This is one of those pedals people think are only utility based, but are truly key to unlocking new sounds and levels of control. Well worth the price of admission.
This thing is amazing. I love blending favorite overdrives, distortion, and fuzzes, especially ones that have very strong character that can be overbearing. Boss Heavy Metal, Proco Rat 2, and any kind of fuzz into a distorted amp, blending in the dry and backing off variably on the returns can yield the most amazing metal tones.
As a bass player, this could be very cool. Keep the dry signal up and have a loop with a pog and some modulation, fuzz on another, overdrive on another. Especially in a power trio situation.
Exactly! You can also program the footswitch for the loope to be only before send. That means, you can have a looper in the loop and effects after the looper. You can change effects of the looping riff without effecting the main dry signal.
Old Blood Noise makes a 2 channel mixer (Signal Blender) with similar feature set, but this looks to have more line controllability. Signal Blender has a much smaller footprint and works well for my multiple line set up. Drives/sub into master, 2 lines: mod/rev; delay rev; out into stereo set up with trem/delay/rev. A palette of sounds to keep me occupied for months. Happy New Year!
Very cool. I built my own 2 channel version of this 10 years ago and I've been waiting for a commercial version to come along. They've missed a trick though. I built mine so I can switch it from parallel to series in either order because sometimes you want to OD into your delay and verb. why didn't they do that!
Bought it to use with my Boss SY1, EHX Mel9 & Key9 cos they sure don't like being stacked!! I used to run the dry out from the 1st pedal into the 2nd etc, but it's not easy to adjust on the fly. And now I've got a controllable and flexible synth rig. Endless possibilities 👍
There's an official EHX demo where they do exactly that with the B9, C9 and Key9. I have the Mel9, C9 and the SY-1 so that would pretty much be my reason for getting one as well. Great idea.
Throw in a few expression pedals on the pedals in the loops and knock yourself out! It should have an expression pedal on the Dry Mix knob as well to make it really useful. P.S. tap dancing classes would be handy... :-)
Yeah, that’s the way I use it. I have multiple series chains of pedals, one for each loop. I just turn on and off different pedals in the chains. I’m thinking of adding another one since the possibilities are endless!
This demo is in AND mode which allows you to play different channels of pedals in parallel which is cool and useful in its own right. However I use this mainly in XOR mode which allows you to use one channel at a time which I find useful in breaking up a large pedal board into 3 smaller separate chains of pedals that vibe well together. Keep in mind you can add a series before it (tuner and preamp pedals for example) and series of pedals after (stereo pedals for example). There is tremendous bang for the buck to unpack in this pedal that is useful for live as well as studio settings.
This mixer really shines when you use 3 amps or tracks in your recording software.I'm using a key9.bass9 and a attack delay all EHX pedals with each pedal having a separate DI. So the possibilities are far greater.Like running parallel chains from the direct outs into more amps or into recording software.Anyhoo thank you for the the great video.
I would say that there is a good solution for pedalboards, here you may want to run it in series or parallel depend on your mood, from the same brand, its name is Electro Harmonix Switchblade Pro. And the ability to change the order of serial loops is just awesome...
I really like parallel too. I use the boss es-5 that could do 1 parallel loop. The es-8 could do 2 but i don't like how the return send in this machine make it hard to place on a pedalboard.. I also use jhs splitter then palmer duetto for a constant mixed signal. For me every pedal must have a loop that could affect wet or dry signal !) I imagine a true spring reverb with fx loop.
That's what I was thinking, I normally play out through six or eight amplifiers, with two or three pedals in front of each channel. Sort of the hard way, but its clean. These could be used for an ersatz road version of my rig.
You only scratched the surface on the possibilities with this pedal! I’ve owned it for 7 weeks and have run multiple tests on it. Personally I use it to create my tone. I run a ehx silencer into a soul food, then into a cry baby before it. Channel one is a muff fuzz clone, channel 2 is a cock fight, channel 3 is a little big muff. I blend the tone of all 4 signals with the soul food driving all, then have modulation and time based effects in the loop of my amp. In a studio, I’d use it to power 4 high gain amps for rhythm tones. I created in my mind (and tried it at a store) a 4 amp wet/dry stereo configuration with this pedal that was mind blowing! There are so many possibilities! So, it belongs on a pedalboard if you want studio tone live. However, its studio possibilities are endless!
