I grew up watching my grandpa play his cuatro in the only air conditioned room in the house through a peavey PA. When I picked up the guitar at 12, he visited our home and gave me a Christmas present: an arion stereo chorus, my very first pedal ever. I used it with my silver tone strat in my peavey rage amp and was amazed at how suddenly my guitar sounded just like his cuatro (a Puerto Rican five string instrument with dual high octave strings like a 12 string) so the pedal even more so became synonymous with my abuelo. Now he’s gone and I’ll never let go of this arion chorus. Funny enough it’s the rare made in Japan one. Anyway, anytime I see these pedals I love them and want to collect them just because they remind me of him
I'm so glad you did a video on this! I've got a list in my head of weird old pedals which I want to know more about but nobody makes videos about them. This one was one of the top ones, along with the Companded Chorus and Digital Stereo Reverb from Peavey. And I can't think of a better guy to have handled it! Unrelated - I'd love to see how you use the Tri-Parallel Mixer which stares at me from your back wall. On one hand I'm not sure it'd make sense in the context of your channel since it's a utility pedal but I think your knack at breaking things down could perhaps make a few people aware of its possibilities!
Glad you liked it! It's been on my list of pedals to pick up for a while now. Now I just need to find a good deal on some of those crazy Peavey pedals. I've started and abandoned a Tri-Parallel Mixer video like 3 times now. I need to just get it done. Every time I get a recording down, it just feels like I could have found better combinations to put in the loops. It'll happen, it's just one that I want to do right. Thanks for the reminder and motivation, though.
@@StompboxBreakdown I'm in the UK so those Peavey pedals are really hard to come by! It's crazy how rare their pedals are here considering pre-owned Peavey amps are often cheaper here than they are in the US. I totally understand your pain about the Tri-Parallel Mixer... too many possibilities! I've seen people say that they wish it was fully stereo, but I think that'd make the option paralysis many times worse hahah.
People argue BBD is not really analog? That's pretty silly really. What makes an effect digital is how the analog signal is converted to binary code ones and zeros by DACs, then processed, and then converted back to analog by DACs (AD -> DSP -> DA). A typical BBD effects unit does not do that. The BBD chips just kind of buffer the analog signal and release it milliseconds later. There are no digital convertors turning the signal into binary code for DSP.
I think everyone can agree that it's not digital, but the definition of analog is that the signal is continuously variable. BBD has a fixed number of stages used for its sampling, so it's not continuous. However, film couldn't be considered truly analog by that standard because eventually you're looking at a single halide crystal. Which would mean anything in the audio realm that uses a capacitor... yeah. So I just mentioned it because it's kind of an interesting thought experiment.
@@StompboxBreakdown No. Not really. The definition of analog is not that the signal is continuously variable. Rather, a signal is analog if it is ANALOGOUS to something else, hence the name. It's got nothing to do with if signals are contnuously variable or not. Otherwise, stuff like pulse waves or the outputs of sample & hold circuits would never be analog, but that is not the case, of course they can be analog. The difference between analog and digital does not lie in the nature of the signals, but rather in how you use them. If you take a signal "as is" and use it for its own intrinsic properties (frequency, amplitude, harmonic content) then you are using it for analog purposes. Instead, if you take a signal and "quantize" it (i.e. make it represent a number) and only care about this numeric value instead of the properties of the signal itself, then you are using it for digital purposes. That's the difference. Take the humble square wave, for instance. We can listen to it, it can be the output of a cranked-up fuzz pedal, fat and hollow, maybe with a bit of noise mixed in to give it a slight buzzy quality, and any tiny change we make will be audible to our ears. Or it can simply be the signal clocking the CPU of your computer, and then it does not matter if you make it louder or quieter, if you distort it or not, it won't have any effect on your PC because all it sees are 0s and 1s and nothing in between. It's black or white. Same signal. Different purposes. That's the difference.
@@StompboxBreakdown going back to BBD circuits briefly, they are entirely analog. They respond to analog inputs and generate analog outputs. Does the signal get chopped up by all those capacitors in each and every stage of the delay? Yes, absolutely. But the signal is still analog =) it's just got extra harmonics added to it because of the down-sampling that happened (and if the BBD clock is fast enough, you won't even hear it). No 0s and 1s here.
