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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
via sequencer.de
"It was an amazing night, as a packed house of 250 plus applauded Alessandro Cortini, Richard Devine, Thighpaulsandra, Gary Chang, Chas Smith,Paul Tzanetopoulos and Peter Grenader as they twisted sound and sight alike at the Redcat Theater in Los Angeles. Click here for the first flickr images taken from the final rehearsal and the performance itself and check back in the next few days as more are added." Previous posts on Analog Live!
Anyone know what this is? A reader, Steve, sent this in hoping someone could identify it.
images via this auction
images via this auction
via this auction
*MIDI MESSAGE INDICATOR
Trippy shot of The Idyllists via Amateur Chemist. BTW, if you haven't checked out Amateur Chemists, just do it and subscribe to it if you have a blog reader like bloglines. Tons of shot from various shows. I subscribe to it and use it as my personal "must check out this band" list. I actually found out about Silversun Pickups a while back from the site. 
