PURE MAGIC IN A BOX | Meris Hedra Demo & Review | Stompbox Saturday

PURE MAGIC IN A BOX | Meris Hedra Demo & Review | Stompbox Saturday
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What's going on friends?!? SeanPierceJohnson here and we're back with another episode of "Stompbox Saturday"! Today, we're taking a look at possibly the most magical pedal we've ever had on the stompin' block: the Meris Hedra.
Meris is known for their fully featured digital effects that seem to appeal to the more ambient-minded guitarist. But after hearing Stefan at the Pedal Zone play one I had to get one and try it for myself!
This is a MONSTER of a pedal: pitch shifting and harmonization combined with pitch bending and delay effects...there's so much to this pedal it HAD to be a long video!
And it is soooo much fun! Enjoy and have a great Stompbox Saturday!
#StompboxSaturday #pedaldemos #guitar
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Hey everyone! My name is Sean Pierce Johnson and I'm the guitarist for the band Cockeyed Optimist. I love demoing effects pedals and all things related to making music.
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[@-vb-1592]

Dude, whatever you had going on at the 33 minute mark was magic, loved it! I've had Hedra for a couple of weeks and am struggling to get what is in my head to come out of the pedal. This video helped. Thanks!

[@SeanPierceJohnson]

Happy it helped you so much. Hedra is a head scratcher in certain moments but it’s such a fun tool for creating sounds that aren’t your conventional guitar sound.

[@sleepmachine7522]

@32:58 that riff with those settings was SUPER dope !

[@dannyg9730]

Great instruction on this pedal! By far the best demo of the Hedra! Cheers from Chicago!

[@SeanPierceJohnson]

Hey Danny! That’s very kind of you to say. This pedal can be a bit of a head scratcher at first but is totally worth spending time exploring.

[@thepedalzone]

A name-drop in an SPJ video! There's nothing more for me to achieve 😍😍😍 Great demo, buddy. Loved hearing your rocking solo skills with Hedra.

[@SeanPierceJohnson]

And the approval of TPZ for the win! Thanks for watching buddy. Wouldn't have reached out to them without seeing your video.🤘👍❤️

[@SocksworthRiffs]

GAS List updated I guess, I shouldnt have watched the video knowing me and my love for octaving and harmonizing effects, but I couldnt resist your playing as always!!

[@SeanPierceJohnson]

Thanks my friend! I hoped I did the pedal justice.

[@oGomes21]

This might be the most helpful demo of the hedra out here, thanks!

[@SeanPierceJohnson]

Thank you! Always glad to hear this kind of thing. There’s tons of great videos out there… I just suppose I think it’s better to not walk into something blind.

[@BenCoombs]

This is one wild pedal!! Don't know what I'd use it for but I dig it!!

[@SeanPierceJohnson]

took me a few months of TRULY diving deep but I found some stuff

[@Jaysteenn]

Very good and well explained demo! I never tried a harmonizer style pedal, this one looks cool.

[@mattgilbert7347]

If the price tag on the Meris is too steep, check out the TC Electronic Quintessence. No delays or reverbs, but amazing intelligent harmonizing, MASH, and toneprint.

[@SeanPierceJohnson]

yep, Quintessence is indeed a good one and probably better suited for those looking for more "traditional" harmonizing.

[@mattgilbert7347]

@@SeanPierceJohnson I miss the Digitech Harmony Man. Discontinued :(

[@marcenciels]

It's the only Meris I passed upon, but now... I guess the first Meris demo didn't did it for me. Thanks to you, TPZ and this other Ytuber that I'm subscribed to but can't recall at the moment (long Monday...), I'm sold! Suscribe button hit! I'll come back and check your vids 😉

[@SeanPierceJohnson]

Dude...for reals your comment made my day! So glad this video helped you and I hope you have as much fun with the pedal as I have. 👍

[@batmosh1522]

Hey Sean, would really appreciate your help with a question. when you demonstrate at 18:32 it seems like you are getting more than a 520ms delay. How are you able to make that happen? My hedra does not seem to be able to do that, and the manual states that the max delay time is 520ms. when I try to set a tempo with beats which are further than 520ms apart and then turn the pitch knobs all the way right with the shift button held- it seems to want to do half notes instead of whole notes like you are demonstrating. I cannot get those long delays like I have seen you and others do. Ive read the manual through, what am I missing?

