Sweet and twisted spring-reverb sounds in a stomp.
Deep, unique, immersive spring reverb sounds. Many unusual textures. Scores of interesting effect blends. Great visual representations of pedal functionality. Accelerometer-based shock sensor enables reverb tank "crash" effects. External tails switch.
No decay control. Highly interactive controls can make it hard to find and return to specific sounds. Falls just short of a vintage reverb tank's sonic spaciousness.
$349
Gamechanger Audio Light Pedal Reverb
gamechangeraudio.com
Though I was a Beatlemaniac before I could walk, it was surf music that hooked me on electric guitar. My brother had an instrumental surf band, and through them I was awakened to the sounds of the Pyramids, Chantays, and Astronauts. I loved surf-music's imagery (as a 12-year-old culture contrarian, a fiesta red Fender Jaguar looked infinitely cooler than whatever guitar-playing friends were digging at the time). But it was the mysterioso tones of spring reverb that really re-shaped my sonic cravings.
By the time I had my own Jaguar, Fender piggyback, and Fender spring reverb, I was using them to chase the sounds of Neil Young and Sonic Youth, which says much about the versatility of the effect. But when it comes to reimagining the possibilities of spring reverb, few have succeeded quite like Gamechanger Audio, a daring Latvian company resolutely uninterested in building anything resembling a "normal" stompbox. By using springs and optical sensors in addition to a traditional transducer, Gamechanger's LIGHT Pedal generates captivating vintage-style reverb sounds. But the LIGHT Pedal also achieves odd, unique tonalities and dynamics that vintage-style spring reverbs or digital models would be hard-pressed to duplicate.
Seeking Illumination, Finding Sound Immersion
Like many foundational electric guitar technologies, spring reverbs are relatively primitive: An input transducer converts audio signal to mechanical energy, which vibrates springs, activating output transducers that convert that vibration into a much more expansive sound. But Gamechanger Audio's design deviates from spring reverb design convention in clever ways. First and foremost, the LIGHT uses infrared optical sensors to supplement a traditional output transducer. The benefits of optical sensors are twofold: They are more sensitive, and their small size makes it easy to situate them at various points along the length of the springs, enabling emphasis on specific frequencies and overtones that occur along the spring's length. By using the two sound-capture methods together, the LIGHT Pedal generates complex, compound reverb tones.
On the LIGHT Pedal, the optical sensors and output transducer each have dedicated volume controls, which you can use with the wet/dry control to generate precise tone profiles and reverb blends. Additionally, the range-y tone and drive controls can transform the output from clanky, lo-fi junkyard reflections to pristine deep-space tonalities. The gate control is unconventional, too: At noon, it's disabled. Counterclockwise from noon, heavier pick attack generates more reverb. Clockwise from noon, heavy pick attack reduces the reverb level, so you can emphasize clean transients and let the reverb bloom in their wake.
The LIGHT Pedal—alone with just guitar, amp—has the stuff to create wildly distinctive, memorable signature solos and riffs.
Modes to Mangle and Modulate Space
The LIGHT Pedal features six operational modes, and maximizing the potential of each one takes practice and a willingness to explore the controls intuitively. The knobs are very interactive and shift in sensitivity from mode to mode. There's also a "ctrl" knob that regulates a secondary function for each mode. But while the possible results are myriad and labrynthine, they're worth exploring down to the last nook and cranny.
Optics mode is the most vintage sounding, though the ability to select different optical sensor pairs along the length of the springs makes it much more flexible and tunable than a vintage tank. In sweep mode, the output source shifts back and forth across the sensors; the tremolo mode rhythmically attenuates the output from alternating sensor pairs. Both create highly unusual, modulated reverb textures, though it would be fun to have to the option to increase the intensity of both modulations.
The reflect setting creates the pedal's most fabulously trashy, lo-fi sounds by feeding the output back through the reverb, while the feedback setting, with a just-right amount of clockwise gate, results in strong transients and blooming feedback that you can tune to a specific frequency. It's a beautifully fluid and emotive effect when you master it. Harmonic mode, which offers a more subdued, vintage-y take on modern shimmer 'verb, is a less effective addition and often sounds a touch disjointed. Still, in each of these modes, the LIGHT Pedal—alone with just guitar, amp—has the stuff to create wildly distinctive, memorable signature solos and riffs.
The Verdict
If vintage-correct Fender spring reverb sounds are your goal, there are more accurate and inexpensive ways to get it. The LIGHT Pedal lacks some of the clicking, whistling, and airy overtones you associate with Fender units. And even the most expansive LIGHT Pedal tones can sound slightly less spacious and surfy than those from a long-tank Fender reverb. But for anyone pursuing truly unique variations on vintage spring reverb color—or radical deconstructions of those tones—the LIGHT is an inspiring option. Its most radical tones spark new musical ideas constantly, and its vintage-colored sounds are more dynamic and less cliché. I wouldn't be at all surprised if sound designers in the digital realm start to emulate the LIGHT Pedal's singular feel and sound in the years to come.
Gamechanger Audio LIGHT Pedal Optical Spring Reverb Demo - First Look
Immersive sounds and a nice price make this fine modulator a multi-trem for the masses.
RatingsPros:Intuitive and easy to navigate. Nice variation in tones. Extra-cool MXR and revo voices. Cons: Can't toggle backwards between modes. Street: $159 MXR Tremolo jimdunlop.com
| Tones:  Ease of Use: Build/Design: Value: |
MXR probably isn't the first name that comes to mind when you think tremolo. But it's not for MXR's lack of trying. The company's M159 Stereo Tremolo—a derivative of the Dunlop TS-1 Stereo Tremolo—was underrated. It sounded great, with a strong, throbbing quality, and its stereo pan feature made it an excellent alternative for shoegaze fanatics and dream-pop travellers that couldn't find or afford a vintage Boss PN-2. Ultimately, though, the M159's relatively sizable footprint led casual tremolo seekers to more compact and streamlined pedal solutions, and the M159 never quite got the props it deserved.
