Opinions: Tech21 Liverpool Private Stock pedal

[GtrGeorge!]

Never used it..but I like a clone of the Liverpool currently. Anyone ever use one? Thoughts on it?

 

[GtrGeorge!]

hello?....is this thing on????

 

[gearscrubs]

I haven't played it, but I do have the private stock blonde deluxe pedal. It's really good. The presets and loop make it a great option for live and for recording. I'm sure the Liverpool would be equally good.

 

[tech21nyc]

Unfortunately we're not offering the Liverpool Deluxe at this time.

Our Private Stock products are limited run products. Sometimes our owner and designer comes up with ideas that may not be practical to produce in large quantities. From our Private Stock page:

Andrew Barta started Tech 21 with a product he originally designed for himself. Being a constant tinkerer, there are times he is inspired to build creations for his own enjoyment that are outside the realm of being mass produced and commercially viable. With the encouragement from a select few who have witnessed some of these products, Andrew has decided to open the door to his Private Stock.

Our Private Stock division will offer a diverse range of products. Each product will be custom-designed by Andrew, hand-built, tested and tweaked at our factory in the United States, and available directly for purchase on a per order basis.

 

[rhoydotp]

What I want is a "Super Deluxe" that would have all the character series in the box and you can save presets ... for a reasonable price

 

[Bucksears]

What I want is a "Super Deluxe" that would have all the character series in the box and you can save presets ... for a reasonable price

I'd take a rackmount version, too.

 

[GtrGeorge!]

Well,
it actually happened!!!! I was in touch with Tech 21 and they built a Liverpool Deluxe (Private Stock) for me!!! It's a very limited run, as they are hand made. I got the first one!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I opened the box and played 5 hrs with it. Seemed like 5 minutes. TOTALLY WORTH IT. If you are apro musicians (or just like professional tools), it's a great piece of kit. Previous to this most overdrives I used were either to much distortion or not enough. And if the crunch was right, then the tone was off..it was always a serious compromise. I own about 40 pedals and none of them came this close to what I need. With the Liverpool Deluxe I can dial anything in from the lightest barely-crunchy..to full on way over the top "fuzz". And save to it a preset!!!!! Awesome stuff. I am over the moon about it. Can't wait to play it on all the gigs!!!!!!

 

[GtrGeorge!]

I have a clip on my FB page of me just soloing thru it. just search my name (George Barry) and add 77 in the FB search It was my first go-thru with it, and man...it ROCKS!

 

[crambone]

Nice, snap a pic or two!

I <3 my Liverpool. It's my amp for church & bars.

 

[GtrGeorge!]

I'll take some pics, but not sure if I know how to post them here. Better yet, hear it at my FB. I can't believe how versatile it is. A truly professional tool.

 

[Bucksears]

Well,
it actually happened!!!! I was in touch with Tech 21 and they built a Liverpool Deluxe (Private Stock) for me!!! It's a very limited run, as they are hand made. I got the first one!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I opened the box and played 5 hrs with it. Seemed like 5 minutes. TOTALLY WORTH IT. If you are apro musicians (or just like professional tools), it's a great piece of kit. Previous to this most overdrives I used were either to much distortion or not enough. And if the crunch was right, then the tone was off..it was always a serious compromise. I own about 40 pedals and none of them came this close to what I need. With the Liverpool Deluxe I can dial anything in from the lightest barely-crunchy..to full on way over the top "fuzz". And save to it a preset!!!!! Awesome stuff. I am over the moon about it. Can't wait to play it on all the gigs!!!!!!

Cool
Are you using it for direct recording/direct-to-PA, or are you using into the front end of an amp like a dirt pedal?

 

[GtrGeorge!]

Buck,
I do alot of recording and play pretty much every weekend. I use it with a DI for recording, and with an amp live. Works great either way. I own many pedals, and always found that light gain sounds are the hardest to get right. Over the top is easy...clean is easy.....but the in between stuff is very touchy. No wonder so many pros use a Vox AC30. I was always a Marshall guy (have owned many marshalls!!)..but few would argue that Marshalls do clean well. And Fenders do clean well..but dirt? Not so much. So the Vox really sits in the middle and does both quite well,imho. I am really happy with the Tech21 Liverpool, which is basically a "Vox in a Box".

 

[erniecaster]

Hi,

once again - I am a Tech21 fanboi.

But these Private Stocks make me angry. I can´t buy them as I live in Europe. The limited runs are sold out very soon. Hey, I want you to take my money!


cu

erniecaster

 

[Daka3]

Absolute Tech21 fanboi here too. My board boasts three of their excellent boxes that I use with great ardour and gusto!

 

[GtrGeorge!]

So today I used the Liverpool Deluxe out live for the first time. I made some presets at home, but you know how it goes out live..Things dont go as expected. .I need to work more at the presets.
Added 5/21/2016: Go to end of thread for update.

 

[GtrGeorge!]

Ok, some things I learned tonight. After I loaded in all the gear and set it up I just spend 3 hrs with the Liverpool Deluxe (LPD) and learned even more about this pedal. I went DI into the PA, and tried many various ways of using the pedal.MANY WAYS over 3 hours.
I think Tech21 has really done an excellent job. If you tried to coble together a comparable effort (a good analog pedal, a DI box, and XLR out , a separate pedal to get a loop going...it would cost more than this..and it would a PIA to transport. It would break down alot after a while (lots of parts tend to do that). So its worth the $315 or approx....no doubt about it. But I sense Andrew Barta and the team at Tech21 could still conjoure up something with a tad more output, a bit less noise and a smidge easier to dial in. But trust me, I aint giving it back!!!! And my trusty FlyRig5, sits in my guitar case..and it is also a professional tool that is gig worthy. But the Liverpool offers a more versatile palette of lower gain sounds and some more distorted sounds (more fuzzier than a Plexi dimed!!!) that cant be produced by the Plexi section of the FlyRig5. And you can save 6 presets, which is so useful.
So there you have it, some more experience with the LPD. Hope it helps more people to find this useful pedal and use it to the max. I will..at every gig.

