4ms Noise Swash Distortion

Everything is in the sound quality catagory. Already wrote this review up once, in a non-standard form, so it's all clumped together in the next section for just cut-and-paste easy. the low rating is explained in next section.

The noise swash in a strange creature, it's hard to know where to start.

At lower gain levels is can sound very much like my shredmaster if it were
put on steroids - it can sound very distortion like, but the more you crank
the gain, the more fuzzy it becomes. Using the two clipping switches,
different levels of gain and volume are at your disposal. It can make your
amp sound like it's about to explode.

The EQ (bass and treble) controls aren't the best of EQ. The bass can be a
bit undefined, and increasing the treble also increases the distortion
(there is a lot of high frequency clipping in this unit). However, it can be
really bassy and smooth with the bass knob cranked, and also very harsh and
cutting with the treble cranked. With both turned up the mids get lots very
easily (fuzz heaven however). A mid eq control of this pedal would have been
a good idea.

The noise gate is strange. It doesn't work in a conventional way; if
you turn it up it's doesn't necessarily mean that more noise will be cut
out. Depending on the amount of gain dialed in and the setting of the
clipping switch the noise gate knob with cut all extraneous noise out at
certain points and let it through at others. eg, if I have the gain and
switches all set for maximum distortion then having the noisegate set to 9
o'clock will block out the noise, but if I change the switches then I need
to change the noise gate to about 12 o'clock. It's a strange arrangement but
it is a very good gate. It does cut out tons of noise, however if you are
using single coils don't expect utterly silent operation.

The self oscilation feature is cool. Infact you don't even need to turn the
self-osc switch on to get wierd noises. If the volume is turned up high
enough and the gate is open then self-osc noises will come through. They
will also come through if the pedal is bypassed, even TRUE bypassed (if the
volume is higher enough - usually WAY above normal playing volume). There
is so much signal madness going on inside the pedal that it radiates out and
get's picked up by the output jack. Also, other owners have said that it can
effect other pedals near to it, such as a delay, although I've noticed no
effect on nearby pedals (usually a wah-wah or MXR blue box). New noise swash
models have got shielding to prevent this happening, although if you like
the idea of it effecting other things, just say when you order your
pedal.... they are very versitle in that respect.

Anyway, with the swash making it's own noises, varying the noisegate and
swash knobs can produce a lot of different noises, including thermin type
noises, beats, and coolest of all, I've managed on several ocassions to get
it to make a sound like an old air raid siren, which starts up and raises in
pitch, then silences and then starts over again... 'tis very cool. Must also
say that adjusting the guitar's volume control whilst in self oscolation
mode can adjust the rate of beats and siren type noises and also adjust the
pitch of the thermin like ones.

Finally, the actually physical design of the pedals ain't great. The
noisegate and swash knobs are too close to the stomp switch. The self-osc
knob is mounted on the SIDE of the pedal, which worries me whenever I have
to transport the pedal in a bag anywhere (scared it'll get snapped off).
Inside the pedal there is plenty of space for the battery, although there
isn't a cavity or space made just for it. It'll rattle about in their.
Doesn't bother me, might bother others. The battery life of this pedal seem
exceptional compared to other distortions I've ran off batteries (marshall
shredmaster, big muff russian RI, nobels ODR-1, Nobels DT-XN). Also the
stomp switch appears to be the same make as the russian EHX re-issues... not
top quality.

They use cheap stomp switches. Mine was delivered with a broken switch. QC isn't the best. They also sent me a noiseswash which doesn't have an audio taper pot for the volume control. All the range is bunched up in the first 6th of the pot's sweep.

Helpfull every step of the way, right from ordering to customer support

If you want something crazy like a Fuzz Factory, go for this. It's cheap and certainly appears to be more controlable. It's a very individual type effect... up to you whether you like it, but it's main application would appear to be in recording and not live situations. It's a pedal to be tweaked and experimented with.

My Noise Swash has nine knobs and two switches not counting the stomp switch. For a distortion/fuzz with this many controls the Swash is relatively easy to use. Having said that, it did take a little time for me to get really comfortable with all the controls and their very interactive nature. Could really use a manual but a little experimentation should get anyone up and running in a short amount of time.

This is where the Swash really shines. It gets an amazing array of distortion/fuzz sounds from relatively smooth and compressed Rat like distortion to insane fuzzy whacked out sounds. Some of it's sounds are reminiscent of a Fuzz Factory and there are some similarities in the interactivity of the control knobs, but if the FF is crazy the swash is absolutely insane. If you're trying to nail the exact sound of so and so, this may not be the pedal for you. But if you're into finding new and interesting sounds and textures this is the ticket.
I have to add that the Swash is not only an effects device but an instrument/noisemaker in it's own right. With the guitar turned way down or off, and using the Swash's self oscillator you can get a great array of squeals, hisses, buzzes and squaks that i've never heard from any other box.

