Anyone using any of the above? Thoughts/impressions?

Thanks.

-Doc

Trust me. The sharks are the least of our problems.

I owned a Mr. Black Deluxe Plus for a bit and turned it around pretty quickly. Not bad, and the trem sounded good, but nothing like the tank sound I was looking for and not having the effects individually activatable wasn't ideal. The J. Rockett Mr. Moto looks intriguing, but if I had a dollar for every person here that said that about x new reverb pedal I might have enough to buy one. In a world where the Surfy Bear exists, all reverb pedals can go pound sand (unless you don't want a tank sound).

The Mystery Men?
El Capitan and The Reluctant Sadists
SSS Agent #31

dannylectro wrote:

Try out the Souce Audio True Spring pedal. It has realistic sounding tank reverb and harmonic vibrato.

-
Thanks for the feedback, dannylectro. Test drove a True Spring for a couple weeks (I have cool friends--well, at least one lol) and it is indeed a fabulous pedal.

Trust me. The sharks are the least of our problems.

DocOBX wrote:

Richard wrote:

I owned a Mr. Black Deluxe Plus for a bit and turned it around pretty quickly. Not bad, and the trem sounded good, but nothing like the tank sound I was looking for and not having the effects individually activatable wasn't ideal. The J. Rockett Mr. Moto looks intriguing, but if I had a dollar for every person here that said that about x new reverb pedal I might have enough to buy one. In a world where the Surfy Bear exists, all reverb pedals can go pound sand (unless you don't want a tank
sound).

-
Thanks, Richard. Yours is the type of feedback I am seeking. Absence of "tankidrip" aside, might you have kept the Mr. Black had it been the Deluxe Deluxe Plus with its separate switches for the verb and trem? Is it just my ears or does the Deluxe Plus have a somewhat unpleasant overtone thing lingering in the trails starting ~10:00-ish?

Not much out there on the Mr. Moto. I like the sounds and simplicity / ease of use I have heard/seen in the few videos I have found. It sounds to me that its reverb, while not as extreme as the Deluxe Plus', is usable to max; whereas the Deluxe Plus' reverb sounds cacophonous to me* beyond 12:00. I am leaning towards rolling the dice on the Mr. Moto.

No arguments re. the Surfy Bear--IF a tank-in-a-pedal is the goal. I have the tank covered. I'm looking for a stomp box for my one-pedal-only rig, something plug-n-play, a little different, something with a vibe/mojo of its own.

Again, many thanks for the helpful input.

Grace,
-Doc

I listened to the video of Bang, Bang at the Mr. Black website and it sounded pretty good to my ear. Like yourself, I want a one-pedal-only rig. If I’m going full boat, I’ll pull out my Twin, my tank and possibly even a pedalboard, for some delay, but sometimes I just want to grab an amp and go over to a friend’s house for a jam and I don’t want to schlep a bunch of gear. I use a 5 watt Winfield Typhoon on such occasions, and that is the perfect grab and go amp. I’ve played gigs using just that, a Catalinbread Topanga and mic’d it through the PA. Sometimes simpler is betterer.

I can’t find much to complain about in the samples I’ve heard of the Mr. Black pedal, and I love the Trem. But, before I would break out the trusty Visa card, I’d want to hear more samples. Spring reverb emulations can tend towards harshness and I’d want to avoid that. I actually use plate or hall reverb emulations for most things, because of that harshness.

If the world were perfect, we’d all have vintage 6G15s and plenty of loyal friends to help us schlep gear.

The artist formerly known as: Synchro

When Surf Guitar is outlawed only outlaws will play Surf Guitar.

Last edited: Oct 01, 2020 21:08:21

synchro wrote:

I listened to the video of Bang, Bang at the Mr. Black website and it sounded pretty good to my ear. Like yourself, I want a one-pedal-only rig. If I’m going full boat, I’ll pull out my Twin, my tank and possibly even a pedalboard, for some delay, but sometimes I just want to grab an amp and go over to a friend’s house for a jam and I don’t want to schlep a bunch of gear. I use a 5 watt Winfield Typhoon on such occasions, and that is the perfect grab and go amp. I’ve played gigs using just that, a Catalinbread Topanga and mic’d it through the PA. Sometimes simpler is betterer.

I can’t find much to complain about in the samples I’ve heard of the Mr. Black pedal, and I love the Trem. But, before I would break out the trusty Visa card, I’d want to hear more samples. Spring reverb emulations can tend towards harshness and I’d want to avoid that. I actually use plate or hall reverb emulations for most things, because of that harshness.

If the world were perfect, we’d all have vintage 6G15s and plenty of loyal friends to help us schlep gear.

-

"If the world were perfect...." Indeed. Thanks for the insightful response. I've been using my '72 Champ for decades for the reasons you cite above--something I first did as a joke in flippant protest of a soundman who took exception to my Deluxe's "washing everything out." Volume on 3. THREE. "You can tun it down and I can make you sound like a pro, or you can leave it up and you can make us both sound like amateurs. Choose." I chose to humor him and the joke turned out to be on me. Go figure. ; )

FFWD 30+ years (cough). I live by the "One Trip Rule": I gig with what I can carry to/from the car in one trip: gigbag (backpack) with cables, pedal(s), backup amp pedal (Quilter--more and more, I'm using this as my amp and running it direct into the PA, instead of miking the Champ), folding mic stand and mic over my shoulders, the aforementioned Champ in one hand (occasionally my Deluxe) and my guitar in the other. We play all originals, so I need only sound like myself. For me it's all about the music and the music is 90% in the hands. Literally, in this case. YMMV.

