Low - Alan's pedals

ewal

I went to see  Low this evening in Glasgow. It was magic. Here's a pic of Alan Sparhawk's pedals. I've worked them all out except the turquoise one beside the Avalanche Run. Put me out my misery - what is it?

https://i.imgur.com/mzX097x.jpg

benmurray85

Montreal Assembly Count to Five 

ewal

Thanks. Judging by the rest of his pedals, it will rare and expensive...

toescantalk

ewal said:

Thanks. Judging by the rest of his pedals, it will rare and expensive...

Out of interest what are the others? I'm a bit out of touch with my pedals recently.

benmurray85

ewal said:

Thanks. Judging by the rest of his pedals, it will rare and expensive...

Rare? Not as rare as they used to be. I think they release pre-orders in reasonably small batches but they seem to crop up on here and eBay on occasion. 

Expensive? I think they’re around £250-ish plus import charges if you buy new. So not cheap but to put that into perspective you get a delay, looper, phrase sampler with numerous modes and different capabilities so probably not ridiculously over priced tbf. 

They are their own own thing and definitely worth trying out if you have the chance. I sold mine for cash when I was skint and have regretted it loads since!

Paul_C

Lots of fun for making weird sounds with - I have two

Reverend

I spy a Sib! Mr Echo. I have one in need of repair. 

ewal

 toescantalk said:

ewal said:

Thanks. Judging by the rest of his pedals, it will rare and expensive...

Out of interest what are the others? I'm a bit out of touch with my pedals recently.

ZVEX Instant LoFi Junky > Red Panda Particle > EQD Avalanche Run > Montreal Assembly Count to Five > ZVEX Octane III > Sib! Mr Echo > ZVEX Lo-Fi Loop Junky > ZVEX Super Hard On

I think...

Whitecat

Very cool, thanks for that. Seeing Low on Friday in London, I'm very excited. Alan is just an absolute master. Is he still playing that Danelectro monstrosity for most of the set?

ewal

Whitecat said:

Very cool, thanks for that. Seeing Low on Friday in London, I'm very excited. Alan is just an absolute master. Is he still playing that Danelectro monstrosity for most of the set?

Yes he used the Danelectro throughout. Thinking back, I don't think I saw him tune it once, so it must be a better guitar than it looks! It was a great show. Not my favourite Low, but the new songs were great live, they played 'Do You Know How To Waltz?' - first time I've seen them do it live, some of the noises they were getting from that guitar and Steve's bass were amazing. The lighting and effects were very creative, they were in darkness for most of the show. Very interesting, although again I find Alan a very watchable singer and player, so my favourite shows were when I've been up close to stage when Alan was playing his Les Paul.

The support, RIchard Youngs, was truly dreadful, however I think you'll be spared him - I imagine he was only playing Glasgow.

Whitecat

ewal said:

Whitecat said:

Very cool, thanks for that. Seeing Low on Friday in London, I'm very excited. Alan is just an absolute master. Is he still playing that Danelectro monstrosity for most of the set?

Yes he used the Danelectro throughout. Thinking back, I don't think I saw him tune it once, so it must be a better guitar than it looks! It was a great show. Not my favourite Low, but the new songs were great live, they played 'Do You Know How To Waltz?' - first time I've seen them do it live, some of the noises they were getting from that guitar and Steve's bass were amazing. The lighting and effects were very creative, they were in darkness for most of the show. Very interesting, although again I find Alan a very watchable singer and player, so my favourite shows were when I've been up close to stage when Alan was playing his Les Paul.

The support, RIchard Youngs, was truly dreadful, however I think you'll be spared him - I imagine he was only playing Glasgow.

My wife and I have a nice dinner booked beforehand so I think we'll linger a little at that and skip some/all of the support act, whomever it is... they are rarely much good, except for the time Low did a Christmas show at the Koko - the US indie band Ida supported, and then also played as an extended backing band on a lot of stuff for Low's set so it was all pretty awesome. Last time I saw them at the Barbican the support band was pretty intensely uninteresting.

The Gibson with the Bigsby and the Rio Grande humbucker in the neck was definitely my favourite in terms of tone. First time I saw them he was still on the Telecaster... but I think he gets bored of whatever he's playing occasionally and then likes to pick up something new for the sake of it. 

ewal

Ida! Love them!

Richard Youngs last song involved him repeating the same line acapella while packing away all his gear, including pedal power supply, putting e-bow in its box, etc. He used to be an acceptable acoustic singer-songwriter... We reckon he must've micro-dosed too much LSD or something... Truly excruciating to watch. Not helped by the fact that the way the venue was set up, he had a captive almost capacity audience.

Whitecat

Yeah, Ida are boss.

Sometimes I think that clever artists choose bizarro support acts so that they seem even better when they finally hit the stage. Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds are the same, the support always seems insanely bad...

Although for a band like Low, it's probably more a decision taken by the local promoter than them when they are not in the US...

ewal

I actually wondered if it was a case of 'ugly bridesmaids syndrome'. But also could imagine Alan thinking Richard Youngs is cool in a sort of out there cult performance art sorta way. I just don't have the patience for that sort of thing!

ewal

London is spared...

https://twitter.com/lowtheband/status/1083213756434395138

ewal

@Whitecat This review is accurate

https://www.theguardian.com/music/2019/jan/30/low-review-tramway-glasgow

Whitecat

ewal said:

@Whitecat This review is accurate

https://www.theguardian.com/music/2019/jan/30/low-review-tramway-glasgow

Awesome. Cannot wait.

Johnnyseven

ewal said:

 toescantalk said:

ewal said:

Thanks. Judging by the rest of his pedals, it will rare and expensive...

Out of interest what are the others? I'm a bit out of touch with my pedals recently.

ZVEX Instant LoFi Junky > Red Panda Particle > EQD Avalanche Run > Montreal Assembly Count to Five > ZVEX Octane III > Sib! Mr Echo > ZVEX Lo-Fi Loop Junky > ZVEX Super Hard On

I think...

Looks like a Zvex Distortron rather than an Octane 3, the writing looks white not green.

ewal

He definitely used to use an Octane 3. Maybe he's changed.

ETA: Might be an old Octane 3 - I've seen a video where the graphics were different than they are now.

http://www.silbermedia.com/qrd/archives/46alan.html

Whitecat

F*** me that was a great show. 

Very few “hits” - mostly new stuff and/or deep cuts. Awesome. 

paganskins

@ewal thanks for starting this thread, somehow I was completely unaware of Low despite them being well within my preferred musical types. 

I’ve been working through their back catalogue for the last couple of days and thoroughly enjoying. 

Cheers buddy