Creamy goodness

There are no more excuses to procrastinate the acquisition of the acclaimed Blackstar Fly 3 desktop amp now that it's offered in another finish- cream. Otherwise, get someone else to buy it for you, tell them you deserve it for whatever reasons. Understood?

Selling: Plush Cream (Price updated)

Plush pedals are products by the amplifier company, Fuchs. The Cream you see here has an overdrive voicing, a non-aggressive one at that. However, I can pretty much shred my notes with this one due to its saturation levels unlike the traditional Tubescreamers out there. Here's some stuff about it (please check out the soundclips there by Doug Doppler): CREAM!

I bought this one for more than $200, I bought the Extreme Cream subsequently which is essentially this pedal + a souped up channel 2- the reason why I'm selling it away :-)

• Selling: Plush Cream
• Condition: 9/10 (box included)
• Self-collect @ CCK mrt stn
• Queries/ Confirmation: dark1349@hotmail.com
• No reservations/ No trades
• Price: $149 $120 (final)
• Malaysian buyers: RM370 RM290(final)

Drive

I'm not in heavy metal mood in the mean time. My set up very much reflects the current flavour; a thick drive, very much in the veins of jazz-rock rather than outright aggression. Have been listening to Depeche Mode & Brett Garsed lately...

The Ibanez BB9... well, I deem it as a Red Bull pedal, adding that kick in an already potent setting. In addition to the bottom end injection, the BB9 also adds gain to the chain (hey, it rhymes!) so whatever aggression you have going, it's gonna bring it up but not excessively.

Fuchs' Cream pedal is a member of the PLUSH series of effects, it's not as celebrated as any other drive because in general, in a drive conversation, the proverbial Tubescreamer is the talk. The Cream is actually a processed Tubescreamer which ended up sounding quite far off from its originator. To me it's a saturated drive with lots of clarity in the output, not just a midrange focus. It's a more outgoing drive, you can say that, not just a slight addition. 

Putting these two pedals together, I get a very sensitive & boosted drive, if there is a heavy metal version of an overdrive, this would be it (no, BOSS's SD-1 isn't quite 'Super' to me). This is important because I'm a light picker, I need to get immediate results with minimum efforts, the slacker's working formula, he he... The setback to this sensitivity is of course extraneous noise; all sliding, knocking, scratching & tripping noises resulting from my picking technicalities get magnified. This is a good thing for me (yes, it is) as it teaches me to control my hands. Sometimes we forget this fundamental rule of not making others hear the noise- just the music, it's an art, really.

Plush Scarlett

Did a mix-N-match yesterday & settled down with the above pedals for the rest of the day's guitar playing episodes. The Scarlett has this sweet transparency that prevents itself from being too vintage voiced while retaining that typical smooth drive nuance. I usually don't assign such a pedal to be my primary drive unit. The Cream behaves likewise but it has a whole lot more in terms of saturation (not intensity, mind you) so it became my primary reference with the Scarlett being its reinforcement, set as a post-drive/ boost application. I went on to play with just these two pedals for the rest of the day till night time when a little chorus was introduced. Guitars used:

• Jackson JS20 (TESLA)
• Ibanez RG471 (Seymour Duncan)
• LTD H-351 (EMG)

The LTD saw the least duration because I 'm not too keen in hearing active pickups in action with mild drivers but the neck '85 was in action most of the time- great legato licks with those pedals. The Duncans in the Ibanez blended well with the pedals but I couldn't slow down with this guitar despite the great tones. This led to the Jackson occupation for the rest of the day/ evening, those TESLAs in there just sounded sweet & they benefitted the most from such drive laden settings (nothing metal in any way). I especially enjoyed the Plasma 1 in this application- sounded awesome with saturation or with the guitar volume dipped.

Duncan cream

Had a great time with my Ibanez GIO & Plush Cream pedal. This is a recurring theme lately- Duncan pickup & the Cream pedal teaming up to good effect.

Creamy Jack

Woke up this morning & gave a fresh set of (Pyramid) strings to my Jackson. Decided to play while waiting for the newspaper to arrive at the door-step but that lasted for 2 hrs... The (Fuchs) Plush Cream goes well with Duncans, definitely. I love how the Jazz (neck) sounded super creamy with lots of saturation in tact- this is important to me:

1. So that I don't sound wimpy
2. So that the noise gate would be triggered all the time

When you next re-string your guitar, do tune it sharp & let it rest for a few minutes or so, proceed to re-rune your guitar. Why do this? It's as good as stretching your strings & re-tuning it afterwards. I stopped yanking my strings to stretch them because they sometimes snap.

Plush activity

I've been hearing too much passive tones lately so I had my Ibanez RGR08LTD going this morning, through the Plush Cream pedal. The Cream overdrive did well in taming the protrusive top end from the Duncan Blackout to give a very smooth response. However, this combination proved too much (subjective) in terms of output because there wasn't quite an overdrive tone to be heard, in fact, it's a distortion outcome pertaining to intensity.

Fuchs: Plush Cream

I simply love Fuchs' Plush Cream pedal, it has one of the best stand alone saturation which is essential for me as this complements my playing quirks (I tend to pick harder than I should be if the drive saturation isn't to my standards). I'm currently looking for a non-metal distortion/ drive tone to just spur me on & this one comes my way. The Cream sounds like a boosted Tubescreamer without the accompanying extra fatness; it retains definition well.