NAMM 2018: Chase Bliss Audio Condor EQ/Pre/Filter

Just ahead of NAMM, Chase Bliss Audio has announced the Condor EQ/Pre/Filter. While Not much about the pedal is known at this point. It looks to be a powerful tone shaping tool. Chase Bliss Audio posted earlier today on Facebook, "No trolling/teasing this year, straight to it. Introducing Condor™: Analog EQ / Pre / Filter. Release: 4/16/18. $349. 100% analog signal path with digital control/presets/midi. Switchable to clean or overdrive. Parametric boost/cut mids control from 150Hz to 5kHz with 3 “Q” settings. Bass boost/cut control with 3 intensity settings. LPF filter with 3 settings: normal, slight resonant, very resonant. Ramping/hold functionality for LFO filter tremolo effects. True bypass or buffered bypass selectable via dip switch. Come try it out at NAMM next week, booth 3744. We are still tweaking the design so customer feedback is desired and appreciated."

100% analog signal path with digital control/presets/midi.
Switchable to clean or overdrive.
Parametric boost/cut mids control from 150Hz to 5kHz with 3 settings.
Bass boost/cut control with 3 intensity settings. 
LPF filter with 3 settings: normal, slight resonant, very resonant.
Ramping/hold functionality for LFO filter tremolo effects.
True bypass or buffered bypass selectable via dip switch.

This is probably one of the more major releases this year at NAMM. I'm looking forward to seeing the full range of its features. Alway exhaustive in their features, Chase Bliss seems to over produce with each of their products. This pedal seems to be no different.

LR Baggs Align Series Equalizer

LR Baggs is probably best known for their Para Acoustic EQ. There was a time that nearly every series acoustic guitarist had this tool in the toolbox. Now they plan to release a more streamlined, pedalboard-friendly version of that Equalizer. Volume and Notch controls up top and a six-band EQ section (plus a high pass filter, Phase inverter, and 6db cut/boost) make this a serious Equalizer pedal. With a notch feature to hunt down troublesome feedback issues, then pedal looks to be aimed at the acoustic market. With its elegant styling though, it wouldn't be feel out-of-place next to a Stratovarius. This is a serious Equalizer, prepare to see a serious price tag.

5 Ugly Truths About Fenders Micro Effects Pedals

They are sigh inducing

From the colors to the, to the actually types of pedals that are served up, Fender has created the least inspiring line of effect since... their last line of effects. Way to go guys! But seriously, Fender has a terrible track record of effects. The last time that Fender had a dog in the effects game was in the dark ages when they put out the "Tone Bender", and that was only because they were one of the few putting stock in the stuff back then. It has been copied, but it is almost unanimously believed that the design has been improved on in every conceivable way. The first experience with a Fender pedal was with their tuner they put out year ago. I bought it because it was half the price of the Boss TU-2. It also worked half as well. I've stayed away for the most part since then. Everything from the design to the colors to the names of Fenders pedals have been lack luster for as long as I can remember. These pedals are no exception.

They are copies of copies

In the new line up we have a compressor, EQ, DI, and an A/B/Y pedal. The comp is in the same vein as many others from Donner/Mooer/Monoprice and the like. Whether or not they are the same on the inside is a little harder to ascertain. The EQ is seen in many other places. The Graphic sliders function in the same way as the Boss GE-7 or MXR's graphic EQ pedal. The closest resemblance is that to the Mooer pedal. They are just slightly different shades of blue. The DI and A/B/Y are tried and true designs in a compact little pedal. Fender is not fooling anyone here. These are, at best, clones and at worst they are exact copies of other pedals. I don't think that there is anything necessarily wrong with that. Depending on who owns what, Fender might not even be dipping into anyone else "bag of tricks". What it is, is a lazy way to push product out. Fender looks like they said, "This is popular, let's slap our name on it and sell it to Fender fans.", and called it a day.

They are Fender effects

If you have ever tried Fender effects, then you probably have been disappointed. To call them lack luster what be an understatement. In the last 10-15 years Fender has made attempts and failed to bring to market, anything that might be considered successful. Not to say that what they put out was blatantly bad. That accomplishment belongs to Behringer. But finder has found a way to miss the mark every time. Which make me assume that they are either hopelessly out of touch of the pedal/effects market, or they are so conservative that they can't explore and find a niche that is well suited for them. either way it leaves the consumer with a bad taste in our collective mouths.

