Pigtronix EP-1

This unit takes a little time and patience to get to know, but the manual is very useful in instructing you where the "sweet spots" are. Once you have dialed them in, you can start playing around to see which sounds better suit your style.
There is also an instuctional video on the website on how to use the Envelope Phaser which is very useful.

I play it through a Fender Hot Rod DeVille with 4 10" speakers. My main guitars are a Heritage 535 and a Godin LGX-SA. The tone I get with this thing is top rate and it is an incredibly versatile piece. You can get a chewy auto-wah from the envelope, a juicy phaser, or a "Lucy in the Skies with Diamonds" type rotary sound when you increase the phaser's speed. My other effects include an Ibanez tube screamer, a SIB delay unit, and a Vox wah. The EP1 sounds great when blended with the other pedals. The envelope alone with a mild overdrive can nail an array of Jerry Garcia sounds (think "China Cat Sunflower") while the phaser mode at a slow speed with a little delay can give you that "Walking on the Moon" tone from the Police. I can get also a great Hendrix sound alla "Burning of the Midnight Lamp" by using the rotary phaser on high speed and using my Vox wah at the same time.

I have had it since September of 2004, use it everyday, and have not seen any change in performance. Very dependable, and I gig without a backup.

I have one very small problem with it when I first got it (and it turned out it was something I was doing wrong, not something defective with the pedal) and I left a voicemail on the number listed on the Pigtronix website. The dude called me back within the hour and even offered to meet me in person to see the gizmo himself, since he happened to be in the area at the time. It turns out we were able to figure it out by phone, but the availability and patience were unprecedented.

I have been playing professionally for over 15 yeears and the EP1 has become my most commonly-used effect. I play a lot of jazz, fusion, funk, and rock. The EP-1 fits well into all of these styles when used properly. I use it for both rhythm and lead playing about the same amount. When testing out different products, I preferred the EP1's envelope sound to that found in the Mutron. The phase function is better than any of the other phase shifters I tried out as well (I checked out Guyatone and Boss). Since I bought it, about six other musicians I have performed or jammed with have gone out and purchased one after testing out mine. It is the most musical effect in my rig.
The ONLY thing that is a bit of a hassle is that you cannot use it with any generic expression pedal; you must buy the Pigtronix version to go along with it. Nevertheless, this effect is fine by itself and has countless possibilities even if you do not have the expression pedal to go with it.

The Pigtron is amazing right out of the box. The next step is remembering to write down your favorite settings! The possibilities are endless, but repeatedly dialing in your favorite tone is easy.

I find every control knob extremely responsive, creating the EP-1's trademark massive tonal palate. Every milimeter of travel on each knob brings new sounds, so it pays to be precise and move them slowly when exploring.

The color coded LEDs are a big help - they show the mode, speed, and even the shape of the filter you are currently rocking.

The manual is very useful, including a guided tour of how to get several classic effects, as well as options for routing the pigtron and using the trigger input. The website (www.pigtronix.com) also has many suggestions for new tones, as well as plenty of sound clips for inspiration. And the instructional video is an instant classic!

This pedal is seriously deep. So far, I've run my PRS Custom 24 and my Fender Rhodes through it, and it sounds incredibly rich and clean, both through an amp and direct into ProTools.

While in LFO mode, the green setting is akin to silky, throbbing EH Small Stone, while the red Inverted sound sparkles like the Red Witch Moon Phaser. I usually dial in a fairly subtle phase shifted sound, but the noise level is extremely low even when the Intensity and Resonance are all the way up. The volume level coming out of the pedal is very high, especially compared to the Small Stone.

Total bonus feature on the Pigtron: With the Intensity (wet) all the way down - or the Sweep all the way up - the EP-1 is a fantastic clean boost. It sounds great, even when it's not phasing!

The EP-1 seems to be true bypass and is extremely quiet. I've been sending recorded samples through it from ProTools, and the sound quality and level of subtlety in the effect is superior to any phaser I've ever used. The ways in which you can control the envelope by changing the volume of the Trigger are fascinating, and the resonances produced by the EP-1 are very musical.

I admit, I blatantly got this pedal for the Envelope Filter...but the LFO mode has totally seduced me, both for guitar and keys. The EP-1 will do Leslie-like tremelo effects, slow phasing, punchy envelope leads and everything else...plus a million new tones I have yet to explore.

I did find that in the green mode, the phasing can be so deep that running a compressor after the EP-1 helps even out the volume. Either a stomp box or plug-in easily does the trick.

Well, I conducted the accidental drop test onto a tile floor with the EP-1 and its power supply: both made the heavy "thunk" of solid equipment, and emerged with not a scratch. I'd be more worried about hurting the floor.

All the knobs turn very smoothly, and the switches are very heavy duty. The switches are kinda wierd to press with your hands, but that's a small price to pay for the assurance that they won't break.

Haven't had to talk to the company yet!

The tonal range of the Pigtronix EP-1 is so astounding that I simply can't stop thinking about it. I'm hearing the Pigtron in my sleep. To me, it's one of the most expressive and versatile analog pedals on the market. The sound is so vocal and organic that it's instantly appealing and will remain unique for decades. I'm playing jazz tunes, funk, reggae, and electronic music with the Pigtron, and it thrives in every genre.

