Supa Puss Chase mode; how practical is it/alternatives?

tweaknoob

I'm thinking about getting a Way Huge Supa Puss - primarily for the chase mode features.

I was wondering:

How well does chase mode respond to tap tempo and how tame/predictable is it?

Does it get muddy if there are two notes play shortly after oneanother (in chase mode)?

Are there other delay pedals that can do a similar type of pitch shift cycling effect? Or also maybe some interesting non-delay alternatives

guitargeek62

The xhase mode seemed useless when I had one, except maybe as a gimmick here & there. I can't picture a time where I'd willingly want to use it, but then I'm not that inventive! 

From what I remember, all it did was step through the different time signatures (?) in sequence, which meant your repeats would be moving all over the place. No real pitch shifting or other fancy nonsense.

EricTheWeary

We seem to be in an era of smart analogue delays. For similar money you could look at the DOD Rubberneck or the MXR Carbon Copy Deluxe both of which offer greater noise making potential than the Way Huge. There's also the Sinvertek Fluid Time MK 2 which is a bit cheaper and is another smart analogue delay capable of various functions. 

tweaknoob

Thanks Eric, just had a look at a few demos and they all look like very interesting alternatives. You used any of them and if so, what are your thoughts?

bbill335

EricTheWeary said:

We seem to be in an era of smart analogue delays. For similar money you could look at the DOD Rubberneck or the MXR Carbon Copy Deluxe both of which offer greater noise making potential than the Way Huge. There's also the Sinvertek Fluid Time MK 2 which is a bit cheaper and is another smart analogue delay capable of various functions. 

Those things are kind of going after the kind of features that the supapuss did first, as far as I can tell. More interesting to me is the 80tape limbo. 

Chase mode is a less useful noisemaking tool than the supapuss' oscillations, which are really nice compared to the other WH delays.

tweaknoob

Oh Christ, I want them all now

EricTheWeary

They are all fairly new - the Sinvertek has been around a few months, the DOD announced in January but only hitting the shops now, the CC Deluxe only just announced. There's also a Stone Deaf one coming out but that's more money ( and you also have to use their £100 expression pedal to access the more creative features). I'm very keen to get my hands on them, even just a decent demo of the CC Deluxe would help.* 
Certainly the Rubberneck is the one to look at if you want a single box solution as the others need expression pedals to access the more 'creative' noises. Seems to be the 'in' thing in pedals this year.

It's also an area/ cost which crosses over into some of the digital delays that can do more stuff and have digital,tape, etc, models as well as analogue ones. But I'm generally keen on simplicity and on BBD analogue delays so I'm watching these with keen interest. 

* The CC Deluxe has two presets and various options for expression pedal use but I've yet to see how these work on YouTube clips so far. 

tweaknoob

The Sinvertek Fluid Time MK 2 looks like a very impressive bit of kit for the price. I think the 80tape limbo is pretty much bang on the type of thing I was after.

EricTheWeary

Never seen the 80 tape before, although not clear how I could get hold of one if I wanted one? 

tweaknoob

Sold out from the manufacturer's website - sent them an email asking when they're making the next batch.

colourofsound

In answer to your initial question - yes, the Chase Mode is useable for song writing purposes. It cycles through the subdivisions to create arpeggiated sounds. Depending on which of the 5 patterns you choose it can sound atonal or pretty sweet. The transitions are tight and it never sounds muddy to me. However...

I have an 80Tape Limbo II, and I've had the Supa Puss (and plan to rebuy it one day). I love them both, but the reality of it is that they're not really useable in a live situation. In the studio you can get great effects, especially when sync'd externally with a MIDI clock for example - both the Chase mode on the Supa Puss and the Arp mode on the Limbo II are governed by the delay time/subdivisions. But start adding other humans/drummers and you've got a right mess on your hands.

'Rubbernecking' on the DOD Rubberneck is more of an incidental effect; nothing that I've seen of the pedal can be made into anything musical like you can after spending some time with the Supa Puss or the Limbo II. It's more like a transitional effect which is certainly more usable live but it's not going to help you write a song. Maybe.

The other option if you have the cash is the Chase Bliss Tonal Recall. All of the options are MIDI controllable and you can faff around with CC numbers and all that jazz to get the desired effect if you have the right hardware to go with it.

