Are the Universal Audio pedals overhyped? I got all of them to find out
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- Опубликовано: 12 дек 2024
- There's a lot of buzz about the new Universal Audio pedals, so I picked up all six to try them out on harp! Russ and I have a lot of thoughts on what UA came up with. Thank you so much to zZounds for sending me these UA pedals!
Pick up any of the UA pedals at zZounds!
⤑ Dream: bit.ly/3BpQwrg
⤑ Golden: bit.ly/3vuUJGa
⤑ Ruby: bit.ly/3OMZIJh
⤑ Woodrow: bit.ly/3BAv4jv
⤑ Starlight: bit.ly/3OM8LtV
⤑ Astra: bit.ly/3Sht1qo
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Wow!!!! Nicely done Emily and Russ! Thanks for showcasing the pedals on the harp! Such cool tones and textures.
Hi! What are Universal Studios thoughts about the longevity of a pedal when it's bound to an app? Will these pedals be obsolete in 20 years? Or even 10 years?
Pretty sweet pedals you guys have there!😎👍
DRM on a pedal? no.
@@pontusoskarsson5998 3 years
@@pontusoskarsson5998 UA doesnt even care about you a Day after you pruchase one of these. Where are more ambient updates for Golden?????
the pedals sound really wonderful but... something about the weird online activation bugs me really bad. pedals should not be like plugins or video games, we don't need heavy (or any, really) DRM stuff for HARDWARE. idk something about that seems really off. I really do love the sound of the ruby and astra tho. great video!
Yeah this is just sillyness.
Agreed 100%
I completely agree - DRM for pedals is a little strange. However, I didn’t register these pedals for this video to show you can still use maybe 85-90% of their functionality without having to register them - each pedal’s manual online says exactly what you will get by registering them, it’s mostly 1 or 2 additional modes, and most importantly to me, the “trails” function on Golden.
@@emilyharpist ohhh that does actually change things a bit, definitely weird and could get worse with time. but for now that really isn't bad :) ty for the info!!
Its my only gripe about UAD. Its very corporate- kinda of agressive passive marketing. If you buy UAD it takes AAAAGES to uninstall all of the plug-ins you dont want to have to buy. But they do sound incredible.😤.
Thank you for your honest demo on these pedals! I was actually more interested in the first three, but am with you on the registering. Just want to plug and play!
Nice balancing, Emily! I also never bother with registering my pedals. I do keep the boxes, but I'm a fan of just plugging a pedal in and messing around with it for a few hours to hear what it does. It usually takes me much, much longer than a few hours to figure out what a pedal can do in any detail, but just messing around with them can teach you a lot (and it's fun).
I always keep the box! 😂 I’m in the same boat as you, but without using the app, I didn’t really feel like I was missing anything! I totally agree, messing around with pedals is exactly how I do it, too!
I love how honest you are.
Thank you so much!
I got the golden and use it on my voice for live shows and it sounds epic.
Hey Emily Hopkins and Russ! Those beautiful harp sounds were an amazing way to start my west coast day! Multiple thanks! Ride ride ride!
Ride ride ride!
That golden spring reverb and harp just reached inside and made me smile
ThAnk you ! Xx
That golden reverb is lovely
Thank you so much for reviewing these!! Your channel is unique too because with the Harp, you can hear things way more clearly compared to a guitar which easily crunches up tones and it becomes VERY hard to hear the difference. Thank you so much for all your reviews, this one cleared my questions about these pedals right UP!! Get well
Even though you have an affiliate link I feel like you gave an honest review and pointed out some things that would be a deal breaker for some people. I agree, I would not want to download an app to use my effects pedal.
Thank you so much 🥺❤️ and I know right?!? You don’t NEED the app to use the pedal, but yeah, I’m wondering why that needed to be a thing hahah
This could have just been an email!
Love these sounds. And the comparisons were very nice too.
I had a similar gripe with the Volt 4series interface, having to register them for whatever reason..