@@Mattbuchanan71 yes/no... it depends on how you run it and for which application. You can use it in a stereo setting, but it IS limited in the ways it can do that.
Do you have any problems with humming or hissing noises when you activate all your pedals? I’m thinking it might be nice if they had built in noise gates into it.
I think this pedal is ALMOST perfect for me. I'm looking to have different stage of distortion, but for my band needs it's vital my bass always have "Balls", no matter what other pedals I use, this way I can do that. But there's just one downside: the size. This thing is HUGE!
Other things you can use this for: - several Foundation Overdrives (amp-in-a-box) parallel into a clean amp - several loopers as in Boss RC-500 and such parallel to have more channels of looping or to mute the drums etcetera - taming down tremeloes, flangers and other intense effects
The phase is critical because MANY guitar pedals reverse the phase of the original signal , for this to work in parallel you need to be able to correct for that
All in one , check out the Mooer Ocean Machine, separately not as good as the high end products but all in one, reverb and 2 delays, series or parallel and stereo!!
YEP!!...definitely need this pedal!!...you can also, let's say, set-up two pedals per channel and tweek them on and off as you want to had even more combinations or textures, also, you can put an "A-B-C" switch (or a micromixer) in front of that pedal to send in different instrument signals!!...
I would be interested in a stereo version.. I have a VFE Klein Bottle which is even more nuts as you can route pedals into each other. But pretty sure VFE shut down production, as it was a kind of hobby thing
What do you mean you can route pedals into each other. I was just about to look up the difference between those two pedals and EQD Swiss Things. I'm trying to decide which will fit my needs best.
@@Wagoo Yeah, That's pretty big in my book! I've done some research and it looks like there is summer 2022 pre-orders in line for the VFE Klein Bottle. Is there any other pedal like the Klein Bottle that can also route the loops back into each other? I couldn't find any...
This thing can be used as an amp switcher as well. You can also have a pedal that has stereo outs going into different channel ins or outs to create some crazy sounds. There are a bunch of possibilities for this, but, as HP said, it's robably more of a studio tool than a live thing.
Gonna have to pull the trigger on this one, could run a fat mid scooped fuzz with a mid heavy distortion and a clean on top by routing it with a patch and turning down the dry or any combination of drives while maintaining the tone of each and avoiding the stacking noise floor. I'll find the room. Beautiful possibilities.
The best weapon to use in a parallel loop for wet only effects. This was a game changer to me. I use a delay and a reverb, both in parallel into a parallel loop, so they dont affect each other. With the amp mix pot, I blend both individually to the signal. The result is much more clearer. Try Delay+Reverb combo with both in parallel and you will never come back to Delay+reverb in series.
I know exactly how I'll be using it too. I bought it to mix my Red Panda Particle and Tensor delays, but now I'm also thinking about what it would sound like to mix two preamp-overdrive pairs or mix two tone shaping boosts. Maybe I'll combine a chorus and phaser and see what happens. The possibilities are endless.
Use the Helix! Send to clean board stereo return on Helix. Send 2 to distortion board and returned to blend with delay and reverb on third board. Dirty to create second stereo image to return to Helix. Mix helix auto pan and phaser (stereo effects and pre amps) I use a splitter to run a dry distorted sound to an amp in the middle. So the re blend of distortion is inverted
I have wanted this for a while. I love the ls2. But ehx has really created something cool here. Honestly, doesn't seem so big given all that it can do.
This is very similar to the electro-harmonix switchblade pro. The switchblade only has two effects loops but can be switched from parallel to series and reversed if desired. I was on the fence which one of these two pedals to buy but I read a few negative reviews of the tri parallel malfunctioning but maybe these issues have been remedied. Electro-Harmonix definitely my favorite FX manufacturer these days.
Wow you can actually just send 3 dry signals into each channel and adjust the EQ for each and then blend them. Basically it's your clean tone in 3 different EQ settings then stacked on top of each other for a really nice tone
Layering sonics as opposed to pushing one into another this is an idea i have been thinking about for a while & at 130 pieces of whatever no point in making it myself....
I was just wondering why I haven't seen any videos by you in a long time. The thing is I am so confused about this pedal as never before. Never the less, it's good to see you back on RU-vid.
I have a cheap line selector pedal that I use to make entire signal chains which I run in parallel. I can easily emulate the sound of 2 or more instruments. This thing is giving me a thousand ideas.
