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"This is what many purists consider to be the forerunner of today's modern guitar Sythesizers. What is it? It is one of the first all-in-one Multi Effects pedals circa mid 1970's and a fine example of state of the art analog effects from that era.
It is difficult to articulate precisely what these wonderful old vintage analog devices sound like and what they can impart to those of you looking for that certain signature tone. Perhaps some of you out there in the E-bay audience can remember seeing one of these in action. I believe the late great Tommy Boland used one on the Billy Cobham album of the day Spectrum. I believe another ad mentioned a certain Buckethead-esque quality to the fuzz effect and I would have to agree with that wholeheartedly. Again, those are just two of the infinitely adjustable sounds possible and there are many other countless combinations for you to discover. There are many, many more artists along the years who may have utilized one of these USS-1 systems for getting THAT tone. This device can only be described as...and I really dislike the use of the word but it certainly fits well here; AWESOME.
Back in the day, this was it. A wonderful assemblage of analog effects including (and from left to right;) Waveform (distortion), Filter, Sample & Hold with fully adjustable frequency & brilliance, Phase Shifter, Envelope Modifier with controls for attack & decay, Sub-Harmonic with control options of percussive or sustain attack and finally Sensitivity. The Sub-Harmonic was always one of my favorites for getting a great fretless bass sound with a Les Paul through an Orange stack...WHEW! Sounds great with single coils or humbuckers. Two of the black slider knobs are missing. No pedals are included and I never needed them. There is a small threaded socket under the unit so you can support it with a common tripod. Or, as I had always done, stacked it on top of my amp head where I could easily dial in the sound. Has it's own internal power supply (as it should.)
This is not some re-tooling of some vintage effects pedal hoping to get some vintage sound. No, this is the actual real deal and stands head and shoulders above other devices that try to emulate sonically what this analog device just does naturally. Today's electronics are great. So, please don't get me wrong, I am a big fan of what digital has evolved into. But, that is not what we are talking about with this piece. The palpable, rich, opulent sounds that ooze out of this thing is absolutely incredible sounding...just mind blowing. This is what today's systems evolved from but somehow lost a little magic in the translation. Ask yourself how many present day digital devices actually try to emulate an analog unit?" Orange
Actually, Tommy Bolin got his sound on Spectrum with a Fender Strat, Marshall and Maestro Echoplex combination--very basic.
ReplyDeleteI sold a few USS-1s when I worked in retail music. They were hogs. All but 1 came back. A nice idea, but too many technical problems. Same with the Maestro Theremin of the same era--but what can you expect coming from Norlin?