Gamechanger Audio has teamed up with Fender and Bigsby for the Bigsby Pedal. A fresh, retro-inspired take on the polyphonic pitch shifter, the Bigsby Pedal's design is inspired physically and sonically by the classic hardware vibrato units, right down to the the metal treadle and spring-loaded mechanism.
The idea has been two years in the making, with Gamechanger approaching Bigsby's parent company Fender to broker a partnership deal and put into place a pitch-shifting pedal like no other.
Much like how Gamechanger took the physical aesthetic and feel of a piano's sustain pedal for the PLUS Pedal sustainer, the Bigsby Pedal so uncannily like the real thing it could have fallen off your Gretsch. The custom-moulded metal parts are designed to feel like you have a Bigsby at your feet.
Full specs and demo videos are yet to be forthcoming, but the pedal has three dials for Rate, Blend and Depth and an Invert switch so you can change the direction of your pitch shift. And there looks to be secondary modes under each of these controls.
You can bend pitch in either direction, and if the classic Bigsby wobble is a little sedate for you, the pedal's can be adjusted from a quarter-tone to a full octave. Furthermore, you can set different intervals for your downward and upward pitch shifting.
Gamechanger is offering a personalised and signed limited edition run of the Bigsby Pedal from Monday 21 June, priced $379. But there is a wider release scheduled for later in the year. See Gamechanger Audio for more.