Again, I appreciate the info and wise words, Synchro.

Grace,
Doc

Trust me. The sharks are the least of our problems.

DocOBX wrote:

synchro wrote:

I listened to the video of Bang, Bang at the Mr. Black website and it sounded pretty good to my ear. Like yourself, I want a one-pedal-only rig. If I’m going full boat, I’ll pull out my Twin, my tank and possibly even a pedalboard, for some delay, but sometimes I just want to grab an amp and go over to a friend’s house for a jam and I don’t want to schlep a bunch of gear. I use a 5 watt Winfield Typhoon on such occasions, and that is the perfect grab and go amp. I’ve played gigs using just that, a Catalinbread Topanga and mic’d it through the PA. Sometimes simpler is betterer.

I can’t find much to complain about in the samples I’ve heard of the Mr. Black pedal, and I love the Trem. But, before I would break out the trusty Visa card, I’d want to hear more samples. Spring reverb emulations can tend towards harshness and I’d want to avoid that. I actually use plate or hall reverb emulations for most things, because of that harshness.

If the world were perfect, we’d all have vintage 6G15s and plenty of loyal friends to help us schlep gear.

-

"If the world were perfect...." Indeed. Thanks for the insightful response. I've been using my '72 Champ for decades for the reasons you cite above--something I first did as a joke in flippant protest of a soundman who took exception to my Deluxe's "washing everything out." Volume on 3. THREE. "You can tun it down and I can make you sound like a pro, or you can leave it up and you can make us both sound like amateurs. Choose." I chose to humor him and the joke turned out to be on me. Go figure. ; )

FFWD 30+ years (cough). I live by the "One Trip Rule": I gig with what I can carry to/from the car in one trip: gigbag (backpack) with cables, pedal(s), backup amp pedal (Quilter--more and more, I'm using this as my amp and running it direct into the PA, instead of miking the Champ), folding mic stand and mic over my shoulders, the aforementioned Champ in one hand (occasionally my Deluxe) and my guitar in the other. We play all originals, so I need only sound like myself. For me it's all about the music and the music is 90% in the hands. Literally, in this case. YMMV.

Again, I appreciate the info and wise words, Synchro.

Grace,
Doc

It’s ironic, but since most gigs are now mic’d through a PA, I tend to use a larger amp at home that at gigs. Like you, I have a backpack, and that has cables, a reverb pedal, etc. A small amp like my Typhoon in one hand, a Gretsch in the other and I can tackle any gig where the PA is provided.

One bonus is that small amps, properly mic’d, sound at least as good as many big amps. At one gig, I was able to venture far enough forward on stage to hear the audience’ mix and you would have sworn I was playing through a Showman, all in a $650 amp I can carry with one pinky.

The artist formerly known as: Synchro

When Surf Guitar is outlawed only outlaws will play Surf Guitar.

Surfysonic wrote:

I have the Mr. Black Deluxe Plus - love it! It's not a spring reverb pedal but still makes for interesting darker reverb and can be used for surf (works great for Tremolo Beer Gut tones for me).

I have reverb units ('64 Fender Reverb Unit and the SurfyBear Classic) and other reverb pedals (Oceans 11, Boss '63 Fender Reverb FRV-1, Boss Digital Reverb RV-5, and Strymon Flint Tremolo and Reverb that come close enough for the traditional spring reverb surf tone.

I love the Mr. Black Deluxe Plus' reverb's darker tone and the tremolo. It's honestly one of my fave pedals. It's a cool pedal. I actually like it's tone better than the Strymon Flint but appreciate the Flint having more options.

I listened to another demo, this time of the Deluxe Plus (as opposed to the a Deluxe, Deluxe Plus). During that particular demo, it sounded great, but I noticed that the reverb trails get quite long when the reverb is turned past about 50%. Does that mess with your experience with this pedal?

The artist formerly known as: Synchro

When Surf Guitar is outlawed only outlaws will play Surf Guitar.

Surfysonic wrote:

I don't find it to be a problem when I go to as much as 65%. I've seen a few reviews that do mention the downside with the reverb is when past a certain point (40%, 50%) it gets too saturated.

It really depends on what you're using it for. For surfy tunes, reverb set to anywhere less than 50% is optimal, but for ambience tones, I think it can be tailored to individual taste. I find that incredibly awesome for a fairly simplistic pedal as compared to the multi-options from the Oceans Eleven or Strymon Flint pedals. Not meaning to diminish the tremolo in regards to my simplistic comment, as it works great for me.

I’m somewhat of two minds, when it comes to Surf reverb. While I enjoy the sound of a 6G15, I do not think the drip is all that matters. My current reverb solution is Plate emulation and for Surf, I just turn this up higher than I would for less specialized use. It will drip, but it’s a different sound than a Spring Reverb unit.

I will have to listen to more demos of the Deluxe Plus and see what comes of it. Extended decay may sound good as a demonstrated sound, but in the real world, having every not compete with the reverb trails of prior notes is not much fun.

The artist formerly known as: Synchro

When Surf Guitar is outlawed only outlaws will play Surf Guitar.

Update:

Both Jack Deville and Tim Marcus (kudos to both) responded personally to my emails re. their respective pedals. I took it as a sign and ordered both a Deluxe Plus and an F-Stop, thinking I would keep the one I liked best and return the other. Both are keepers. Problem solved. : )

Thanks to all who weighed in.

Grace,
Doc

Trust me. The sharks are the least of our problems.