They might have got everything right

Having said that, allow me to directly contradict myself. For the keen observer, you may have noticed that Fender's line-up of micro pedals is a little thin. For the longest time, I haven't been able to put my finger on what was missing. There is not a single overdrive, distortion or filter among them. At first I thought that they add more pedal to this line later. As of the writing of this post, they haven't. What they do have is a list of pedals that don't take a lot of scrutiny. Their comp and EQ are arguably designed by someone else, tested and liked. Their DI and A/B/Y boxes are so simple a monkey could design those. Not only that, but personally I don't like switching the tiny pedals on and off. They don't feel sturdy. They save space, but that is the only reason to have one of these pedals. So why not have your "Set-it and forget-it" pedals (ones that you don't switch on and off often) as space saving micro. This, my friends is the best move that I've seen Fender make regarding effects. That is...

They probably haven't

If they have screwed it all up. Lets face it. This is the company that could produce a $15 analog, needle style tuner that worked beautifully. (I wish I still had that thing) But fail in the highest order when it came to a $50 pedal that performed the same task. Fender has fumbled the ball in the clutch play before and it would not surprise me if they do it again. The easiest of tasks seem like the hardest to accomplish. I don't know why a huge company like Fender has so much trouble making simple things that people put together in their garage all the time. Not like they need to make anything other than the same guitars they have been making for that last three quarters of a century. All this coming from a Fender fanboy. If anyone from Fender is reading this: please, when it comes to making pedals do it right, or don't do it at all.

The Ugly Truth About Your Boost Pedal

If you asked someone to name the pedal on their board, chances are that you'll hear a lot about distortion, overdrive, filters, reverb, delay, and maybe even a fancy programming or looping pedal. Chances are, that person won't wax poetic about their boost pedal. Sure, there are a lot of pedals out there that promise a "clean boost", but what is that really? Isn't that just turning up the volume on you guitar? Maybe you want something to drive the front end of you amp a little harder, but isn't that why we have overdrives? So say you don't want your signal clip before it goes to your amp. You want the sound that your amp makes when pushed past it's clip. Fair enough. Do you need a special pedal to do that? ...eh

So you want a straight path your amp. Chances are your no a bid "pedal" guy. So why not set your amp up to overdrive (turning up your level and lowing your master)? Maybe because your amp is too simple to have a level and master. So you're one of "those guys". Your amp came from Sear and Roebuck's back when it was a mail-order and it only have two knobs and one broke off. But this is the best amp and the only thing that you truly love. You just want to torture the tubes enough to make it scream. Your the type of guy that needs a boost pedal. Right? ...eh

So you have to have a boost pedal. You want some ridiculous box with one know that only turns up the volume on your signal. The simpler that better, right? that is your motto. After all, that amp of your has only got one knob and it's the best. Your amp is a relic and your ideas about "boost" pedal is a little screwy, but hang in there, I'll explain.

You boost pedal is basically the same thing as an overdrive, except that they've removed the clipping circuit and your are just left with a boosted signal. Great right? Maybe not. Everyone loves a good TS-9 tube screamer, and everyone is familiar with the big fat "mid-hump" that you get when you kick one on. (if you're not then you must be very board, why are you reading this?) So the pedal effect the shape, tone, color of your tone. In the same way, all these boost boxes do the same thing. Maybe its not as noticeable, or maybe you just like the way it changes things, Think all those wonder sounds are made by your amp being pushed? Maybe they are, or maybe its that pedal you just hit.

So you must boost, but your boost pedal is just a neutered dirt box that you can't control as much as said dirt box because they took the "tone knob off the thing! Don't worry. I wouldn't leave you hanging. I have an answer for you. You might not like it, but its the truth. Behold, your new boost pedal!

 Yes. The lowly Boss GE-7 Equalizer. Vile and reproachable as it is. Boss the brand of pedal that everyone started with and now no one will admit to using. I too have started limiting the number of boss pedals on my board. The humble GE-7 without as much as a 3PDT switch is the king of all boosts. The pedal does what it claims. It can cut or boost your frequencies, but it has a feature that not all EQ do. The level slide is actually the star of the show here. Now I know what you are saying, "I've used this pedal and its too noisy to boost." Ok, I hear you, but I raise you this: I once got my self into modding pedals. opening these things up and fiddling with their insides. There is a lot of potential in this box, but wait it get better. I was once half way into a mod, meaning I had removed all of the pieces of the pedal that were to be replaced, then just for kicks, I powered it on and played through it. It sounded identical to another GE-7 that had already been through the mod and it was missing bits of its insides. I'm not a electrical engineer (if you couldn't tell) but to this day I can't remember which one has the mod and which one is running around with less than a full deck of cards. And they are both dead silent. So for no more than you'd pay for a boutique boost and a little be of stomp-box-operation you can have a flat boost, treble boost, bass (fat) boost, mid boost, mid scoop or low-fi pedal. In short, friends don't let friends buy boost pedal.

