Dundee, OR (April 25, 2017) -- Adding to the company’s line of high quality modulation pedals, Subdecay has unveiled the new Vagabond tremolo. The Vagabond delivers two different distinct flavors, harmonic and bias, in a single pedal, and also offers an envelope speed control for added flexibility and expressiveness. The Vagabond Tremolo embellishes upon one of the most tried-and-true effects of all time. It delivers vintage-style tremolo but with added depth, more speed, and more control overall. Its broad modulation range can go faster and deeper than a tube-based circuit ever could. The Vagabond can achieve near square-wave modulation with the maximum intensity setting, and in bias mode it can cut the volume down to zero for maximum throb. Its highlight features include…
Harmonic and Bias Tremolo: Bias Tremolos, like some Fender blackface amps, create subtle distortions and alter frequency response. Harmonic tremolos, like the older brown face amps weren’t really tremolo at all. They were cross fade effects between high and low-pass filters. Because of the phase shift in the filters, they often have subtle hints of phaser or vibrato.
Envelope Drift Speed Control: a special knob that varies the pedal’s responsiveness. With the Envelope Drift knob, the player’s pick attack can slow down or speed up the tremolo effect.
Each Vagabond pedal offers the following features:
- Two-position switch for selecting Harmonic or Bias tremolo
- Envelope speed knob – enables pick attack to control the effect by slowing down or speeding up the tremolo
- Volume knob makes up for perceived volume loss when tremolo is activated
- Traditional Speed and Intensity controls go far beyond classic amp design limitations for maximum throb and chop
- All-analog design, True Bypass switching
- 9-volt and 18-volt operation and standard DC input
The Vagabond carries a street price of $169.
Watch the company's video demo:
For more information:
Subdecay Guitar Effects
Revv G3 Purple Channel Preamp/Overdrive/Distortion Pedal - Anniversary Edition
The Revv G3 revolutionized high gain pedals in 2018 with its tube-like response & tight, clear high gain tones. Suddenly the same boutique tones used by metal artists & producers worldwide were available to anyone in a compact pedal. Now the G3 returns with a new V2 circuit revision that raises the bar again.
If 3 Were 6
With six times the controls found on the 1 and 2 versions (if you discount the original’s on/off slider switch,) the LPB-3’s control complement offers pre-gain, boost, mid freq, bass, treble, and mid knobs, with a center detent on the latter three so you can find the midpoint easily. A mini-toggle labeled “max” selects between 20 dB and 33 dB of maximum gain, and another labeled “Q” flips the resonance of the mid EQ between high and low. Obviously, this represents a significant expansion of the LPB’s capabilities.
More than just a booster with a passive tone, the LPB-3 boasts a genuine active EQ stage plus parametric midrange section, comprising the two knobs with shaded legends, mid freq and mid level. The gain stages have also been reimagined to include a pre-gain stage before the EQ, which enables up to 20 dB of input gain. The boost stage that follows the EQ is essentially a level control with gain to allow for up to 33 dB of gain through the LPB-3 when the “max” mini toggle is set to 33dB
A slider switch accessible inside the pedal selects between buffered or true bypass for the hard-latch footswitch. An AC adapter is included, which supplies 200mA of DC at 9.6 volts to the center-negative power input, and EHX specifies that nothing supplying less than 120mA or more than 12 volts should be used. There’s no space for an internal battery.
Power-Boosted
The LPB-3 reveals boatloads of range that betters many linear boosts on the market. There’s lots of tone-shaping power here. Uncolored boost is available when you want it, and the preamp gain knob colors and fattens your signal as you crank it up—even before you tap into the massive flexibility in the EQ stage.
“The preamp gain knob colors and fattens your signal as you crank it up—even before you tap into the massive flexibility in the EQ stage.”
I found the two mid controls work best when used judiciously, and my guitars and amps preferred subtle changes pretty close to the midpoint on each. However, there are still tremendous variations in your mid boost (or scoop, for that matter) within just 15 or 20 percent range in either direction from the center detent. Pushing the boost and pre-gain too far, particularly with the 33 dB setting engaged, can lead to some harsh sounds, but they are easy to avoid and might even be desirable for some users that like to work at more creative extremes.
The Verdict
The new LPB-3 has much, much more range than its predecessors, providing flexible preamp, boost, and overdrive sounds that can be reshaped in significant ways via the powerful EQ. It gives precise tone-tuning flexibility to sticklers that like to match a guitar and amp to a song in a very precise way, but also opens up more radical paths for experimentalists. That it does all this at a $129 price is beyond reasonable.
Electro-Harmonix Lpb-3 Linear Power Booster & Eq Effect Pedal Silver And Blue