@@StompboxBreakdown I should also say, thank you for the video man :) I really liked all the different demos, I can tell you took your time to also explore some of the more unusual sounds it can offer. Kudos.
I just picked up an rv3 so I watched your video about the rv2 and you mentioned this pedal! I looked for other videos but I was hoping you’d make one and look at that! Love this channel!
Thanks for this interesting review! Actually, the standard algorithm for "efficiently" making digital reverb is really exactly the same as this: multi-tap delays plus feedback from multiple locations. They just use digital delays and digital summation instead of BBDs and opamps (and of course, longer delays and more taps, because they can). It's pretty easy and fun/instructive to write such a reverb with software... The only other way to make a reverb which doesn't use this topology, is with IRs, aka "convolution" reverb, which used to be too computationally and RAM-wise expensive but now is a perfectly viable way to go.
Great pedal, when used right - what you´ve shown! 👍 Maybe have a search for the vintage "Dynacord "VRS23". It´s not a pedal, but an analog 19" rack multitap delay with a very nice sounding "reverb" setting.
The plugin version of the Dynacord VRS23 by Audiority is a serious gem. Closest to real BBD I've ever heard. The original had 10 bucket brigade chips, unreal
Why does the stereo output cancel out the wet reverb signal? What is the point of using the pedal in stereo to have no reverb? That doesn't make since or it's a bad design or maybe the manual will tell more how to use it in stereo
Very cool! Hey, any idea why some stereo effects do that inverted/reversed phase thing with one output? All I ever hear about it is the problematic phase cancellation issues it causes, but there must be some kind of benefit in some context, otherwise why the heck would they do it that way at all?
It sounds good in person. Same with the inverse phase choruses and stuff. It’s just when doing direct or close-mic’d recordings. To do it differently, they’d need to duplicate like 50% of the board.
@@KRAZEEIZATION. I have to say, though … not a huge fan of the analog Reverbs I’ve heard … 🤷🏻♂️ I’m not surprised they aren’t revered like vintage analog delays are …
@@kierenmoore3236 Do you have Yamaha 10M and 20M pedals? Mid late 80s with the buttress style encasements? Earlier were silver with different colour latches, later just all black with coloured text. The bigger 20M has only 3 models, Chorus, Delay and Distortion which are all digital as far as I know. I have all three with the schematic sheets plus 5 of the 10M, OD, Distortion, Chorus, Compression and Flanger. There was no Phaser in this series.
somebody do a boutique take on this and call it Trenchcoat
I grew up watching my grandpa play his cuatro in the only air conditioned room in the house through a peavey PA. When I picked up the guitar at 12, he visited our home and gave me a Christmas present: an arion stereo chorus, my very first pedal ever. I used it with my silver tone strat in my peavey rage amp and was amazed at how suddenly my guitar sounded just like his cuatro (a Puerto Rican five string instrument with dual high octave strings like a 12 string) so the pedal even more so became synonymous with my abuelo. Now he’s gone and I’ll never let go of this arion chorus. Funny enough it’s the rare made in Japan one. Anyway, anytime I see these pedals I love them and want to collect them just because they remind me of him
Thanks for sharing that - nice story. 😊
I love that. Effects have a way of putting us right into a memory. Thanks for sharing that.
I have one as well from those days… And you know Josh from JHS petals based his chorus pedal on that very pedal. It’s that good
It definitely has a charm to it. I like gear that has character.
It certainly does. And it's one we're really unlikely to see (in physical form) any time again.
That demo jam was delicious. Had a bit of a Wilco thing going. Nicely done.
Love the video and the King Buffalo shirt! I am really surprised this hasn't been traced, sounds really neat.
I'm so glad you did a video on this! I've got a list in my head of weird old pedals which I want to know more about but nobody makes videos about them. This one was one of the top ones, along with the Companded Chorus and Digital Stereo Reverb from Peavey. And I can't think of a better guy to have handled it!
Unrelated - I'd love to see how you use the Tri-Parallel Mixer which stares at me from your back wall. On one hand I'm not sure it'd make sense in the context of your channel since it's a utility pedal but I think your knack at breaking things down could perhaps make a few people aware of its possibilities!