Ultimately, this pedal covers more ground than three ordinary stompboxes put together - phaser, envelope filter, and clean gain boost. It provides a huge range of original tones, along with stellar takes on many classic EF and LFO phaser sounds, at the flip of a switch or two. It also sounds great when used with ProTools as a piece of outboard gear. Save yourself some money and just buy one pedal - the Pigtronix!

As a follow-up to my review below, I've since learned from David at Absara Audio that the case is made of aluminium, and not plastic. He also offered to look at the unit, but I'd already returned it to the retailer. Seems everyone from Absara Audio was at NAMM, which explains delay in hearing back from them. Best of luck to them with the unit, as it does seem like it could very well be a dream come true for a musician looking for that unique sound. Word on the grapevine is that they'll be releasing some other pedals in the future, which should be just as innovative as the EP-1.

Very easy to use...see reviews below. Downside the shape of the unit doesn't easily fit on top of my amp and tends to slide around a bit.

I'm giving it a 9, because while you get really cool sounds easily, there is a bit of a learning curve to gain full control over the unit, a bit like learning to use the Foxroxx TZF.

I'm using the unit with a JTM-45, THD Univalve and Flexi-50. My guitars are Strat and Heritage CM-150. Other modulation pedals I have are a Fox TZF and CC2. Compared to the Fox units, the Pigtronix is pretty noisy. Flipside is the envelop feature yields a much "funkier" sound.

The humbuckers on my Heritage seem to overdrive the EFO sensitivity a bit too much, while the ones on my Strat give me a really funky sound, especially when their out of phase and/or pulled into parallel...really cool sound! Compared to my Fox units (which I'd never part with), the Pigtronix EFO is much less irratic and doesn't give me that wild Hendrix sound...kinda like comparing apples/oranges in that respect as the Pigtronix has its' own special sound. Also switching the Invert switch from positive to negative doesn't yield as dramatic a sound shift compared to the TZF. The trigger input works really well if you split you guitar signal, per the instruction manual suggestion...I feed the unit a TZF signal and used my clean guitar signal for the trigger and obtained some really wild sounds. Downsided is when I tried to feed the TZF signal to the trigger input, I had a lot of high-pitch noise making me think that the trigger input doesn't like to see ane LFO signals.

The phase shifting section of the Pigtronix is much deeper compared to my Fox Provibe...really throbs and by tweaking the knobs I can pull out a really cool tremolo effect. Driving the unit with the Fox Fuzzfoot yields a lots of throb. Also using the expression pedal gives me lots of wah sounds, etc...

I'm giving sound quality a 7 because of the noise I get with the Pigtronix. Much noisier then my TZF or CC2. Flipside is that if you can live with the noise and/or possible eliminate it with a Hum eliminator device then it really has some cool sounds.

Don't know about realibilty, but the unit appears to be made of plastic, unlike the metal cases of my other pedals.

I'm giving it an 9 because it doesn't have a metal case, which makes me a bit nervous. Also, the lack of a metal case makes it pretty light which, in combination with the shape, makes it a bit tricky to use on top of a amp without worrying about it sliding around.

I e-mailed the Pigtronix site a few days ago and still haven't heard from them making me wonder a bit about customer support. Could be that they are away and not checking e-mail, even if so that doesn't lend itself to quick customer support.

I'm giving it an 8 because my problems with the shape of the pedal, it's plastic box and my problems with noise. Given that the other reviewers don't seem to have noise problems, it could just be my particular unit and I'm taking it back for a refund. On the other hand, if your looking for a really unique modulation device, can overcome noise issues an don't put your pedals on top of your amp, then this is the pedal for you!

If you like tweaking knobs this will be a snap. I like simple and I wouldn't exactly say the controls on this pedal are simple, but after playing with them for a while I can understand why. This pedal offers a very expanded variety of effects, and I can see how the extreme settings would be usefull in different situations. It took me about 30minutes of playing around with the effect to find the best setting for my instrument. It was well worth the time tweaking.

This is nothing short of stellar. I've never in the past owned an envelope filter, but I have owned a MXR script logo phase 90 and a hughes and kettner tube rotosphere (sold both), and this pedal stomped all over both of them in their own home towns, while offering infinite other settings to become engulfed upon. I am a guitar player and this pedal lays down the funk. We put my brother's fantom x8 B3 setting through it and we tweaked it for a bit and got the ultimate leslie effect (I thought it sounded cooler than a leslie, but that's me, I might mention as well that I never was fond of my tube rotosphere, but this thing kicks ass!!) What is really cool about the effect is that despite its atmosphere warping sweeps and ocsilations, it somehow manages to perserve it's original tone with tons of integrity. The original source really penetrates through, often times making it bigger and more open. I haven't tried it on a bass yet, but must think that this is where it's the shit. I just think Bootsy. The sensitivity feature makes it usable for any input source. It can be tweeked for your playing style and the envelope really opens up at certain thresholds, that you can set for yourself. Anyways, I can't really justly explain it, just try it. Be patient at first, it's worth the wait dialing it in.

