An all-analog monophonic guitar synthesizer with filter, sample and hold, and analog chorus.
Company owner and designer, Ben Fulton says “The Synthotron III is the most unique sounding pedal I have ever created. Synthotron I and II were unique, but also quite polarising - the inherent challenges with analog tracking meant that people seemed to either adore it or be utterly mystified by it. Synthotron III offers all the things people loved about it’s predecessors, but a vastly improved and expanded design. This is the only pedal in the world that can create these sounds. There are thousands of Fuzz pedals, Chorus pedals and overdrive pedals. But only ONE Synthotron.”
Synthesizer Section
- 4 independent all analog voices with pitch and octave settings across them, determined by the top toggle switch on each of the four channels.
- Voice One toggle - Pitch 1 -(Yellow strip)= Unison, 1 octave up, 2 octaves up
- Voice Two Toggle - 8ve - (Orange strip) = References whichever note is being generated by Voice one and generates either: 1 octave below, 2 octaves below or 3 octaves below
- Voice Three Toggle -Pitch 2 (Red strip) References note generated by Voice one and generates either: 1 octave below, p4 or p5 below, ma 2 or mi6 below
- Voice Four Toggle - 8ve - (Dark Red strip) = References whichever note is being generated by Voice three and generates either: 1 octave below, 2 octaves below or 3 octaves below
- Decay and infinite sustain options - you can set each voice independently to have an incredible crisp, staccato feel, or a gentle decay (You can set the duration of the decay independently on each channel) or set it to an infinite sustain - where the synth will lock onto the note you’re playing and will
only change pitch when you change the note on your guitar. - Flux dial controls the “spring” or glissando between notes.
- Flux Toggle - right position engages the flux option. Left position disengages. Left position enables a staccato option with great tracking.
- Separate Dry level control.
- External Dry out (so you can split the Synthotron III between two amps - one carrying clean signal, the other carrying synth.
- External CV in.
- External Trigger in.
Filter Section
- Select between - Sample Hold Mode, Envelope Filter Mode, and Manual Sweep Mode (via exp pedal).
- Velocity and Freq control the speed and frequency range of the filter
- External Exp jack for controlling frequency range with an external exp pedal when in expression pedal filter sweep mode.
- External Exp jack for controlling filter section LFO speed with an external exp pedal.
Chorus Section
- All analog chorus section (based around the Empress Deus Chorus) - using a NOS MN3007 bucket brigade chip.
- Twin voice settings allow selection between a warm CE-1 styled chorus or a bright shimmery chorus
- Velocity controls the chorus speed
- Mix controls the blend of wet and dry signal
- Depth controls the depth of the chorus effect
Specs
- True Bypass
- 100% Analog
- 9 Volt DC - from any standard guitar pedal external power supply. Tip negative.
- 130mA current draw
- Dimensions: 144mm x 121mm x 56mm
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Featuring authentic tape behavior controls and full MIDI implementation, the EC-1 is a premium addition to any guitarist's setup.
Strymon Engineering, the Los Angeles-based company behind premium products for the guitar, plugin, and Eurorack markets, announced a new single-head tape echo pedal in their newer small format today, called the EC-1. Initially based around the award-winning dTape algorithm that helped to make the El Capistan pedal an industry titan, development took a different turn when Strymon acquired an immaculate and heavily modified tube Echoplex® EP-2. The new true stereo pedal features two models of the EP-2’s tube preamp with variable gain, as well as a three-position Record Level switch that allows for additional gain control. Glitchless tap tempo allows tapping in new tempos without tape artifacts, and the Tape Age and Mechanics controls modify a large number of parameters under the hood to deliver authentic tape behavior at any setting. Other features include TRS stereo Ins and Outs, full MIDI implementation, TRS MIDI, arear-panel audio routing switch, USB-C and 300 presets. Being true stereo, the EC-1 processes the left and right inputs independently, allowing it to be placed anywhere in the signal chain.
“We decided to start the project by investigating the preamps from tube echo units, so I bought an original Echoplex® EP-2 to begin the process”, said Gregg Stock, Strymon CEO and analog circuit guru. “It showed up in pristine condition and sounded amazing, and we found out later that it had been heavily modified by storied guitar tech Cesar Diaz. His mods created a single unit with the best attributes of both tube and solid-state Echoplexes, so we spent a bunch of time figuring out how to recreate its behavior.” Pete Celi, Strymon co-founder, and DSP maven said “It was so clean and mechanically stable that other nuances stood out more prominently -chief among them being some capstan-induced variations that help to widen the spectrum of the repeats. With the Mechanics control at around 1 pm, you get a hyper-authentic representation of that golden EP-2 unit, with a high-speed flutter that adds dimension to the echoes.”
EC-1 is available now directly from Strymon and from dealers worldwide for $279 US.
For more information, please visit strymon.net.
Neil Young announces the love earth world tour, kicking off this summer.
Starting on June 18 in Rättvik, Sweden, the first leg of the tour travels through the EU and UK. The North American leg begins in Charlotte on August 8 before concluding in Los Angeles on September 15.
Tickets are available beginning tomorrow, February 25 via an exclusive, 48-hour presale for Neil Young Archives members. General on-sale begins Friday, February 28. Click HERE for tickets and see the full list of dates below. More dates will be added shortly.
With his band, the chrome hearts—Spooner Oldham (Farfisa organ), Micah Nelson (guitar and vocal), Corey McCormick (bass and vocal), Anthony LoGerfo (drums)—Neil Young (guitar and vocal) is bringing his music and songs, new and old, to you. Their recent single “big change” is the first introduction of what’s to come on the love earth tour.
