Snow White Auto Wah! proto impressions...
Posted: Sun Jun 08, 2008 10:43 amSome time ago, I asked Bjorn to build me an envelope filter. After a few emails, the first BJFE VCF started it's journey to becoming a reality. Not long afterwards, BJFE VCF #1 arrived(a 3-knobber), & the testing began... More emails, testing, devlopment, & suggestions followed, so I have a unique and vested interest in the mighty MP SWAW. I have a proto here, & I've spent quite a bit of time with it the last few days, so here are my initial impressions...
First, the SWAW has a huge amount of range of textures available! Funk, Jerry, psuedophase, etc...
The SWAW is not a plug & play box! Must take time to explore & set it up properly, which rewards the time spent with stellar world class tones & adjustability in a small enclosure...
It is top shelf, nothing can can touch it, no joke! It's that good!
Res control sorta acts like a mix or clean blend control at lower settings, very useful for dialing in subtle(hardly there) vowel type stuff!
Turn bias & res up way too far together, dirty or loud, you get nasty painful feedback, worse with more volts! Watch out!
Remember!: Guitar volume knob & pickup strength have huge impact on range & tone! Makes sense, cuz they are user controlled voltage regulators!
Using a compressor before SWAW can tame range, especially @ higher volts, another useful tool, but can also limit filter sounds & make it sorta anemic, again, a comp is a user controlled votage regulator, so it has huge impact on the input of any envelope filter...
A comp after SWAW has less impact, but also very useful for enhancement, or smoothing sounds out...
Using an EQ after SWAW is a huge tone scalpel! Especially boosting & cutting in the midrange... Great for fine tuning or matching up to different dirtbox characteristics...
Regarding input voltage:
Big differences when you change input voltage...
I think it actually sounds best a 9vdc, easier to adjust & control, & no volume loss or gain when switching it off & on.
12vdc is only 3 extra, so not too much different than 9vdc, a smidge harder to adjust, more extreme sounds, slight volume bump when you switch it on, would work better for lower output pickups, or if you need the more extreme sounds, or a slight bump in output.
18vdc is almost too much, gets harder to find sweetspots in narrowing ranges, significant volume bump when switching it on, some truly whackjob novelty sounds available!
More testing to come with the SBOD in front of SWAW... Should be interesting!
Any questions, feel free to post them... I'll do my best!
First, the SWAW has a huge amount of range of textures available! Funk, Jerry, psuedophase, etc...
The SWAW is not a plug & play box! Must take time to explore & set it up properly, which rewards the time spent with stellar world class tones & adjustability in a small enclosure...
It is top shelf, nothing can can touch it, no joke! It's that good!
Res control sorta acts like a mix or clean blend control at lower settings, very useful for dialing in subtle(hardly there) vowel type stuff!
Turn bias & res up way too far together, dirty or loud, you get nasty painful feedback, worse with more volts! Watch out!
Remember!: Guitar volume knob & pickup strength have huge impact on range & tone! Makes sense, cuz they are user controlled voltage regulators!
Using a compressor before SWAW can tame range, especially @ higher volts, another useful tool, but can also limit filter sounds & make it sorta anemic, again, a comp is a user controlled votage regulator, so it has huge impact on the input of any envelope filter...
A comp after SWAW has less impact, but also very useful for enhancement, or smoothing sounds out...
Using an EQ after SWAW is a huge tone scalpel! Especially boosting & cutting in the midrange... Great for fine tuning or matching up to different dirtbox characteristics...
Regarding input voltage:
Big differences when you change input voltage...
I think it actually sounds best a 9vdc, easier to adjust & control, & no volume loss or gain when switching it off & on.
12vdc is only 3 extra, so not too much different than 9vdc, a smidge harder to adjust, more extreme sounds, slight volume bump when you switch it on, would work better for lower output pickups, or if you need the more extreme sounds, or a slight bump in output.
18vdc is almost too much, gets harder to find sweetspots in narrowing ranges, significant volume bump when switching it on, some truly whackjob novelty sounds available!
More testing to come with the SBOD in front of SWAW... Should be interesting!
Any questions, feel free to post them... I'll do my best!
cheers to the small box too. 