Euro Tourbox #2 Telenordia (OD/Compressor/Treble Boost/Trem) Post reviews here

I thought part of the fun was the way pedals could sound good one day and awful the next

 

Thanks! I got the pedals an hour ago.

Unfortunately, it looks like I won't be able to give them a test drive before next week. I'm very curious about the tremolo...

 

Is that a grease spray on your board???

 

Thanks for the info.

 

I didn't have time to try the pedals yet. Looks like Thursday or Friday right now. Will post then.

 

Here we go...

I was using a 1974 Hagstrom Swede and mid-70s Vox AC30 with silver bulldogs.

I didn't really spend enough time with these pedals, so please take everything with a grain of salt. As you can see, I only listed my personal pros and cons. (My job and my studies are keeping me really busy right now, I apologize in advance.)

General impressions concerning all four pedals:

+++
I very much like the aesthetic. The engravings, knobs, LEDs, the placement of jacks etc. This all adds up to a very distinct and unconventional appearance.

The built quality is top notch. Look at those battery holders!

Just as the aesthetic suggests, all four pedals have a very distinct sound pattern.

---
The power jacks could be a little tighter.

The manuals seem a bit unclear as far as correct polarity and power requirements are concerned. Also a bit too technical for me.

All the pedals look the same. They do look cool, but I think, if I had three or four lined up at my feet, I might confuse them on stage. (But maybe that's just me.)


TA-100 Overdrive

+++
Smooth, warm overdrive, sounds similar to a good germanium fuzz with „drive“ at max. Very easy to dial in.

---
I didn't like the tone control. At least it didn't really work with my guitar/amp combination. Anything below 3 o clock would sound rather muddy.

It doesn't have enough output for my taste. (I'm weird in this regard. I want things to be capable of "too loud".)


TT-3 Tremolo

+++
I liked its very warm, musical sound (for lack of a better description). It confirmed that tremolo is the only modulation effect I enjoy.

The “output“ control adds flexiblility. No volume drop problems, obviously.

---
Modulation could be a bit faster.

It adds its own flavor (which is either good or bad – I didn't really like it in the end).


TK-23 Kompressor

As I said in my Okko review, I don't use/have compressors and I have no real frame of reference. But, suprisingly enough, I have to say that I loved this pedal.

+++
It sounds great, no harshness, just fat and juicy with beautifully enhanced clarity and punch. Very nice for clean arpeggios.

---
no complaints


TA-24 Treble Booster

Even though I play through an old AC30 (which is actually my only amp), I'm new to treble boosters. I have nothing to compare this pedal with, and I don't normally use the „normal“ channel of the Vox, but:

+++
I ran this into the top boost channel and the full range setting sounded phenomenal.

This pedal has all the output the TA-100 is lacking, in my opinion.

Pushing the amp into slight break-up sounded wonderful.

---
No complaints, but then again I didn't actually use it as a treble booster.

 

According to an email he sent me - yes.

 

Yes, got it yesterday and did my first tests

 

Lord's been busy but has tested the pedals :RoCkIn

So here's my review but first again thanks to Telenordia and Seegs for making this box happen!!

Test equipment:
Tyler Studio Elite and Classic
Fender USA tele
Tokai LS80, 1980 LP I just received on Monday
Masotti X100M (6L6), CAE 3+SE pre into Advance power amp (EL34).
Lenders 2x12 cab with Governor and another with Red, White & Blues.

First some overall comments about these pedals. I absolutely dig the looks, bare to the bone, simple but very well build. As much as I like colorfull stuff, I think the Telenordia pedals look excellent. The manuals that come with each pedal are very well written and although some parts are almost to high-level in their explanation, they really explain well what everything does.

Overdrive

Reading up on the overdrive, I was not sure what to expect, I'm still not 100% sure. I cannot say that I don't like this pedal but it's not a totall love-fest either. I have no real idea what sounds this aims for. Now, I got some good sounds from it but I always had the feeling that something was missing, that the drive was not there. I thought at first that it was a dying battery but even running with a power supply it sounded euhm different. Maybe I was thinking to much about fuzz sounds because it has Germanium semiconductors. I did find some great low gain sounds with my tele. Not giving up, decided to run it as a booster and thought it did much better there. You get the responsivenes of the Ge-fuzz-like tones with a hint of overdrive from the amp. Reminded me somewhat of a lower gain version of the Evermann Fuzzdrive G2. This was very good sounding. Not tones that I would often use and abuse but it was fun playing. With the LP, this sounded friggen huge.

Tremelo

I don't have much use for a trem but I was curious about it. I only ever owned a Boss trem and that was at least 10 years ago. I had some fun playing this pedal but I have no clue how it compares to others. I thought it sounded fairly dark overall and it put it's own stamp on your tone. Which can be a good or bad thing, depending on what you want. It has a good range going from subtle to seasick wobble. I liked the fact that it has an output control so you can level it well. Overall, fun for a while, not something I'd use and I'd probably prefer something more (sorry) transparant.

Compressor

I was really curious about how this one would fair against my Barber. From the previous Okko-tourbox, I learned that the Barber isn't anymore the be-all-end-all comp for me. The Telenordia has a similar setup as the Barber as it also allows you to set the amount of compressed signal you get in the overall output, it does this in a different way then the Barber. At first, I found the Telenordia-way less intuitive but after a while I got used to it. Also using Germanium components, it has it's own tone. I wouldn't call it transparant but it does something very very cool tonewise. It has plenty of output to serve as booster as well. Into a clean channel, it added a touch of hi-fi-ness to my sound which was very pleasing to the ears. It seemed to add some sparkle and presence compared to the Barber and I liked that a lot. Using it as a booster was a surprise, running the tele into the comp into either an OD or a crunch channel yielded amazing results. With the amount of compressed signal low and some extra volume it gave me stellar rhythm tones. I was also very pleased how it worked when rolling of the volume and this particularly sounded great with the LP.

Treble booster

Last, but not least because the treble booster was my favorite pedal of them all. I have never owned a treble booster and have only played some on occasions. I can be very brief with this one, I could not stop playing it and didn't find any bad setting. I preferred some settings with single coils and others with humbuckers but overall, impressive stuff. It adds some noise, not a lot but some and I have no clue if this is normal with treble boosters. I haven't tested it behind buffers or in my rack, hope to quickly try it tonight before sending it off.

This tourbox again added some GAS which I don't really need Both the Treble Booster and Compressor have seriously sparked my interest.

 

If anyone's interested I posted a review of my custom TA-100 over at the Alt-Country Club thread.

 

Tour box is in my house!
I'm waiting for my brand new amp head, a Reinhardt 18 watts. I believe it will be at home within two days, and I absolutely want to try the treble booster in this amp...
I will ship all the boxes to the next forumite asap after that.

 

hi guys,
whats the status on the tourbox now?
who has it?

thanks

matt

 

Grant, what page of the alt-country thread is that TA-100 Custom on? Also, you talk about running the TA before the TU-2. On your board, isn't the TU-2 in its own bypass loop of the Pedalboard Junction so it is never in the signal path?