The new, digital MXR Tremolo will appeal to players that prefer smaller stomps. But MXR did not err on the side of streamlined when it came to sounds. Instead, the MXR Tremolo features six varied and often viscerally pleasing tremolo modes that can fit into just about any musical situation. There are also two stereo output options, switchable tap tempo/expression pedal control, and a crazy-cool envelope-controlled mode that enables you to vary tremolo speed via picking intensity—pretty impressive for 159 bucks.
Trips Down Tremolo Lanes
You hear a lot of talk about how digital processing has transformed the world of high-end, hyper-accurate modeling. But the MXR Tremolo is a case study in how cleverly applied digital processing and control can convincingly ape analog sounds and facilitate creative sound sculpting at the accessible end of the price spectrum. And by using a control layout similar to the company's excellent Reverb pedal, MXR delivers a ton of versatility via an impressively simple and intuitive control and I/O array.
The MXR Tremolo accomplishes a lot with three knobs. There's the requisite speed and depth controls as well as a gain control that can compensate for perceived volume loss and generate enough drive and grit to add a very vintage-amp edge to the modulations. But the gain knob is also a push switch for toggling between the six tremolo types, and holding it down for a few seconds activates the envelope mode that is one of the pedal's most interesting features.
The MXR Tremolo's jacks are a model of efficiency, too. The output jack can be operated in mono or stereo if you use a TRS cable and a splitter. But you can also enable stereo operation by using the expression pedal input as a second output—just by shifting the small slider switch on the side. The same switch enables you to repurpose the jack for an expression pedal (which controls rate) or a tap tempo switch.
Every Wobble a Winner
Even if you use tremolo infrequently or are less familiar with nuances that differentiate tremolo types, it's easy to hear the variation in the MXR's six different voices and derive inspiration and musical ideas from them.
The MXR voice, which honors the sound of the MXR M159, has a unique personality, with strong-but-contoured pulses that split the difference between softer-edged, amp-style tremolo—like the bias and opto settings here—and choppier square-wave tremolo. The strong pulses with soft contours are a great match for detuned and baritone lines, lending definition and creating space for low frequencies, where the bias and opto voices can get blurry. The strong pulses are also especially well-suited to the envelope mode, where they highlight modulation rate changes without squashing overtones that bloom as the rate goes from fast to slow.
Bias mode (the tremolo associated with old Fender Vibro Champs and Princetons) is especially dreamy at subdued depth and speed settings, and is an ideal choice for adding tasteful, just-barely-there animation to chord phrases and slow, melodic leads. The optical mode (which simulates the tremolo from most larger, black-panel and silver-panel Fenders) features more subdued pulses. To most ears it will sound like a close cousin to the bias mode. But its softer throbs can make high depth and speed settings easier to manage. Revo mode, meanwhile, takes the opto waveform and reverses it, accenting peaks for a more rhythmic and pulsing variation on the opto setting, but also lending very slight suggestions of pitch shift that add up to a very submarine kind of quaver.
The third of the amp-styled settings, the harmonic mode, isn't quite as thick and greasy as the real deal, and probably favors the phasier side of a real harmonic tremolo's complex sound spectrum. But the setting is still overtly evocative of a brown-panel Fender and reveals it's own alluring complexities that make it beautiful accompaniment for sleepy chord melodies or a woozy accent to chugging Lonnie Mack and Bo Diddley rhythms.
SQR mode, as the vowel-less construction suggests, kicks with the deep throb of square wave tremolo. It doesn't have as much on/off binary intensity as a Vox Repeat Percussion tremolo circuit, but it does a fantastic job of creating a very similar hypnotic and spacious pulse that leaves room for melodic counterpoint or droning textures.
The Verdict
The MXR Tremolo is both totally practical and a total blast. Its intuitive design facilitates experimentation with different modulation textures and can reshape riffs and spark new creative and compositional directions. Some hardcore amp-trem-only and analog tremolo devotees might find the analog simulations a little less complex sounding than their inspirations. But they still sound great on their own merits, and the addition of the more colorful MXR, revo, and SQR modes are imaginative and inviting alternatives. Given its flexibility, immersive textures, intuitive, easy-to-use control layout, and super-fair price, the MXR Tremolo stands a good chance of becoming a modern tremolo staple.
Watch John Bohlinger demo the MXR Tremolo:
Carl Martin introduces his new optical compressor
Meet Carl Martin''s Vintage Opto-Compressor -- an old-school compressor from the days where coloring was an important factor to the sound. The four controls (from left to right) are the Gain, which controls the ‘pre-glow’ of the optical circuit (the more you turn this up, the fatter the sound); Level, which controls the overall volume of the compressor; Compression, which controls how hard or soft the compression is, and the Attack control which takes the signal from transparent to outright total squeeze.
An optical compressor performs gain reduction control via a light source into a photo sensitive cell--as the light source gets brighter, the photo sensitive cell sends a signal to reduce dynamic range, or what becomes a compressed signal.
Martin says a short time with the Vintage Opto-Compressor will allow you to find some of those classic guitar sounds which may somehow have escaped you before.
Like all the Vintage pedals, the Opto-Compressor comes in a solid diecast housing with chicken-head knobs, CM color and graphics and a 9v battery compartment. Due to the nature of compressors, Martin highly recommends a regulated power supply or a large stock of batteries when using the compressor.
For more info:
Carl Martin