Question for the Strymon Guys

I have all three of their best on my board and hope to integrate them into to my first Axe Fx II XL+
which should arrive this Thursday. I finally took the plunge after all these years of coming so close, but never quite pulling the trigger on one. The Mobius kicked a half a dozen pedals off my board when I got it, and the Timeline and BigSky are topnotch. My only complaint about the Strymon pedals is how much time I have invested dialing in some great presets.
 

Attachments

  • Big Sky 005.jpg
    Big Sky 005.jpg
    139.5 KB · Views: 89
  • Big Sky 016.jpg
    Big Sky 016.jpg
    153.3 KB · Views: 79
Last edited:
This.

I use a plex delay and deep space reverb in combination and it does the ambient stuff really well.
we all know this and aren't arguing it. people aren't asking for the reverb block alone to be able to do everything the Big Sky can do...what they have asked for is a block that CAN do all with simplified controls/parameters. one doesn't need to be able to tweak every aspect of the reverb/plex delay/chorus/etc for this types of fx, just the pertinent parameters, as is found in those boxes.
 
I have all three of their best on my board and hope to integrate them into to my first Axe Fx Mart II XL+
which should arrive this Thursday. I finally took the plunge after all these years of coming so close, but never quite pulling the trigger on one. The Mobius kicked a half a dozen pedals off my board when I got it, and the Timeline and BigSky are topnotch. My only complaint about the Strymon pedals is how much time I have invested dialing in some great presets.
Cool pics. It's always interesting to see other people's gear. Hope you enjoy the Axe-Fx. I'm sure you will. ;)
 
There are some patches around by Unix-guy, Fremen and Simeon that come very close.

Would be cool if we could continue development of great stomp boxes into the AXE FX in modular/component fashion for the more novice users (like me). I can't always "hear" (or execute) what needs to be done/translated to achieve particular effects re: modulation of delays and other more advanced tuning of these tools.

I know the raw tools are there, (and the AXE is so close/good on the amp side), would love to see FX tools mirror developments in the effects/pedals world so a novice can get there without leaving the AXE domain.
 
it's def. easier to have one pedal that makes a shimmer reverb than connecting (sometimes 2) multidelays, a resonator, and a reverb.. But I can can get the tone spot on with some tweaking. Then i'm left with about 15% CPU left.
 
it's def. easier to have one pedal that makes a shimmer reverb than connecting (sometimes 2) multidelays, a resonator, and a reverb.. But I can can get the tone spot on with some tweaking. Then i'm left with about 15% CPU left.

Which makes it impossible on the AX8 :eek:(
 
I love this Strymon setting. At 5:56


Somehow I find the sound of the Big Sky a bit too exaggerated. Hard to describe. I prefer the sound of the Neunaber Wet reverb. Sounds a bit warmer and natural to me. Of course the Big Sky has more options. Purely judging on YT videos here. The sound that comes closest to this ambient reverb in the Reverb block of the Axe fx is the Deep Space. I also like the reverbs in my H9 very much.

This is one of the best sounding reverbs I have heard. I especially like the unison sound around 10:00, very cinematic:

 
Last edited:
I've found the strymon pedals to sound bright. It seems that the buffer is either adding some brightness to the "bypassed" side of the signal. I like it for clean tones but have found it a bit annoying for dirty tones.

The Strymon pedals are 100% worth the hype. They're very well designed and crystal clear. As a self-professed gear head and an AxefxII owner the major problem I keep running into is NOT needing to buy excellent pedals and new gear. My little black box does everything already!
 
you make them as exaggerated or as natural as you want, it's all in your settings. most of the videos around are of the more dramatic presets/reverb engines.

same for the brightness. there's tons of eq options under the hood.

reminds me of guys who complain that the Timeline doesn't do pristine digital delays....but they skip right over the part of the manual that tells you EXACTLY how to get that.
 
That sounds great. Any idea what chip is in that?

Somehow I find the sound of the Big Sky a bit too exaggerated. Hard to describe. I prefer the sound of the Neunaber Wet reverb. Sounds a bit warmer and natural to me. Of course the Big Sky has more options. Purely judging on YT videos here. The sound that comes closest to this ambient reverb in the Reverb block of the Axe fx is the Deep Space. I also like the reverbs in my H9 very much.

This is one of the best sounding reverbs I have heard. I especially like the unison sound around 10:00, very cinematic:

 
No, you're misunderstanding. It's not the brightness of the wet signal. It's the brightness of the bypassed signal that is in question and there is no setting under the hood for that. This quality is present in all the strymon pedals so it's part of their buffering system. This is not an issue on the wet reverb or the wampler pedals by the way...The specular 2 reverb clip above sounds like it might have the same issue though it's really hard to tell without knowing what the real bypassed tone is like but I found that getting good bridge pickup fusion tones was a bit difficult on the strymon pedals because you have to roll back the tone control on the guitar to compensate and then try to brighten up the echos in the pedal to over-compensate. Bottom line was that I preferred the wampler time effect pedals because they didn't have this brightness.

you make them as exaggerated or as natural as you want, it's all in your settings. most of the videos around are of the more dramatic presets/reverb engines.

same for the brightness. there's tons of eq options under the hood.

reminds me of guys who complain that the Timeline doesn't do pristine digital delays....but they skip right over the part of the manual that tells you EXACTLY how to get that.
 
you make them as exaggerated or as natural as you want

Not exactly true. There is something in the sound character that I don't like. Has nothing to do with how much you dial in. I have the same with some of the Strymon delays. They sound good but they all have some sort of 'sauce' on top that doesn't appeal to me.Not sure what it is.

No, you're misunderstanding. It's not the brightness of the wet signal. It's the brightness of the bypassed signal that is in question and there is no setting under the hood for that. This quality is present in all the strymon pedals so it's part of their buffering system.

I understand exactly what you mean. I had the same going with my Yamaha UD Stomp. Great delay but the added brightness of the buffer annoyed me. That's too bad. Wish it was true bypass. I thought the bypass of the Strymon pedals was better. Thought their pedals were true bypass?
 
I tired a couple of Strymon pedals (Timeline and Big Sky) and found the same thing as mentioned above.. I didn't like how they affected tone of my setup when bypassed. Great sounding effects, etc. though.. but I don't have use for all the ambient stuff and rarely use reverb when playing with a band.
 
This has nothing to do with the bypass. The pedal maintains a wet and dry signal path. The dry signal path is still buffered and it's the buffer side of the path that is brighter than the original signal as if a bright switch was on.

I understand exactly what you mean. I had the same going with my Yamaha UD Stomp. Great delay but the added brightness of the buffer annoyed me. That's too bad. Wish it was true bypass. I thought the bypass of the Strymon pedals was better. Thought their pedals were true bypass?
 
Back
Top Bottom