PPF has landed in Hawaii

[thesjkexperience]

I was looking back at the old Cornish thread here in the Community section from a google search on the LD-1 buffer.

Donnel, do you feel the PPF does a good enough G-2 to sub one for the other? I loved the sound of my G-2, but it really NEEDS a clean amp and my amps don't stay clean for long! Have you tried the PPF into a ODing amp?

It would be nice to sub a PPF for the Fulltone 70 in my chain as it can be too bright at times and too muddy at others. It is just the PPF is big $$, but I guess I need to try one. I haven't bought a BJFE in half a year!

[rockeroo]

I was looking back at the old Cornish thread here in the Community section from a google search on the LD-1 buffer.

Donnel, do you feel the PPF does a good enough G-2 to sub one for the other? I loved the sound of my G-2, but it really NEEDS a clean amp and my amps don't stay clean for long! Have you tried the PPF into a ODing amp?

It would be nice to sub a PPF for the Fulltone 70 in my chain as it can be too bright at times and too muddy at others. It is just the PPF is big $$, but I guess I need to try one. I haven't bought a BJFE in half a year!

How dirty are you talking? The PPF works slightly different with an already driven amp than with a clean one. To my ears, the pedal becomes more tweakable and moldable (and even hairier) when the amp is at breakup or beyond. The PPF is not an over-the-top fuzz, but the fuzzy character is always there. You can shape the tone into fuzz or OD domain. With a pushed amp, you will tend towards a hairy fuzz that can be tamed.

I have not played with Cornish stuff, so I cannot compare the two. If you do not require wild, crazy fuzz, the PPF is INCREDIBLE with clean and driven amps.

Hopefully, I will be able to get a sample up of what it sounds like with a clean and dirty amp. What type of amp would you like to hear? I have an old deluxe reverb, a stiletto deuce two, an AC30, a bandmaster, a bassman, a dual terror... Let me know, and I will make something up.

Cheers!

[thesjkexperience]

That would be great! Right now my amps are all single channel with no master volume, but the SST-30 is on its way and that does have a MV. None of them get into metal territory unless you are talking old Zeppelin! I really like fuzz faces and the BJFE EGDM & Mad Prof SHOD into the amps when driven.

I like the Cornish G-2, but it is so compressed and it doesn't work with a dirty amp. Sounds jaw-dropping through a clean amp though! I'd love to have a fuzz that can do a G-2 sound and work with slightly dirty amps.

[Donner]

yeah I think the unique tone control on the PPF helps with allowing it to work in just about any situation ~ theres a looooot of variation in there and it takes a bit to figure the nuances in the controls --- I had a G2 on loan recently and they are very close in some of the range ---- but Im one of the few that dont care for the restrained feel of the C buffer.

[musicsoma]

had a G2 on loan recently and they are very close in some of the range ---- but Im one of the few that dont care for the restrained feel of the C buffer.

That is a perfect way to describe it. The same was true for me. I absolutely love the sound of the Cornish stuff, but when I had it on my board, I felt sort of boxed in by the feel. It was the opposite for me when I played through something like the BBOD where my playing seemed to open up.

[rockeroo]

These characteristics seem to be a trademark of Bjorn's. ALL of his pedals are open -- unless you choose to close/compress them up. Having this freedom gives a great deal more room for tonal and sonic shaping. 90+% of the pedals out there simply do not have this trait, and it is all to Bjorn's credit that he designed this moldability into his masterpieces.

I am reminded of the raw openness of the CH2, because if the pedal started out compressed, there would NEVER be a way to unwrap the sheer girth of those tones. On the other hand, you can also compress the CH2 to death and get a fat, heavy wall of rock.

One could say this about any of the pedals. I am finding this to be true of all my BJFe drives: the MHvT, the EGDM and even the PPF. Perhaps because many people are used to the finely tuned and compressed driven tones from the studio, having the ability to expand their palatte with more flexability becomes a challenge when trying to "nail" a certain sound. The great thing is how more types of "sounds" can be effectively nailed with BJFe drives (+compressor and EQ) in place.

