A lush, lively stereo chorus with tasteful, varied presets and controls that range from the classic to the crazed.
Excellent presets and reactive controls produce a lush variety of lovely classic and crazed sounds. Solid construction.
Pricey. Black divot dial marking are hard to read.
$300
VS Alchemy MkIII
vsaudio.com
Love it or hate it, the chorus pedal became an important part of rock’s soundscape in the ’80s. Happily, there’s a lot to love about VS Audio’s new Alchemy MkII, an analog stereo chorus with a half-dozen useful presets and a 4-dial setup that opens up plenty of modulation-shaping range.
Warbly Witchcraft
With graphics that conjure a medium with her hands surrounding a crystal ball (which doubles as the bypass LED), the updated Alchemy pedal is handsome and sturdy. It’s got two smooth switches. The leftmost, labeled bypass, is on/off; the rightmost activates and shuttles between the device’s six presets and works as a tap tempo for the low frequency oscillator (LFO) that governs the pedal’s sweep. Tap tempo is a new feature in the MkII, along with smoother and more natural sounding modulation and an expanded delay range. Also, VS says the effect’s output is brighter, smoother, and warmer than in the first iteration. The input and stereo outs are solid, and a barrel adaptor feeds the Alchemy 9-volt power. Under the hood, there’s a tidy circuit board with a reissue 3207 BBD delay chip that helps produce everything from warm modulation to queasy detuned noise. Together it’s a rugged, appealing package.
Sounds Abound
The Alchemy MkII comes with six factory presets that sound so good and varied that players who aren’t interested in exploring outer reaches might be satisfied with them alone. By holding the bypass and preset switches down simultaneously, it’s also easy to edit those presets.
Six factory presets sound so good and varied that players who aren’t interested in exploring outer reaches might be satisfied with them alone.
I explored the Alchemy MkII with a two-amp setup featuring a Carr Vincent and Carr Telstar so I could enjoy the stereo spectrum. And exploring the presets in this configuration was a joy. The box’s lower LED changes color according to preset. Here’s what I heard for each color-coded setting. I also describe some of the virtual knob settings as they are described in the manual:
- Blue: Subtle speed with medium depth and zero delay, and an even split between the effect and guitar tone. Great for funky, crisp chords and licks, à la Jimmy Nolen and Al McKay.
- Green: Still subtle and funky, but with more depth and less speed.
- Red: Full-on speed with depth past the midpoint, zero delay, and the mix at 3 o’clock. It seems to thin the midrange when I play chords. But single notes take on a cool oscillating effect between amps and adding an overdrive generates compelling lead tones.
- Yellow: Entering Leslie territory, with fast oscillations just shy of SRV’s Vibratone sounds. The delay is cranked, the speed and mix are at about 3 o’clock, and the depth is off.
- White: Full-on Leslie-style tones. Lush with vibrato. My favorite. The mix is up all the way, delay half-way, speed at 3 o’clock, and depth at 1 o’clock. Playing chords and bending notes is a blast. Gorgeous oscillations!
It's Alive!
In live mode, sans presets, the chorus options feel pretty endless. I explored a few go-to settings, like setting speed and depth at 3 o’clock for Nirvana or “Enter Sandman” tones, and slowly increasing the delay until it produced a sick, detuned quality. Elsewhere, with the speed at 11 o’clock, depth at noonish, and delay at 9 to 11 o’clock, I could approximate 12-string sounds.
The Verdict
At 300 bucks the Alchemy Mk II is pricey. But it is a well-built, rangeful stereo chorus with varied and thoughtful preset options that might be enough for many players. Controllability on the fly can be tricky. Dial positions are indicated by divots, rather than a contrasting white line, so it’s hard to see them in low light. Apart from that design oversight, the Alchemy is feast of rich, analog modulation sounds.
A pedal designed to generate the iconic brown panel-style drive.
The BlackBird Deluxe has the same medium gain as the original BlackBird with natural compression and dynamic touch sensitive character. An added Channel switch to choose between Normal and Bright channel like the original ’61 Deluxe amp. Plus a true bias tremolo, using MOSFET and JFET technology that modulates the bias voltage of the output stage of the pedal, the same way that the famous power tube bias tremolo circuit behaves. Bias tremolo is considered by many to be the most liquid and watery of all the tremolo types due to its natural, pulsating character. Its touch-sensitive dynamic response allows to control the tremolo effect with your picking dynamics or your guitar’s volume knob with overdriven sounds, capturing the tone and behavior that makes the Brown Deluxe great.
BlackBird Deluxe flexibility doesn’t end here. A dual mode Bypass switch selects between the Low Gain mode that delivers softer edge of breakup response while the High Gain adds more edge and higher output. Placing the BlackBird Deluxe further down your effects chain reveals its ability to function like a true preamp, an additional passive effects loop also grants versatile rig-integration options and lets users employ each side independently in a pedalboard friendly size format.
BlackBird Deluxe available now at selected dealers worldwide, with street price of 229.00€.
A chorus pedal with vintage tones, analog processing, and tap tempo control.
Adding to the company’s line of boutique effects pedals, Vs Audio effects introduces the Alchemy MKII chorus, designed to offer unprecedented digital control in an all-analog signal path modulation machine. The Alchemy MKII, a versatile chorus whose classic vintage tones harken back to the 80’s, is ideal for the player who demands analog processing in their signal chain. With 6 analog presets, tap tempo functionality, the technology in this pedal bridges the gap between the analog tone many players crave and the modern, digital tweak-ability that they demand. The Alchemy MKII added delay knob will provide greater definition and nuance to everything from hi-fi chorus to ultra-warm modulation. This innovative design also promises a reduction in noise and a wider speed and intensity chorus range.
Features
- Four knobs to control Mix, Delay, Speed and Depth.
- 6 editable favorite presets.
- Tap tempo Control: Set the rate of the LFO.
- Mono In/Stereo Out Jacks for actual “pseudo-stereo” action instead of “Wet/Dry” stereo.
- Relay switching (True Bypass).
Vs Audio ALCHEMY MKII Chorus || Official Product Video
Alchemy MKII available on April 11th, 2022 at selected dealers worldwide, with street price of 249.00€. more info at www.vsaudio.com.