[@SeanPierceJohnson]

hey man! so, it's been a few years since I made the video and a while since i had the Hedra on a board but I THINK i have the answer. i believe there is a way to set a Tap Tempo subdivision on Hedra where you can set each voices "delay time" or rhythmic relation to the your Tap Tempo. I'm pretty sure that's how it works.

[@snowyowl1717]

Awesome video! Still deciding if this is right for me or maybe a less complex one like the pitchfork, but still working on that lol. One note, is it possible ur playing a D major triad over the Db setting by mistake, and that’s creating dissonance for parts. Maybe totally wrong here, anyways total inspiring pedal.

[@SeanPierceJohnson]

thanks man. if you're seeing a portion of the video with the Black & Silver LP that guitar is tuned down a 1/2 step

[@snowyowl1717]

@@SeanPierceJohnson ahh that would make sense lol. Thanks man look forward to more vids!

[@harrytutt5146]

I have my left signal into channel 1 and right signal into channel 2 of my mixer but only get a full signal from right channel when the mix is set to max and nothing at min... any ideas here?

[@SeanPierceJohnson]

nope. have you tried reaching out to Meris?

[@lenaandthelambcampingadven3422]

Best review. Period.

[@SeanPierceJohnson]

Thank you! This one was a challenge but I think the end result shows. Hope you’ll come back for more!

[@tylermark4725]

20:35 LOLOLOL!!! this was great! thanks

[@SeanPierceJohnson]

glad you enjoyed that bit. i did too!

[@CaptainKirk007]

20:36 priceless

[@PetieFr]

great review! did you put the hedra before or after the dirt?

[@SeanPierceJohnson]

Thanks! I always put Hedra AFTER dirt.

[@redminus]

starting to get the impression that you're a rocker at heart who loves riffs and loves big soaring solos 🤔🤔🤔

[@SeanPierceJohnson]

what was your first clue? 😉

[@redminus]

@@SeanPierceJohnson good video btw! one of the few more thorough looks at the key/scale functions, helpful tbh

[@SeanPierceJohnson]

Thanks! I was really aiming for “helpful” cuz a lot of other videos weren’t.

[@RetroheadFX]

ok Sean .... do you remember those pedals we sent you to do the demos? forget them! This pedal is the f*cking Catalina Wine Mixer!

[@SeanPierceJohnson]

hahahahaha

[@sterlingmcvay2469]

I rather like it when you go off into an Inpired Groove, that Tells me More, than if Someone plays a Repeated Loop and just Changes thru the Various Settings!! Thanks!!!

[@SeanPierceJohnson]

Thanks Sterling! I try very hard to put EVERYTHING I get into a musical context. If I can’t make music with a pedal...well, it ain’t good.

[@DJ7tringGuitar]

I saw that Carcosa Fuzz back there! What's going on with that?

[@SeanPierceJohnson]

At the moment, nothing. Borrowed it from a friend.

[@DJ7tringGuitar]

@@SeanPierceJohnson well it would be nice to hear your thoughts on it after you've spent some time playing it

[@SeanPierceJohnson]

@@DJ7tringGuitar i plan on doing a video sometime...

[@billwesley]

The warbeling and other tracking difficulties of pitch followers, especially when semitones are in a chord, is a form of distortion. We always see the same pattern, any form of distortion is always assumed to be a bad thing when people first encounter it, great technical effort is made to eliminate it, but artists use it for what ever it implies. We go into music with far and away too much prejudice, only accepting what we expected in advance and not accepting any surprises, which is the key to never innovating. You can fiddle around with pedals to get them to accept what your already playing or you can fiddle around with your playing to get the pedal to accept it, which leads to new ways of thinking and playing.This tracking "error" represents a new kind of DIGITAL rather than ANALOG distortion, which will probably become part of styles in the future. I like the idea that the pedal will conform to a key and scale specifically for the reasons of contrast, what happens if you play in harmonic minor when its tuned to major? What if you set it to C and play in F#? Curious what happens.

