This is a very intereting subject to discuss upon but really this goes into volumes.
Electronics designs in Electric Guitar Gear is a warped beast really. Most of the technology incorporated to make interesting sounds and noises are understandably shunned upon by conservative engineers and hifi purists we don't make sense to these people ya. Heh! While most engineers strive for maximum amplification of an original signal with the cleanest possible reproduction of the original signal we guitarist are more interested in distorting and warping the original tone. This almost makes no sense in the modern day world of high resolution signal to noise ratio. :roll:
Imagine this!
Here's a thought to share with you. Imagine if digital technology that is common palce and so taken for granted in modern times actually preceded analog technology wouldn't it b interesting to have us all in this alternate universe reminiscing about the good old days when high quality military spec digital converters were so available and cheap you can buy them like spare bulbs in the supermarket. We would sulk and complain that the current day tube technology is so non hifi unlike the old days of digital ya! Imagine that! Hehehehehe. :lol:
Now about the infamous JRC4558 (made in malaysia) chip used in the so called "holy grail" greeny pedals of yore. These chips were selected for the design of these pedals not because the engineers thought wow! this is a godly tone of an opamp but rather because these chips helped to get the design of a stomp box to work at the minimum of cost to the manufacturer who had to buy 'em in bulk. These chips were common op amps used in almost all transitor radios and boom boxes of the 70's into 80's simply for their low costs. 8)
Zip back to modern day we see many other variations of the original 4558 chip. IMHO the current day chips with the "DD" I think are actually better quality in terms of noise compared to the old 4558. But of cos we're dealing with us guitarists here right? That's right, we don't want hi fi tone, we want retro babe! retro's the way to go! We want the originer voodoo! :lol:
So even though there are much much better variations and compatible chips to the 4558 today eg. BurrBrown who have the highest headroom and lowest noise (who's op amps I use in my own pedals), we still crave and insist upon the old stuff and in the process create this incredible aura around the old chips. This phenomenon also applys to the Fasel Inductors used in classic wahs of yore. 8O
What's the difference aurally between the old and new chips? Basically you will find that the older chips because of their lower headroom and higher noise specs exhibiting a tone that's detectably more compressed rounding out the highs and les harsh when compared to a modern spec'd chip. :roll:
A tip for getting a nice nice analog delay simulation is to find those that use an old (older the better) 4558 chip in the dealy to introduce noise and distortion so as to artificially degrade the echoed signal's tone. This is to simulate the tape heads of old style analog delays. 8O
I'd love to meet others here to discuss and share more about this topic.
Cheers!
relinquish69 said:
I'm sure many of you have heard of the 4558 chip that can be found in many famous Boss & Ibanez pedals.
just curious, is there a difference between the different versions/manufacturers.
example of different versions:
4558c, 4558d, 4558dd
example of different manufacturers:
JRC, NEC, MC
any difference in terms of quality? are there any to avoid?
can anyone shed some light on this? thanks in advance.
. so I guess from what you are saying, its a matter of personal taste right?
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