Boss DS-1 Distortion Guitar Effect Pedal Mod

       So there is a lot of mods out there and I would be lying if I told you that I tried them all but I have done a few. Some turned out to be big improvements and others were even bigger disappointments. So how do you know which mod is right for you. Well, I can't really tell you. Maybe you want something completely different out of your pedal, I can't tell you that a mod makes a pedal better or worse. I can tell you which I've done and what I've liked.

       A few months ago I found my self owning a Boss DS-1. Picked it up in a gear trade. I've never been a fan of the pedal. It puts dirt on your signal like a box with the word "distortion" should, but there are complaints with the way it does this. I'm not technically gifted. I'm not going to tell you that it compressed my tone, or sucked it dry, or had some kind of mid-hump/scoop I didn't enjoy. It did seem like the mid frequencies were scooped and that no matter how I turned the "tune" knob I couldn't find a sound that I liked. I've tried the pedal in (bedroom)studio and life setting. I did not like what it did for me. So I then turned to mods to make it do something I did like.

      Research. (Google) so looking into what I should do with this big hunk of orange took some time. I had to find something that I found appealing and seemed like I was capable of. (also the first step could not include "throw pedal away and buy -enter boutique pedal here-") I dismissed anything that said "Metal", or "Crazy", or "Super". I did find a mod that seemed to fit the "make it not sound like crap" requirement. Described  plainly as "vintage mod"

The Mod:

Boss ds-1—Vintage 
Mod Location Mod value 
D5 Led 
C3 .033uf 
R16 1k resistor 
C11 .01uf 
C1, C5 .1uf

     Simple enough. 6 pieces. It took less than half an hour. It made all the difference. The Eq was evened out and the nasty, fizzy distortion was lightened into a more mellow, overdriven amp-type sound. Side by side test proved that the mod had turned a hunk of junk (in my opinion) into something that I'd actually use. The change of the diode really changes "type" of distortion and the resistor and capacitor change the "shape" if that makes any sense. (probably not) The tone knob seems to "work" better. The Drive actually controls the amount of gain the unit produces, unlike before were it just went from a little fizz to a lot of fizz. Level kinda works the same, but the sound sounds more transparent. I even had my non-music playing wife listen and she confirmed the mod made it sound "clear-er" 

    So, if you have a DS-1 That you hate and want something that you don't hate, then do what I did and make your own vintage-y overdrive boosty thing

The New Visual Sound VS-XO Dual Overdrive Pedal

So here it is. I have to be honest. I've been geeking out about this one. There are a couple of videos up on Visual Sounds' YouTube channel that make it sound very appealing. I have actually been a pretty big fan of Visual Sound in the past. I have had their Route 66 pedal in my set up, but I decided that the OD/Comp combination was good, but I wanted to be about to control my sounds a little more. The overdrive in that pedal sounded great and the compressor did a good job of being useful without being obvious. There are some speculations that this is an 808 and Open Road OD combo. I actually think it might be mentioned in one of the videos, but another view is that the way the tone is shaped suggest that the non-TS side is base on the Drivetrain pedal from the same maker. What the videos do well is show the versatility of this pedal. In addition to the basic three knob configuration that most of us are familiar with, the pedal has a bass knob on the left-side channel and two three-way, sliding selectors for the clipping section and bass frequencies. For a sound-tweaker such as myself, these fun little knobbies have gotten me foaming at the mouth.

Can't wait for this pedal to debut. Having said that, if anyone at Visual Sound would like to send me one of these pedals so that I can review it for them, then by all means do so. Anyone able to get their hands on one of these before the rest of us regular Joes? Let us know what you think. Big thanks to http://www.tdpri.com for always having useful info and insightful members.

What Order Do Effect Pedals Go In?

I've asked myself this question so many times, and over the years I'm become inclined to set up a pedal board in certain ways to create particular sounds. There are some general rules to follow or completely ignore, whatever your case may be.

1. Volume.

Volume pedals are very handy tool in a guitarist's bag. It allows you to adjust your volume on the fly, mute your signal for tuning or guitar changes, boost you signal (provided that you running less than full volume) and create swell effects. Personally I like my volume pedals first. Why? Because it create to same effect as the volume knob on your guitar. If your volume runs into you overdrive/distortion then you can manipulate to distortion by changing your volume (ie you'll have a cleaner sound with lower volumes). If this is not the effect you desire then I suggest running the volume after the distortion. This will allow you to change the volume of your signal without changing the distortion level.