Glad you liked it! It's been on my list of pedals to pick up for a while now. Now I just need to find a good deal on some of those crazy Peavey pedals.
I've started and abandoned a Tri-Parallel Mixer video like 3 times now. I need to just get it done. Every time I get a recording down, it just feels like I could have found better combinations to put in the loops. It'll happen, it's just one that I want to do right. Thanks for the reminder and motivation, though.
@@StompboxBreakdown I'm in the UK so those Peavey pedals are really hard to come by! It's crazy how rare their pedals are here considering pre-owned Peavey amps are often cheaper here than they are in the US.
I totally understand your pain about the Tri-Parallel Mixer... too many possibilities! I've seen people say that they wish it was fully stereo, but I think that'd make the option paralysis many times worse hahah.
That pedal has a lot of personality to the sound! Sounds like a smoky bar
Hahahaha YES! Like a brown drop ceiling that used to be white
Another great breakdown of a pedal i've never heard of. So cool, lots of charm on this one and you're playing really shone in this video
People argue BBD is not really analog? That's pretty silly really.
What makes an effect digital is how the analog signal is converted to binary code ones and zeros by DACs, then processed, and then converted back to analog by DACs (AD -> DSP -> DA).
A typical BBD effects unit does not do that. The BBD chips just kind of buffer the analog signal and release it milliseconds later. There are no digital convertors turning the signal into binary code for DSP.
I think everyone can agree that it's not digital, but the definition of analog is that the signal is continuously variable. BBD has a fixed number of stages used for its sampling, so it's not continuous. However, film couldn't be considered truly analog by that standard because eventually you're looking at a single halide crystal. Which would mean anything in the audio realm that uses a capacitor... yeah. So I just mentioned it because it's kind of an interesting thought experiment.
@@StompboxBreakdown No. Not really.
The definition of analog is not that the signal is continuously variable. Rather, a signal is analog if it is ANALOGOUS to something else, hence the name.
It's got nothing to do with if signals are contnuously variable or not. Otherwise, stuff like pulse waves or the outputs of sample & hold circuits would never be analog, but that is not the case, of course they can be analog.
The difference between analog and digital does not lie in the nature of the signals, but rather in how you use them. If you take a signal "as is" and use it for its own intrinsic properties (frequency, amplitude, harmonic content) then you are using it for analog purposes. Instead, if you take a signal and "quantize" it (i.e. make it represent a number) and only care about this numeric value instead of the properties of the signal itself, then you are using it for digital purposes. That's the difference.
Take the humble square wave, for instance. We can listen to it, it can be the output of a cranked-up fuzz pedal, fat and hollow, maybe with a bit of noise mixed in to give it a slight buzzy quality, and any tiny change we make will be audible to our ears. Or it can simply be the signal clocking the CPU of your computer, and then it does not matter if you make it louder or quieter, if you distort it or not, it won't have any effect on your PC because all it sees are 0s and 1s and nothing in between. It's black or white.
Same signal. Different purposes. That's the difference.
@@StompboxBreakdown going back to BBD circuits briefly, they are entirely analog. They respond to analog inputs and generate analog outputs.
Does the signal get chopped up by all those capacitors in each and every stage of the delay? Yes, absolutely. But the signal is still analog =) it's just got extra harmonics added to it because of the down-sampling that happened (and if the BBD clock is fast enough, you won't even hear it). No 0s and 1s here.
@@StompboxBreakdown I should also say, thank you for the video man :)
I really liked all the different demos, I can tell you took your time to also explore some of the more unusual sounds it can offer. Kudos.
I grew up on Arion pedals. Never had this one but I like it! Cheers!
I love all reverbs, this one sounds great
love analog. Reverb generally the only digital i use. Often just a AD9 delay set reverb style
Cool video! I really like the BBD quality to the sound, it's got a lot of character!
I just picked up an rv3 so I watched your video about the rv2 and you mentioned this pedal! I looked for other videos but I was hoping you’d make one and look at that! Love this channel!
