One Very Cool Pedal

brianv4

Fractal Fanatic
I've been gradually selling off gear like effects pedals that have been just sitting around BUT... this has the GAS flowing again.
 
As a studio guy, I'm always seduced by faders BUT in this case I think they are the least thing I would see on a pedal: ok it has presets but it's too easy to move it in the middle of the performance. I prefer not to comment on the tone...
 
I have nothing by respect for the folks at Chasebliss. They are amazing at what they do and are really pushing the envelope on pedals. But this one, aside from the automations, is so easy to replicate in the box it's never done anything for my GAS.
 
I have one, and it's a great sounding pedal. No joke, a fantastic all in one. The fuzz sounds great in both modes, the overdrives sounds are the best I've ever had from a pedal. That said, when you engage the mids circuit, it's a little noisy- there's a wash of white noise kind of sitting under it with the mids engaged. My only other gripe is that it's a little clunky to jump around presets, even with the jump button, it can take a couple of presses to get to several different presets, so I think using it with a midi controller setup would really open up possibilities with the Automatone. It seems to have a lot of headroom to it- it's a very clear and detailed overdrive.
It's not really necessary for me anymore- I'm using my Axe as a virtual pedalboard and like @iaresee said, all of the eq options that make it so versatile are easily replicated on the Axe, so I may pop it up in the for sale section at some point. It is a great sounding pedal though. And yea, the sliders work great and are the perfect way to tell what your current settings are. It's the most intuitive preset based pedal I've ever used. If I was putting together a modern midi based pedalboard, I'd use this without a doubt.
 
I have nothing by respect for the folks at Chasebliss. They are amazing at what they do and are really pushing the envelope on pedals. But this one, aside from the automations, is so easy to replicate in the box it's never done anything for my GAS.
Oh yeah, my AxeFx could easily do what this does. Same can be said for the new UA pedals (I have the Starlight). I'm an addict, sometimes I just need to buy something then someone on Reverb gets a killer deal. But this pedal and my Starlight in front of my Pro Reverb amp? Hmmm...
 
Motorized moving parts. What could go wrong?
I have a Soldano X99 preamp with motorized knobs from when they were first released, toured it for years, still works as well as the first day I got it. So when done right (and I'm sure Chase Bliss did it right) mortised parts can last for decades even with heavy use.
 
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