TC Electronic BodyRez review

Acoustic pickup enhancing pedal

  • £70
  • €99
  • $149
The further you turn that knob, the more pronounced the low-end gets

MusicRadar Verdict

The BodyRez certainly adds a sense of resonance to your sound if you're willing to make the investment to help kill that quack.

Pros

  • +

    Great build quality. Easy operation.

Cons

  • -

    Not battery power option.

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The piezo quack: we all know and dread the sound. That unwanted distortion and plasticky slap that comes from amped-up under-saddle pickups is a long way from the blissful acoustic tone in our heads.

External and preamp EQ plays a part in sweetening piezo tone, as do your PA or acoustic amp. Now, TC Electronic's secret weapon: an acoustic pickup enhancer for under-saddle pickups, using preconfigured filters and compression to help restore the sense of 'acoustic' in your electro sound.

We immediately notice a subtle compression, boost in the low-end, and a cleaning up of our sound across the frequency board

Plugging straight into a PA and starting with this mini pedal's sole Body control at 25 per cent to A/B test, we immediately notice a subtle compression, boost in the low-end, and a cleaning up of our sound across the frequency board.

The further you turn that knob, the more pronounced the low-end gets. For anyone playing in a band setup, this is where you need to play a balancing act: a rich boominess can get lost in the monitor mix. Solo players and recordists will have more leeway.

This isn't meant as a do-it-all preamp, more a simple fix that could be especially useful at your next open mic.

We'd have settled for a larger pedal if it meant battery power for grab-and-go gigs, but the BodyRez certainly adds a sense of resonance to your sound if you're willing to make the investment to help kill that quack.

Rob Laing
Guitars Editor, MusicRadar

I'm the Guitars Editor for MusicRadar, handling news, reviews, features, tuition, advice for the strings side of the site and everything in between. Before MusicRadar I worked on guitar magazines for 15 years, including Editor of Total Guitar in the UK. When I'm not rejigging pedalboards I'm usually thinking about rejigging pedalboards.