Reverb:

Alesis Quad/quad +/Quad GT- Amazing textural reverb. Good reverb chorus, good delays. Some OK modulations. The rotary speaker on the quad gt is nice. Bad side is global preamps on the quad GT you can;t bypass and the noise level is really high

Alesis Microverb/Midiverb-Offer even more reverb then the quad. Unit overload and distort in a very nice way. Again, noise is the drawback.

Boss SE-50/70 - Good reverbs. They can overlaod the unit at higher mix levels turning it into a distorted mess. The noise is almost 0 off these units. I use a SE-50 now(used to be a quad GT)

Zoom 507 reverb - good basic verb. Cheap as hell. No noise. Drawback is that the construction some people dislike. It is fine(I dig with one as my second reverb).

Boss RV series of pedal - I really dislike all of these. Best is the RV-2 and it is really noisey. the RV-3/5 are both cold and lifeless IMO.

Digitech Digiverb - Some really nice sound out of this. Really massive reverbs, issues is a batery last 10 minutes in it. And the reverse isn;t really all that hot.

Electro Harmonix Holy grail/holier grail-I really like the holy grail, but teh one I had was defective. The holier grail can be annoying as well(that much control should be foundd in a rack and not a pedal IMO). Do not buy these off ebay.

Korg DRV-1000 - My next reverb unit. Low noise, huge reverb times, a good reverse and knob! Problems are they are hard to find.

Boss RRV-10 rack - Not much info, if it sounds like a SE-50 and has low noise it will be in my rig as well.

Digitech XP400-Really bad. High Noise. Lame reverbs.

Lexicon units - Not much experence with them. Are teh standard for reverb in the recording world. Most are too high-fi for amboient(lower bit rate reverbs work better then newer stuff)

Digitech racks - neither here nor there. they work. Nothing more.

Delays:

A good analog delay should be in any ambient rig. Be is a Ibanez Ad-9, Boss DM-2, or even DOD's, raks, almost anything with 300-450 ms of delay that self oscillates.

Or you can use a good analog sim, liek a DL-4, or a DE-7(my favourite)

For digital delays, you should have at least 2. One can be anything with 800ms plus delay. The other shuld be a looper, with at least 4 second of sample time. DOD FX94, Digitech Digidelay, DL4, DD-20,DD-6, akai headrush, or a dedicated looper like a RC-20. The digitech GNX3 is a good multieffect for ambient because of th built in looping and ability to use the built in effect with the external switch($30 extra).

Other loopers include non static loopers, liek the PDS seres(tweaked for more time) by digitech. These work by setting the delays time, recroding it till it is layered, and putting on the repeat/hold. These are the best for recording drones. Maneco makes beautiful modern version of this type of looper. The Digitech PDS1002, 2000, and 20/20 are all cheap(by far teh 20/20 is best because ith a simple tweak you can get 20 seconds of delay out of it)

Other Effects:

PitchShifter-the boss Ps-2 is the slowdive pedal. I am not a huge fan of this box except as a delay. The boss PS-3 is AMAZING and should be on any ambient board. The digitech spacestation is anotehr one people like for string sounds. The PS-5 is a good pitchshift as well, but is missing a few of the modes from the PS-3 that make it my number one pitchshifter. the old ibanez harmonics delays are great for lowfi pitchshifting.

Phasers-Electro harmonix small stone is the best mass produced phaser for this type of music. MXR phase 100(re-issue or not) is second. These both havea wicked "airy" sweep and add pile of texture to a sound. Vintage choices are many, the old morely is what nobody(another ambeint guitarist on this board) swears by. Mu-tron bi=phases are amazing. the old roland phasers are great to (not boss). DOD FX20b is good for a cehap phase. the Akai intelliphase is a amazing and CHEAP phase(30 off ebay). I just picked up a old univox microfazer and am really impressed(using it as my second phase now)

Tremolo/vibrato-the dano trem is good and cheap. The Flip tube tremolo is AWESOME. most the rest I really dislike. The MM4 by line 6 has great tremolo and vibratos(true pitchshifting vibrato). The CE-5(slight mod, basically you add a second cable attached to nothing into the output B)/Marshall tremovibe are the only other vibratos on the market. I need to try the marshall again as the jacks are mislabeled.

Distortion - I use a rat. There are PILES of gain boxes and I think I have tried 50% of them. the rat won.

Feel free to add and ask questions. I love answering them.

