to see next?

Rather than tell you what kind of pedal I'd want specifically, I want this: Something that gives your favourite recording that indescribable quality, put at your feet.

So think really hard, we have a perfect 'tape machine' pedal on the market, we have some amazing plate reverbs, the pre-amp circuit to the Echoplex has been done to death. Search your favourite recordings for that special 'something' and design your pedal after that sound. It doesn't have to be a classic recording either, it doesn't have to be limited to 'classic' music.

Another example (I think) would be JHS's Colour Box, based on the old Neve console.

[Lampy H]

Re: What Seymour Duncan pedal would you like to see next?

TS (or other) style circuit and a treble boost in one enclosure, with a blend pot?

[stevie_bees]

Re: What Seymour Duncan pedal would you like to see next?

Hopefully we'll see a Vapor Trail Plus, in the same size enclosure as the Shapeshifter, with tap tempo.

[B2D]

Re: What Seymour Duncan pedal would you like to see next?

Hopefully we'll see a Vapor Trail Plus, in the same size enclosure as the Shapeshifter, with tap tempo.

Yeah a bigger, better Vapor Trail would be neat... analog delay pedal aimed at the Memory Man crowd.

...as long as you do my Deja Vu II with the presets and other fun gizmos on it.