I was like "this is a nice video and maybe I'll buy the reverb" and then Woodrow happens and I don't know what you were doing with the levers but that was COOL. I liked it
I think they were shifting the strings by a semitone? Which I guess is where those detuners you can get for guitar got the idea! I didn't realise a harp could do that on the fly, I thought it was fixed to one tuning (like a major scale) and changing key would be a huge pain
7:41 Best stacked effect sound ever!
Wow. It's very rare I hear pedal demos where I actually like the music. Thank you!
I’m a drummer, and at the moment have only ever played on acoustic drums. I plan on adding some electric pads soon, and your videos are helping to teach me a ton about how I can modify the sounds they create. I haven’t really had to worry about the modification of sound waves, but you make it intriguing and provide good perspectives on the texture and tones they create. You guys are doing a fantastic job!
I do feel like these fit in a higher -end studio as quality workhorse pedals. They're not iconic in bringing new things, but they are quality at bringing basics that are often needed, even in the simplest forms.
They aren't flashy, but they'll have a place in a lot of setups.
Well said!! I completely agree. I will DEFINITELY be using Golden, Astra, and Dream a ton in the studio
@@emilyharpist I could see myself having those regularly in my effects chains if I had the funds to invest in that kind of thing. I'd need to be actually making money and not just spending it to justify them! I'm glad yours will be getting good use - sometimes you just need a bit of studio plate reverb and not the entire Microcosm world.
...sometimes. Not often. But sometimes.
Yes, they're emulations of real-world reverbs, studio effects, and amplifiers. It was a big long-term project by Stanford engineers to take these vintage spring and plate reverbs and to rest, record, and emulate the entire physical range that they are capable of. The goal being that the pedals allow you to behave as if your sound is going through a real-life plate reverb from the 1960s, if that makes sense. So any limitations the pedals have in terms of craziness are precisely because they are 99.8% realistic as opposed to many other pedals that are a bit more imaginative in the way the effect is programmed and the breadth of parameters the user is allowed. I think it wouldve been smart to maybe add an "11" to the knobs so that if the user so wishes, they may knowingly exceed the real-world limits of the reverb effect, for example. Just to make the pedals more flexible. As it is, just get a Boss RV-200 if it bugs ya
Very interesting approach to the review & criticism process. The compare/contrast thing is not very common (but you know this). The 2 of you are killin' it BTW.
Great rundown. I love the Golden for classic verbs, although the 224 setting can become almost infinite with all three eq bands pushed close to max.
Universal Audio has a cool history too. They were founded by Bill Putnam who I became kind of obsessed with in my early 20's when I was poor but very keen on making my own recording equipment from scratch. He gave the world a few legendary pieces of equipment the 610 tube preamp and the 1176 compressor. I bet the 1176 would sound cool on harp though subtle.
all other reviews cannot compete with the glory of three stacked pedals being poised on the head of Queen Em!
I bet I could do all 6!!!
hahahahahah i know you can! :D
Golden, Astra, Ruby--- YES! Have been liking what you bring to your channel. Hearing what you're about with the harp makes me wish for a time to play elec violin with you. But 2 Russ's at the same session might be confusing.......
I really appreciated that you did a side-by-side comparison of the UAFX plate effect to that other pedal. It helped drive home to me that this is a "realistic" effect whereas other pedals may have more imaginative (and more useful) paramaters if necessary
you can tell those are high quality just by looking at them. the sounds are enchanting of course as well.
"this could have been an email" was too funny
😂
I have a handful of other experimental reverbs but I bought the Golden to use in place of an on board synth reverb, ended up really liking it on guitar as a natural subtle addition as well! Best vanilla cookies indeed 😅
I would have never thought I would see a Harpist be so involved with and marketing Guitar Effect Pedals! But quite unique. Might as well get into the OD pedals. Why Not?
Thanks so much! I have plenty of OD pedal videos and more coming soon!!
They sound great on the harp examples, very hi-fi. Universal Audio obviously is a legendary name and for good reason. For guitar if you were in a studio environment on a consistent basis I bet some of these pedals would be super useful but in a live setting the subtle nuances of high end pedals like that tends to get lost.
