BlahBlahCafe - Jean-Michel Jarre forum

jp8000 wrote:and not to forget, that Michel Geiss modified the smallstone pedal for JMJ

That's only a lower voltage to the LFO-rate, afaik.

Jarp2600 wrote:

jp8000 wrote:and not to forget, that Michel Geiss modified the smallstone pedal for JMJ

That's only a lower voltage to the LFO-rate, afaik.

Yep, it is powered by 8,5 instead of 9V. This makes the phaser sound softer.
Does that trick work on modern Smallstones, too?

To my ears there is no audible difference between the New or old smallstones,AFAIK They are both analog components,and made the same just a few years apart in manufacturing

I have both an original 70s model(orange/black silver), and also the EH4800 reissue.other than a few cosmetic differences(original EH4800 didn't have Red Led) and also I have a sovtek(Russian reissue,original was Green)the black Sovtek has a more grainy sound and better for White Noise sweeps,but the other two have no distinct difference in sound Quality.


Jarre's was modified by Geiss to accept a lower voltage,which meant the Phaser rate could be slowed down to less cycles than the Rates lowest Cycle,this will give you the Equinoxe 2 smoothness,

you can simulate this without modifying it internally by using either one of those multi voltage walwart power supplies and using lower voltages than the 9v standard,I think it will work down to about 5v,on mine I got no audible sound once I dropped the Voltage to 4.5v,or you can simply use a low power battery(one thats almost lost its charge).


Behringer made a clone of the SS phaser pedal,and also check out the Boss PH3,

I noticed an issue with the newest Smallstone, which is the audio volume. It was mentioned by someone on youtube, who did an A-B test and apparently managed to raise the volume. It has been teasing me since I got the EH4800. At least that's a negative thing about it, unless anybody has a god solution how to get around that problem.

Jakob BC wrote:I noticed an issue with the newest Smallstone, which is the audio volume. It was mentioned by someone on youtube, who did an A-B test and apparently managed to raise the volume. It has been teasing me since I got the EH4800. At least that's a negative thing about it, unless anybody has a god solution how to get around that problem.

Raise the volume as in,Modding it internally???not sure how you do that without adding some form of amplification into the circuitry

its a guitar pedal so most people would be routing the output to an amp,so wouldn't have an issue with Volume,they'd simply crank the amp up.


If your running it for other devices then the most sensible thing to do would be route the device into the SS and then the output Signal into a Mixer channel strip and use the Gain to increase the Volume.

@The Remin: you will need a Smallstone and a big PHAT chorus pedal. Don't use the EH Mistress Flanger in this combi..

Equinoxe wrote:

Jakob BC wrote:I noticed an issue with the newest Smallstone, which is the audio volume. It was mentioned by someone on youtube, who did an A-B test and apparently managed to raise the volume. It has been teasing me since I got the EH4800. At least that's a negative thing about it, unless anybody has a god solution how to get around that problem.

Raise the volume as in,Modding it internally???not sure how you do that without adding some form of amplification into the circuitry

its a guitar pedal so most people would be routing the output to an amp,so wouldn't have an issue with Volume,they'd simply crank the amp up.


If your running it for other devices then the most sensible thing to do would be route the device into the SS and then the output Signal into a Mixer channel strip and use the Gain to increase the Volume.

Well if I raise the gain and any other volume buttons any further, it will start sounding noisy. It seems to be very sensitive even when it comes to the volume of the synth.
This was the clip were the volume issue was mentioned:

NOISE GATE BYE.

Michel Geiss did really easy resistor modification [not voltage mod as I tought]. Look at schematic and see that LFO signals [pin 4 or 5 as far as i can remember] ale all connected to 100 ohm resistor. mess with this one!