... I'm a fan and bought 3 (!) of those right away day 1 the thing was available (from Thomann ...). Concerning size: I hide mine UNDER my (homemade) pedal-board - BUT I have 3 volume pedals at my feet - for sweet sweeps in and out - de facto i have 4 : 1 for the dry signal (splitted by LEHLE) - that the 2 chain meet again in my Fender - allowing 2 inputs. YES, STEREO would be great - I bet that we will see this in the near future. For the time being, I'm using 2 of these guys (in the studio ...) ... EVEN cooler would be to drive the thing via expression pedal - instead of volume pedals - less cabeling ... For me, this is THE TOP GEAR of 2019 - fuc...ingly simple, cheap, reliable, and lots of options ... and amongst all: PARALLELISM to be discovered :::
Firstly, that shirt is out of control. I think just the opposite about this pedal. In the studio you can split a signal, route it to several channels, add separate effects, record and then mix the channels together to taste. Splitting a signal up like this live without the Tri Parallel Mixer would be really difficult. But, as was pointed out in the video, to use the TPM you would probably need to greatly expand your pedal board or even add a second one so the question of whether or not it is worth it is a very valid one. I usually record a dry and wet signal for vocals and guitars. This pedal has inspired me to go a bit further. I think I will try splitting to four channels and see what kind of sounds I can get. Another similar pedal that I have been thinking about buying has three effects loops but they don´t run parallel, the signals stack. So you can activate a group of effects with one click. The possibilities of these pedals are intriguing.
Hi Henning! Still waiting on you to show up at my house to hand me 3 guitars to try out...... I'm from the South, I laughed when you said 'takes up spice'
Best thing to do with that is stack 3 drive pedals with eq followers and sculpt the dirt before slamming it into the front or chuck the input, output into an effects send and return to switch modulation sources post preamp.
And your output doesn't have to include the dry, clean, tone. You could have what you normally think of as your core tone but only in the first loop, and add on top of that whatever, but without stacking. And you'd still be able to turn the dry up if you wanted only light break up for instance. Instead of lets say running your core tone into the input. I know, obviously, but you start realizing this thing has so many possibilities.
And what about the interplay of clean and distorted as a form of low gain. Low gain has clean in it, but in this case you might be able to add a good bit more distortion which when mixed with clean may still have results more similar to 'low gain.' I know, not new. But this makes it more accessible to people anywhere, anytime.
I was thinking that the input signal could be split before this mixer pedal with one leg of the split to this pedal's input (with the dry knob all the way down), and then send the other leg into the return of the first channel. Now you loose 1 "loop", but you gain a button to tap the clean in or out with the other two loops. Also, one could use the loops as two separate sound "scenes" where one loop is a complete sound comprised of many pedals, and the other loop is a different sound pedal collection. Of course then maybe they wouldn't sound good in parallel... Also, I know a lot of people like to run two "amps" for different textures. This pedal could run two "drive" sounds for combined texture. Think of one loop "amp" drive on OD cleanish, and the other loop on a fuzz or Dist. Stacked they would be a mess. In parallel, they offer a combined texture. The obvious use out of the box would be: loop 1 to OD chain, loop 2 to Distortion chain, and loop 3 to modulation (providing clarity to them). The buttons are close enough together to allow you to stomp loops 1 & 2 simultaneously to "switch" between them if one is already on. In the same way, both could be activated / turned off with a single fat stomp.
I have this pedal on my board... It amazing... It got more options the u didn't speak about... SPECIALY IF U WANT TO MAKE U RIG MONO STERIO... U CAN ALSO USE IT AS INPUT OR OUTPUT.. OR LOOP MY RIG IT AROUND THIS PEDAL .. I love it
You can use this as a perverted multi-input kind-of-a re-amp box. Just route your signals into RET inputs, then put your effects after OUTPUT, re-route it back to INPUT, and use SENDs as outputs. Just have DRY VOL at zero (unless you want feedback) and you're good to go. At the moment I actually connected line level stereo output from a PC to RET 1 and 2, and my guitar to RET 3, and I output dual mono channels from SEND 1 and SEND 2. Not sure about the audio quality though but I can tell you music doesn't sound very pleasing through a klon clone.
Best demo of this pedal by far! Question: if I would use tri parallel for blending my old Electric mistress , could I fix the volume drop with this parallel mixer? I'm not sure if it's the send knob controlling this parameter.