Registering my pedals??? THATS how they GET you!!! Great job Emily & Russ. Thanks for the info and honesty about the pedals. Keep it up guys!!!
You picked up all the UA pedals? What a balancing act :P
OKAY WTF GOLDEN IS TOO GOOD WHO ALLOWED THIS I'M ACTUALLY FREAKING OUT
They also picked all the right controls for the 'verb. It's nice to see a control set that isn't just glorified mix and decay and a spring mode that isn't just shoolubidiglorp "surf tones". The little audio engineer in me is like aw yis, the perfect ambient vapor trail of sweet sweet all-purpose reverberation. HOWEVER, the whole online registration thing is something they really should have left behind in the plugin world (and honestly shouldn't even have it there either, especially with UA's hardware-specific model.)
This just in, local harpist balances over a thousand dollars of pedals on her head.
also, if these are Nilla wafers, that makes Hizumitas one of those Japan-only Kit-Kat flavors.
Dream is obviously the best of these, and the in-built trem/reverb is very nice, though I kind of wish they had given the spring reverb in the Dream more of the controls that the Golden spring mode has as secondary knob functions. Still, amazing what they fit into that pedal and just how good it sounds. I personally think the Ruby has some interesting sawce to it, but might shine more on guitar (Working Class Music did a demo with one of the designers, and it does some really impressive stuff in terms of how it breaks up and the way the EQ works.)
ty zzounds, and everyone come join the discord server, it's a really wholesome place and it's poppin off
best commenter on all of pedal-tube
I love the cookie analogies! Killer sounds, as always!
The best vanilla cookies you can plug your instrument into!
UA is amazing. I bought an Ox box with some doubts. Within about 2 minutes of turning it on for the first time those doubts were erased.
Spot on review. I have four of these (golden, dream, starlight & astra). They all sound great. They are not for ultra weird sounds. They do the standard stuff really, really good.
My fav is the Dream, it sounds amazing on guitar and Rhodes. The spring reverb of the Dream sounds like the real thing.
I like the Astra the least. Not because of the sounds, the sounds are great. But the fact that some knobs don’t have a purpose (they just don’t work) in certain modes/settings is super confusing. I know that all pedals of the serie have that in a way. But the astra is the most extreme with non functional knobs.
A lovely break from hearing shredding guitars! Thanks
Awesome Video, keep up the fantastic work! Kudos for showing love too the Alkaline Trio ❤
They are great but still trying to figure out how they are going to tie the line together and make the Bluetooth presets etc work as an unit. It’s kind of an unusual mystery that I worry will never end and I just keep shelling £400 in the hope that it all makes sense one day. Someone else commented in the strange registering process.. I completely agree. If it has Bluetooth and I can down load the speaker cabs without it seeing a USB cable which you can… then why make it see a computer at all. .. it’s a big deal for me.
Emily in a year visiting the JHS studio: oh heh, cute pedal collection
I liked your sound picks! Just really nice for a solo instrument tone. Honestly sometimes I forget these pedals aren't necessarily designed with harps in mind, sounds good all round!
Whether it's playing with scissors, or stacking pedals on your head, ya gotta' give Russ his daily dose of stress.
Golden definitely has that subtle flavour that most reverb pedals miss - not in-your-face, overly wet reverb tails. Like it. Also Dream was my favourite of the amp/cab sim pedals. Got that dirty Fender sound down pat.
These look great, but I need a pedal that's going to be stable on my head.
This boutique-y stuff with presets and multiple functions for each knob is just bad design. I should be able to look at the pedal and know how it's setup. Pick one: Either give me analog effects with one knob per parameter or give me a digital box with a display that shows me what the settings are. If you're doing multiple things with the knob then it's digital. It's basically a Raspberry Pi doing software processing ... so give me encoders and a display that shows me what's going on (like an Elektron box). If it's digital it should embrace the benefits of digital. It's a $400 pedal FFS - they can afford to have a $20 OLED display showing me how it's setup! Give me a MIDI in/out on the back and a USB-B plug that I can plug into a mobile device or laptop and have class-compliant USB audio in/out and maybe some preset management software. The Eventide H9 and the Elektron Analog Heat are expensive, but ... they're only twice as expensive as these boutique stomp boxes with bad interfaces.
