Mixer
The Folio Rac Pac offers 10 mic/line channels, two stereo line channels and 4-bus routing. For its size, the Rac Pac is very well provided for in the aux send department, with four aux send controls feeding six aux busses; four stereo effects returns are also featured. All channels have a 3-band EQ, and the mic/line channels have the benefit of a sweep mid-range control; stereo channels have fixed 3-band EQ.
Tape-echo
Track system: 4-track, 4-channel, stereo/multi channel system
Heads: 1 x erase, 1 x record, 1 x playback
Motor: 2 x reel, 1 x capstan
Reel size: up to 10.5 inch reel
Tape speeds: 7 1⁄2 15 ips
Wow and flutter: 0.04% (15 ips)
Frequency response: 25Hz to 24kHz (15 ips)
Signal to Noise Ratio: 55dB
Total harmonic distortion: 0.8%
Spring Reverb
Spring reverb is a strange, unpredictable thing. It’s a real electromechanical effect; boingy metal springs being jiggled by a little coil, with the jiggling captured by another coil at the far end. Compared with smooth, reliable software, it can sometimes be frustrating and fiddly to use, but nothing else sounds the same. (Tom Whitwell)
Holy Grail
The Big Muff Pi (π), often known simply as the Big Muff, is a fuzzbox produced in New York City by the Electro-Harmonix company, along with their Russian sister company Sovtek, primarily for use with the electric guitar. Most versions of the Big Muff use four transistor stages. The first stage is a clean boost, which drives the next two clipping stages which create the distortion. The final stage is a tone recovery stage, which recovers volume loss as the tone stack in the Big Muff is passive and the pedal loses some volume because of this.
Phaser
The Electro-Harmonix Small Stone, originally released in the ’70s, is a multi-stage phase shifter with an extra stage for feedback. Mix up your tone by flipping the Color switch, and change the speed at which your phaser modulates with the Rate knob. That’s all there is to it – the controls have remained constant through the Small Stone’s many iterations. This Russian-made version comes in black or green enclosures.
Echo-Nachhall Gerät
“This is just a simple single-head tape echo, no spring reverb build in and no multiple read-heads like on the Roland Space Echo. But it creates super thick, psychodelic delays and it is certainly much cheaper than the Space Echo.”
Filter etc
“Dub people and weirdbeards….before I dive in for the hardware and hoping to keep it portable, is there anything in the ITB world with similar functionality to the Vermona Retroverb Lancet? Answer: No!
Funny side-note: Vermona had a banner on their main page highlighting the Retroverb Lancet and the tagline in english said something like “The ultimate effects unit for slobs”. I looked at the german version and the word that had been translated as “slob” more literally meant “chaos-makers” which makes a lot more sense.”
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