For recording sounds, this looks incredible! ALSO, instead of just one effect per loop/channel, why not two or three? AND/OR, buy another Tri Parallel Mixer and put the loops into the second Parallel Mixer and begin to create connections that would be really impossible, in a studio, for a certain kind of track/sound, for a certain kind of piece of music!! Add in some volume controls so you can control things while you're playing.
Nice! Thinking of getting this to make an analog tri-stereo chorus on the cheap. Already got 2 vintage Boss CE-2B for about $50 each, so $300 total would do it.
I had one right out of the gate. The first batch of these was faulty. It had what I could only describe as a "power freeze" . After returning mine to Sweetwater and them replacing 2 of them, EHX finally announced a recall. I sent mine to New York for the "fix". When it came back, the power freeze issue was fixed, but it just didn't sound right anymore. I could get the pedals in the chains to sound good in their own channel but getting all 3 channels and their respective pedals (only one assigned to each) to levels that played nice with the rest of my board was impossible. I would invariably have to bring the settings for each channel down to get a seamless unity volume, but by the time I did that, those tweaks took the qualities of the individual pedals in the respective channels out. I spent hours trying to find some sort of combination that would work. I even put it my affects loop and tried getting a benefit. I was REALLY rooting for this pedal. I finally returned it and bought a Boss ES-5 and never looked back. I went down the Midi path and have never looked back. I have only 2 OD Pedals now, a Ramble FX Kismet & a Boss OD-200. Thing is, I have 10 presets between the 2 that I recall via Midi. I can run parallel right from the ES-5 at a per patch level. When you consider that pedal geeks like us are going to spend money anyway......forever.....all you gotta do is skip a cycle or 2 and instead of 1 new pedal a month, skip 2 months, save the money....and buy an ES-5 or even the Boss Controller a step down from the ES-5. The difference between the Tri-Paralel and even the base model Boss midi controller can be measured in light years. I think its called an MS-3. Seems like alot more money, but seriously, take 2 or 3 months off, drop $400 and get something legit.
I was going to buy one from a guy on Reverb, and he said it had been "updated" because of a clocking type noise issue, which they admitted was a design flaw in the original version.
I have been using parallel sonic alchemy for some time know....(I mean creatively combining sounds from various pedals to get the sonic tecture I need or having the delays playing a completely different texture ) but I had to use a combination of pedals. (I would insert a small switcher between my fx pedal and my main switcher, and pull out parallel lines towards a mixer) ....But ,,,This saves alot of space. ...And I think it can be used even on a medium pedalboard for a gig.
Yes bravo, I AM using it, and some other tools that allow me to brake out a parallel line without necessarily having to brake the linear path of the main switcher. The EHX blade comes to mind: I use it's tuner out to go to the mixer. The BOSS LS-2 of course...what else...mm....Oh! the OYROBOROS by BRIMESTONE is another!.....it allows me to mix the highs of one signal with the lows of another....that is very ...lets say alchemic? Thanks and have a good year!
I wondered the same thing knowing what I know about EHX and their love for stereo. I do have a stereo rig, but luckily for me, I actually need this for my mono rig pedalboard, phwew* haha!
I use it for parallel looping, and I use one loop to send a signal to my Katana 50. So, I have 3 amps running. I have a Orange mico dark, and a old Crate head, running in stereo., with a JHS switcher. I run a Boss SY1 running in one loop, and I'll be putting the Plasma Coil in the other loop. It's basically set it and forget. it, for me.
Why don't you support VFE Klein Bottle which is the same thing but better. Peter is such a great person and made this before the Tri Parallel mixer, strange how EH came up with this after he produced his...
I'm running a Mesa Boogie 2 Channel Amp with a parallel effects loop. The results routinf the modulation effects in the parallel Loop is disappointing.(4CM). Could this be a possibility to Mix only the wet Modulation sound in the parallel loop of the amp?
I just need a stereo splitter/mixer pedal so I can mix stereo delay with stereo reverb. Should be out there but I guess I'll sort it out with a soldering iron and some opamps.
Great video, definitely some ideas in there that I didn’t think of. However, you missed some of the key features. You can change this between AND/OR modes. In AND mode, you’re correct that all the loops are in parallel. In OR mode, this functions like a pedal switcher if you are using pedals in the loops, like you’re setup here. Depending on the mode you’re in and how you have it configured in your setup, this can also work as an instrument switcher, or amp switcher. Lastly, I think one of the main purposes for this pedal is with bass guitar where parallel processing is much more common - overall let’s you use effects like distortion/wah/etc, but blend some of the dry signal back in so you don’t lose low end. This is quickly becoming the centerpiece to my setup.