The Humor here is on point. Im so glad i subscribed :)
Thanks so much for being here!!
Folks are usually pretty concerned with how well pedals stack with eachother. This is the only review I've seen that proves that these pedals do indeed stack well.
Thats a pretty dang nifty set of pedals. Great showcase👉😎👉
I really liked the sounds from the Ruby, But the Woodrow had that *sqwaunchy crunchy goodness*
👈😎👈
(also thanks Russ for leaving in the finger guns😄)
Emily has become one of my go-to reviewers for pedals and effects stuff.
Your delivery is hilarious, I love how low key you are, and the information is so beneficial to musicians.
Thank you so much 🥰
woodrow turning harp into a crunchy guitar xD i like it.
Great video! The starlight is my favorite bass delay ever. 🤙🏽 loved hearing everything in harp 😁
Sounds terrific
Basically a best of plugin compilation in a pedal. Plenty of DSP to pull it off beautifully, overhyped depends how much hype you heard...like you said, they sound killer for basic tools.
I really wish I had a harp to try out reverb and delay pedals. It sounds so nice. Thankfully, I have you to try them for me. Keep up the good work!
- Violet
That fully wet plate 😍 I NEED a 'Great Fairy Fountain' cover in that effect!!
Awesomeness 🌟 👌 👏 👍 !! I upped my pedal set up because of her experimentation with great pedals.
Xlnt vid! Always great to hear a non-guitar player's take on a guitar pedal.
I'm an older user. I've owned or used extensively all of the hardware that UAd models in these pedals, both the FX and the amps and I can say w/o any hesitation that these are either dead on or at least 'the best so far' of any emulation (pedal or software) that I've come into contact with. I'm using at least one of the amp pedals and usually the Starlight delay almost everyday for professional work. And, you definitely do not have to register the pedals to get (as noted by Emily) 90% of their functionality. Having said that, the app functions seamlessly (on my Galaxy S8) anywhere I've employed it. Live and studio. YMMV.
The real problem is there's no way to control those pedals together as there's no MIDI, no expression, no multiple on board presets you could switch. 2021/2022 digital pedals with worse control features than 10 years old Strymons!
BTW your Dream demo in this video reminds me of the beginning of the MacGyver theme :D
The lack of MIDI and expression aren’t deal-breakers for me personally, but I was really surprised not to see an expression jack! Haha oh no, the Dream segment was improvised but now I have to go listen to the MacGyver theme 😂
I have my Ocean's 12 and Strymon Riverside totally "expressioned" out.
I have 8 different gain levels before I use the Expression Pedal to blend the four plus boost...it's nuts. I've set the Echo on the Oceans 12 to go up and down like an accelerator and mad stuff like Tremolo to sound like a synth...and then every other Patch more subtle boring light and up to medium heavy.
It's hard for me to not have exp pedals these days.
But maybe the Tape Echo my RE20 has really crap headroom.
Even more funny since you have to register to UA to unlock the full functionality of your pedal but can't even take an external tap signal.
@@dacomputernerd4096 I dunno if you're kidding but in case you're not, MIDI's a standard control protocol that would allow controllers to adjust parameters on the pedal, automate them individually or as a group, etc. If this is a software-based pedal (rather than a purely hardware circuit) then it would be a good fit!
baaa baaa
baaa baaaba
baaa baaaaa
MacGyver!
nananananananananana naaa. dundundun.
dundundun duna duna dat dunnnnn.
