Ambience is only part of the appeal in this delay of many modes and moods.
Deep and varied while being intuitive to explore. Abundance of polyrhythmic textures can transform simple ideas.
Deep and varied while being intuitive to explore. Abundance of polyrhythmic textures can transform simple ideas.
$239
MXR Joshua Ambient Echo
jimdunlop.com
Like any art movement that sticks around long enough, “ambient” music has come to mean many different things. As home recording grows more accessible, it’s become a popular vehicle for quiet, introspective creations that can come together in small spaces. And when the pandemic raged, ambient music exploded both as an outlet for confined creators and as a service for stressed folk that needed to chill out. Regardless of how the form evolved beyond the prophecies and concepts of Satie, Eno, and ’60s minimalists—and some manifestations have been truly vacuous—its expansion opens a lot of opportunities for pedal builders.
MXR, for its part, hasn’t dabbled much with ambient effects. The recent MXR Reverb is, until now, probably the brand’s most ambitious effort along ambient lines. The new Joshua Ambient Echo, however, explores many such avenues by melding two delays, modulation, multiple echo divisions, octave tones, and reverb. And, yes, you can probably bet the house that, in name and sound, Joshua cheekily honors the Edge and the mega-platinum LP his band made with none other than Eno himself. See how beautifully everything intertwines in the mists of ambient space? You can reach a lot of these magical places with Joshua.
The Brink of the Abyss
Joshua’s basic voice, sans reverb, modulation, or octave, produces the kind of clean, precise digital echoes that I expect when I grab my Boss DD-3. One cool byproduct of this clarity is the way it highlights the rhythmic capabilities of the Joshua, which are a draw equal to its capacity for ambience.
Less than subliminally compelled to play a bunch of muted U2-style rhythms, I heard the Joshua snap with sharp, percussive presence in a manner evocative of the Edge’s Korg SDD-3000 sounds (check The Unforgettable Fire for a good point of reference). Predictably, the dotted-eighth and triplet modes hop and pop in a fashion that turns stupidly simple melodic lines and chord patterns into compelling riffs. But it’s when you add the second echo that these patterns really percolate. Getting these complex reflections just right can be tricky when tight rhythms are the underpinning of a riff. But getting there is hardly a chore (especially when using tap tempo), and when they come together they can add intriguing extra animation and space to simple parts.
“Predictably, the dotted eighth and triplet modes hop and pop in a fashion that turns stupidly simple melodic lines and chord patterns into compelling riffs.”
These twin-delay polyrhythms sound great in subtle, low-mix settings, too—adding dimensionality that, again, evokes the Edge’s twin SDD-3000/AC30 rig. They also benefit from the Joshua’s ability to operate at very high-to-maximum repeat and mix levels. Instead of oscillating out of control, echo patterns spool into long-to-infinite loops. In audio Clip 1 that accompanies the online version of this review, you can hear a single 12th-fret harmonic stab—played in the compound-eighth/dotted-eighth mode at maximum repeat and mix—turn into a sequencer-like pattern that’s perfect for a looper or the pedal’s freeze function.
Of course, Joshua’s most complex echoes can also unlock unusual textures and compel players to explore new dynamic techniques and approaches to songcraft. Check out Clip 2. This is a very Edge-like percussive pattern, again played on the compound-eighth/dotted-eighth division setting with a pretty aggressive mix. The first segment of the clip uses a single delay and a pattern using a heavy downstroke on the one. Played in dual delay mode, this complex tangle of echoes is a mess. But apply a light touch, add some modulation and mild octave-up content, and the same pattern of notes becomes the audio equivalent of light scattered through stained glass—producing many unexpected colors and overtones.
Generally, I’m not a big fan of octave-up content in delays and reverbs or the way they can turn otherwise engaging echo tones to cloying. The +2 octave range here can be syrupy sweet to my ears. But the pedal also has +1 and -1 octave settings, the latter of which can add ballast to a part or, at high mix and repeat settings, turn a single low E note to a haunting, endless foghorn blast. The modulation is very nice, too, adding much to the movement and harmonic makeup of the pedal’s most ambient tones, or simply working as a rich chorus at fast delay times as heard in Clip 3.The Verdict
The Edge regularly credits his old Memory Man and Korg delays for completely recasting his technique and compositional approach. And doubtless, players with free spirits and few preconceptions will find many fresh paths to wander here. That so many possibilities and complex sounds can exist alongside much more basic fare in a compact unit makes the Joshua a sensible investment—even at nearly 220 bucks. For the player that masters its complexities, it could flower into a deep well of inspiration capable of paying back that sum many times over.
MXR Joshua Ambient Echo Demo | First Look
PG’s Nick Millevoi builds the StewMac Ghost Drive kit, thanks to easy step-by-step instructions and StewMac tools. With limited pedal-building experience, this regular Klon user gets to engage with his favorite boost/overdrive on a whole new level. Watch now to see the building process and hear this klone in action!
How easy? Spend 5 minutes with Marshall Dunn, currently touring as Steve Earle’s guitar tech and co-founder of Nashville’s Stage Right Repairs, and he’ll show you. Special thanks to Music City indie venue Eastside Bowl, where we filmed Dunn at work on a stock Fender Mustang Bass.
Dunn starts by removing the strings and bridge screws, and cautions against removing the ground wire. Even though this is a quick mod, Dunn suggests taking it slow and steady (like all work done on your instrument), so he confirms the screw-hole alignment and shows you how to use a tape measure to confirm that the saddles are at the correct scale length for the instrument. He next shows how to use the two strings he removed from the bass initially to check the alignment of the new strings with the fretboard. It’s a matter of checking the relationship of the strings for proper spacing. The saddle notches in the Badass Bridge make that alignment even easier.
Once the Badass is installed, he explains how to do a quick, proper setup—and then it’s time to plug into a Fender Rumble 500 and let the Mustang and its new bridge do the talking. “Ultimately,” Dunn concludes, “I think if you’re going to mod your instrument and it’s gonna make you like it more, it’s gonna make you want to play it more …that’s the whole point. It’s pretty cool what you can do with just a couple of hand tools and just a little bit of time.”
For more information on Leo Quan Badass Bridges, go to allparts.com.