Brrrrggggrrrrgrrgrrgggggggrgrggrrgrmmmmmmmggmm
You know the sound this onomatopoeia represents. You’ve not just heard it, you’ve felt it. You’ve been in this room before, paced behind the writhing mass of human titillation generated before this claustrophobic rush of air a thousand times before now, but to say that each time was the same would be a disservice not just to tone, but to yourself and yes, music everywhere. And it is everywhere. Sometimes it’s an amplifier’s searing breakup, sometimes it’s a studio engineer’s worst nightmare. Every time, it is an aggressive whetstone made for sharpening your instrument’s killing edge.
Gain.
Tube or Pedal, TS9 or Rat, Klon or Big Muff, it’s impossible to escape the sound of those juicy, overloaded diodes. There are endless iterations of overdrive and fuzz by endless boutique and amateur builders, and in 2017, those looking to create something new in the gain family must be sure to dig deep and create a piece that is truly innovative, lest their work be cast aside as one more buzz box in someone’s dad’s basement.
Oddly enough, in January, we first got word from Chase Bliss Audio that they were working on just such a thing: an original Analog Gainstage Pedal, replete with all the functionality and ear candy we’ve come to expect from the tonally generous and dedicated Joel Korte. The way this latest release would differ from Chase Bliss’s usual outings, however, is that this piece was a collaboration with Peter Bregman and his company Resonant Electronic Design, another (slightly-more-obscure-but-still-doing-awesome-stuff) builder steadfastly dedicated/addicted to the infinite craft of pedal design. Their combined take on overdrive/fuzz/boost is a total gain changer, and I’m humbled to get the chance to put it through its paces.
FEATURES:
- Two channels (JFET and IC) with a total of six distinct voicings
- Six Parameters:
Gain A: Controls the Gain of Channel A
Tone A: Tone control with an emphasis on transparency
Gain B: Controls the Gain on Channel B
Tone B: Tone control with a mid-range boost
Mix/Stack: Controls the level of signal coming from each voice in parallel, and acts as volume attenuator for the first voice in series.
Master: Master volume attenuator - 3 Routing modes: A > B, B>A, and Parallel
- 33 total routing configurations
- Full MIDI functionality
- True/Buffered Bypass switch
- All-Analog Signal Path
- Expression/CV in
- 16 back-mounted dip switches control Expressed parameters and bypass method
- Small footprint
......
The Chase Bliss Audio Brothers stands up to the hype it generated upon its announcement and meets the CBA standard by delivering some of the best overdrive tones I’ve ever heard in an easier delivery system than I thought would ever exist in an analog based gain pedal. At $349 the Brothers is not necessarily what I’d call an “affordable” pedal, but with 6 amazing analog drive voices, presets, full MIDI/CV integration, and 33 independent routing options, it’s also not what I’d call a “pass.” On the contrary, if you need a drive (or two) and have the money, the Brothers has the potential to be the last drive investment you ever make. You won’t want for much if balanced variation is what you’re after, and you don’t need to look much further to know that the Brothers may be, presently, the best thing for it. There have been many dual overdrives in recent years, and a few parallel drives, but as far as I can tell, there’s only one other pedal that does both. All this, coupled with it’s unparalleled (ha!) tone push the Brothers into a category all its own, and you can expect the industry to follow the example it sets.
That concludes our Chase Bliss Audio Brothers review. Thanks for reading.
The post Chase Bliss Audio Brothers Review – Best Gain Stage Pedal? appeared first on Best Guitar Effects - Reviews of the Best Guitar Pedals & Gear.
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