Re: [Harp-L] Line 6 Rotosphere?

[G <gigs@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Date: Thu, 7 Dec 2006 06:22:34 -0800 (PST)
From: Mike Fugazzi <mfugazzi67@xxxxxxxxx>
Subject: [Harp-L] Line 6 Rotosphere?
To: harp-l@xxxxxxxxxx

>Anybody ever try this pedal?  I found a good deal on a
>used one, but don't know anybody who has tried it for
>harp.
>
>I am going to see if the local music shop has one to
>noodle with.  The Harmony Central reviews of it are
>good, but they are all for guitar.
>
>Mike Fugazzi
>vocals/harmonica

Not me, 
I haven't tried any of the Line 6 Tonecore pedals yet.  I'm equally
interested to hear from anyone who's given the Verbzilla a proper workout.
  But in reply to your email Mike. I've been very disappointed with the
limited range of rotory speaker effects units on the market, looking for a
combination of a good sound, stereo in/out, and proper control over fast
and slow speeds, proper emulation of the dopler effect the tweeter and bass
create, ramp speed, the bass speaker lag during ramping, and controlling
the mix of the two - the number of products that were anywhere near all
that was bugger all of anything.  
  The Rotosphere looked like the only real contender, but it doesn't
emulating the lag during ramping between the tweeter and the bass, which
creates it's own rich sound.   It should take longer for the bass speaker
to get to the right speed than the tweeter, the Rotosphere doesn't do that.
   The only other device (short of getting an actual rotory speaker) was a
discontinued rack unit that's rare as hens teeth to buy because owners hold
onto them jealously.
  I was approached a month or two ago by another harp-l member offering
among other things his RotoSIM by DLS.  I'd never heard of the company DLS
until the week before I bought it.  But when I checked out all the reviews,
it was rated better than most other effects units I had in mind, including
the Rotosphere.  And the sound samples I'd heard from various websites, and
several sound bites by one particularly enthusiastic guitarist, I was
convinced.
  It's stereo in, stereo out, true bypass, the original signal remains
clean, and the digitally created effect (16 bit) is layered over top of the
original using analogue circuitry. The original signal itself never goes
through any digital processing - the result is very convincing.  I'm very
impressed with both the sound, and the versatility - it's got more controls
than other units I've seriously considered - it sounds great! - and you can
use an expression pedal to arbitarily control the speed which is very
useful if you want to get a specific rotary effect along with your
phrasing... such as ramping up as you build up to a climax.  It's built
like a tank with good solid no nonsense stomp buttons and metal solid state
jacks.
  The only down sides are it's considerably bigger than a compact pedal, 
(5.5?W x 4.9?D x 2.4?H), although less than twice as big as the hulking
ToneCore pedals, and the Hughes & Kettner (8"W x 8.5"D x 3.125"H) is
definitely bigger (with a lot less control).
  Although the RotoSIM is a 9volt device, it doesn't run off batteries.  
But from what I've read about the ToneCore series, they don't last on a
battery for very long anyway.
After three years of searching for a decent rotary emulator, I'm delighted
with my DLS RotoSIM   http://www.dlseffects.com/roto_sim.php
-- G.
http://www.angelfire.com/music/harmonica/amplified.html