For additional LFO effects You can use 4 spdt switches. simply desolder four 0.68 capacitors. connect middle pin of switch to one of capacitors hole. solder 0.68 capacitor to one of switch's pin. connect randomly chosen capacitor to third pin. solder both capacitors and add wire to second hole. Very cool mod. Some great sweeps can be made with diffrent freq mods!




as for Elka. Great instrument but string patches [same as rhapsody 490 or 610] sux. don't try g-media string machine if you want pure eminent strings. they sux in this vst. really nice emulation/samples can be found in ni nostalgia. perkristian has made nice ones too but they are not so powerful and has same vibration.

you can always buy hmmmmm... maybe few of you will kill me but arp omni mk1 and mk2 sux.... when compared to crumar multiman s. it can be found really cheap these days. it has great moog filter that can be applied to brass sounds + INCREDIBLE WARM and swirly strings. Far better than those in omni's! if You have a chance get one!

I have one! And i love it!

i'll try to provide some samples

Jakob BC wrote:
Well if I raise the gain and any other volume buttons any further, it will start sounding noisy. It seems to be very sensitive even when it comes to the volume of the synth.
This was the clip were the volume issue was mentioned:

Pro Synths usually output at +4dB,Which is line level guitars need a di box to amplify the signal,so a synths output will distort easier than a guitar

When you raise the volume of your devices your increasing the noise floor level or your signal to noise ratio,which introduces unwanted noise

How are you routing the Signal Chain??the Gain structure Level should be altered after the FX not before it.this would be the same way a conventional Guitarist would chain them,using the Amp to raise the output volume.

I don't mean crank the volume up from everything your synth/mixer and then route into the SS,(unless your doing for a certain effect or clipping purpose,you should include the fx into the signal chain then alter the gain after the EFX,(like your Mixing desk channel gain)I've always found Guitar pedals to be noisy and less clean than a digital fx(as would be obvious)thats why the SS are quite good in the way Jarre used them for those creamy white noise sweeps,there is a kind of distorted saturated creamyness to the sound of Oxygene 2 noise sweeps on the outro)

GeeJee wrote:@The Remin: you will need a Smallstone and a big PHAT chorus pedal. Don't use the EH Mistress Flanger in this combi..

I've got a Leslie Speaker (Solton Twinjet), which does some kind of chorus by rotating... would that be OK, too?

The Remin. wrote:

GeeJee wrote:@The Remin: you will need a Smallstone and a big PHAT chorus pedal. Don't use the EH Mistress Flanger in this combi..

I've got a Leslie Speaker (Solton Twinjet), which does some kind of chorus by rotating... would that be OK, too?

Don't think so...

No. Leslie won't work.

Well, the Elka strings do have their own sound, compared with the Eminent 310. They don't sound all that lush, maybe a bit more brilliant, also because Elka used a slightly different architecture than Eminent/Solina. I happen to have an Elka organ here, a slightly newer and notably smaller model, but it has the strings among the organ stops and a separate Ensemble-like effect with which you can switch between, for instance, a string ensemble (on) and almost Farfisaesque surf/psych strings (off). AFAIK from playing an Eminent 2000 Grand Theatre, Eminent's strings are "ensemble only." On a side note, mid-80s Technics organs had two sorts of string sounds, Italian-style string stops to combine with organ stops on the one hand (which can even be combined with vibrato or a rotary simulation) and, albeit a bit dry-sounding, the probably fattest string ensembles ever on the other hand.

Say, can it be that Jarre played Souvenir Of China on both Elka and Eminent organs since he might still have had that monstrous Artist 707 in his studio in late '81/early '82?

Jarp2600 wrote:

Jakob BC wrote:A Smallstone is rather cheap and does have a personal charm. It's difficult to point out what effects JMJ used on each Eminent sound. It did vary, but other persons on the forum are far better on this area than me.

New smallstones sound different from the old ones JMJ used.

Yep, they do. I've got them both. (Okay, the old one needs to be repaired, but oh well.)

And still, there was one new Smallstone on each Eminent during last year's tour.