Our favorite “not so obvious” effects revealed.
From warm tape delay and rich ’70s analog modulation to classic studio compressors, vintage digital reverbs, and more UAFX compact pedals pack the analog tone of bulky vintage hardware into pedalboard-friendly stompboxes.
And like the soulful tools they emulate, UAFX compact pedals have a wonderful variety of sounds inside.
Here are some of our favorites, running straight into a UAFX Dream ’65 Reverb Amp pedal.
1. Orion Tape Echo: Add buttery modulation.
Famous for warm, hazy repeats, the Maestro Echoplex EP-III is the Holy Grail of tape delays. A big part of its sound is its legendary solid-state preamp section, which adds thickness with a tasty boost.
And when combined with a short delay time, you get a funky, tape-modulated chorus effect that has a unique flavor while never washing out in the mix.
- Adjust the Rec Level for preamp sauce
- Tweak Wonk as a depth control for the modulation
- Use Mint, Worn, and Old for the amount of lo-fi character
Run the Mix under 12 o’clock for subtle slapback while still getting some thickness from the preamp.
2. Brigade Chorus & Vibrato: Explore bold “Leslie”-type tones.
Brigade’s preamp — a dead-nuts emulation of the classic “secret weapon” preamp found in a 1976 Boss CE-1 Chorus Ensemble* — gives you a bold boost with a lot of character that packs an analog punch to the front of your amp.
Compared to the preamp in Orion Tape Echo, Brigade’s is voiced more aggressively, pushing the bucket-brigade circuit — and your amp — in interesting ways.
Check out this cool ultra-slow rotating speaker-type effect. Don’t be afraid to goose the Level for more harmonics or crunch!
- In Vibrato mode, turn the Rate and Depth knobs down
- Pepper in some brawny preamp gain with the Level control
- If you’re looking for more drive, crank the Level on Brigade and turn the Output down on your amp pedal
3. 1176 and Teletronix LA-2A compressors: Looking for a unique overdrive?
Sure, the 1176 and LA-2A are famous for adding sweet, musical compression to clean guitar sounds. But here, we’re not playing nice.
Instead, think of these famous limiters as your full-frequency, tube and FET distortion/booster buddies.
And like old-school boosters, both the 1176 and LA-2A respond beautifully to adjustments to your picking attack and guitar’s volume knob, giving you rich cleans and big distorted sounds when run into the front of an amp.
1176
- Use Single for lower gain tones, and Double for more gain
- Dial in with the Input and Output controls
The effect of the Attack, Release, and Ratio controls are harder to hear in this use case.
Also, this is different from the “Secret Jimmy Page 1176 distortion trick“, which uses DI guitar straight into the compressor in lieu of an amp. Here, we’re looking to add to the harmonic content of our guitar amp.
LA-2A
- Crank the Mix for full dry signal boost up to +6 dB
- Use the Gain control to add drive and color
Like old-school boosters, it’s all about coaxing more analog color and harmonics from your guitar amp.
4. Evermore Studio Reverb: Your ambient generation machine.
Based on the iconic late-’70s early-digital device used on ambient classics from Brian Eno, Vangelis, and more, it’s no wonder Evermore is capable of dense layers of reverb.
Fade in some chords with volume swells, and Evermore can do the rest, giving you startlingly lush pads.
- Crank all three delay lines, and then back off to taste
- Try and find the sweet spot where the decays start to run away
- Make sure Trails is switched to “on”
Audition the Room, Small Hall, and Large Hall algorithms to find the character you’re looking for and tweak the Mod control for added ripples.
5. Flow Vintage Tremolo: Get phase-like
Although Flow gives you three distinct flavors of trem — including classic Fender amp “vibrato” and more modern, choppy sounds — it’s Flow’s Dharma setting that gives you a thick, almost Uni-Vibe* effect instead of the typical on/off tremolo.
- Select the Dharma effect type with lots of Depth
- High Level settings keep the effect from washing out, while adding warmth
Using Flow’s tap tempo feature, you can adjust the Speed for certain sections of a song when you want the Dharma effect more noticeable.
These are just a few sounds we dig from UAFX compact pedals. Obviously, the sky’s the limit. Let us know if you come up with anything cool. We’d love to hear it!
*Product names used herein are trademarks of their respective owners, which are in no way affiliated with Universal Audio Inc. These name(s) are used solely to identify products studied in the creation of the sound models found in UAFX.
— UA Staff