My swash is built like a tank. It's housed in what i think is a recycled solar power regulator box with a great hammertone silver/grey powdercoat finish. It was built by Mike Both of Custom Analog Electronics. Mike does a great job, you can see some of his work at http://commonsound.com/cae

The best. Both Dann Green (the inventor/desinger of the Swash) and Mike Both (who built my Swash) are great to work with. When i thought my swash might not be bypassing correctly and expressed a wish for an LED on indicator, Mike offered to check it out and do the LED mod for just the cost of postage.
Got the pedal back in a short time, bypassing perfectly and with the LED. Mike was very friendly and helpful throughout. You couldn't ask for better than that!

If you're looking for an extremely wide array of unique tones, this is the thing!
The only pedal i know of that is at all comparable is the Fuzz Factory but that's like comparing apples and oranges. There's really nothing (to my knowledge) like a swash for crazy noise distortion stuff.
The reasons i'm giving it a 9 overall instead of a 10 is that there seems to be bit of a wait involved in getting any Commonsound pedals (note this is to be expected, they're custom built with the mods/options of your choice) and a manual wouldn't hurt at all (although in all fairness i'm sure either Dann or Mike would have been happy to explain it's operation had i asked).
Overall a fantastic device for the sonic experimenter, well built and with superb customer support.

Okay, that is a low rating, but it certainly doesn't detract from the pedal, in my opinion.. Between 8 knobs and two switches (not including the on/off stomp switch), and the expression pedal input I special ordered, this can be a very difficult pedal to use. I recommend anyone who wants to do the cover band metal-zone-thang to avoid this pedal like the plague; it is simply not normal. Lunacy in degrees the people who love the "Whack'd" switch on their Ibanez flangers just won't grasp (somehow, in the musical language, calling a rate doubler "whack'd" means the fast flange sounds like Limp Bizkit. Go figure).

However, if you treasure abnormality and uniqueness, this machine will light you up. "Not for the Tubescreamer" crowd one of the other reviewers wrote? you just can't argue with that. The controls are so organic and interactiv that you may never have exactly the same sound twice. The people that want Gain and Level (possibly a tone control, too) will approach this thing like a lobotomy patient working on a chinese finger trap.

Yikes! If you've never heard one, you're not really going to be able to understand (there are samples at commonsound.com). When the Self Oscillation, Swash, and Gate cranked all the way off, and the Clipping switches deactivated, you have a pretty normal fuzz pedal-for the price, you'd be doing well with just that. For $100-150, you can get distortion boxes that are less appealing than this one, and I have been using this thing for less than insane purposes, on this setting.

And, in anything else you do, have a volume pedal after your Noise Swash. The Volume knob is? remember how I said all the controls are organic? Well, when you get this thing going, all of the knobs (including Volume) tweak the pitch, rhythm, speed, and squelch of the fuzzy wildness? and it is LOUD.

You start tweaking those controls and the box will feed back, inside itself (no amp required), a little like the Zvex Fuzz Factory. And tweak them some more, and it will spit, sputter, fizz, scream, chirp? Depending on how you set it, the noises will run behind your playing, or be replaced by it. You can pick hard and banish the strangeness while you play, or pick light, barely breaking through the surface of the sound. You can sputter low volume, broken radio crackling, or short gated blasts. I've even found a setting where the original attack of the note is a quiet, crackling hiss, and as the note decays, the distortion ramps up, so that a half second after you strike the note, it swells up into a huge, singing sustain..

I'm just not worried about this thing. A lot of people wince when they see the box-Commonsound effects use electric outlet housings, which are incredibly thick. Heavy, heavy steel chassis on these pedals... I'm more confident of this pedal than any DOD I've ever owned.

Dann is helpful in many, many ways. I picked his brain on several subjects before receiving the pedal, and he always responded in depth and well. A real joy to work with-I'm looking forward to the next Commonsound pedal in my world.

I run this in its own loop, off of a loop selector; the noise swash and its respective volume pedal, so that I can just switch into and out of wildness without having to adjust my volume. Post-Swash volume control is a must-I'd blow my speakers, otherwise (or at least clip the hell out of any effect running after this one).

Right now, I enjoy running this after a ZVex Machine and before some echo (possibly phase or filters, too). It responds differently to pedals you put before it-it is a serious noise box, so I like to stack distortions with it.