dundundun. dundundun dundundun duna duna dat duuuu
nuuuu nanana naaaaa nana naaaa nana naaaa nana naaaaa nananat naaaa nuuuuuuuu
squeedly deedly squeedly deedly squeedeedeedeee dun dun
Emily's harp + these pedals = minecraft music
What would you choose Emily. When tallking brands. If I had to choose one one company to keep it simple which brand would you choose EarthQuaker devices, UAD, Walrus or Old blood noise. Im thinking EarthQuaker pedals
I think Chase Bliss or Old Blood Noise!! 🤔
@@emilyharpist Chase Bliss is too expensive for my taste. I think I will pair my hydrasynth with old blood noise pedals
Damn they sound good a lil pricy but yeah, can you recommend your favorite low-fi pedal I seen ya mentioned one in this video is that the best one you tried for low-fi? The woozy I believe
My favorite LoFi pedals are the Woozy and Swan Hunter by Champion Leccy, and Generation Loss by CooperFX / CBA! Thanks for being here :)
@@emilyharpist thank you
hey, if it was a cost issue on the astra mode switch for dial being cheaper than a toggle, then I know a guy who can hook them up with some cheap switches, ya'kno, he found them on the road, fell off a truck. UA, if you're reading, hit up Uncle Em, he'll have what you need!
😂 Uncle Em knows a guy
That riff with the Golden is so pretty it could be on a Smashing Pumpkin's album.
That mode switch totally could have been an email. And then you could reply whether you want it on or off, and then eventually Google’s algorithm could reply for you and you wouldn’t even need to type it, which is way more convenient.
I would be very grateful if you could tell me if there is a tube amp emulator pedal or preamplifier or a tube preamplifier pedal but with stereo input so that I can connect my keyboard to it. my intention is to try to improve the quality of the stereo signal by adding the warmth of the tubes and a more professional punch to the sound of the keyboard (it is a roland vr09). Thank you very much Emily for your work, it is incredible how a Harp can perfectly make all the sounds imaginable with all those pedals and your hands, you are amazing...
There's nothing wild about these pedals; they're just really nice. They're not bad, but they're not what I want. Now excuse me while I go make toilet sounds with what some might call "too much" distortion and modulation.
Ok, just about everyone played reminded me of the Graham Coxon album “The sky is too high”.
I’ve got “wai-ting for my friends…” going round in my head now! Thanks cos I love that album.
Great pedals as well.
It seems like the theme of this video is "this pedal sounds fantastic! Not as weird as russ and I can get though, just saying. Check out this other crazy ass specific pedal"
All jokes aside, always a fan of some UA love
3:16 "This could have been a toggle." Day/made.
😂 😂
Omg. $ but they are pretty dang cool from what I've seen and heard.
When the first 3 we're released I was watching a Live Stream featuring the Black Pumas, and now they're one of my favorite bands :)
I relate very much to 7:20.
Thanks.
How would you rate the tape delay?...I'm out for a new one, I have a Boss RE20 sounds good but limited saves and expression options but I'm thinking El Capistan or EHX Grand Canyon with Tape echo and others.
The tape delay sounds really great! I would put it up there with Geckoplex (but with less controls)
It's a little more than the El Capistan but I just got a Volante and this thing is so much fun
1:42 - Adding more character to the wooden case!
Out of all of the pedals these are my favorite.
I mean, I kinda want all six of them...
Great viddy and demos. Much appreciated.
Doubt I could balance one pedal on my dome ...
Be good to you! 🤍🙏🙏
The sound quality of them is what stands out… their just not very bold in function.
I feel like their there to fill as basic effects with a nice quality sound.
They would make a good starting set of effects to have before you start to build you more bolder effects… oh, but their quite pricey for starter effects… well, I guess starter effects for a recording studio to have, where your businesses equipment cost a lot of money and that’s normal to deal with.
I definitely feel they’d make a great accompaniment to a hardware music setup for finishing mixing effects in the equipment chain
Now I just want some cookies.
The activation part can be a bit problematic. The Ruby went well, but I noticed the Dream 65 had no sound. Went through the steps to restart it, and it’s now stuck in a restart cycle. I have a ticket open, but I am doing an exchange for a working unit. While it’s a known issue, I’m sure I just got one of the unlucky occurrences. I’m loving the Ruby though.
It could have been a toggle!
This could have been an email!!!!
@@emilyharpist I'm emailing myself to remind me to to email you to email me that this could have been an email. Then I'll write a song about it and email it to everyone!
I loved this! Just for the record though, you can get extremely washed out infinite reverbs from the Golden pedal in the Hall 224 mode.
