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Author
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Topic: Who uses Goodrich matchbox?
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Mike Shefrin
Member From: New York
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posted 08 October 2006 11:30 AM
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I'm just curious who uses one and who doesnt
or who used one but stopped,etc, and if there is a signifigantly better tone or sound with it. I used to use one 15 years ago on my Shobud, and can't remember if it
made my sound better or not.Also,who uses the Hilton sustain box and what's your take on it? Thanks.[This message was edited by Mike Shefrin on 08 October 2006 at 11:41 AM.] |
Lee Bartram
Member From: Sparta, Kentucky, USA
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posted 08 October 2006 12:42 PM
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i use one even though i have a hilton pedal so it doesn't help the sound any but i like a tone control on it that i can reach and change . [This message was edited by Lee Bartram on 08 October 2006 at 12:43 PM.] |
Mike Shefrin
Member From: New York
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posted 08 October 2006 01:45 PM
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Thanks for your input, Lee. |
Mike Fried
Member From: Nashville, TN, USA
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posted 08 October 2006 08:36 PM
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I use a Matchbox when I'm using a passive volume pedal. I've found it does help preserve the highs when the pedal is backed off. Usually I use a Hilton volume pedal but sometimes the wallwart/power cord is a hassle to deal with (shows with a fast on/offstage). |
Jerry Hayes
Member From: Virginia Beach, Va.
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posted 09 October 2006 07:30 AM
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I use the small one with the tone control on top as I use that a lot! I also use a Goodrich volume pedal and I think they work great in tandem with those....JH in Va.------------------
Don't matter who's in Austin (or anywhere else) Ralph Mooney is still the king!!!
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John McClung
Member From: Los Angeles, CA, USA
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posted 09 October 2006 11:38 PM
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I wouldn't play through a pot pedal without some kind of Goodrich Matchbox. I used to use a 6A, upgraded 2 years ago to the 7A, and almost never touch the tone dial, but do use the gain knob and really like the extra "oomph" you feel like you have in your sound.When I was testing a Hilton pedal recently, the 7A didn't help its tone much, if at all, but again the gain was a big help to the pedal, which doesn't have quite as much as I prefer. I'm waiting for delivery of the Hilton Digital Sustain, be interesting to compare its way of adding gain to the Goodrich 7A. One more note: some guitars don't seem to benefit much from a Matchbox. Probably a pickup thing. ------------------
E9 lessons
Mullen D-12/Carter SD-10/Webb amp/Profex II+Lexicon MPX-110 OR Line 6 Pod XT |
Lee Baucum
Member From: McAllen, Texas (Extreme South) - The Final Frontier
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posted 10 October 2006 12:10 PM
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John - What would you be gaining (no pun intended) by using both a Hilton Digital Sustain and a Goodrich Matchbox? Don't they both do about the same thing? Are you just looking to increase the gain, more than either of the boxes can alone?By the way, here is something I discovered some years ago. I use a Hilton Digital Sustain unit all the time. Right out of the bottom of the unit, I'll plug in a little splitter that I got from Radio Shack. From one output of the splitter I send the signal on down to the passive volume pedal. From the other output of the splitter I send a signal to my tuner. This works very well with the Hilton Digital Sustain. No change in volume nor in tone. If I try the same thing, but split the signal coming from the guitar, before the Hilton Digital Sustain, the tone sucks....bad. (Or is that badly?) Once that tuner gets into the picture, before the Hilton Digital Sustain, it screws things up. The electronics techies here on the Forum discussed how that messes up the impedance. Anything that is added needs to be after the Hilton Digital Sustain (or Goodrich Matchbox) to keep the tone clean. I'll see if I can find my original post about this. EDIT: Here it is. ------------------
Lee, from South Texas
Down On The Rio Grande Mullen U-12, Excel 8-string Frypan, Evans FET-500, Fender Steel King [This message was edited by Lee Baucum on 10 October 2006 at 12:34 PM.]
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Mike Fried
Member From: Nashville, TN, USA
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posted 10 October 2006 08:57 PM
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John, my Hilton pedal has a gain adjustment on the bottom that will provide more volume than you would get from a passive pedal.
[This message was edited by Mike Fried on 10 October 2006 at 08:58 PM.] |
Tim Harr
Member From: East Peoria, Illinois
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posted 11 October 2006 06:40 AM
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I saw Buddy Emmons using one this last year in St Louis with a Goodrich Vol Pedal. |
Bill Terry
Member From: Bastrop, TX, USA
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posted 11 October 2006 07:42 AM
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I used a Matchbox with a Dekley Low-Boy pedal for a long time, but eventually bought a Goodrich L10K v-pedal. The L10K has a matchbox type impedance matching circuit, without the tone control. So I guess I sorta use a Matchbox.The L10K has no power cable to plug in, and battery life seems to be on the order of a year or two. I change mine once a year, just because. Also, the 10K pots that it uses seem to be a bit easier to locate than the 500k pots in passive pedals. That said, I've got two L10Ks and never had to change a pot in either in the 6 or 7 years I've owned them.
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Jerry Hayes
Member From: Virginia Beach, Va.
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posted 11 October 2006 08:04 AM
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Hey Bill, I use the same pedal but I also use the Matchbox with it as I can't live without that tone control. They sound very good together.........JH in Va.------------------
Don't matter who's in Austin (or anywhere else) Ralph Mooney is still the king!!!
