MusicRadar Verdict
Though it may not replace your classic distortion boxes, the Gamechanger Audio Plasma is without doubt startlingly unique, both aesthetically and sonically.
Pros
- +
Idiosyncratic fuzz tones.
- +
Visual feedback is great fun.
Cons
- -
Difficult to dial in.
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Gamechanger Audio made its name with the Plus Pedal, a sustain pedal that promised to redefine the guitar.
Its next creation, the Plasma, comes riding on an even greater wave of excitement. It legitimately boasts a distortion sound never before available to guitarists, namely clipping caused by high-voltage discharges as the guitar signal is fed through a tube of xenon gas.
Frankly, it looks spectacular, and we found ourselves giggling with joy on first plugging it in. But, more importantly, does it actually sound good?
Well, it’s certainly different. The core distortion sound is spiky, and has a static-like timbre to it, which makes sense, given the provenance of the clipping. The distortion is controlled via changing the input voltage and clean blend, but the night and day difference between the clean guitar signal and the Plasma signal leaves this somewhat tricky to dial in. With an ’89 Les Paul Classic into a dirty tube amp, the pedal came alive, with some amp compression helping to glue the distorted and clean guitar tones together.
Switching to the neck pickup required adjustment with the Low Freq knob, but there’s a pretty decent sweet spot with the guitar tone pulled back. So it proves with a Jazzmaster, where the darker guitar rhythm circuit proves compelling. The sweet spot between ‘brittle’ and ‘muddy’ is often difficult to find on the Gamechanger, however.
Alex Lynham is a gear obsessive who's been collecting and building modern and vintage equipment since he got his first Saturday job. Besides reviewing countless pedals for Total Guitar, he's written guides on how to build your first pedal, how to build a tube amp from a kit, and briefly went viral when he released a glitch delay pedal, the Atom Smasher.
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