More importantly, I have noticed this character influencing my choice of stacking in recent months because the openness of the BJFe line can shine through the other pedals in the chain to alter their norm sound. For example, I have a Custom Shop BB Preamp MB, and while I love the way that pedal sounds by itself, it takes on a whole new dimension when I stack it with a HBOD or my FF DLX on lower gain settings. Having the midrange tweakability of the BBPMP with the openness of the BJFe makes the whole sound heavenly.

I can quote Donner's common reminder that simply adding a SBEQ to your chain will make an incredible difference tonally. If you can improve tone with a SBEQ, why not mix in some others as well?

Have fun, gents.

Cheers.

[hawaii121]

rockeroo really hits it - Bjorn's stuff is very "open" and "uncompressed" to my ears as well. One cool thing about the PPF is that it CAN be played with both a clean or an overdriven amp and sound fantastic. I just got another G2 on my board yesterday and I must confess, for the polished studio OD/distortion thing, I really really love it. I also think my auditory memory is turning out to be like my other memory and is less accurate than I would like to think so, for the future, I'm going to steer away from saying whether or not one pedal sounds like another unless I still have booth on my board. That said, I would describe the PPF as more of an inbetween the G2 and P2 pedal that has slightly more rawness to it than the uber smooth Cornish. This is not a "better" or "worse" thing, just different.

One thing I really like about the Cornish is that you can hear every string even when the sustain knobs are almost dime'd out. To get a similar thing from the PPF I ended up running it at 12v last weekend and found that it really helped to tighten things a bit and create better note separation.

Rockeroo, your willingness to put together demos is really cool - I'm sure they will answer all the necessary questions.

Interesting that the BBOD gets mentioned in this thread... sometime next week...

[thesjkexperience]

I also think my auditory memory is turning out to be like my other memory and is less accurate than I would like to think so, for the future, I'm going to steer away from saying whether or not one pedal sounds like another unless I still have booth on my board.

Interesting that the BBOD gets mentioned in this thread... sometime next week...

I have wondered about the auditory memory. I find myself both more knowledgeable about getting great tone and looking for different things over time, so has my memory changed or something else? An example is the MP SHOD. I tried that pedal before trying any BJFE and didnt really like it, but three SHODs later I ran it into a drivin amp and BAM there it is!

I also wonder about the BBOD as I got to try it well over a year ago and thought it was all right, but not worth $500. I'd love to try one again and see how it works for me now.

I also dig the G-2, but there are times I wish it were dynamic and open. If only the DRD could hit the G-2 sound as well as its own thing that would solve a lot of problems! Someday I need to try a PPF. I just wish it were more available and had a little lower entry level, but you can always sell it for what you bought it for....

[rockeroo]

Baseball game tomorrow...
Hike on Saturday...
Recording a little PPF on SUNDAY!!! (hopefully to post on Monday)

My plan is to use my deluxe reverb clean and at breakup with the PPF. I will also illustrate clean v. dirty with the PPF and my dual terror at 30 and 15W, respectively.

I will try stacking the PPF (in both directions) with my KLON through the deluxe, and I will probably end with deluxe>SBEQ>KLON>PGC>PPF>Strat. I may through in a touch of the proto Deep Blue Delay for good measure!

If there are any objections or alternative suggestions, please send them my way!

Cheers.

[thesjkexperience]

Wow! That sounds fantastic and very thorough! Still I cant wait to hear the PPF in real world situations. Bobby D's video sure makes the PPF sound like a lot of fun! I was running through most of my fuzzes last night and still prefer the Fulltone 70 over my Pumpkin Pi, custom Led Bender MKIII, DRD (well it is a fuzz) and my byoc triangle beaver. I still like my Sunface high gain as much as the 70, but there are many times it gets muddy and now that the SBEQ is back in the chain as an eq the 70 sounds even better.

But, the last thing I need now is gas! I am a very lucky, but broke boy. I should get my LsL T-Bone back from a fret dress (pictured in avatar) today or Monday, Monday I get a Strymon Timeline and Tuesday I finally get my Swart SST-30 head! And, Thursday I go camping for 4 days and dont get to play with my toys.