2. Wha

I know that this is not typically the wha pedal would fall, but Its where I put it. A wha will manipulate certain frequencies in your signal, mostly the lower-mids to the upper-mids. Your main concern with wha pedals is the voicing and pronunciation of the effect. I've played enough in bedrooms and stages to know that there are huge differences in how the sound is received. I've sat in a bedroom and thought that my digitech rp100 muti-effect pedal sounds great, but when I used it live it sounded like I was playing out of a tin can. ( by the way, never mess with multi-effects. just say no kids. Learn from my mistakes) What you will notice between have your wah before and after your dirt boxes is the presence of the effect. For the most part, the OD and Distortion will want to change your signal frequencies just like the knobs on your amp. The "tone" knob of your Overdrive with play with how your wah opperates. (given that it is on while your using your wha) A wha before the dirt will be less noticeable (more organic sounding). While a wha post dirt will take your whole signal for a ride. This may be what you want. I like a mellow wha, but sometimes you need to be out in front of the sound and make that effect stand out.

3. Dirt

There are many different ways to get your dirty signal, but if your using a stomp box, this is where I put it. Having your Volume and Wha before these pedal gives you more control over the entire sound. I like control. Maybe thats why I have so many choices when it comes to my Dirt Boxes. I have a lot to say about OD/Distortion but you can catch most of it if your follow that link there.

4. EQ  (and other signal processors)

Again, this isn't exactly would you should do, but this is how I like it. Remember how I said I like to control my tone? Well, this is a little part of that. I use my EQ as more of a boost. I set it up to give me a little mid-hump action and maybe a overall volume boost. Some people like to set their EQ and forget it, just let it do its thing for your tone. That's fine, but everything is trying to change your frequencies. If you run a Compressor or Noise Gate of some sort, here is where I would put them as well. Be aware that your Compressor and Volume pedal are not going to play well with each other. Basically, they are doing the exact opposite of each other. If you want comp on your signal and swells. then you have to run your volume after the comp.

5. Delay

I had a Boss DD-3 that absolutely hated be overwhelmed by a distortion. Other than that particular Combo, delay is best left near the end of the chain. I'm not a big delay user. I will use it from time to time to fatten up my sound, but for the most part I like a nice straight sound.

6. Filters

I don't mess with delay much, and I use filters less. In theory, filters behave better at the end of the chain. That way they can have their way with your sound and change it as they see fit. If you are a fan of these then have at it.


So there you have it. I encourage anyone interested in effect to play with them as much as your can. There really is no wrong way to set your rig up and I may be doing it all wrong as far as you are concerned. If you disagree with any of this then leave me a comment below. If you want to see what else I have to say about all things musical then subscribe. Let me know someone reads this mess!

Aphex Acoustic Xciter Pedal

... if you are serious about playing live acoustic guitar you probably have heard a lot of things about would you should and should do to your signal. Some people think that if you drop the cash on an amazing instrument then it should do whatever you need it to with no questions asked. Others want control over their sound no matter the environment they find themselves playing in, If you've ever played acoustic in a live setting then you know that the sound guy is going to want to plug you in the mains. In order to do that you first have to convert your 1/4 inch into a xlr. Sure they make 30 dollar boxes that do this, but thats not a whole lot of fun.

The Dirt: First of all, what in the world does an "xciter" do? I really don't know. You see the knobs; lo tune, lo blend, hi tune, hi blend, but what really goes on when you hit that little shinny button. It works almost like an Eq, but it also adds compression. Pick noise is a little more evident. And even more so if you are heavy on the hi blend. Its obvious that this pedal is purposed to add a broader range of frequencies. But then again, I'm not exactly sure what all its doing to accomplish that, and that is a little unsettling.

The Goods: Besides the fact that I'm not sure what all this pedal technically does, I love the way it makes my guitar sound. It adds a punch to the sound. Its not the solution to every problem, and it can cause feedback in many situations, but if you acoustic signal is a little thin, this pedal will put some meat on them bones. Or a whole lot of meat if you'd like. Don't think that this just adds low end. It also adds hi end. In fact, the hi end is more like the presence knob you find on some (better) amps. Its like the knob that other amps leave off, the high hi-end. Then the lo-end is the same in reverse. Its lower than the low on your guitar's Eq

In summery, this pedal is good. It does good things to the sound of acoustic guitar sounds and is in my line when I play acoustic live through a system. Its compact and fits in my guitar case. It can act as a DI or be powered by phantom power (neat trick). Down side is that when you use phantom power, it will need another box to convert to xlr. The unit is a little steep for what it does. 150 from MF, but I found one of ebay for less than half.