All these effects are evolutions of Chase Mode - the effect is created by shifting the delay time (or subdivision) sharply to create arpeggiations. The key is controlling these arpeggiations. Enter the 8 Step Program:



Now, with a CV generator like the 8 Step Program and literally ANY delay that will accept expression input on delay time/subdivision, you can create these funky arps in a controlled manner. Obviously it's a lot of pedalboard space to take up; and if you were seriously looking to get into it I'd consider the Lightning Wave CV Generator but that's gonna run you a bit of cash given it's an import from NZ. There's also the Korg SQ-1 which would be more readily available but isn't really aimed at guitar effects.

I haven't bought a sequencer yet but I will do eventually to unleash on my Limbo II. Have fun!

Addendum: it should also be noted that the Tonal Recall's 'Ramp and Hold' dipswitch feature can be emulated using any delay with expression input and a Boss ES-5/8/MS-3 loop switcher. You can use the Assign feature on the Boss switchers to create a virtual expression pedal that will ramp up through your chosen parameter and hold once it gets to the top. Loads of options

colourofsound

EricTheWeary said:

Never seen the 80 tape before, although not clear how I could get hold of one if I wanted one? 

It's a total pain. Jonny at 80Tape has also run out of the MN3005 chips and so won't be making any for the foreseeable. He's now working on pedals with Lightning Wave. Add to that the import fees.....

Check eBay, Reverb.com and the ilovefuzz.com B/S/T forums for a shot at one. I'll never sell mine!

The Supa Puss or Tonal Recall is the closest alternative. In fact the Supa Puss is going to get you 80% of the features the Limbo III Compact can get you.

Teetonetal

I have a Dod rubberneck on pre order. Should ship on Friday. .. will report back once I have it

bbill335

colourofsound said:

EricTheWeary said:

Never seen the 80 tape before, although not clear how I could get hold of one if I wanted one? 

It's a total pain. Jonny at 80Tape has also run out of the MN3005 chips and so won't be making any for the foreseeable. He's now working on pedals with Lightning Wave. Add to that the import fees.....

Check eBay, Reverb.com and the ilovefuzz.com B/S/T forums for a shot at one. I'll never sell mine!

The Supa Puss or Tonal Recall is the closest alternative. In fact the Supa Puss is going to get you 80% of the features the Limbo III Compact can get you.

This is the reason I never bothered to try and hunt down a Limbo when I was in the market for a new delay, they were and would always remain unobtainium and I ain't about that. I found a brand new supa for barely more than the used price (I actually think I nearly bought yours off you? I can't remember) and it's excellent for standard delay sounds, just good enough for when I try and get wacky. I kind of wish you could get the regular aqua puss with tap because I think that had the nicest sound to it of all the analog delays I tried but the tap on the supa is invaluable.  Maybe I need both, and a CB echorec, and an old copicat...

colourofsound

bbill335 said:

colourofsound said:

EricTheWeary said:

Never seen the 80 tape before, although not clear how I could get hold of one if I wanted one? 

It's a total pain. Jonny at 80Tape has also run out of the MN3005 chips and so won't be making any for the foreseeable. He's now working on pedals with Lightning Wave. Add to that the import fees.....

Check eBay, Reverb.com and the ilovefuzz.com B/S/T forums for a shot at one. I'll never sell mine!

The Supa Puss or Tonal Recall is the closest alternative. In fact the Supa Puss is going to get you 80% of the features the Limbo III Compact can get you.

This is the reason I never bothered to try and hunt down a Limbo when I was in the market for a new delay, they were and would always remain unobtainium and I ain't about that. I found a brand new supa for barely more than the used price (I actually think I nearly bought yours off you? I can't remember) and it's excellent for standard delay sounds, just good enough for when I try and get wacky. I kind of wish you could get the regular aqua puss with tap because I think that had the nicest sound to it of all the analog delays I tried but the tap on the supa is invaluable.  Maybe I need both, and a CB echorec, and an old copicat...

I was very lucky; Jonny had the parts for one more left, and I had a mate in NZ who was flying home. So i got one at face-value price.

bbill335

@colourofsound it must be nice to have the planets align for you!

colourofsound

bbill335 said:

@colourofsound it must be nice to have the planets align for you!

Indeed! It doesnt happen very often!

tweaknoob

New demo of that Sinvertek pedal online today from Dennis Kayzer