Thurston's recent use of different effects.
 

According to Chris Lawerence and the great photos he took of SY's gear as of recently on this tour it is apparent that Thurston and Kim are branching out and using different effects units... Is this confirmed on any of the other tour dates?

according to Chris, T's now using:

Sitori Sonics 'Harem Fuzz'
MXR Phase 90
Dunlop Jimi Hendrix Octave Fuzz
Crowther 'Hot Cake' overdrive
Electro-Harmonix/Sovtek Big Muff
Mutron Wah-Vol

and No longer using a Proco Turbo Rat and an MXR Blue Box!!!

I went on the Sitori Sonics website and they appear to no longer make the 'Harem Fuzz' and after a little research the only info I obtained about it is described as a "lower gain RamsHead Big Muff clone", I am not sure how accurate this is... Just curious if anyone else noticed this or has any info.

wow, this got about as much reaction as the two latest gear guide updates....(which i thought were awesome)

as far as i know, this is his set-up for the 2009 tour in general and not just portland...

and people wonder why i only update every couple of years...

Damn, I wish I was more of a gear head to fully appreciate all the additions...which I DO appreciate, but I don't have much to say about them, if you get what I mean.

I appreciate what you guys do, it's really awesome. But I don't really have anything to add. I guess a thank you is nice, right? haha

Chris I agree...

maybe there are not many gear junkies posting on this board... i am unfortunately a gear junkie more so with pedals than guitars or amps.

i thought T would never quit the turbo rat, i'm more surprised with that than the blue box i guess. i have had two blue boxes i think they are great sounding when activated, but they compromise my tone way too much for it to stay in my chain... its like the gated signal still bleeds through when not turned on and it kills the guitars sustain... i dunno maybe the original script versions don't do this but those are expensive "vintage" versions these days.

kim and thurston have a new love for Sitori Sonics...

He still had the Blue Box on 7/11. I will post pics in a sec. Not sure about Rat yet.

This was on 7/11/09, from Nashville. The Blue Box is definitely there but I can't tell if the Rat is.

thats interesting, a pedal change up mid-tour... unless his main blue box and turbo rat both broke and their wasn't back ups (hard to believe) the switch up in effects is kinda odd and daring. more so with adding a Sitori Harem Fuzz than the crowther Hot Cake. As I understand it the Harem Fuzz is nothing like a blue box and closer to a Big Muff... which he already has.

This is from the night before (7/10) I think the Rat is the 3 knob one to the right of the Hot Cake.

we are interested, we just take you for granted. now get to work...

haha, thanks :p

weird about the blue box etc earlier in the tour! i see that sitori sonics are based in alabama, perhaps they picked some up around the time of the birmingham gig (july 12, so right after nashville) ?

thurston still had both the rat and blue box in knoxville and nashville, in fact, the rat got the most use, he only used the hot cake for massage the history

I'm drunk right now and this thread is giving me a boner.

LOL and thanks 4 all yr work Chris!

I've never heard of sitori sonics

Here's a link to Sitori Sonics website: http://sitorisonics.com/

Doob Dreamer and Tapeworm could be the ones I would like to have.

i would guess he needed the hot cake w/ the acoustic just so he can be heard in the mix during the loud middle section of message the history... i was reading a bit about the Crowther Hot Cake, designed by the guitarist? in the band Split Enz, an overdrive that retains the original sound of your guitar/amp combo, has two internal settings, one called a "blueberry" which effects the treble/buzz on the front part of the distortion.

he could have used his rat for that. my guess is he learned about it from mascis or ibold. ibold uses the prunes and custard which is the other pedal crowther makes. or mascis who uses the 2 hotcakes in 1 on his board. i believe malkmus used a hotcake at some point too.

another thing that confuses me is the absence of the blue box when he used it on sacred trickster every time i've seen them play it.

hello everyone. i am emanual ellinas, the guy that makes the sitori sonics pedals.

i am SO happy that my FAVORITE band in the world is using my stuff!!!

they got a bunch of other stuff too, but i will leave it up to you (and them) to let people in on that stuff as time goes by.

i dropped in to say that our website is terrible. horrible. poop, i say.

we do make the harem fuzz, and several others that are not listed.

we are suffering from the 'ol "my brother in law does our website and is lagging", etc...

we are working on changing that right this very second.

until then, if anyone has any questions, just go to sitorisonics.com and go to the contact page. that brings you right to me, and we can talk.

take care!!!

Sound samples and you guys'll be all set.

ok a little update for those interested... so here's a fairly recent photo of thurston's effects (thanks to Flickr user lownight66 who took these, thats where I found them) froma show in Williamsburg.