 

[GtrGeorge!]

..am I done? Not yet. I will spend some more time with it and report back. (Maybe I will have an even better understanding of output volume by then). I am pretty certain Tech21 will likely make some suggestions for usage. They really do a great job of supporting their products.

 

[drbob1]

Tech21 does build a machine that does all those things you suggest, it's the rack mount PSA 1.1! Everything that is, except that it's a little noisy on high gain modes too.

 

[tech21nyc]

Output Volume: The pedal does produce enough volume. But one needs to learn where that volume is, in terms of the gain stages and your choice of outputs. Example: the XLR out is HOT!!!!!!! Lots of Volume, but sadly the Cab sim is always on (and frankly I don't like their cab sim..so I am stuck with it..if I want lots of output).
The other output is a 1/4" output (the usual size for guitar pedal-output jacks), and it has a decent output, but nothing fabulous. It however can be boosted by a small button on the pedal. To my ears, using that boost is good, but the tone changes just a hair. So, I prefer it off. And luckily,for me, this output has a SWITCHABLE Cab sim button (so I turn it off!!!). But the result of no boost button is an output I have to turn up a bit when going DI , and that's when I notice a bit of noise. If I used a noise gate I'd be fine.

The XLR output is normally 0dB depending on settings. If you engage the pad that drops to -20dB. The 1/4" instrument out is -10dB which is instrument level for use with amps and with the 1/4" boost (+10dB) engaged the output is 0dB. There should be no change in tone when changing levels. I've tested these pedals myself on the scope and only the level changes. When using the pedal with a mixer or interface you need to gain stage both units for optimum results. You should be able to easily achieve unity gain at the mixer without having to run the mixers trim pots to the max (which will add noise) or by running the Liverpool's level control to the max.

You may not understand how the speaker sim works. When engaged it is designed to sound like a mic'd speaker speaker when running direct. You may have to alter the tone controls to get the best results depending upon your playback system. Even a real mic'd amp can sound radically different through different sets of full range speakers.

The reason it is always present on the XLR output is that the sound of the pedal without the speaker emulation will be too fizzy and harsh without it for direct use. On the 1/4" output the speaker sim button does bypass the speaker sim but puts a 6dB per octave high end roll-off in its place to make the pedal easier to use with a bright guitar amp. So in essence you are swapping out the speaker sim with the filter. While the filter is darker sounding it will not be able to reduce the fizz of higher gain sounds when run direct. If you want to hear the speaker sim completely bypassed you can run the EFX send out to the board or an amp but that should be even brighter and not desirable for either application.

Input Stuff: The pedal really likes Passive pickups better than active ones. Why? Well it seems the input gets slammed by actives and that means it's harder to get a good clean sound going. My strat with passives gives a good clean, with no breakup at all. My emg 81 is to much however. I play an 81 alot..so I guess I have to compromise a bit. I alos have some active Single coils, and they also push the inputs more than I'd like,for a clean tone.
The output knob: You would think all it does it make things louder. Well, like REAL analog gear...everything interacts. In this case I tend to get more distortion when I turn up the Output volume (and all I really wanted was more output.). Not distortion because it drove the PA too hard, distortion because the output has some effect internally within the LPD. So does Character and drive. There is alot of interaction between these 3 knobs, so tweak away and use your ears to find Voxy Goodness.

We have a guitar here with two EMG humbuckers and did some testing. We experienced some input stage distortion. This was pretty easily remedied by reducing the guitar's volume. There is no loss in tone when turning down an active pickup. We did some further testing. We ran the guitar's pickups through some test equipment and found the pickup itself was distorting. We tried a fresh battery and the pickup distorted even more. This guitar has no other active circuitry so it became obvious that internally the pickup was overloading. We had to lower the strings to make it stop. This may not be as apparent with some devices but the Liverpool has a bright boost at the input which accentuated this noise. I guess this is why some players run their pickups at 18 volts.

Once again the Level control should not cause a tonal change. Try setting the pedal for "unity gain." This means the output is the same in bypass as when the pedal is engaged. This is a good starting point.

My negative thing: I wish the knobs were just regular knobs instead of knobs that take a minute to grab what you dialed in. If you know the Private stock series, you know what I mean. It's not a big deal, but sometimes I chase sounds a bit because these knobs take a moment to understand I am tweaking them. Maybe Tech21 can loose that and save some money for future customers, I think the feature is more bothersome than it's worth, at times.

The controls on the pedal are digi-pots and don't have audio going through them which is why the pedal is analog. They tell the microprocessor the value which can in turn be stored. This is unlike a digital product. The "lazy" pot feature prevents you from accidentally turning up the Drive or Level to a level that may cause unwanted distortion or damage your speaker system. It can be a bit frustrating when trying to tweak on the fly but the idea is that you already have your presets tweaked and stored. Once you get a handle on it you can easily "fine tune" things in a live setting. There really isn't an easy way to do this with an analog pedal without adding cost and possibly increasing the size or changing the form factor.

 

[GtrGeorge!]

See people??? That's amazing customer service!! I have alot to digest here..and will report back once I get a better handle on things. I am beginning to see that I need quite a bit of time to suss things out. Thought I was quicker than that. (Epic fail....)