do you by any chance have the golden era pedal, if so how would you compare the sound to the ribbons?
I’ve never seen one, so I can’t help there unfortunately!
thanks for the ribbons info, I’m definitely intrigued…
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I initially had the MKII and returned it to buy a Ribbons. With both pedals there is some latency/flanging when using the wet/dry mix at less than 100%, but that is par for the course for a chorus pedal.
Unlike the MKII though Ribbons can do 100% mix with no artifacts which imo makes it the winner for people wanting to use it with more percussive sounds or on full mixes. The MKII at 100% mix always had this gritty / echo-y quality to it that wasn’t possible to dial out.
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Good point! I should have clarified that further, thanks for catching that.
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This pedal keeps evolving, very interesting. I was initially a bit disappointed tbh, seemed a bit like a one trick pony. It’s more of a production tool for me than a live pedal.
I initially put it at the end of an effects chain (Microcosm-Specular Tempus-Gen Loss) but soon switched it with the Specular Tempus. I found that I mostly used the knobs on very very low settings to colour the signal, without using the filter modes as they remove a lot of frequencies and add a lot of character. It made much more sense to send this slightly colored signal into reverb or delay instead of applying them to a reverb/delay heavy signal.
I’ve since started to use it a lot more to create characterful textures or to alter the frequency spectrum of signals to get a more interesting mix. The tape modes are really good for that, my favorite being the one at noon (portastudio 1?).
I’ve started to often not use the failure knob, as it can get distracting quite fast, even on really low settings. It’s especially weird in stereo mode. I think there’s a dip switch to remove the stereo effect from failure but keep it for the other effects?
As has already been mentioned, the “wow” knob also makes the sound quite flangey from around 25-30% in, depending on mix settings. I have a suspicion I would have preferred the chorussy sound of the first batch, but not at the expense of always losing bass.
Haven’t even tried out classic mode yet, which I suspect to really like, especially the bit crushing and filters. Would have been nice to have a small button/switch on the front panel to switch to classic mode instead of a dip switch, which is hard to reach in my setup. Also have yet to use saturation for drums when recording, but I already know that it sounds wonderful and could be worth the price for some alone.
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I use it in the parallel FX chain and I don’t mind the bass loss, actually rather enjoy it as it doesn’t pollute the bass frequencies.
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You should be able to install the old firmware, which is what controls the latency and hence chorus vs flange effect.
Only the bass loss is dependent on the hardware.
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There are a few dip switches to change the failure mode by bypassing some aspects. I found bypassing the drops to be pretty necessary - they’re just ugly and not pleasing at all. I also usually bypass the snags, as both those and the drops are too distracting for me in most contexts. I generally want (and really like!) the hum, but not the others. You can’t turn off the crackling though, which really annoys me as I never like the crackling vinyl/tape sound unless I’m actually listening to a record.
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Didn’t know that, might check it out, thanks for the suggestion!
@m0ld: I kinda like the dropouts. Ideally, you could adjust them independent of the other failure effects and deactivate stereo for them. If they ever release an app, this kind of fine-level tuning would be really helpful.
I actually really like the crackling/tape sound on some modes combined with higher saturations, although I’ve never actually recorded it in the end.
I like the sound of the noise, but imo a off/mild/extreme switch is not ideal, I find it already way too loud and extreme on mild level and thus never use it.
Coming to think of it: the pedal might have really profitted from a bit bigger case with a few more knobs and two mono in- and outputs. Chase Bliss already started to produce more than one pedal format and hopefully expand future pedals.
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Yeah, it really could benefit from more control over several things, I think that’s kind of what most of my issues with the pedal revolve around. Especially agree on the toggle switches, I usually want something that’s in between two of the switch settings.
I will admit that I do like the tape crackling on the noon mode and the real to reel mode (last one). Especially when the saturation is cranked.
I agree that it really could’ve benefitted from a bigger case. Even two more knobs seems like it would have made a difference in how how much granular control a user gets over some parameters. I also realize that their primary demographic is guitarists and I’m sure that making it bigger would have alienated some of them.
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Yeah. I mean it’s always a double-edged sword. I usually buy pedals because they give me a limited, hands-on and straightforward approach that reliably sound great. That’s a nice diversion from setting up and fine-tuning LFOs in a sub menu of my Elektrons. You tend to get less lost in the nitty gritty.
At the same time, there are situations where you kinda need that more granular control. It would definitely be nice if they integrated a normal MIDI input so that you could get that without having to buy a proprietary dongle.
I also really like it that their pedals don’t take up much space. But then they put the in- and outputs on the side, which means there will be cables that make the thing broader. If the pedal was a bit bigger, they could add some knobs, give it a normal MIDI input, maybe two mono in and outs and put them at the top, moving the dip switches to the bottom or making them toggle switches on the front maybe with some secondary functions.
I really hope that they keep growing in the direction they seem headed to, with bigger pedals and stereo that are also geared more towards producers/synth players. It’s not like these other boutique pedal manufacturers that focus on guitarists haven’t started to make bigger pedals with less clunk. I hope that CBA gets to that point as well.
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Ordered and on its way - thanks again!
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You’re welcome.
I hope you enjoy using it.
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agreed, I was excited when CooperFx got on board as i thought they would start putting the i/o on the top of the pedals, but maybe in the future hopefully
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Same here–the gentle rolloff at the low end keeps things from turning to mud and I’m always using it as a parallel fx. A well worn production technique is EQing the sends to fx units and I do this whenever I have the luxury of a spare EQ available.
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Sounds like before I decide to sell it I should learn how to do parallel processing with hardware! Between my mixer and interface, I should be able to do that.
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Just put in an order on the Chase Bliss site. Out of interest where are people putting this in their chain with multiple pedals? Any surprising results?
For context this will be sitting alongside a Microcosm and Sunn O))) life pedal
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Polymoon > Microcosm > GenLoss2 > Empress Reverb here, not everything on 11 obviously but it creates atmospheric textures that is fun to play with.
It’s on the stereo mix send of my mix table, so I can send whatever I want, from pads to drums. Favorite is OT (Cue outs) that already chews samples beyond recognition.
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Mixer - GenLoss 100% wet - Ventris stereo reverb - Mixer.
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