Guitar Sound Effects

Marshall Regenerator

Value for Money
Sound Quality
Features
Ease of Use

Jun 2, 2010 Modulation Guitar Effects, Pedals and Stompboxes, Recommended Guitar Equipment
Posted by Fila

Another small but powerful unit from Marshall. Just like the Echohead delay unit, this pedal is capable of expanding your guitar sound beyond what you would expect from a single stompbox as it offers six different types of modulation effects which makes it effectively a modulation multieffect. Four knobs add to simplicity, two outputs give you a choice between instant termination of the effect when the pedal is turned off (output 1 – the passive bypass circuit which disconnects the output of the effects circuit when not operating) or a spill-over circuit (output 2 – the effect is allowed to rapidly decay over a further playing). Two inputs also mean that you can operate in mono or stereo mode (which is great if you play thru two amplifiers). Plus the pedal looks cool with its retro/modern design.

The first knob is a MODE knob and offers six modulation effects: Vintage Chorus, Multi Chorus, Vintage Flanger, Phaser, Step Phaser and Vintage Vibe.

SPEED controls the speed of modulation from slow to very fast sweeps and DEPTH controls the amount of modulation, while REGEN (regeneration) controls the level of regeneration which is the amount of effect sent back to the input. Mind that ther is no idling in use of these three knobs. A small twist affects the tone and they are interactive as well.

Now about the sounds:

Vintage Chorus is just what it says, a modulate and very pleasing and transparent chorus that go from mild and mellow to pretty speedy and intense yet with a vintage vibe. It is transparent enough to let all the nuances and playing dynamics go through. Setting the speed at around 11 oclock, depth at 2 and regen at 1 oclock takes you on a plesant sail. Set all three knobs at 1 oclock and you create pleasant waves of cleanish sounds, great for Pink Floyd type of stuff. Turn the speed past 3 oclock with other two knobs as above and your tones start to shimmer. This mode alone is extremly versatile and offers variety of  moods.

Multi Chorus is an ensemble chorus and is capable of producing simple sweeps(speed 9-11 oclock, depth 10-12 and regen 8-11) to complex ensemble sounds (all controls past 12 o clock). As you turn the depth and regen clockwise you get very thick  sounds like using the multiple chorus effects. This mode is great for some more ambiental stuff (King Crimson, Mike Stern) and Andy Summers/Police sounds. I think of this mode as of successful recreation of the chorus from the legendary Roland JC 120 Jazz Chorus amp.

Vintage Flanger is a pleasing and natural flanger, not designed to go over the top (unless turn up the regen fully clockwise) but rather slightly detune your tone to add beautiful colour. If you are into Van Halen type of sound this is pretty good for enhancing distorted solos.

Phaser is very fluid and very transparent. Not over the top but with the vintage vibe. Compared to Boss PH3 (that I allready reviewed in one of my previous posts) it is much more transparent and and brighter sounding. The vawes that swirl around your tone in this mode make your chords sound very pleasant.

Step Phaser is nice for creating some unusual spacy and even synthlike sounds playing a single note or a slow chord progression. Other than that it is not very playable. Could be nice for some funky rhythm patterns but it is rather hard to tame. Compared to Boss step phaser  it is far less useful because you can not tweak it with such precision. If you hook this mode with a delay you can get even more intense spacy/sinth wierdness that dont have much to do with the usual guitar sound but are fun and great to experiment with. Just be sure to match the speed of the step phaser and delay time accurately.

Vintage Vibe is an attempt to recreate uni-vibe or a rotating leslie speaker. Well you need to turn all controls past 2 oclock for this effect to come to life. It is not the best uni-vibe emulation I have heared but dont get me wrong, it is still very useful and pleasant. Of course when pushed the Jimi Hendrix guitar sound is the first thing that will cross your mind. Great for soulful feeling of Little Wing or hypnothic bouncing rhythm of  Machine Gun. But at lower setting it acts like a third chorus mode with a unique voicing. It is also little brighter sounding than some other uni-vibe/roto-machine pedals.

The bottom line is: you will not get bored with this pedal easily. It offers a lot, doesnt cost a fortune and I highly reccommend it. Hook it with an Echohead delay and you will be equipped with most sounds you will ever need.

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Tags: Chorus, Chorus ensemble, Distorsion, Flanger, Jimi Hendrix guitar sound, King Crimson, Marshall, Marshall Regenerator, Modulation effects, Phaser, Pink Floyd Sound, Synth Guitar Sound, Univibe, Vintage guitar sound