That was one of my first thoughts. It can also have your guitar play through one, two, or three amps. It can also be used in reverse to put up to 3 instruments into your amp or sound system. There are other ways to use it... but maybe I'll get into that at another time. Cheers!
can‘t you just do sort of the same with the ES8 when having a delay go parallel to your distortion circuit? true, the ES8 is much more expensive but i bet it is much more common on your usual pedalboard. and flexible. it has no volume control, that is true, but your pedals usually have an output master.
Hi HP42 I have the 8 channel Joyo switcher with the send and returns the same as on the EHX Tri pedal. Is the Joyo doing the same thing in a Parallel universe or if not why not🥳 cheers😁🇬🇧👍
Hello, when it's "OFF" (all leds turned off, 2:13), is it "TRUE BYPASS" or just shut down-no signal? If it is the first case ("TRUE BYPASS"), do "MASTER VOL" & "DRY VOL" work? Thanks!
So what you're saying here is that if I get a couple of these Tri Parallel Mixers, another JC120, and use a couple pedals instead of my echo chamber, that I could make up a small portable rig with a reasonable low-wattage facsimile of my tone? Well, I always wanted to do business with Mike Mathews. :)
Cool product and video. I was wondering if you could use this for your pedals in the FX loop to blend say reverb, delay, as well as everything going front of amp like your drives?
You can absolutely do this exact thing inside a GT-1000, including full band EQ and with the switch assignment you can have one footswitch affect multiple routing and even parameters on each pedal at once.
@@sam127001 GT-1000 also has 5 compressors, 35 distortion pedals, 23 Preamps, 2 noise gates, 4 EQ's, 20 types of delay across 5 pedals, 4 chorus's, Impulse response's, and 32 other effects across 3 FX pedals. There's no comparison in value for money. Plus no need for any patch cables BUT you can still add others by the use of 2 send/return loops. Most pedals are direct replica's in software of the original boss circuits (apart from the preamps of course, which are models). My point was simply you can absolutely do this with any of the current multi FX units (AxeFX, GT-1000, Kemper, Helix, Headrush, Amplifire etc.) in fact there are also none of the downsides as you can also pan those "channels" to either side too.
@@ERBarratt I had a GT-1000. It was an upgrade from my GT-100. I found myself encountering options paralysis. Plus, I just dig pedals to much to forgo all that fun for a GT-1000. It's a nice unit for sure. I just didn't feel connected. Now I have a Boss ES-5 Controlling 6 Midi capable analog pedals. It gives me the patch capability I had with the GT-1000 but the hands on organic experience of analog pedals. Sorta the best of both worlds. I could see maybe stepping back to a Boss MS-3 (affects right in the Midi Controller) but I can't see myself losing my analog pedals. Just my personal preference. My hope is that more OD Pedals hit the market that have Midi/Preset capability as well as Compressor Pedals that offer the same.
@@garyclements6946 Ha, I totally agree - I've had each successive boss flaghsip since the ME-8, so I got over the options paralysis then. The GT-1000 is actually slightly less complex than the GT-100 (In the GT-100 you could make custom amp models etc). I find knowing the pedal in real life works wonders - I had no idea how to use the Klon Centaur distortion node until I used one in real life. There's also some research you need to do about how the amp models need to be treated and obviously they're vague about which amp's they are (BG Combo = "Mesa Boogie Combo Amp" ?? That's great but WHICH ONE?!?!) I also do all the editing on PC - and the old GT-100 tone studio was WAY easier to use than the new one.
@@ERBarratt I purchased patches from a great guy named Glenn Delaune. Here is his website. It saved me from spending to much time creating patches and also allowed me to learn more about the unit. www.glenndelaune.com/
Hey, Henning, danke für die Demonstration. Wenn du Spaß an solchen Pedalen hast, schau dir doch mal den Looper Blender von Wounded Paw an. Das Teil ist auch ziemlich cool.
EHX has enough of a rep that they don't have to give you stuff. I love EHX pedals but I have 4 parallel effects sends and returns on my mixer so this is redundant. what I would like is some switchability to series OR parallel effects, more like a super-switchblade, because I have to rewire effects into series loops like if I want the mel9 AND reverb for example (I can even trigger my mel9 using vocals thru a mic when it is in a mixer effects loop)
