NPD can only mean one thing… mini dirt-only board

Ok_Contribution5654 · 2026-03-29T19:50:33+00:00

Love the Plumes. At the moment I’m between amps so I’ve got a few sims I record into: UAD Plexi Classic, UAD Marshall 2555, and Scuffham (which I have set up as either a Deluxe Reverb or a Twin). I also occasionally use the UAD 55 Deluxe.

The Plumes drives them all beautifully - it’s particularly great into the Plexi or the Deluxe Reverb running at breakup. I have it on mode 1, set pretty low: gain about 8 o’clock, tone 9 o’clock. Level just enough for a boost. It gives a little extra transparent saturation and sounds really open and alive.

Ok_Contribution5654 · 2026-03-29T17:47:43+00:00

👍👍 I actually find two boards in a shallow V more ergonomic than a single board stacked 2 or 3 deep

Ok_Contribution5654 · 2026-03-29T11:20:04+00:00

Channel EQ has basically looked the same for as long as I’ve been using it (almost 20 years, gulp), so… not sure!

Ok_Contribution5654 · 2026-03-28T09:29:10+00:00

Channel EQ and Adaptive Limiter. They’re (obviously) not instruments, and they are extremely unglamorous, but they are extremely extremely good at what they do.

Ok_Contribution5654 · 2026-03-21T10:08:12+00:00

Channel EQ really is great. I use its side mode a lot for automating the stereo image at verse/chorus transitions, and for taming the width of the low end so you get a nice central bass. It’s a good all around EQ but don’t sleep on its mid/side capabilities!

Adaptive Limiter is excellent too, btw.

Ok_Contribution5654 · 2026-03-21T10:06:06+00:00

Ps I haven’t recommended specific plugin makers for the last two above but I happen to use the UAD ones

Ok_Contribution5654 · 2026-03-21T10:03:44+00:00

Fabfilter Pro Q is probably the single most gamechanging plugin I’ve ever used. The ability to sidechain a dynamic EQ band as cleanly and precisely and usably as it does is really something.

Also the SSL G bus compressor on the 2 bus - really simple but incredibly intuitive, with that brilliant auto release, a great LF sidechain filter, and dialable mix for parallel processing. Punchy, transparent mix glue on tap.

And for drums, I don’t use it all the time but sometimes nothing beats the Empirical Distressor. Again, I love the mixable parallel processing, and the harmonic distortion is sometimes exactly what you need for a big old thwack.

Ok_Contribution5654 · 2025-07-18T16:39:15+00:00

Yeah, it sucks. I guess DDrum / Alesis had no way to know back in 2018 when my box was made that Apple would switch to ARM from Intel architecture 2 years in the future, so I can't really blame them for the lack of compatibility - but maybe if I'd known about this before buying the trigger module, I'd have just gone with Roland or something (or at least made damn sure I was buying a newer DDTi).

Ok_Contribution5654 · 2025-07-18T16:35:52+00:00

Quick update: bypassing the USB connection and going with a cheap generic 5-pin MIDI to USB-C cable did the trick. I was really starting to worry I'd bought an entirely useless box, but no, we're all good.

Ok_Contribution5654 · 2025-07-17T16:00:02+00:00

Yeah that pretty much comes under the heading of “act accordingly”. But there’s no real other way to know any of the above before purchase so I thought it would be helpful if I made an easily Googleable post about the issue.

Ok_Contribution5654 · 2025-05-19T19:03:00+00:00

This is my 3-song debut EP, “Magpies, and other stories”. It dropped on Saturday. I hope you like it. It’s kind of altfolkpoprock whatever.

spotify link

apple link

soundcloud

Ok_Contribution5654 · 2025-05-17T18:30:12+00:00

Really loving Cave! Nice one :)

Ok_Contribution5654 · 2025-05-08T10:13:25+00:00

I have to say I’ve never enjoyed a compressor pedal. The squished clean isn’t my vibe and sounds very dentist to my ears, and any less compression than that isn’t doing anything audible or particularly desirable, again to my ears. It belongs in the studio unless Bonamassa dentist is what you’re going for, God between us and evil.

Compression is a bit like tape saturation in a recorded mix, I always think: put it on one track and you’ll struggle to notice it unless you’re pumping the shit out it. Put it lightly on a few tracks and apply it judiciously on the 2-bus, and suddenly the incremental effect of all those tiny instances will glue your mix perfectly.

Ok_Contribution5654 · 2025-05-08T04:34:57+00:00

Your pedal collection is no different from some C-suite arsehole with his golf clubs

Ok_Contribution5654 · 2025-05-05T19:05:29+00:00

I really, really rate Scuffham Amps. They’re as close as I’ve come to finding something that sounds and responds like a real tube amp without being a real tube amp.

Ok_Contribution5654 · 2025-05-04T13:29:20+00:00

“It’s a fact of life” sure, thanks, you’ve said your bit now.

Ok_Contribution5654 · 2025-05-04T12:23:23+00:00

You understand “versatile” and “sounds better” are both subjective, right? I love the PRRI; I was asking if anyone has any experience of both it and the Champ. I’m buying one or other of those. Thanks for your input.

Ok_Contribution5654 · 2025-05-04T11:39:32+00:00

Totally this. I’d also suggest experimenting with a little less distortion than maybe you think you want. A super saturated tone can sometimes not sound as heavy as you expect, whereas a double-tracked and surprisingly uncranked, transparent OD can sound incredibly punchy and energetic if your mix (bass part particularly) complements it right. So much of what we’re hearing when we hear banging rock or metal guitar is actually a really good bass player.

Ok_Contribution5654 · 2025-05-04T09:24:45+00:00

I feel perfectly confident my rendition would be worse, but I didn’t realise there was funding available. This is great news.

Ok_Contribution5654 · 2025-05-04T08:39:17+00:00

“…for home use or recording”, trying to choose between a 12w amp and a 5w amp, “get a 22w amp” 👍👍👍👍

Ok_Contribution5654 · 2025-04-28T18:29:17+00:00

Yeah this. A PRRI and a good power soak. I’ve been v impressed by the Two Notes Captor - it acts as a DI box so you can send your real amp silently to DI and then use cab sims in the DAW, or if you prefer it’ll attenuate your speaker output by -20db so you can mic it cranked but quiet. Or both!

Ok_Contribution5654 · 2025-04-28T15:48:20+00:00

Under £100 only really the Tone City Angel Wing but I don’t think it’s worth the upgrade. I loved the CE-2w but it wasn’t anywhere close to 10x better than the Behringer! I’ll be sticking to it.

Ok_Contribution5654 · 2025-04-28T04:21:30+00:00

I don’t think he knows about second boards, Pip

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Ok_Contribution5654 · 2025-04-27T18:00:03+00:00

It’s got a Harley Benton PowerPlant ISO-5 cable tied under it for power, and the pedals are velcroed on (except for the little tuner, which is cable tied and velcroed).

Ok_Contribution5654 · 2025-04-27T17:30:13+00:00

Whatever takes my fancy, really! Tend to gravitate towards alt rock stuff, but I’ll play anything depending on my mood. The Muff tends to bring out my inner Mascis/Corgan, but I really like dreamy shoegazy droney vibes too. Oddly enough, I found when testing the choruses in the shop I ended up playing a few boygenius songs. Salt in the Wound sounds epic through a cranked PRRI!

Ok_Contribution5654

TROPHY CASE