Don't know, runs on wall wart which I haveburnt out in the past, but thats my own fault. Looks rck solid. Look forward to abusing it.

I imagine it's greats. David brought the prototype to my house when it was in the works. Sounded great thats why I own it. from what I know it's a solid team at Pigtronix.

it a ten. dope for funk. hands down rediculous sweeping and oscillation while preserving original sonic integrity. With my MXR script phase 90 everything was midrangy and muted out. This dos the oppisite, opens sound up and makes it big and did I mention analog no digital...

Very easy to use, once you understand the different functions. The manual is indeed helpful in getting started. I think the sound is wonderful. When using the LFO side, my settings sound along the lines of an emulated rotary speaker (I keep the "character" knob nearly to the right). When using the Envelope filter, you can go from quite subtle to extremely vocal-sounding effect.

I love the sound, it is my favorite of two effects in one pedal. The phaser is excellent, I enjoy it much more than my EH small stone and various others I've tried. The EF has taken the place of my very expensive EMMA discumBOBulator. I really love how this sounds. When I got it, I had to exchange because of a minor issue (see below) and was surprised to find how much I missed it in the few days between sending it off and getting the replacement. I don't know if it's true bypass or not, but it is very quiet when off and does not take away from the input tone at all when on the way some of my pedals seem to (see EH small stone). I use in various combinations with a nobels ODR1, Boss DS1, Barber tone pump and tone press, Catalinbread teaser/stallion, ZVex fuzz factory and 2 SHOs, EH holy grail and Boss DD6. My amps are a Savage Macht 12 and a Carvin Vintage 33 w/ext cab. Guitars at this time are Reverend Rocco and Slingshot, newer LP Studio, Am Std Tele, G&L Legacy, 74 SG Deluxe, 74 Gibson L6-S and an Italia Modena. I can get any sound I want with this gear, and the EP-1 is a great addition.

I haven't used the external speed pedal, nor have I used the alternative trigger input for the EF. Both hold great interest though, and I am sure I will explore their uses in the future.

Also, I have been getting some very unique sounds with the fuzz factory both before and after the EP-1 while in EF mode.

With a Y splitter cable you can send your guitar signal direct to the trigger input while the input/output can be placed anywhere in the chain. (That doesn't make sense but check out the pdf manual and it makes more sense.

When the unit arrived, one of the LED indicators was not functioning. I chalk this up to the online retailer shipping it in the retail box rather than double-boxing perhaps. When Dave Koltai sent my replacement it was very well packed and I don't foresee any problems. If I do, see below.

I believe the owner is Dave Koltai and he is very helpful, friendly and rightly proud of his EP-1. I think Dave would be more than happy to make right anything that may go wrong.

I play all different kinds of music and have used it with a synth as well. Been playing 20 or so years. I would replace this for sure if lost or stolen.

The pedal's style is really unique and this unit has its own sound that I really like. I like that it replaces two pedals for way less than the price of buying them individually and they both sound better than what I was using. The EF/LFO LED is great and I like my blinking red blue and green lights.

I'm giving this thing a 9 instead of a ten because while it's easy to get cool sounds, there is a fair degree of range available, meaning a bit of a learning curve.

This is an interesting combination of vintage-style effects: an analog phaser that can be controlled by either a low frequency oscillator or by following the guitar's volume envelope. Very intuitive, very funky, very fun to play.

Lots of different guitars, but leaning more toward single coils, minibuckers and FilterTrons. Amps I favor are Class A EL-84 based, but I use a lot of different amps and cabs when recording. Effects: a mix of boutique and old stuff, nothing lame: Divided By 13, Pro Analog, FoxRox, Nine Volt Nirvana, Boss VB-2 & DM-2, Roland Space Echo, etc.

The Pigtronix unit performs at a level consistant with my favorite boutique analog boxes. Noise floor is low, sounds are uniformly juicy and organic. Just a great pedal. FWIW other pedals I own that cover some of the same general ground: FoxRox TZF, Roger Mayer Voodoo Vibe, Frostwave Funk-A-Duck. The Pigtronix EP-1 definitely has its own thing going on, and it's a good thing.

Solid heavy enclosure, knobs and switches feel solid. I don't plan on losing any sleep wondering whether this thing will fall apart.

I've only dealt directly with the EP-1's designer, but he's a great guy who believes in what he's doing. Actually I met David at the NAMM show here in Nashville a few weeks ago. The Pigtronix EP-1 was literally the most exciting thing I saw at the show, and I went back to NAMM on Sunday specifically to hunt David down and beg him for one of the prototypes he had with him. The production units are supposed to be shipping within the next couple of weeks, but I had a session the next day that I wanted the EP-1 for. David was kind enough to let me leave with one of his precious prototypes tucked under my arm.

I write and record a variety of pop/rock/roots music, tonally covering everything from Buddy Miller, Sheryl Crow, the Wallflowers and Tom Petty/Mike Campbell to Hoobastank, Avril Lavigne, Michelle Branch and Natalie Imbruglia. I love subtle shades of texture, and this pedal provides a lot in that department. Just a very musical piece of gear.