Source Audio Soundblox Multiwave Distortion Demo

[TheHevquip]

I don't care about tubes. I'm buying this to plug into my synths!

[weischamp]

Normal version or pro? what do you think?

[BenTimages]

Never was much interested in distortion ... till I heard about this little baby! I got the Source Audio Wireless Phaser/Flanger recently, and this unit will fit in nicely, although I'll probably go for the Pro Multiwave Distortion model.

[kokoshmusun]

I love the sounds I'm hearing here. 

[thejamspot]

*dimed

[thejamspot]

Really interesting pedal. The soundblox pro is even more tweakable! I wholeheartedly agree with the comment about this pedal not being a "dime Marshall emulator." The add for the larger soundblox pro even states "23 boldly anti-retro effects..."

[scott1887]

This thing is just twisted, sick and perverted!!

I like it.

[DrMarv]

Skurtix, do you even know what harmonics are?

[MGBoy100334]

cool, i kinda like the fact that the pedal keeps your complicated chords pleasant-sounding and distinguishable even through the dirt (not that a lot of people do that in the first place, but the option's there when you need it)

[numberonealcove]

I'm getting a lot of use out of this pedal; I quite like it. Demo makes it sound like it's only for heavy metal chunky stuff, but it has usable sounds for my music, which is mainly shoegaze and postrock. The up octave settings have a nice feedback type quality, and the single band distortions work well with a volume pedal for a thick drone.

[rsmith601]

It is no problem if someone does not like this particular set of tones. Like certain types of wine, this product is not for everyone. We also make a very nice classic distortion collection for this purpose.

[InThisStyle]

Sounds like the old roktech distortion pedal, with bells and whistles. I like new effects that open up new sonic terrain, but this pedal doesn't do it for me. I'll stick with synth sounds from the pigtronix mothership and EH microsynth. Just my opinion after watching the demos available on youtube.

[Decryphe]

I really love the sound in Normal2, Multiband. Normal3 sounds quite ok and Foldback (#4) is great.

[MitchTenderness]

the people who say this pedal sounds bad or is useless probably listen to and/or play boring and banal music

[rsmith601]

The drive setting is quite high in this demo. This is fine for demonstrating what many of the effects sound like at the extreme side. This is particulary true of the Octave settings where the tones can be much more clean and clead when the drive is at 12 o clock.

[badmuddy]

so wha', mode 21 is off?

[sliv73]

to each his own i guess. but I dig it. i just bought one on ebay/

[rsmith601]

Adrian Belew, Reeves Gabrels, Chuck Garvey, Brad Whitford and Victor Wooten do not agree with you.

[KevinCube]

"Find your own sound" is exactly right. Your distaste for this unit only shows you can only conceive of conventional distortion sounds.

For those of us who like to play big, complex chords AND use distortion, this pedal is a godsend and a long time coming.

[KevinCube]

This pedal is the first of its kind. It's not trying to "mimic" anything. It sounds bizarre and nothing like a cranked tube amp - nor was that EVER their stated aim with the thing.

If you want to fault pedals that don't sound like a cranked amp that are supposed to... start criticizing everyone else. Soundblox never attempted or claimed such a thing.

"Good-sounding distortion" is subjective. To most people that means a very narrow range of tones which became tired a long time ago.

[KevinCube]

You're backpedaling. You can clarify what you're accusing them of trying to "mimic" all you want - but they weren't trying to mimic anything. That's a fact. You can say you weren't referring to "tube amps" but rather "tube distortion with even-order harmonics," but you're still wrong... and that's essentially the same thing anyway - since we're only talking about a DISTORTION PEDAL part of the equation.

Soundblox was not trying to do anything "correct" or "conventional."

[KevinCube]

Further, yes, I've owned solid state amps in my time (we all have - most of us started there), and the Multiwave sounds nothing like you're saying. The build in distortions on solid state amps tend to sound like... EFFECTS PEDALS THROUGH SOLID STATE AMPS!!!

You might get something in the neighborhood of a DS-1 on one of those little SS amps... but nothing like the sound of a Multiwave.

Nothing you're saying holds any weight.

[KevinCube]

No. It doesn't.

Post a clip of any random solid state amp's distortion knob making bizarre multiwave and foldback sounds... You can't, because there isn't one. The technology of producing distortion via digital means may be similar on a rote level... but you're still not making any worthwhile claim against the Soundblox.

If you're trying to make some elitist point against all such distortions, why single out the one pedal not trying to sound typical?

[KevinCube]

There's nothing you're saying here that isn't either wrong or misleading or entirely subjective.

If your great big point was to play Music Shop Guy and say "Tubes are more 'musical' and 'pleasing'" and other such vacuous argumentation, you could have found a better audience than the few of us who may be into the quirkiness the Soundblox has to offer.

People buy this pedal as an EFFECT. Not to get the sound of a dimed Marshall.

Know the difference.

[KevinCube]

I fully understand everything you're saying... as can anyone else reading this.

You're wrong.

You're appealing to generalities - what is "typical" and "standard" as proof against something specifically NOT those things.

And plenty of people have found digitally-generated distortions useful/pleasing whether you can accept that or not.

Why do you persist? You have no point here.

[MrEX3]

then don't get one

[WithExtremePrejudice]

@skurtix Actually, the "funky sounds" that the multi-wave section creates (specifically, the foldback modes) ARE part of the actual distortion of the unit. What you're hearing is crossover distortion. It's not separate.

Naturally, you're going to respond with how crossover distortion is undesirable (fact, not subjective opinion.. google it). It is desirable when you're deliberately trying to make abrasive sounds.

[WithExtremePrejudice]

@skurtix This is entirely inaccurate. Yes, tubes are capable of producing even-order harmonics. They're also capable of accentuating odd-order harmonics. The same can be said of solid-state circuitry -- even something as simple as a Boss SD-1 accentuates only even-order harmonics.

Perhaps you should spend time learning about how electronics actually work before running your mouth because certain buzzwords from an article on tubes jumped out at you from a post on TGP.

[skurtix]

@WithExtremePrejudice I made the original comment 2 years ago because i thought this pedal sucked.

I've removed every comment i could find from 2 years ago.

Can we let it go now?

[Live4TodaySoCal]

@skurtix

So I guess this pedal sucks because you don't endorse it? Got it.

[everybodylovesgav]

cool