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Gene Jones
Member From: Oklahoma City, OK USA
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posted 11 October 2006 09:24 AM
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The Goodrich 7A is a lifesaver for those events where you have to "get on & off the stage" in a hurry, and have to plug into a stage amp. With the 7A, you can usually quickly adjust to an acceptable tone without having to turn around and fiddle with the stage amp settings.Except for circumstances described above, I usually leave the 7A in my packseat since I started using a Hilton. ------------------
www.genejones.com |
Ernie Pollock
Member From: Mt Savage, Md USA
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posted 11 October 2006 10:29 AM
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I still use it for the same reason that Jerry does, I like haveing that tone control, I like it a little different on the C6th than the E9th & the matchbox does help. I am also partial to that volume or gain control on it. Mine is the old 6A model. Ernie Pollock  http://www.hereintown.net/~shobud75/stock.htm ------------------
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Jim Sliff
Member From: Hermosa Beach California, USA
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posted 11 October 2006 09:55 PM
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Which one of these gadgets overcomes the impedance mismatch with effects pedals? I've found that no high-impedance steel pickup can be used with an old MXR Phase 90 or similar without nasty distortion when the pedal is engaged; OTOH, the lower impedance Fender pickups like the pedals fine - no problems at all. Is a Match Box the answer, or something else, short of having pickups rewound to the kind of impedance effects are used to seeing? |
John McClung
Member From: Los Angeles, CA, USA
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posted 12 October 2006 10:30 PM
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To Lee:
I want to compare the Goodrich to the Hilton, but certainly wouldn't use both in line!I do the same thing, split the signal leaving the guitar with a short y-cord, one end to Boss TU12, the other to my 7A to PodXT to the VP to Webb amp. I haven't found an audiophile grade y-cord, I asked George L, they don't make one and no plans to. Anyone recommend one that is as transparent as all my other George L cords? Mike Fried: in my test of the Hilton, unfortunately turning that dial to get the additional gain also meant the volume didn't cut off completely anymore. That's my only qualm about the vp. Goodrich's dial adds gain, but the volume still cuts off completely, or nearly so. And hi to ya, btw! Thanks for moving to Nashville, I now own all the steel work in the South Bay...OK, there isn't any, but if there WERE, it'd be all mine. Ha!
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E9 lessons
Mullen D-12/Carter SD-10/Webb amp/Profex II+Lexicon MPX-110 OR Line 6 Pod XT |
Lee Baucum
Member From: McAllen, Texas (Extreme South) - The Final Frontier
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posted 13 October 2006 05:31 AM
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John - The little splitter I use I got from Radio Shack. It's just a little "box" with a male plug on one side and two female plugs on the other side. I plug the male end into the output of the Hilton Digital Sustain and run two cords out the bottom of the Radio Shack device. No change in tone at all. But the split needs to take place after the Hilton, not right out of the guitar.Lee |
Fred Bova
Member From: Montrose, California, USA
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posted 13 October 2006 11:30 PM
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Hi, is the MATCHBOX still being made ? What else is out there ?[This message was edited by Fred Bova on 13 October 2006 at 11:31 PM.] |
Mike Fried
Member From: Nashville, TN, USA
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posted 14 October 2006 02:29 AM
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Jim, all of these devices provide a lower impedance output than the original pickup. In application, if the buffer is built into the pedal (Goodrich 10K, Hilton) rather than a box straight off the guitar (Matchbox), any effects placed before the pedal won't see the lower impedance. Many vintage effects don't have as high an input impedance or as much headroom for the modern steel pickup's higher output, especially straight off the guitar. The problem with the Phase 90, etc., is as likely a headroom problem as an impedance one, as the lower-impedance Fender pickups are also outputting a smaller signal than the modern pickups. As a rule I don't use any effects without true bypass before the buffer circuit.[This message was edited by Mike Fried on 14 October 2006 at 02:32 AM.] |
Jon Jaffe
Member From: Austin, Texas
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posted 14 October 2006 08:36 AM
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I use this:  It is similar to a matchbox, but it has a distortion unit in. The distortion end has a selector to "change the harmonics so that violin sounds could be made" by playing unison pitched strings. That worked so so. The distortion has a decent tone control but no gain. It worked well to fend off a Telecaster last night. It came out in the early 80's after the matchbox I have a Hilton pedal, and use both. And as folks stated above, quick tone control is the reason.[This message was edited by Jon Jaffe on 14 October 2006 at 12:40 PM.] |
Jim Sliff
Member From: Hermosa Beach California, USA
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posted 14 October 2006 08:46 AM
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Mike - that was the perfect answer. that's exactly how I undestood it, and when I had an older MAtcbox with my MSA I ran it first in the chain, solving the issues I was talking about. That would be the same setp with my GFI - output==>Matchbox==>effects===>passive volume pedal==>amp. Actually, the volume can go ahead of theeffects but OD's work better when they get slammed with the full signal from the Matchbox.One thing I'm not sure Iunderstand, and it may solve an "issue" I have - are you saying the Goodrich and Hilton volume pedals have impdance matcing (somehow adjustable?) built-in? If so, that would explain some of what I perceived as a very high cost for a simple optical pedal. I still ouldn't provide the one thing I have to somehow add - volume and ton conrols ON the guitar, which the Matchbox povides (Does the Hilton sustainer do the same thing? Impedance matching and tone/volme?). Thanks for answering the most important part of the question. |
Mike Fried
Member From: Nashville, TN, USA
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posted 14 October 2006 11:11 PM
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Jim, I'm not sure whether those pedals have a dedicated buffer circuit per se, but they do have high input/low output impedance, so it has more or less the same effect on the signal as a buffer box. The Hilton pedal does have a tone control on the bottom that's adjusted with a small screwdriver (not much help on the fly), and the older active Goodrich pedals have a side-mounted control with a very large (foot-friendly) knob, but I'm not sure about the newer ones.If you're already using a Matchbox or similar, an active pedal after it would possibly actually degrade the tone - the only advantage would be that of losing the troublesome passive pot. I always use one or the other, but never both.[This message was edited by Mike Fried on 14 October 2006 at 11:19 PM.] |
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