Great vid brother! Love the demo playing and sounds ❤
GOOD JOB, WELL DONE
Thanks for your great videos.
Reminds me of my trusty Radio Shack ‘reverb.’ Love it.
I miss Radio Shack
Thanks for this interesting review! Actually, the standard algorithm for "efficiently" making digital reverb is really exactly the same as this: multi-tap delays plus feedback from multiple locations. They just use digital delays and digital summation instead of BBDs and opamps (and of course, longer delays and more taps, because they can). It's pretty easy and fun/instructive to write such a reverb with software... The only other way to make a reverb which doesn't use this topology, is with IRs, aka "convolution" reverb, which used to be too computationally and RAM-wise expensive but now is a perfectly viable way to go.
That intro was cool.
Love your videos dude, keep them coming! would love to see you do a histroy of Boss delays
Early 80s my friends and I all had at least 1 Arion pedal. I have a stereo delay that sounds very similar. Chorus was very popular also.
An Arion distortion was my third pedal. I didn’t like it at all, and I think I traded it for a Genesis game. lol.
2 Delays in a trenchcoat lol love it
I’m glad someone appreciated it!!
Great pedal, when used right - what you´ve shown! 👍
Maybe have a search for the vintage "Dynacord "VRS23". It´s not a pedal, but an analog 19" rack multitap delay with a very nice sounding "reverb" setting.
The plugin version of the Dynacord VRS23 by Audiority is a serious gem. Closest to real BBD I've ever heard. The original had 10 bucket brigade chips, unreal
I like it.
Could you do an episode on the Ibanez CF-7?
Why does the stereo output cancel out the wet reverb signal? What is the point of using the pedal in stereo to have no reverb? That doesn't make since or it's a bad design or maybe the manual will tell more how to use it in stereo
If you don’t push out another vid I will not be mad at you. Enjoy your time off, man. Y’got to. ✌🏼
Great video! Sleeper!!!
Very cool! Hey, any idea why some stereo effects do that inverted/reversed phase thing with one output? All I ever hear about it is the problematic phase cancellation issues it causes, but there must be some kind of benefit in some context, otherwise why the heck would they do it that way at all?
It sounds good in person. Same with the inverse phase choruses and stuff. It’s just when doing direct or close-mic’d recordings. To do it differently, they’d need to duplicate like 50% of the board.
I’ve almost always used an analog delay as my “reverb” sound when dialed in correctly.
Squint and that feedback sounds a little like real spring dwell... more than most “spring” algorithms, anyway!
You didn't seem to think the color knob mattered much but I thought the pedal sounded best with the color turned all the way down.
What are all those red and green dots floating around your head… is it the spirit of Christmas?
It's one of those star projector things. It casts a moving cloud of colors onto the ceiling, along with those little moving bits.
@@StompboxBreakdown i’m digging my version better
That first song reminds me of War on Drugs music.
Exactly what I was going for!
Three P90s? Oh yes!
Yes! It’s a Reverend Warhawk 390, and I dropped in a new set from Red Rock Guitar Pickups.
This one sounds so much better than the other MN3011 reverbs from that era.
I've still yet to hear a real ADA STD-1
Someone should make a clone of this pedal 😎
It’s a pity Analog reverb is rare in pedals. I never liked digital reverb.
The earliest digital delays sound good 🙂
@ I have an 80s DD-3 and Yamaha 20M. Lovely units but I use DM-2, DM-3 Waza and MXR Carbon Copy because I prefer analog.
@@KRAZEEIZATION. I like/hoard both! ❤️ (early digital and vintage analog), lol
@@KRAZEEIZATION. I have to say, though … not a huge fan of the analog Reverbs I’ve heard … 🤷🏻♂️
I’m not surprised they aren’t revered like vintage analog delays are …
@@kierenmoore3236 Do you have Yamaha 10M and 20M pedals? Mid late 80s with the buttress style encasements? Earlier were silver with different colour latches, later just all black with coloured text.
The bigger 20M has only 3 models,
Chorus, Delay and Distortion which are all digital as far as I know. I have all three with the schematic sheets plus 5 of the 10M, OD, Distortion, Chorus, Compression and Flanger. There was no Phaser in this series.