Man, thanks for the video. As a relative beginner, the effects world is mind-boggling. Fender's new all-in-one looks interesting. I love al UA products. Seems to me if you owned all these you'd be set forever. I know that's not true.... but...:-0
The Golden and the Dream look like they're made in the same factory.
At 7:58, when you played those first few notes, it sounded like something from Berserk (1997).
I'm glad charm school is finally paying off for you. You balanced those pedals on your head, uhhh.. adequately.
I am with you on the register thing-why? I just want stuff to work.
The cynic in me wants to say they are slowing trying rolling out some micro transaction subscription crap or something. Like they (and everyone else it seems) did with their plugins.
I do not think musicians would accept that. Rich luxury car owners might. But not poor ass musicians. Especially when there's so many pedals to choose from these days.
I think maybe folks are missing the whole point of the registration. So these pedals can be updated is an awesome idea. If they are too vanilla you can tweak them with a patch or updates to satisfy your needs. What am I missing? They are not like a tube amp. Is the thinking these are just software pedals in a box?
I would really like to hear you play through a Leslie rotating speaker.
These would be more interesting with control voltage ins and outs. Is there any way to connect them with MIDI (Bluetooth perhaps)?
Was that
Alkaline Trio "time to waste"? On Ruby 🤘🔥🔥
Yep, this channel is loads of fun, just for y'all's personalities and weird humor, but the music is really creeping up on me now too. I mean, the harp is pretty awesome as an instrument, you're really good at it, and you really only ever see it in person if you visit a care facility or something, which seems wrong. As a no picks guitar player I can fully respect someone that has to pick with both hands. You also have a great ear, as every time you picked a favorite sound or pedal I was in full agreement. Wish all those fancy pedals weren't so expensive, but I guess you pay for quality.
Hey Chris! Thanks so much for being here! I’m glad you’re liking the channel haha. Honestly, most of the time once you pass the $200 price for a pedal, you’re really paying for more options rather than more quality! But I need to do some more videos on budget-friendly pedals 😂
“Maybe some people like registering their stuff, know what I mean?” is the greatest moment on this channel.
The Astra sounds so good
I wonder what kind of masterpieces someone like Mozart would come up with with the variety of modulation available today,
He was such an innovator the use of such tools would well be within his realm.
The dream was a favorite.
Wagner too he'd go mad on Midi probably harmonize car crashes!!
Mozart seems like he would be a tube screamer aficionado. I can not elaborate
@@emilyharpist with a transperant boost?
brb listening to some symphonic recordings run through a ring modulator
I hope you harp stays in tune better than my Les Paul Copy :D
If I have the Golden, which I do 😂, what good non-standard verb would be a good partner to start with? I love the Golden, but sometimes I wish it was more of an inspiration machine as well as a super realistic verb.
The Dark Star and Sunlight by Old Blood Noise Endeavors are great to start! I need to make a reverb guide here on the channel haha they’re all so good!
@@emilyharpist Thanks Emily 😊. A reverb guide would be a great video! There are so many options it can get overwhelming, but I’ll definitely check out the Dark Star.
What patch cables are used on your board?
EbS flats!
These pedals have absurdly high fidelity and a great formfactor - you just are compromising versatility. I wish things weren't a compromise, but so far as I can tell, UA still needs to sell plugins. If they sold a unit that just basically had studio-quality plugins en masse, they might eliminate part of their clientele.
I've learned alot about harp and pedals. 👍
trench me in reverb xD what a great phrase
37% of the reason im here is because of the way you say the letter A in _Astra_ or _Amp/Cab_
auymp caeb sim
Would love to hear reverb on harp in a parallel signal path
How did we get to a harpist for pedal reviews? Can't wait until she releases a loop pedal song.
What a nice pair!
Ok they sound spectacular but so do lots of other pedals. The *CASES* though are pure style.
Woodrow sounded badass! Like harp stoner doom metal or something
Welp.... I liked that golden and loved that dream 65.
But that fastest turn off sadly is having to dowoad an app and have software that interfaces with my pedal.