Simon Neil's huge overdriven tones with Biffy Clyro are the stuff of wonder so the idea of a signature distortion pedal made by his own long-term guitar has us excited. Especially with the name BOOOOOM-BLAST.
The duo's collaboration has resulted in the first ever signature guitar pedal for the frontman of the Scots power triol. "The ‘BOOOOOM – BLAST’ distortion pedal captures Simon’s iconic sound and is arguably the loudest pedal on the market," is the claim and it's pretty bold. But bold is good.
Churd designed the BOOOOM - BLAST from the ground up and the duo decided to produce it for release when Biffy found themselves unable to tour due to lockdown. The tech is and is building every unit himself for this limited run.
The personal touch continues with Neil signing and painting each pedal, that features a stripe referencing the artwork latest album, A Celebration of Endings, and will also include a handwritten ‘thank you’ note with each purchase.
"Creating this pedal has made me miss playing live even more, because I’m desperate to play shows with it," says simon. "It’ll be a part of my set-up going forward and it’ll be on every recording. It’s the pedal that I’ve been looking for most of my life. We’ve taken our time to ensure that it’s everything it can be. It’s been a real labour of love.”
The name references the two sides of the pedal; The box’s left BOOOOOM pedal provides a "big, brash overdrive" with three brilliantly-named controls that each reference a Biffy Clyro song; ‘Stink’ (to set the gain), ‘Jaggy’ (to control the tone) and ‘Bang’ (to set the ‘BOOOOOM’ volume).
The right side is BLAST – "a blistering, out-of-control fuzz". We like the sound of that already! Controls are ‘Syrup’ (to set its gain) and ‘Stress’ (to set its hair-raising volume).
The aim was to capture Simon’s sound in a box," explains Churd, "so anyone can play guitar and sound like him. It was much easier said than done! It’s one of the most transparent loud overdrive pedals on the market. With so many distortion pedals you get loads of fuzz and saturation, but with this the guitar still breathes. You still hear all the notes but with the extra weight and overdrive.”
The BOOOOM-BLAST is available in a limited run of just 200 handmade pedals, and is available to pre-order now here to ship by January 31 2021.
The package is completed with a booklet complete with introductory notes from the duo, a hard case box featuring the logo from Churd’s company Gone Fishing Effects, and two exclusive plectrum designs.
