[ruger9]

http://thenocturnebrainseltzer.blogspot.com/

Going to go run thru the gears now... will be back with a review later...

Build quality? Top notch everything, all 'round. And it's beautiful.

As for the review, I've got a Hot Rod with TVJ Classics, and I will be running into a Genz Benz Black Pearl, which is a Vox AC30 variant. So it's not a blonde bassman, but most of us who will be using the Nocturne prolly don't have blondes... YET. I'll be running guitar->Nocturne->delay (Echo Park, AD999)->amp.

Will report back!

[Synchro]

Originally Posted by ruger9

http://thenocturnebrainseltzer.blogspot.com/

Going to go run thru the gears now... will be back with a review later...

Build quality? Top notch everything, all 'round. And it's beautiful.

As for the review, I've got a Hot Rod with TVJ Classics, and I will be running into a Genz Benz Black Pearl, which is a Vox AC30 variant. So it's not a blonde bassman, but most of us who will be using the Nocturne prolly don't have blondes... YET. I'll be running guitar->Nocturne->delay (Echo Park, AD999)->amp.

Will report back!

Keep us posted.

[Jukebox]

Yep! keep us post and don't forget your pictures!

[ruger9]

you guys and the pics...

I got the orange one, just like on the website above.

OK...

1st... NOW I KNOW WHY MY TV JONES NEVER SOUND LIKE BRIAN'S!! It's that damn preamp. The preamp lends some kind of a midrange sweetness, hard to describe, makes everything sound slightly less scooped, a little more beefy. But still retains all that clarity. It's something I've never really been able to accomplish with the amp's EQ section. This is definitely something I have noticed in Brian's live sound for awhile now, but could never get it... tried overdrives, tried the Timmy, everything seemed to "touch" the tone too much, or sound like an overdrive. The Nocturne adds that cool mids presence without boosting gain (unless you want it to).

2nd... THANK YOU FOR THE BASS ROLLOFF! It works GREAT for those of us dealing with open-back combos. It really helps alot.

3rd... you want that pinstriped Hot Rod "Ignition" sound once in awhile? No problem... and no OD pedal needed. Just turn the gain up on the Nocturne, and there's more mids & more drive at your command. To me, kinda' sounds like putting Supertrons in your axe! Very cool!

4th... it cleans up really well. Turn your guitar's volume knob down to 8-9, and it cleans up REALLY well. You can go from "Cats On A Hot Tin Roof" to "My Favorite Things" with just a small turn of the vol knob. And I have no "volume kit"/"treble bleed" on my vol knob.


Now, I realize I JUST got this thing, but I have been studying Setzer's tone for years, and while I have never had the cash to get a 6G6-B yet (I will someday), I have constanly worked at getting his live BSO tone. I've tried ALOT of different drives & delays. Short of getting a real 301 or 6G6-B, this thing really IS a key part of the equation. I heard & felt it instantly. Like... "there IT is!! THAT'S what I've been waiting to hear! I KNEW something was missing." Now all I need is a Blonde Bassman, and I'll be in 7th Heaven. (and maybe a TTE, but don't get me started... )

On the website & in the literature, it really only discusses the Blonde Bassman, but I think this thing also works similarly with other amps... No, it won't turn a Les Paul & a Marshall into a Gretsch hollow & a Blonde, but if you've got TVJs, and you're looking for that "Setzer Sound", regardless of your amp choice the Nocturne definitely helps. Definitely sends you down the right road a little more than you were before. The builder (TVWiredTurtle) mentioned somewhere that this "ain't the cowboy gretsch sound"... I'd say what it does is take that "Cowboy" Gretsch sound, which is cool, and turns it into the "Setzer Grestch" sound.

[Pappy]

Why is this limited again? Is it just the first run that's limited to gauge public response (with real money not empty promisesnof "I would buy it!")? I'll be honest, I'm not really looking for Setzer's sound but making the guitar sound "better than it should" as Ruger puts it is pretty awesome.

[ruger9]

It's a limited run because the builder, Tavo (TVWiredTurtle), isn't a builder. He's a musician and Setzer fanatic who wanted to be able to get the RE-301 sound w/o the 301. The 201 (and RE-20) isn't the same thing. It's preamp in the 301 that makes it sound so good, so Tavo built a pedal version of that preamp. So now you can take the Nocturne & your delay of choice to gigs instead of the big 'ol 301.

However, if these first 25 sell briskly (he had 6 left last I heard), it wouldn't surprise me if he does another run in the future. But he doesn't really have time for this stuff- he works for a living, and he has a family, building these things was done in spare time. He wasn't really looking to make big $$$ (notice the very reasonable price), or become a builder. He's just a Setzer-phile who wanted to create something cool for all us other Setzer-philes out here in Gretschland.

