ElectroHarmonix

January 2010 Guitarist 117
ELECTRO-HARMONIX MEMORY BOY & RIDDLE: Q BALLS
£69 & £129
EFFECTS
feedback, which begins as a
normal repeats control at lower
settings, through to full
feedback at the other extreme,
where the repeats get
re-delayed and filtered over and
over again for some truly odd
noises, especially when you
manipulate the delay time
control. If you want to do that
remotely via an expression
pedal, you need to set the
switch to vibrato or chorus.
The pedal is also true bypass,
a fact that we checked by
switching it off with no power
connected: your signal passes
through unsullied.
Sounds
At its simplest, the Memory Boy
will do a convincing rock ’n’
roll-style slapback; no
modulation, short delay time
and a short repeat – it should be
pointed out that it doesn’t do
pristine digital-style delay and
nor is it supposed to. Increasing
the delay time ups the overall
spaciousness, as you’d expect.
Adding some modulation –
either fast, medium or slow –
can go from a barely detectable
warble right through to full-on
gut-churning sea sickness in
triangle wave mode – the
modulations go up and down
uniformly – while in square
wave the notes step up and
down. At maximum depth, and
with the signal set to fully wet,
it’s seventies/eighties sci-fi
soundtrack personified: Blake’s
7-style aliens. You can get some
utterly bonkers oscillations
going with frequencies that
would never normally come out
of a guitar: addictive, albeit
atonal, noise.
Riddle: Q Balls
The easiest way to view this one
is like a wah-wah – with added
sonic funkery – that you control
with your playing attack.
Basically, the harder you play,
the more it affects the filter,
however you choose to set it. So,
let’s get started…
First up, the R:QB has three
modes: low pass, band pass and
high pass, each of which
emphasise different frequency
bands within any sweep,
though they don’t affect the
frequencies at which sweeps
start and stop. These are
controlled by the start and stop
pots, which set the extent and
direction of the filter’s sweep.
Attack controls the speed of
the sweep, while decay
controls how fast the filter
resets itself to the beginning of
the sweep cycle. The Q pot
controls the resonance of the
filter; you can set it high to
work over a narrow band of
frequencies for a pronounced
effect, or low for a more full-
frequency response. Now if all
that sounds confusing, just
think of it as all the things
you’d like to able to change in
your wah-wah, but can’t!
The final control is
sensitivity, and that’s basically
the trigger: how hard/loud you
need to play to set the whole
thing working.
There’s even an analogue
distortion circuit built in and
operated by a separate on/off
switch. Its intensity is
governed by the sensitivity
control and you can adjust its
overall volume – for a solo
boost for example – via an
internal trim pot. You can’t use
the distortion independently.
Finally, in addition to the usual
in and out jacks, you also get a
direct, uneffected output and
an expression pedal to enable
you to sweep through
manually from your stop to
start positions, just like you
would with a regular wah.
It’s good to see that the R:QB
shares the Memory Boy’s
construction standards,
though it is bigger – allow
space for approximately two
standard BOSS compacts.
Sounds
Anyone remember the Grange
Hill theme? It’s like a wah-
wah, but with added quirky
quackiness: check. You can
start with a pretty straight
auto-wah set-up – very useful
if you can’t get to grips with a
treadle pedal, or indeed if you
want your filter open precisely
with every note you play. Then
by adjusting the mode and
other controls, widen that
sonic potential to cover some
fairly staggering frequency
ranges with varying degrees of
the lo-fi squelchy weirdness
we’ve come to expect from
E-HX – Bootsy Collins stand
up – and indeed there’s a bass
version in the Enigma: Q Balls.
It’s much more than simple
wah though, because by
varying the attack and decay
controls you can also extract
some ethereal happenings over
chords and arpeggios, say.
The distortion circuit is a
classic, fairly squarish sounding
clip that adds even more lo-fi
appeal. Boosting it to the max
does offer a decent level lift, so
you could go to the big wah solo,
should you so desire, or simply
add a fuzzy edge to your Q
Balling. Check this month’s
Guitarist CD for examples.
Verdict
Getting lost in the Memory Boy
simply requires a fairly loud
amp and five minutes of your
time. It spans nice slapback
delay to schizophrenic sonic
silliness that experi-mentalists
will adore. The compact
housing, nine-volt centre-
negative power supply and
solid build make it a far more
compelling pedalboard
contender than its forebears.
At this price, it’s a winner.
The Riddle: Q Balls is a more
niche offering; one for anyone
who likes what a wah-wah
does, but would like to
manipulate its range and
response to the nth degree.
Highly interactive, you’ll
certainly need to be au fait
with endless knob twiddling to
get the most from this one –
stomp and go it isn’t. A great
auto filter for guitarists,
however, it most definitely is.
Electro-Harmonix
Memory Boy
PRICE: £69
ORIGIN: USA
TYPE: Analogue delay with
modulation
CONTROLS: Delay time, depth,
blend, feedback, triangle/square wave
switch, vibrato/chorus/expression
pedal switch
CONNECTIONS: All 6.4mm jacks:
input, output, expression pedal out
MIDI: No
POWER: E-HX US96DC-200BI nine-
volt centre-negative BOSS-style DC
adaptor (supplied) or alkaline nine-
volt battery
OPTIONS: Expression pedal for delay
time or modulation rate. Requires
TRS jack connector, compatibles
include M-Audio EX-P, Roland EV-5
Electro-Harmonix
www.ehx.com
Test results
Build quality
Features
Sound
Value for money
GUITARIST RATING
Electro-Harmonix
Riddle: Q Balls
PRICE: £129
ORIGIN: USA
TYPE: Envelope controlled filter
CONTROLS: Blend, mode, attack,
decay, start, stop, Q, sensitivity,
distortion switch
CONNECTIONS: All 6.4mm jacks:
input, output, effect output, expression
pedal out
MIDI: No
POWER: E-HX US96DC-200BI nine-
volt centre-negative BOSS-style DC
adaptor (supplied). No battery option
OPTIONS: Expression pedal for filter
control (like a wah!) Enigma: Q Balls
for bass
Test results
Build quality
Features
Sound
Value for money
GUITARIST RATING
The bottom line
Memory Boy
We like: Build; good basic
delay sounds; analogue tone;
bonkers psyched-out sounds
We dislike: 550ms may not be
enough delay for some
Guitarist says: The delay for
the alt-rock generation – a
brilliant and practical update
on a temperamental classic
Riddle: Q Balls
We like: Powerful control of
filter; distortion circuit; loads of
wacka-wacka…
We dislike: Could be very
easily overused
Guitarist says: If you’re
serious about an auto wah/
filter, this is a strong contender
with a great deal of flexibility
GIT324.rev_eh 117 3/12/09 9:19:59 am