 

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2509/...75e84b448c.jpg

effects order appears to be:

Sovtek Big Muff (appears to be the "Civil War" version???)
MXR Phase 90
Dunlop Hendrix Octave Fuzz
Crowther Hot Cake Overdrive
Sitori Sonics Harem Fuzz
MuTron Wah/Vol

seems like the same group of pedals that Chris has noted, only the order has changed, Thurston has probably experimented with the order to find the best sound/utilization/interaction of each.

Thanks Sitori, love to see an update to your site!

What is the white, handheld box that Thurston used this tour and both he and Lee used last summer? Is it the same device that tunes radio stations (desired or not)?

uh not sure i didn't see them this past tour unfortunately...

on the Gearography site thurston also has a "non guitar set-up" which is a contact mic (assuming its in a black box) in front of a fender deluxe reverb. the contact mic runs thru an old Walco signal booster and there is also some oldish Panasonic tape/radio in there too...

Hey Sitori
 

hey Sitori,

Maybe ask the good people at http://www.hauntingmids.com to do your website.....

those cats get me every time

The Sitori Sonics website seems updated now, from what I can tell from the last time i was there. The Harem Fuzz and others effects are now shown where before they weren't...

http://sitorisonics.com/sitorisonics.com/Home.html


Thurston uses the Harem Fuzz
Kim uses the Brownies and Cream
Mark uses the Bass Fuzz
Lee hasn't it seems...

Can somebody identify what brand are the blue cables that thurston uses?
thanks

pretty sure I see the Rat next to the phaser...

Does anyone know if this is true?

that's a pretty cool sounding pedal. i want it

hmmm... its not really like a vintage Dearmond Square Wave Fuzz? its higher gain... has an edgey octave-type of sound and brittley bee buzz like a mosrite fuzzrite. that pedal also has that knob on the top where it does the new-ish modern self oscillation stuff... i have a custom hi-gain silicon fuzz face clone where i added the self oscillation knob and switch and zvex fuzz factory which is a killer insane pedal.

I bet you say that to all the babes...

Recovery Class effects also state that Sonic Youth are using the "Dust to Burn" Overdrive pedal (a clone of the grey DOD 250 Overdrive from the 70's) not sure if that is just something used to record and/or tour with... an auction for the pedal:

http://cgi.ebay.com/VINTAGE-DOD-250-GREY-CLONE-DISTORTION-EFFECT-PEDAL-741_W0QQitemZ200433493795QQcmdZViewItemQQptZGuitar _Accessories?hash=item2eaac46723

also the Recovery Class seller is auctioning a "Emporer's Dirty Clothes" fuzz pedal.

Too bad these pedals aren't auctioned in a house.

i have time on my hands...but don't you also need money in hand to be a gear jockey? otherwise, chrisL, i would be giving you all the attention you deserve.

Anybody know what brand of tissue Thurston was using? What strain of flu virus?

sorry, couldn't resist. i actually love gear too, but am also too broke to fix my broken gear let alone buy new gear, and therefore try not to pay too much attention so i don't drive myself crazy with gear lust...

i also am an enthusiast of old broken tape deck/radios and nylon webbing tie-downs

Thats why i'm becoming more and more of a DIY-er. I did get a Harem Fuzz and I must say its the best big muff type pedal i have used (i've played about 4 different types of big muffs: the modern little big muff, USA Big Muff reissue, Sovtek Big Muff reissue, Muff Fuzz) its supposed to by close to a vintage version 1 triangle big muff with a better and more pleasing tonal range. It is smooth, provides good articulate note definition, has plenty gain, a nice tight sound, and doesn't seem to be as bass muddy sounding as some of the muffs i have. haven't tried it yet in a "band" setting to see how it cuts through but i'll be doing that this weekend, though right now its a thumbs up!

i'm finding though i don't want to spend alot on gear especially pedals, and i've been learning how to build alot of devices after having been able to modify pedals for some time now, of which can be quite worthwhile because once you have a good feel of what to do it can be cheaper to make your own devices than buying them especially is the case if recreating vintage devices which are rather $$$ these days. I've been able to build without much difficulty a Electro Harmonix LPB-1, Muff Fuzz (one knob big muff transistortype), Arbiter Fuzz Face and a Mosrite Fuzzrite. Next on the building bench is a creating a clone of the EH Axis/Guild Foxey Lady (two-knob precursor/forefather of the Big Muff Pi) and a Rams Head Big Muff/Jumbo Tonebender. if you haven't figured out i'm abit of a fuzz junkie...

i've been thinking of trying some "build your own clone" projects sometime...

http://www.buildyourownclone.com/index1.html

sonic tissue