Quatschmacher

I’ve had duplicates on some parts of the journey before but never after paying the fee. It’s more problematic that it showed as “paid - will be delivered according to your instructions” in the info above the timeline after I paid, but then reverted back to “pending - Sorry, there's a Customs charge due for this item so we're holding it…” later. If I’m up early enough, I’ll head to the sorting office before work.

WTF, Royal Mail? I paid the charge, said it would be delivered Thursday, then later gets held again. Looks like I’m going to have to go there tomorrow.

$600.

Envelope options on C4 are pretty limited, despite the long list. Still wish it had ADSR.

Amp envelope - amplifier envelope, loudness envelope. On C4 that is whatever envelope you assign to the input of the voice(s).

That’s very true. It’s also a different sound from the PF as that uses 12AX7 tubes. I’m sure I’ll forget about the cost once I start playing it as I know how good it sounds now.

I’m only playing the Black Panel out of the 1/4” out into a headphone amp (sometimes) with a cab sim. It’s really reactive to dynamics and has that lovely squishy feel that some tube amps have. Really makes the strings feel alive and responsive. Caveat: I’m fairly new to the whole tube thing so will defer to others with more experience. However, I’ve got this and the SV next to some really nice tube DIs (Shift Line Olympic & Flex and a Sushi Box Grand Slampegg) and it holds its own admirably. It’s closest in sound and feel to the Olympic (which has a Fender tone stack). (The SV feels closer to the Flex.) Even despite having the tube preamps, the Black Panel is a keeper for me as I really does seem to capture the sound and feel whilst eliminating the possibility of tube failure. It even saw off the JF Capo (for the type of sounds I like).

For me, Grand Slampegg made me sell my Fliptop (and I really liked that). (Kind of wished I’d hung on to it a bit longer just to test it into the Cabzone as the power amp sim makes an impact, but I think the GS will make me forget that.) No more preamp purchases for me!

For anyone who was thinking of getting one of these, here’s the customs charges: £68.38 VAT £6.70 Customs Duty £8 handling fee £83.09 total (guessing there is some rounding otherwise HMRC is skimming an extra 1p). Obviously amounts vary according to exchange rates on the day of import. Pedal itself was £353.79 after exchange rates were added. Grand total of £436.88 Ouch! That’s more than the price of a used Ampeg PF-20T!

Sounds like there may be a fifth interval in there (quietly). Doesn’t sound like anything too complex in terms of oscillators, though if the pulse is less than 50% duty cycle C4 can’t do it (though can be fudged via FM). Cutoff seems relatively static. Might be better to get the swell from the amp envelope instead. I’d guess it’s sidechained too so might be worth experimenting syncing the LFO to achieve the ducking.

Over 75% there now!

Works for Audio Kitchen…

One can have one’s own design on it, so if I ever get one, perhaps a commission is in order.

The attack/release times are different. The range of the HPF is different. The new one seems to have more bottom and is more transparent than the older one. The older one seems a bit clearer on top and colours the sound more than the newer one. Depending on what they are paired with, one can sound better than the other.

I’m having a hard time choosing between this and the previous incarnation. They both sound good.

Yes, this was my understanding. He clearly states in his reverb shop that he’s based in turkey for half the year, which strongly implies he ships from there when he is. And I do remember reading of UK folks who’d had import duty. Looks like the rules have changed since I last looked into this and commercial goods up to £135 don’t get charged (as HMRC assumes seller has charged VAT already) but gifts over £39 get charged. (That’s a little bizarre as presumably someone could send you a gift of a commercial item that is over £39 but under £135 in value and you would be charged for that, whereas if you bought the item yourself, you wouldn’t be charged. 🤷🏻)