[ruger9]

Actually, Brian's old guitar tech & friend, Billy Zoom (of X) said that. Something like "the preamp on that 301 really does make the Gretsch sound better than it ought to."

[roadjunkie]

still twiddling the thumbs!

[roadjunkie]

Russ I announced these on the GDP while Tavo was still in the prototype stage before I could post it here I pulled the thread because he wasn't ready but I already had about 6 or seven of these sold within the few hours that post was up. I'm sure there will be a second run but can't say for certain. I have a lime green one coming.

[guitarfarm]

Brain Seltzer? Is that what I use for my Mojitos? What am I missing here??

[ishtar]

Appreciate the dissection of the pedal. Nice review.

[roadjunkie]

Originally Posted by guitarfarm

Brain Seltzer? Is that what I use for my Mojitos? What am I missing here??

play on words! avoid lawsuits?

[Pappy]

Reference to the famous Chet Atkins video where he calls Setzer "Seltzer."

[Synchro]

Originally Posted by guitarfarm

Brain Seltzer? Is that what I use for my Mojitos? What am I missing here??

Relax, have a Jack Daniels in Setzer water and it will come to you.

[Pappy]

By the way, I saw your post RJ, I was just always curious.

Limited release ANYTHING always intrigues me, but it makes sense that he's doing this on the side, doesn't want to dedicate ALL of his free time to it when he could be spending time with family or playing. I completely respect that.

I DO really want to try one out to review for the 5th Fret. Honestly, it seems like these are a bit of a hit, so hopefully there's going to be more.

Perhaps he'll go the Charvel route and offer completely different colors with each run he does. If he makes one that matches a 6118 top, that would be pretty amazing.

[roadjunkie]

Russ check out the Itunes menu he listed on his site for this pedal. I have it on itunes myself and a couple of years back he sent me an EP of some of his more gospel stuff. He can get into Johnny Cash territory with his voice at times. He has some good stuff. I'll mention your blog to him and see what he says.

[roadjunkie]

Max and I are off on a cracker run! Be back!

[Pappy]

I'll definitely look into it. Thanks!

[roadjunkie]

Russ I talked to him earlier and he's interested in a review on your blog. He is ripping his hair out about now so contact him thru the site. I think he's running low on product and if so I may just have to ship mine down to you after it gets here.

[Pappy]

I tried to send him a message through myspace and it said it didn't pass his spam filter. Could you PM me an email address?

[ruger9]

Pappy- I'm PMing you his email; it came in the Nocturne manual...

[Pappy]

Thank you!

[ruger9]

CHAPTER 2:
OTHER GUITARS

So, today I was running thru the gears on the Nocturne, but this time with my TELE... well, surprise surprise. I've discovered an interesting "side effect", if you will. Something the circuit maybe wasn't designed to do, but does anyway...

FAT BOOST. Yep, like a clean boost (even tho Tavo specifically says it's a PREAMP not a BOOST), you can get unity gain up to some extra gritsch, and because of the circuit design there's some added bass too.. that's the "fat" part. With the bass rolloff on the Nocturne, adjust to taste.

I've owned quite a few clean boosts in my time, looking for the "FAT boost with just a little added gain", and the Nocturne does it as good or better than all of them.

Fulltone FatBoost (v.1 and v.2)
RC Booster
Dragon Boost
Demeter Fat Control
OD-820 (supposed to do what a Klon does)
Sparkle Drive (functions kind of like a Klon)

You notice I mention the Klon a couple times. I've never owned a Klon, but it seems the most popular use of a Klon is a "fat, cleanish boost, adding just a little dirt." That's what the Nocturne can do. I'm NOT COMPARING IT TO THE KLON. But, just plug in your tele, or strat, or even HB guitar- dial up your usual rhythm sound, kick on the Nocturne, twiddle the 2 knobs, and just see if you don't like what happens...

[rcboals]

I don't think Brian Setzer uses any pedals to get his tone. I watched him up close in person (within 10 feet) a couple years ago and he used no pedals he had his space echo, and his two blonde bassmans, and he had his tone. He used four different guitars while I watched no pedals insight. I'm am sure without ever seeing him that BRAIN SELTZER does use pedals to get that Brain Seltzer tone.

[ruger9]

You're correct... he uses no pedals... he uses the ROLAND 301 SPACE ECHO, both it's echo & it's PREAMP, which is what the Nocturne is emulating... the preamp section of the 301. Read the website next time.

[Scott]

Too bad it don't also have some type of analog delay built in as well...that would be all I'd need!

I know I can carry an extra pedal but I'm lazy, and the less I gotta carry to a gig the better I like it!

[Pappy]

Isn't your delay wicked small though?

