Old Blood Noise Endeavors has dug into the schematics for its fully featured Minim delay and reverb pedal and released its reverse effect as a standalone stompbox, the BL-44 Reverse Variable Clock Effector.
It is a reverse effect that OBNE says will allow players “to change the clock speed of the entire sonic system”. But when they say “change the clock speed of the entire sonic system”, what they really mean is that the BL-44 listens to what you play, and then allows you to play it backwards, then manipulate it.
If this sounds like a lot to take in, that is because it is, but the BL-44 presents all this transformative sonic potential in an easy-to-use format. This might be one of those guitar effects pedals to be filed under ‘bonkers’ but it sure looks simple and straightforward.
There is a Volume dial to control overall output, a Mix dial for controlling how much of the effected – read: reversed – signal you want mixed in with your dry electric guitar signal, while the Speed knob allows you to adjust the read speed of the effect, giving you some pitch-shifted reverse guitar sounds to play with.
Finally, there’s a Clock that controls the fidelity of the signal; pristine at one extreme, gnarly and degraded at the other.
The BL-44 has a soft-touch footswitch, runs on a 9V DC pedalboard power supply and is priced $179. For more details, head over to Old Blood Noise Endeavors. Oh, and the cool-looking enclosure was painted by Brandy M Patterson of Manchester, New Hampshire.
