Strymon Deco Tape sim.

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Strymon Deco Tape sim.

Postby roger bayliss » Sun Sep 28, 2014 9:40 pm

Well I think this could be a great add on to recording and live playing adding 'Warmth and wobble' ala Tape. Looks cool watch the videos. Does vintage flanging . chorus and slapback as well as simulating tape saturation and warm transparent overdrive. I think this could help in our sound quests !!!!!!!
Help !!!!! :)

http://www.strymon.net/deco/
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Re: Strymon Deco Tape sim.

Postby roger bayliss » Sun Sep 28, 2014 10:30 pm

Certainly see it as being able to warm up a digital recording and adding essential saturation to the mix. Saturation, EQ and echo is key to recording I think.
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Re: Strymon Deco Tape sim.

Postby roger bayliss » Wed Nov 05, 2014 4:51 pm

Well I have bought a Strymon Deco pedal and I gave it a run today to see what it could do for the Shadows sound.

I connected it to the front end of my POD HD bean with guitar into the Deco. I played around with he saturation side of the pedal first and there was a noticeable increase in warmth and depth of tone even at low levels of saturation. The sounds were more up front and fatter and fuller sounding and in my view more reminiscent of the record sound when saturation is added via this pedal. Very pleasing and removes any thinness in the guitar sound and seems to level it out as well.

I then used the second part of the pedal and quickly found that the Magnetic Doubling effect worked really well and also automatic double tracking type of effects are also there. So I played Foot Tapper and doubled it with the pedal. I was quite pleased with this effect and had a great Foot Tapper sound as a result. I also tried thickening the sound of say Wonderful Land by reducing the time a little and making a few adjustments and it seemed to do wonders with WL adding in saturation and thickening the sound as well. It kinda warbles as well when the wobble control is used. Adds a vintage flavour to the sound with minor tweaks to get the right sort of effect.

It does a great chorus effect and a tape flanging effect which subtle. I could see the Chorus effect being useful.

So what this pedal does overall is boosts and thickens the sound and even double tracks. I think used live it would enhance you guitar sound and get rid of a lot of shrillness and excessive bite and fill out your sound. It is quite subtle in use not over the top and completely tweakable. If you hate the shrillness of your guitar rig at times this will tame it and it would work well in a live situation. Of course it can also be used in the studio too for you latest attempt at 'That Sound' It will make you recorded tone more lush and fuller and fatter and bring something to the table.

I know there are Plugins available for this type of sound such as the J37 Plugin, but this is a pedal and you can put it in your live sound folks. The saturation could be used all the time and you can if you want switch the doubling side in as needed. Two pedals in one !

Could it be done another way ? Yes perhaps with a clean boost pedal and a chorus pedal/ delay pedal with the right features you might be able to get something along these lines. However this pedal does it really well and despite the price tag I am happy that it brings something I can use.
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Re: Strymon Deco Tape sim.

Postby Martyn » Sun Nov 30, 2014 12:33 am

Hi Roger,
Any chance of a with/without sound file? Just a few notes on, say, bridge pickup so we can hear what you describe but with our sort of music?

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Re: Strymon Deco Tape sim.

Postby roger bayliss » Sat Dec 06, 2014 2:48 pm

Martin the only thing the pedal really adds is more warmth and fatness to the tone so it does not really define the sound in the same way as say eq would. DO you need it for the Shadows sound ? No you can live without it. It is however the only pedal out there that adds the warmth and saturation characteristics of tape recording and from that angle it is useful as are the plugins you can use giving similar effects. Sorry but not done any sound files but did do some eq pedal sound files recently in sound file section for Wonderful Land and Peace Pipe. I did not use this pedal then but it would tend to finish the sound off a bit more if you know what I mean.

I had to get it out of curiosity but I think it is not essential until the recording process in fairness. But it does if you want it add warmth and fatness to your guitar sound in a way that tape does when you record and of course it is an effects pedal too. Flanging, chorus, slapback and delay with double tracking are great effects.

I think the EQ pedals are more important than this overall after experimenting with live sound results recently. So this pedal is not essential to get a great Shadows sound but can add to it.
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Re: Strymon Deco Tape sim.

Postby Martyn » Wed Dec 17, 2014 12:43 pm

Hi Roger,
My apologies for not responding sooner - been a bit tied up with work etc.

Thanks for the review and I fully understand what you're saying about the pedal. Maybe worth trying in a shop first perhaps.

Kind regards and hope you have a great Christmas. :)
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Re: Strymon Deco Tape sim.

Postby roger bayliss » Wed Dec 17, 2014 10:40 pm

Yes sure Martyn try before you buy. Merry Christmas.
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