[araT]

Originally Posted by Pappy

Isn't your delay wicked small though?

That wont stop him bickering & complaining like a 90 year old

[Pappy]

Sick burn!

[Scott]

Pappy sez:

Isn't your delay wicked small though?

Yeah, a Boss DM-2...but I like I said earlier I'm lazy and wanna get by with less trips back and forth to the car at gigs. If I could load in and out in one trip...that is my ultimate goal!

Granny TwoJets sez:

That wont stop him bickering & complaining like a 90 year old

What's your point old lady?

[rcboals]

Originally Posted by ruger9

You're correct... he uses no pedals... he uses the ROLAND 301 SPACE ECHO, both it's echo & it's PREAMP, which is what the Nocturne is emulating... the preamp section of the 301. Read the website next time.

I did get that part about the preamp in the 301 making a difference in his tone. I'm not totally sure about that but I am usually pretty sure about what I think I hear. When I've seen Setzer, he plays very loud and hard. Does the pre-amp really make much difference at loud volumes when the amp has gone into its natural overdrive in this case the Bassman? Does the Brain Seltzer help you get that tone at lower volumes? Most of my gigs I can't play at a loud overdriven volume that really nails that tone live. Every OD pedal I have tried has been less than satisfactory and falls way short. At lower volume I've come pretty close with a 5 watt amp getting the Setzer tone. I do realize no matter what I do I'll never master his ability. I'm curious about this pedal, it sound like a pretty cool pedal from your descriptions. maybe I could rent it from you for a week.

[ruger9]

I know Brian doesn't run the 301 at unity gain- he runs it hotter, to hit the first tube stage of the bassman harder. So the 301 isn't just being used for echo. That being said, we'd have to conclude that the preamp is indeed part of his sound.

Now, Brian runs his Bassmans at 5-6 vol, but in the Nocturne manual it says to run the Bassman at 3-4 vol, with additional instructions to use the Nocturne at more than unity gain, to hit the amp a little harder... so I think one of the main purposes of this pedal IS to help get the Setzer tone at lower volumes (altho we ain't talking bedroom here- we're talking gigs smaller than theatres!)

[gigatron]

I've read that Ritchie Blackmore used an old Akai tape recorder as a preamp to get his distinctive sound. I like Brian Setzer's sound, but I'd love to be able to copy Blackmore's sound.

[araT]

Originally Posted by Scott

Granny TwoJets sez:


What's your point old lady?

throw the pedal in the back of your amp (put in a strip of velcro if you want it to stay put), that will take care of the extra trip!

[Scott]

I already throw my tuner in the back of the amp(since it won't fit in my BCB-3). To keep it from bumping around I keep it in a Crown Royal bag(I knew those bags would come in handy for something besides holding expensive blended whiskey!).

[roadjunkie]

Well mine showed up the other day. I wasn't going to say anything but the truth is Tavo has been really great about this so I thought I ought to mention it.

The pedal took a hit during shipping and it's right on the gain pot. I plugged it in and there were some squirrels in there. The oddest one is that when the Nocturne is turned on the volume pot on the Spectrasonic sounded like course sandpaper rubbing over your ear. Also it would fade out volume wise. I told Tavo I would try to work with it for a few days to see if it stops being so wonky. He said to send it back if need be and he will take care of it. The one thing I can say is that before it gets all crazy on me the sound is outright brilliant. I found out this is a pedal you turn on and leave on. There is so much gain on tap that turning it off while playing has consequences. The Ambassador is such a bold amp to start with. With this it has more balls then a Christmas tree.

I just wanted to give major KUDOS to Tavo for backing up his product. I probably will end up shipping it back soon but mostly because he was so damn upset about it over the phone.

Here's a couple of pics of the box.

[TV the Wired Turtle]

hey!! Of all the people to have our fine government postal service use your
box like a frisbee.... I told you need to send that back and let me fix it. Those
alpha pots are good quality audio pots but they are not meant for skeet shooting.
There should be no squirrels, no nuts.. just natural amp "enhancement".. you
know.. bigger!

Also did you set it up first in your signal chain? It doesnt like to have fet bypass pedals ( like Boss ) in front of it as it ends up amplifying the high frequ signal those fet bypass line conditioners put out..


..I'm tryin to make things right, there's just one of me and a whole lot of solder
burns. Cant wait till I can figure out how to have printed circuit boards without
having to sell a nipple.

[Synchro]

Nice to have you with us Turtle Dude. It's great to see someone that stands behind their product . . . even when the P.O. is to blame.

[Pappy]

Check the 5th fret tomorrow morning or an interview with Tavo!

[araT]

Originally Posted by Pappy

Check the 5th fret tomorrow morning or an interview with Tavo!

Awesome Russ, looking forward to it