blurst

If your experiences with filter stompboxes extend only as far as the ones that go wacka-wacka, perhaps you should let Blurst introduce you to sheeeeeeeoooooo, cronk-uh cronk-uh, and whoosh-blurb-blurb-blubble.

Electro-Harmonix’s Blurst is an endlessly entertaining analog filter pedal packed with tone-shaping and modulation options. The filters that appear in wah pedals (your basic wacka-wacka sound) are band-pass, which means they emphasize a slice of frequencies while trimming frequencies above and below the slice. But Blurst employs a low-pass filter, which removes frequencies only above the cutoff point. It’s the quintessential analog-synth filter sound, capable of everything from slow, yawning sweeps to wet-sounding burbles and farts.

Blurst of Energy
Burst is solidly built into a standard BB-sized enclosure. The controls include five large knobs, three 3-way toggles, and two footswitches. It requires a 9V power supply (included). Two knobs control the essential low-pass-filter parameters: cutoff frequency and filter resonance (the degree of intensity at the cutoff frequency). But it’s the remaining controls that make Blurst so versatile and fun.

Knobs labeled volume and blend may not sound terribly exciting, but they do important work here. At high resonance settings, Blurst can generate blisteringly loud screeches, moans, and rumbles. The cut-only volume control lets you dial in extreme effects without committing crimes against humanity. Meanwhile, the blend control sets the balance between the dry and filtered sound. (As opposed to a wah sound, which is 100 percent filter.) That way, you can use sounds that might otherwise be too anarchic and over-the-top by mixing them with non-filtered signal.

And then there’s the mighty modulation section.