NPD: Yamaha PSE40A

[fuzzbuzzfuzz]

PSE-40A "Professional System Effectors"

A new purchase this week, at a very healthy low price, couldn't resist. Especially because the included models had the analogue Delay and Chorus (plus two identical flangers) all set up for Stereo.

First impressions:

The Analog Delay is WONDERFUL. I've collected pretty much all the compact ADs from Japan and some from elsewhere, this slots right in the top 5 easily. Very clear, beautiful setup (just on the edge of oscillation), easy to dial in, and faux-verb possible. Not as warm perhaps as some but certainly not dark, dim or uninteresting.

The Chorus is GOOD

Less metallic than I was expecting, certainly mid 80s in feel, not the sweetness of a CE-2 or variants thereof (DOD FX-65 etc) but a broad range of control with the MANUAL being the key control. 

The FLANGER is VERY GOODD

Does zero flanging, not too metallic and again with the MANUAL control a pretty broad sweep. Although I've clearly got a duplicate here it actually was pretty cool jamming with one set slow and light and the other full on.

Overall, I'd describe the set up as a mid 80s crisp tight sound, shoegaze-y or indie alt in vibe. Buffering of the unit and circtrity certainly does change my amp/guitar tone, not unpleasant but certainly a particular crunch. All the effects blend well and it's easy to "toe" the settings. I quite enjoyed the simple easy to see/use layout compared to using my regular pedalboards, cleared the mind!

Pepe is a big collector and fan of the KORG equivalent, so he knows the lowdown on these great units well!

[Pepe]

I tried to do a twin snapshot. This is how your pedal system would look like if it were 100% KORG:



I'm very glad to hear that you love the Analog Delay as well. I have four of them and combined they can produce absolutely nice sounding reverb.

The Chorus is nice on its own, not as deep and sweet as a BOSS CE-2. I suppose that it has only half of the delay time, because it is on the rim of a flanger at high Manual settings. Two of them in a row sound very lush, that's why I keep a pair of them.

The Flanger is very versatile. Actually I think that it can do better and deeper sounding chorus effects than the Chorus. With Depth at maximum you can hear that it has a very wide range. A big plus is that it can do negative and positive Feedback, a feature that is rarely seen in flanger pedals. Self-oscillation is possible at high feedback positions, so it is recommended to put a compressor after it (or a dirt pedal for wicked sonic experiments).

You sure know, fuzzbuzzfuzz, that only the fourth module slot supports the stereo option? In the case of the Chorus and the Flanger the second output is just a 180° phased version of the other output (so it is not mono compatible if recorded in stereo and merged to mono). But the Analog Delay splits the wet effect sound and the bypass sound (listen to the pure delay sound by putting a dummy plug into the stereo output jack).