Old Blood Noise Endeavors' new Expression Ramper mini pedal can unlock potential on your pedalboard that you never thought you had; it creates two presets of your choice for an expression-enabled effects pedal you own and allows you to and move between them.
This can be done either in one motion or as a continuous low frequency oscillation activated by the Expression Ramper's footswitch. Simply connect the Expression Ramper to your expression-enabled effects pedal, pick your first expression setting for the Expression Ramper's A position preset, then your second in the B position.
OBNE have designed this really well because the transition between that A and B preset can be done in three different ways. In TRI mode, the Expression Ramper "glides in a linear Triangle wave sweep from A to B, while in SQR mode it will make instant Square Wave jumps".
Alternatively, the A<>B mode triggers a one-shot sweep; every press of the footswitch jumps from one position to the other. The speed of the LFO and One-Shot movement is set via the Rate control and both TRI and SQR are LFO modes - you start the LFO when you hit the footswitch once, then stop it as you press the switch again.
You can hear some of its potential demonstrated in the video above but really the choice is yours as long as your pedal has an expression-in option – pitch-shifter, expression enabled phaser pedal and delay… OBND says it should suit most effects pedals out the box, but Expression Ramper also offers different polarity or types of expression pedal simulation by using the internal jumpers. You can even tailor it for specific synths if you wish by changing the supplied internal 50K digital socketed potentiometer and replace it with one of 10K or 100K values if needed.
The Expression Ramper is on sale now for £59 / $59. More info at oldbloodnoise.com
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Rob is the Reviews Editor for GuitarWorld.com and MusicRadar guitars, so spends most of his waking hours (and beyond) thinking about and trying the latest gear while making sure our reviews team is giving you thorough and honest tests of it. He's worked for guitar mags and sites as a writer and editor for nearly 20 years but still winces at the thought of restringing anything with a Floyd Rose.
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