[@billwesley]

I'll cite an example, distortion + imagination = evolution. I use the SY1 synth pedal from Boss (way A+), which has very good but not perfect tracking (nothing does) If I use any of its many horn like sounds the warbling simply comes off as the fluttering of valves, making the horns sound far MORE REALISTIC, jazzy, like SWING. Innovators like Hendrix have lots of imagination, he could hear flying saucers and bombs and talking and whole landscapes in what most persons dismissed as "useless noise", which is all any sound is without imagination! Even if I hear the words I need to imagine what they mean.

[@Evilmusician4_2]

This is the best demo on YT for this pedal ! all the rest are ambient nonsense (which is fine If that's your deal) but this showcases how to use this in a regular guitar setup, bravo!

[@SeanPierceJohnson]

Thanks Greg! This was a challenge because I'm just not the "normal" player this pedal is for. But I want these sounds and effects to inspire some new ideas. I'm happy this video helped you out.

[@Evilmusician4_2]

@@SeanPierceJohnson same here ! and I almost passed on it til I heard your take on it! Keep em coming.

[@SeanPierceJohnson]

@@Evilmusician4_2 ah thanks Greg! just taking some time to recharge but there's plenty more on the channel for you to check out.

[@CaptainKirk007]

Hedra kicks 🦵 butt

[@SeanPierceJohnson]

for reals

[@suqies]

31:30 i'm sold

[@SeanPierceJohnson]

my job is done

[@empathysgone96]

If you don’t run stereo, is this pedal worth getting? Please say yes because I just bought it HHahaha

[@SeanPierceJohnson]

you'll certainly be able to do A LOT in mono. I just found it more immersive and inspiring in stereo.

[@empathysgone96]

SeanPierceJohnson thank you for your quick response! One more question and forgive me as I don’t know theory, I only play by ear. I’m strictly an acoustic guitarist but use two seperate pick ups on my guitar. A soundhole that incorporates pedals and a mic+undersaddle dry. Both run into an amp. My question is if I’m pitching shifting to one pick up and not to both, that might be a recipe for disaster huh? I haven’t gotten the pedal yet but it just dawned on me. I bought it so as to stack some delays with my volante. It’s sounding iffy to me. Your professional expertise is much appreciated amigo

[@SeanPierceJohnson]

@@empathysgone96 actually i think having one pickup without the effect will help maintain your original pitch so it doesn't get lost in wash of effects. You could run the under-saddle totally dry and then have the soundhole pickup process with effects. At that point I would consider running all effect at full 100% Wet and leave the under-saddle Dry. It would help to know some theory with this pedal since you'll be able to understand the intervalic relationships between notes. But have fun and experiment

[@empathysgone96]

SeanPierceJohnson thank you brother! Definitely feeling inspired! Any reccomendations on a course or book to learn theory?

[@marcusstrymon693]

Ah I had one for a few months now and its such a piece of garbage. The concept and sound is genius but the user interface is horendous, next level bad, to the point where the pedal is constantly trolling you and doing what IT wants to do with you. And the worst thing is that the alt function is glitchy, sometimes doesnt react and other time after letting the alt function go, the pedal suddenly takes the value from the knob to the first layer. The hedra doesnt work in a small box, it would have needed a strymon nightsky type of large layout. SADNESS. and as I am really into whammy effects, the pain intensifies when setting up 2 sounds on an expression pedal. I will sell it with heartpain because when I acchieve a sound I am so pissed that I dont wanna play no more.

[@marceloaguileravillegas4607]

There's too much fret buzz on that guitar... Sounds horrible

[@SeanPierceJohnson]

played two guitars in this one...so which one is THAT guitar?