Nocturne Mystery Brain - does it have to be in front?

[Modman68]

I’m looking at getting a mystery brain delay. I just read a review about the atomic brain (the pre amp circuit) and it suggested that it needed to be first in the chain to work well. Can any users tell me thier experiences?

 

[Slamb]

I have a dynobrain, I find its best as the first pedal. Fuzz users may say different though

 

[teletail]

My experience says save your money. I had one and I'm not a fan. I was extremely disappointed with it and didn't think it was any better than any other delay. Way over priced, like all of his pedals. I didn't have it long enough to break, but I bought his power supply and that didn't last much more than a year, bought the Barnyard Junior and the switch on that has been buggy. I'm done with Nocturne pedals.

 

[Modman68]

I have a dynobrain, I find its best as the first pedal. Fuzz users may say different though

What was the noticeable difference?

 

[FenderLover]

I've had my Dynobrain for a couple weeks now and I've been moving it around with pretty good results. I don't think it's 'all that' but I'm not complaining either. First in chain may be what was intended when conceived, but whether first or after a TU-2 buffer are both workable for me. I tried inquiring what the input/output impedances were and he would not engage. I guess I discovered it doesn't matter.

 

[artdecade]

What was the noticeable difference?

The preamp will mess with the impedance that the fuzz wants to see. There is nothing that the Nocturne does that can't be done by a basic boost / preamp in a million other pedals unless you think a Space Echo has magic powers.

 

[user name]

I've had a couple of his pedals and they were good, but I also think there better options for less money. The Gretsch / rockabilly crowd act like Nocturne is the only way to get that sound...it ain't.

 

[BorderRadio]

I have only one Nocturne pedal left, sold off everything else for reasons already mentioned. I never had any issues with build quality. The last pedal standing is the Mystery Brain, and it's a lifestyle choice kind of thing, I won't lie lol. The preamp works for me after the dirt (Timmy). I used the insert function for running a Rat clone or Timmy post-preamp on the dedicated board and decided it didn't matter too much if gain wasn't too high. IIRC, only the earliest MBs lack the insert loop.

 

[Modman68]

Thanks for all the answers. I am starting to lean against now. I get a pretty good modulated slap back with my Adineko and I was just looking to splurge. The pedal demos have always impressed and the preamp and Abby mode sounded fun in descriptions, but I need it to be versatile.

 

[Modman68]

I understand the preamp is from the space echo, but what is the ABBY circuit derived from?

 

[BorderRadio]

Abby mode doubles input sensitivity to get a boost effect. Not sure if that circuit is derivative of anything else before.

 

[TheWiredTurtle]

I’m looking at getting a mystery brain delay. I just read a review about the atomic brain (the pre amp circuit) and it suggested that it needed to be first in the chain to work well. Can any users tell me thier experiences?

Hi, Im not to far from ya in Oceanbeach! That was information like 15yrs ago and was meant for folks w a gretsch guitar and blonde amp trying to comp Brian Setzer. More so it was info for the "Brain Seltzer" the very first iteration of that preamp in 2008. Here's my pedalboard for sunday gigs, and as you can see I have broken all those rules