The other thing I found (and this really surprised me) was how great this thing is at processing drums. Especially when set to self-osc, the drums thunder away through the Swash, and the noises jump through the cracks in the percussion. Using it in production, your hands are free to twist lots of knobs, which really lets you do maniacal sweeps and excellent effects.

Best of all, no one will confuse you with any popular radio personality or guitar god. They're all buying vintage pedals or clones-and this is not your father's distortion pedal.

It's time to wage a little war on stagnation. Welcome to the modern age.

Don't expect instant plug-in-and-rock sounds: more like instant-plug-in-and-oh-my-god-is-my-amp-exploding sounds. The knobs have their own internal logic to them but it takes a while to figure that out. Still, it's easy enough to dial in something either extreme or beyond-extreme in a few minutes.

I play a Fender Musicmaster through a Sunn SL260 (hey, I like it!) for now. The sound is absolutely unique--the only sounds I've heard that are remotely like it (I don't have $200+ to shell out for a Fuzz Factory) are the farty sounds I get out of my old Maestro FZ-1A brown pedal. (also great if a million times tamer)

It's _very_ sensitive to your playing volume, which I love; sounds above a certain threshold sound like the most beautiful chewy fuzz ever, while sounds below that threshold sound like buzzes and crzks and farts and braps and synth bleeps. If you set your volume low enough, you can emphasize these sounds; if you use a compressor into the thing, you can get a great fuzz that's the aural equivalent chewing wood: think Keiji Haino/Fushitshusha, or the Dead C, or a miked chainsaw.

This pedal is sometimes even more fun when you run other instruments into it. Percussive instruments, such as drum machines, electric kalimbas (honestly), and pianos can sound like new instruments through the thing.

It gets noisy and sometimes it's hard to control (put a volume pedal after it! trust me!) and sometimes the sound bleeds through in bypass but I can't imagine a fuzz that offers more options or more astonishing sounds. The description for "10" says "pristine sound quality" but I can't imagine anything further from that, and thank god.

It's built pretty solidly--I wouldn't throw it off a truck but I shouldn't break it if I step on it. Then again, I'm pretty small. The knobs might come off but you can screw them back on...

Dann is super-friendly. When you step into the world of 3ms/soundshimmer, you step into Dann's communal vision, which I love, although it hasn't always been the most efficient in the world. Absolutely a product made out of love, not out of profit-lust.

For anyone who makes noisy music or music that benefits from an element of uncertainty (and there _should_ be more uncertainty in music!) this is your holy grail. If you're fastidious about every element of your sound, or if you want to plug in and sound like someone else who is not Keiji Haino, you will strongly dislike this pedal. It's named "noise-swash" for a reason...

Not many pedals I've played through have changed my approach to the instrument (okay, several instruments!); this is one, along with my Maestro ring-modulator. It can be scabrous, sure, but you can learn to control it. Or you can let it do its own thing and it will clear a room quicker than anything else. Great!

this is easy to use for anyone into fuzz boxes. there are two stages of gain, however, and it takes a little fiddling about with the unit to see how the two stages interact. i had some cool sounds within 15 minutes of plugging it in for the first time.

this is an EXTREME distortion pedal, not for the "tube screamer" crowd. i wanted to check it out after reading the info on dan's website about the pedal. it can do a lot of types of distorted sounds, from crackling "ripped speaker cone" sorts of sounds to a high-gain almost "Boss Metal Zone" sort of tone. there are high and low EQ's on the pedal, as well as switchable gain stages. pretty complex and variable for a fuzz box. i like this a lot, and it is rapidly becoming a favorite of mine in the fuzz department.

dan's pedals are made well, but to keep them cost-effective, he puts them in electrical housings. however, i have had some of his pedals for almost two years now, using them live and in the studio, and they are still working, so how can i complain? i know that custom designed housings would only drive the prices of the efects up.

dan is great to deal with, and will gladly do custom mods for anyone who wants them.

this is a great new design in fuzz pedals. and i try them all. the only pedal that compares to the Noise Swash is the Z Vex Fuzz Factory, and really the two are quite different designs...but they are both EXTREME....i like the tones from the Noise Swash. don't buy this if you want the perfect Hendrix '69 Woodstock fuzzface tone (buy a Fulltone '69 pedal, they ROCK for that tone).....but if you want something different, something to get weird with and help you get NEW tones instead of the perfect SRV/Hendrix/blah blah woof woof soundalike tone....try one of these Noise Swash pedals out! and check out the new LVX Nova CD, there will be some Noise Swash tracks on there for sure....