In the past few months, SolidGoldFX has been digging into its lineup to release limited edition versions of some of its favourite guitar effects pedals. This month sees its Lysis MkII Polyphonic Octave Fuzz Modulator, which has been refinished in Seafoam – an evergreen colourway in the world of electric guitar.
The circuit remains the same, which means your pedalboard is in for one of the most unique pedals on the market. What is the Lysis? Well, it can be used as a polyphonic octave effect, shifting your signal down or up one octave, and there is also a voicing for powerchords, adding a fifth to whatever note you are playing.
Or you can run it as a straight-up fuzz pedal, make use of its hi- and lo-pass filters – adjusting resonance to taste – or combine all of its features for some quasi-synth sounds.
The enclosure has a new paint job but the lineup of controls should look familiar. There are six dials arranged across the top of the pedal for Speed, Mode, Ramp, Blend, Fuzz and Level. With a quartet of toggle switches below for selecting LFO waveform (Wav), the filter’s resonant peak (Res), octave voicing (Voice), and filter type (HPF/LPF).
There are two footswitches, both with dual functions. The Bypass footswitch turns the effect on and off but also allows you to enter Brake mode, momentarily pausing the LFO as you hold the footswitch down. The Tap footswitch allows you to set the speed of the effect, and if you hold it down it will either ramp the speed up or down depending on where you’ve set the Ramp knob.
There is a veritably cornucopia of options when it comes to waveforms. The mode knob has eleven positions, while the Wave toggle selects between sawtooth, sine and square modes.
Altogether, with fuzz and the broad vocal sweep of the filter, selectable LFOs and polyphonic octave effects, the Lysis MkII presents players will a remarkable number of options to go bananas with their electric guitar tone. You can check out the demo videos for an idea of what it does – the new Seafoam colour shouldn't affect the sounds.
The Lysis MkII Seafoam is priced $250, available now. For more details, see SolidGoldFX.