Neil Young is proud to partner with Farm Aid (co-founded by Neil Young in 1985) to bring HOMEGROWN Concessions to this tour, leading the way to change the live music food system. HOMEGROWN Concessions brings family farm food — produced sustainably with a fair price paid to the farmer and served on compostable serviceware — to music venues.
love earth world tour dates:
Jun 18 — Rättvik, Sweden — Dalhalla
Jun 20 — Bergen, Norway — Bergenhus Fortress
Jun 22 — Copenhagen, Denmark — Tiøren
Jun 26 — Dublin, Ireland — Malahide Castle
Jun 30 — Brussels, Belgium — Brussels Palace Open Air, Palace Square
Jul 01 — Groningen, Netherlands — Drafbaan Stedpark
Jul 03 — Berlin, Germany — Waldbühne
Jul 04 — Mönchengladbach, Germany — Sparkassenpark
Jul 08 — Stuttgart, Germany — Cannstatter Wasen
Aug 8 — Charlotte, NC — PNC Music Pavilion
Aug 10 — Richmond, VA — Allianz Amphitheater at Riverfront
Aug 13 — Detroit, MI — Pine Knob Music Theatre
Aug 15 — Cleveland, OH — Blossom Music Center
Aug 17 — Toronto, ON — Budweiser Stage
Aug 21 — Gilford, NH — BankNH Pavilion
Aug 23 — New York, NY — Jones Beach
Aug 24 — Bethel, NY — Bethel Woods
Aug 27 — Chicago, IL — Northerly Island
Sep 01 — Denver, CO — Fiddler’s Green Amphitheatre
Sep 05 — George, WA — The Gorge
Sep 06 — Vancouver, BC — Deer Lake Park
Sep 10 — Bend, OR — Hayden Homes Amphitheater
Sep 12 — Mountain View, CA — Shoreline Amphitheater
Sep 15 — Los Angeles, CA — Hollywood Bowl
With a career that extends over 60 years, where do you begin? Jason and Nick tackle Clapton’s extensive discography and try to suss out the different eras of his career.
They dive into Cream, his ’70s country-rock phase, the Armani Strat vibes in the ’80s, and so much more. And of course, no discussion of Clapton can be without deep looks into Derek and the Dominos, Unplugged, and From the Cradle (which is Jason’s favorite album).
This episode is sponsored by Gibson.
A digital pedal designed by Andrew Barta to replicate the dynamics and responsiveness of analog tube amplifiers. This stompbox offers preset clean, dirty, and lead tones, MIDI interface, and rugged all-metal housing.
As a staunch proponent of analog, Andrew Barta has never had the desire to venture into digital designs. The inventor of the SansAmp tube amplifier emulation technology, which debuted in 1989, Barta has remained loyal to the analog domain. That is, until now.
According to Barta, “To me, the main drawback of a digital modeler is the feel and the sound quality. It lacks dynamics and responsiveness. It sounds one-dimensional and it isn’t touch-sensitive, so the nuances of your playing style get lost. It limits your ability to change the tone by using your volume knob, picking lighter or harder. No matter how hard you hit the strings, the result is mostly the same. There’s no headroom and it doesn’t breathe. You are forced go to a different patch for a different tone. Ultimately, you have to conform to the device and play in a different way. So your artistic expression suffers. Artists have told me it’s like being in a cage. You have to wrestle harder to squeeze out the results and their fingers get really tired.
“Whatever device you’re using, be it an amp or SansAmp or modeler, it’s really a part of your instrument. Your instrument actually consists of the entire signal chain, not just the guitar. Digital is just a numeric translation and isn’t capable of preserving the individual personality of the guitar you use. The output is pretty much the same whether it’s a Fender or Gibson or Ric.”
Just as the original SansAmp was a personal mission to encapsulate tube amplifier sounds in a compact, portable pedal, Barta has long been on a quest to do the same in the digital domain. Never one to jump on a bandwagon, Barta wouldn’t “go digital” until he found a way to replicate the dynamics, responsiveness, and fluidity of its analog counterpart.
After many years, Barta “cracked the code.” This happened to coincide with the opportunity to collaborate with Marty Friedman. The result is the Marty Friedman Signature SansAmp.
An iconic guitarist who eloquently serves up enchanting and tearful melodies, as well as complicated notes that make your head spin, Marty Friedman surprisingly likes to keep his arsenal quite simple. The goal for Tech 21 was to embody his tone in a neat, compact, plug-and-play footprint. Marty’s focus is always on the music taking the spotlight rather than complex gear with distracting bells and whistles or requiring a cumbersome learning curve.
The Marty Friedman programmable Signature SansAmp comes preset with his main clean, dirty, and lead tones. Operationally similar to the SansAmp PSA 2.0, there are two modes: Performance mode to have your 3 main presets at the ready and Studio mode for up to 128 locations for custom presets.
Says Marty, “This is it! This pedal has been in the works for a long time and only an exceptional design engineer like Andrew Barta could make something with these beautiful tones so incredibly simple to use. Such bonehead easy-to-use effects haven’t been known to have world class sounds in them until now. I’m proud to put my name on the first one."
Controls include Reverb, 3-band active EQ, Drive, and Level. There’s also an adjustable Gate that dynamically and smoothly cleans up the signal, rather than cutting it off abruptly. Filteralters the tonality by manipulating the mid-range and is specifically voiced for Marty’s unique sound.
Other features include a MIDI interface to control the SansAmp externally, a chromatic tuner, an effect loop, 1/4-inch and XLR Outputs, and rugged all-metal housing and knobs. Utilizes included 9V DC auto-switching power supply with interchangeable international plugs for use anywhere in the world. Measures 7.5”l x 5.25”w x 2.0”h.
For more information, please visit tech21nyc.com.
