H and C echo V Blue Nebula echo

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Re: H and C echo V Blue Nebula echo

Postby dave robinson » Thu Jun 27, 2019 7:25 pm

Back to the thread and the Blue Nebula gets it’s first run out tonight so I’m quite looking forward to it.
I have always tried to get behind low cost options and when Ecca built my eTap2hw followed by the valve pre-amp version, I always thought was a good piece of kit. I always loved the sound and it did come close to the real deal, but the down side was the complexity of changing the sounds on a show, making it messy in between numbers. Now, because of Mick and the team at Stanley FX, It’s possible to line all the sounds up and access them via the pedal without any major interruption to the show, which appeals to me a lot. I have also noticed some nice ‘vintage’ nuances in the sounds too which I know that Steve & Phil lent a hand with and possibly others I haven’t heard about, but the end result is a great little pedal at the right money. I look forward to playing some Shads hits later tonight and I’ll see what the critics think and report back. :)
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Re: H and C echo V Blue Nebula echo

Postby John Boyd » Thu Jun 27, 2019 11:52 pm

Hi Dave,
I'm looking forward to your next report as I'm thinking of going that way to replace my failed Q20.
Any chance you may be able to post an audio sample in the future?
Cheers,
JB
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Re: H and C echo V Blue Nebula echo

Postby dave robinson » Fri Jun 28, 2019 2:14 am

John Boyd wrote:Hi Dave,
I'm looking forward to your next report as I'm thinking of going that way to replace my failed Q20.
Any chance you may be able to post an audio sample in the future?
Cheers,
JB


Hi John, I wasn’t disappointed and would certainly recommend the Blue Nebula.
The quality is excellent and at a great price too. The sound is as good as anything I have heard, including my favourite echo boxes, the ESE Echomatic and Klemt Echolette. To my ears the Meazzi and Bison emulations are as good as the competition too, though some may argue differently, but in a mix any superior artefacts that others claim to possess would be lost.
They have captured the real sound of the tape/drum machines. :)
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Re: H and C echo V Blue Nebula echo

Postby John Boyd » Fri Jun 28, 2019 5:24 am

Thank you Dave. That's very helpful. Think I'll be pushing the 'Buy' button very soon.
It's certainly very well priced and only costs 15 pounds for international delivery!
Cheers,
JB
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Re: H and C echo V Blue Nebula echo

Postby dave robinson » Fri Jun 28, 2019 10:32 am

Pleased to have been of assistance John, but I hasten to add that over the years I have discovered that the echo unit is not the be all and end all in the quest for that ‘magic’ that we all love. Much of it is in the tone from the guitar and amp, where ‘set up’ is important to get the best from your equipment. For example, I can set up my Katana amp using the Boss Tone Studio on the computer and it sounds very close to the ‘magic’ we speak of without an echo machine in sight, just by setting up a delay and reverb with a very accurate tone simulation. Most people would listen and accept it as near enough, which I have proved by working with it for the past few months, but I know it isn’t spot on and adding the Blue Nebula or the Hall & Collins or even the old Quad GT, the echoes become the same as Hank’s on the various tunes and to a trained ear it then becomes obvious, especially to the player. The main thing for me about the Blue Nebula is the price point, as you needn’t break the bank anymore to achieve the sound. :)
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Re: H and C echo V Blue Nebula echo

Postby John Boyd » Fri Jun 28, 2019 11:24 am

Thank you Dave,
I'm fully in agreement with your comments. While I was quite happy with the sound I achieved with my Classic 50's Stratocaster, AC30cc2 and Q20,
the search is on for a replacement for the failed Q20 and it seems that for a bedroom pensioner player, the Blue Nebula should meet my needs.
Cheers,
JB
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Re: H and C echo V Blue Nebula echo

Postby dave robinson » Fri Jun 28, 2019 12:42 pm

I have hooked up the Hall & Collins this morning to do an A/B comparison and this too is a great sounding machine.
I need to find time to do a video of all my options and at the moment I have got my Mesa Boogie DC-5 in the loop because I’m comparing it with the humble Katana 100w head. When you consider the price of a new Boogie and a new Katana it makes you wonder whether the money we all spent was a wise investment, as with the echo boxes and Custom Built/Masterbuilt guitars. I aim to strip it back and find out how much cash we really needed to part with - or not. ;)
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Re: H and C echo V Blue Nebula echo

Postby dave robinson » Sun Jun 30, 2019 5:14 pm

Having had these hooked up over the weekend in my front room and being able to make as much noise as I want, I can tell you all that it was a very satisfying experience indeed, at the same time cloning my Mesa Boogie into my two Katana heads.
It isn’t until you begin playing through the Boogie with your life-long settings that you trust above anything, that you realise how good these amps are. I did manage to get the Katana very close to my tone, though probably not perfect, but any differences I guarantee would fool even the die hard valve enthusiasts out there. Because I’m relying on the Katanas’ for my entire sound, I bought a back-up one to have ready should there be a catastrophe and at less that £450 for the two I don’t feel I was being extravagant. The bottom line is, I have the quality sound of the Boogie but only a third of the weight to lug around and that does matter.
What did surprise me were the tonal adjustments I had to make to ‘clone’ the character of the Boogie. The settings look horrendous, but they work so that’s all that matters. I added boosts & compression and was careful to make the correct choice of amp that the Katana offers. A good weekend’s work between the sunshine and a job well done.
As for the echo boxes, the H & C and Blue Nebula are each fabulous in their own way. Sound-wise I’m struggling to hear which is which in the mix and when I’m playing, switching from one to the other, it’s never obvious which one is active.
If anything I think the H & C has more going for it in the editing and there may be more choices, but how many of us even go there ? I certainly don’t and doubt I will ever need to, as both units have wonderful presets that do the business for me.
They each offer that vintage ‘chatter’ with the decaying signal behind the echo just like a real valve driven tape echo, I did plug in my Klempt Echolette to listen and it’s all there. Charlie has even copied some of the Echolette’s patterns on the H & C and they are identical. All the emulations on both the H & C and the Blue Nebula are massive improvements on what we had on the Alesis and Zoom machines, as good as they were. I don’t agree with either of the patterns that are listed for ‘Flingel Bunt’ as I compared with the record and I’m not getting the ‘kick’ after the notes. I personally get more satisfaction from the Vox Long Tom pattern #1, which is a single kick with very little feedback like we hear on the recording. Just my opinion but that’s what I’m hearing and I’ve had several other lead guitarists drop by who agree.
Right ! The missus is due back after her family visit to London so I need to get tidied up fast, this place looks like Abbey Road studios after a session. :lol:
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