Just a few weeks after unveiling its clone of the Lovetone Meatball envelope filter pedal, Behringer is plundering the boutique pedal manufacturer's vaults once again with a recreation of the Ring Stinger, a quirky ring mod/fuzz pedal released in the '90s that promises to "spice up your tone".
Behringer's take on the Ring Stinger combines the metallic, discordant sounds of ring modulation with a punchy octave fuzz circuit, resulting in a creatively experimental pedal that opens up "an entirely new soundscape" for "guitarists, synth players, bassists, harpists, electric violinists and everything in between".
Ring Stinger's onboard VCO offers a choice of four waveforms with which to craft the unearthly tones of its ring modulator, alongside controls for Depth, VCO Frequency and Timbre for further tone-shaping. These are joined by controls for LFO Rate and Waveform, a Drive control for introducing distortion, a Blend control for dialling in the dry/wet mix, and footswitches for engaging the Octave pitch-shifter and LFO.
There's a healthy amount of ins and outs onboard, with expression pedal/CV inputs for both LFO Depth and VCO Frequency, and a Carrier input for routing in external signals that replace the VCO – this gives you the opportunity to get pretty creative with your sound design, ring modulating your guitar against a synth, drum machine, or anything else that you please. You also get a VCO Output too, in case you want to route the internal oscillator elsewhere.
A favourite of Johnny Marr, Billy Corgan and Kurt Vile, Ring Stinger has also been known to reside on Radiohead guitarist Ed O'Brien's pedalboard, and is responsible for taking Thom Yorke's vocals to another dimension on the title track of the band's 2000 album Kid A, as we found out in our 2019 interview with Lovetone designer Dan Coggins.
“I was chatting to Ed O’Brien at a Johnny Marr gig and he was thanking me for the Lovetone stuff, and I was telling him I loved what Radiohead did with the Meatball and Doppelganger on OK Computer," Coggins said. "He said the Ring Stinger was used for vocals on Kid A, which made me laugh - it’s such a bizarre track, so it’s fitting they used the most bizarre pedal we ever made."
Priced at £99/$119, Behringer's Ring Stinger is now available for pre-order.
Find out more on Behringer's website.
Behringer Ring Stinger
- Ring Modulation: core feature that creates metallic and harmonic overtones through signal manipulation
- Pitch Shifting: allows for real-time control of pitch modulation, producing unique and experimental tones
- Expression Pedal Compatibility: enables dynamic control of various parameters, adding expressiveness
- Low-Frequency Oscillator (LFO): provides rhythmic modulation patterns for dynamic soundscapes
- Harmonic Generation: generates harmonics and sidebands for complex and evolving textures
- Filter Section: incorporates filters to shape and sculpt the modulated signal
- Mix Control: balances the dry and modulated signals for precise tonal blending
- Waveform Selection: offers different modulation waveform options for versatility
- Frequency Control: adjusts the frequency range of the ring modulation effect
- Voltage-Controlled Oscillator (VCO): adds a VCO for even more control over pitch and modulation
- Assignable Parameters: allows users to assign expression control to various parameters
- True Bypass: maintains the integrity of the dry signal when the effect is disengaged
- Vintage Aesthetic: features a distinctive, retro design that stands out on pedalboards
- Powered Options: works with a standard DC power supply
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