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OK!

Flangers-A/DA flanger is the best. HAnds down. for cheaper alterative the DOD flange is good, and the old DOD flanger KICKS ASS. the Boss BF-1 would be the flange you would be most likely to see in my rig. For weird flange, I liek the gate on the boss BF-3 and the step on the digtech turboflange.

Digitech RDS delays-These are the rack mount version of the PDS series and are incredible. with a simle trim pot adjust, the RDS3.6/7.6 can have 20 some seconds of delay with no signal loss(or minimal). The RDS8000 and RDS4000 are also incredible.

Gibsom Digital Echoplex - Not included because they are hard to find to try out. Amazing unit. Ask Nobody.

Filters - this is a weird little world. I used to do it by plugging my guitar into a mono/poly. Now there are a vast amount of choivces. bang for the buck is the FM4 by line 6. The rest are mostly boutique and are hard to find everywhere to try out. I also suggest teh step flange on the digitech turboflange. Amazing sound. The electrix filterfactory is also neat, but some have grounding issues(mine did).

And there are the alesis desktop units.

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Which of the reverb units have a decent reverse, if you dont mind answering. Since Im sure you're attempting to make this into a comprehensive post, I doubt that youd mind answering it again.

How do you feel about wahs or envelopes in ambient music?

Mogwai makes great noise with wah-like sounds (perhaps not exactly an ambient band, but you like them, and I can feel a little of their influence in the songs of your's Ive downloaded with my dial-up ( So slow..(the connection) ))

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on flanging, another good candidate is the FL-9... standard "rock" flange, but works great for ambient stuff with some toying.

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Good read

And it self-oscillates!

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HOLY ****!!!!

I forgot YAMAHA SPX90/FX500-

GROUND ZERO FOR REVERSE. Other effects are good.

The modern ground zero ambient/gaze/whatever pedal is the magic stomp. Yamaha outdid themseleves on it.

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not a fan of the deluxe electric mistress? it's a weird flange, if you set the rate above one it doesnt give u the sweep effect when using heavy distortion, I use it more for cleans sounds, it really does pink floyd well, especially the song "breathe"

Boss RPS-10 - the first effect to introduce reverse pitchshifting and affordable reverse delays. Really lowfi sound and just beautiful. This is another device I will add to my rig.

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ALSO:

So you all know, I am avoiding expensive, boutique and rare gear as best I can. This is the "everymans" guide to getting great tones for this sort of music.

Thanks.

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CHORUS:

Small Clones are great to add shimmer to a huge reverb. That is my weapon of choice. The Boss CE-5 is a better vibrato then chorus. the old Boss CE-1 is amazing, but needs mods. There is a DOD Dual chorus that kicks ass. The old boss DC series of chorus is you one stop for cocteau twins type sounds. The old EH clone theory is amazing fro those sounds as well.

But, almost any decent chorus is good for this. CE-2, CE-3, many others.

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Don't forget the EB Volume pedal for swells, whale sounds, killing the signal and letting your delays fade out.

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Gibson Les Paul Jr Special
Charvel Model 5FX (Swineshead Warthog in Bridge)
Fender American Standard Strat
Taylor Big Baby

Black Cat SuperFuzz -> VOX 847 -> Zinky True Grit -> Boss TU-2 -> Boss TR-2

Orange AD5
MusicMan sixty-five head
Roland JC-90

Any Volume pedal is good. I never use EB's, I think they are overpriced as a proel is just as good for 99% of people.

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More additions:

Whammy-I am not huge on this effect EXCEPT to bend Ebow sounds without moving your fingers......Or on guitar synths to bend string sounds.

Compressors-If you are like me and use a really clean tone a compressor will help add sustain. I suggest the Boss CS-1/2, DOD compressors(all are good) and MXR Dynacomps(Reissue or not).

Ring Mods - The Magicstomp has a OK ring mod. As does the quad GT. The EH ring mod is the only mid-priced one I can think of that is widely avalible that doesn't cost a fortune.

The fuzz pedal guide is coming. This will take me a while. Please say if you want it. I can also break this all down into basic lists if need be.

Ebows and slides are also great texture devices.

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That PDS 20/20 looks awesome.. Ive never even heard of one. You make me want a lot of stuff man. How much are they going for, usually?

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I made clips of my tweaked PDS20/20

http://fiveways.illogic.net/clips

First 2.

Thanks

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