NPD - Earthquaker Devices Spatial Delivery

[bobmeyrick]

A couple of my early guitar heroes were Frank Zappa and Larry Coryell, and I particularly liked what they did with the Mutron III - Frank's solo on Inca Roads from the One Size Fits All album is a prime example. As a result, one of the first effects pedals I bought was a Mutron III in 1976/7. Years later I sold it to a bass-playing mate as I wasn't using it that much.

Another Zappa track that made a big impression was Ship Ahoy from the Shut Up and Play Yer Guitar album. I found out much later that the extraordinary sound was produced by an Oberheim VCF in sample-and-hold mode. The Line 6 FM4 filter modeller had that effect ("Obi-Wah") plus Mutron stuff and more, so I bought one. Great fun for noodling at home, but not something I ever gigged. I dug it out recently and realised that, good though it was, it was lacking a bit of the smoothness of an analogue pedal...

This is where the Spatial Delivery comes in. Significantly smaller than the FM4, and having the sounds I preferred - Mutron Up/Down sweep and the Oberheim Sample-and-hold. I'd not bought any new gear for quite  a while, so I ordered one from my local pedal emporium (Hotrox) and picked it up today. I've had a quick play with it and it does everything I want/need. It's nicely packaged too.

 

[Yooper]

Nice score.

More Mutron goodness:

 

[Rob2020]

I am a big Zappa fan too and I also have one of those (but I fall way short of sounding anything like FZ).  I put mine in first place on my board - ahead of the tuner -- to get the most out of its dynamic sensitivity.  Where do you have yours placed?

Before I bought this pedal, I briefly had a Keely Bubbletron, which Keely markets as "FZ in a box", but I found that way too difficult to dial in sounds that I liked.  

Enjoy!

[bobmeyrick]

3 minutes ago, Rob2020 said:

I am a big Zappa fan too and I also have one of those (but I fall way short of sounding anything like FZ).  I put mine in first place on my board - ahead of the tuner -- to get the most out of its dynamic sensitivity.  Where do you have yours placed?

I've only just got it, but it will go, like yours, in first place. I'll probably keep it separate, as I have a couple of different fx setups. Back in the days when we could gig, I often used a TC Electronic Nova System in the fx loop of the amp, with the guitar going into a wah and from there into the amp. It won't replace the wah, but I'd probably put it at the front of the chain.

Another track which has a solo with some tasty Mutron action is Dear Friend by Jonathan Wilson. The solo starts just after 3 minutes.

 

[Rob2020]

Just a small correction --- I have this right after my tuner on my main board.  For a short while I had it in front of the tuner. but the relative heights of the switches on the adjacent pedals didn't work out so well for me that way.

It's all good.

[DetroitBlues]

Never used an envelope filter.  Rather interesting pedal.  I have an Earthquaker Plumes, a rather remarkable pedal.  

Is this an every song use or just a sprinkle as needed type pedal?

[bobmeyrick]

14 minutes ago, DetroitBlues said:

Never used an envelope filter.  Rather interesting pedal.  I have an Earthquaker Plumes, a rather remarkable pedal.  

Is this an every song use or just a sprinkle as needed type pedal?

Definitely sprinkle as needed. Think of it as a wah-wah that goes "wah" (up) or "ow" (down) every time you hit the string. A non-guitar use can be heard in Stevie Wonder's Higher Ground, when he used it on the clavinet...

Stevie in the early '70s was really into technological innovations, hence his collaboration with synth pioneers Robert Margouleff and Malcolm Cecil.