Bixonic teases 2 new prototype pedals at Namm - the Acentrix II Clean/Drive and Sugar Blues Auto-Wah
I’m a huge fan of the original Bixonic Axentrix I Expandora take, and I’ve been championing that right from the start! I’m not always a fan of pure DSP circuits - while the Axentrix I sounds fantastic, and delivers an amazing feature set - with incredible tones - the Fuzz voicing in particular is magnificent! And the LED-centric display is really smart and intuitive.
So for 2025 the Axentrix has been reworked and rebooted - where the latter 3 modes appear to be the same as for the Expandora - Crunch, Distortion and Forbidden Fuzz, while the first Mode is something new - a sort of Clean / Pushed gain stage.
Here below is a picture of the original for comparison and context!
The second Sugar Blues Auto-Wah pedal is entirely new - a really smart digital take on an Auto-Wah - with similarly amazing controls. Both pedals have 3 presets onboard and Control ports.
The actual construction has changed somewhat- the LED segments are more visible - where previously they were covered by a single strip, the pilot light is no longer a footswitch-surround Halo style, but now is an LED at the top of the facia. And the Preset LEDs are now separated from their Buttons where previously they were embedded within the buttons.
The changes seemingly for better reliability and more efficient manfuacting - all the key ingredients from the original are very much intact - including the secondary 3-Band EQ functionality.
These pedals are beautifully made, and beautifully compact - I've featured the original quite a few times on this site - and I expect to be adding both of these to the Reference Collection fairly soon. They're still in prototype format, but should be fully production ready by the end of March circabout! The Axentrix I was priced at a very reasonable $220, while the new ones will likely be a little dearer - price has yet to be decided on but will likely be somewhere between $249 and $299!
Further individual pedal details below!
Demo
Axentrix II Clean / Drive - $249-$299 TBC
Controls - Gain [Shift / Mode], Tone [3-Band EQ], Nuance / Dynamics (Creamy > Edgy), Level [Bypass], Save, Preset M1, Preset M2, Preset M3.
A seeningly slightly different take on the Expandora with a new first Clean / Pushed Mode. Controls and functionality are much the same as for the Axentrix I - but with some slight variations.
Features
- 3-band EQ settings
- Three user-defined memory settings (Drive, Gain, Tone, Nuance, Level, EQ, Mode)
- True bypass or buffered with 3-band EQ adjustability
- Modern and Classic modes. Classic mode offers a low-cut sound with mid-boost, replicating its original - the EXP-2000
- Scheduled to release in 2025
"This is a prototype, and all information is subject to change without notice upon release."
Sugar Blues Auto-Wah - $249-$299 TBC
Controls - ATK/DCY [Hold to change filter Direction], Tone (Filter width and notch), Linger : Amplitude and Speed control / Sustain, Dry-Wet Mix, Save, Preset M1, Preset M2, Preset M3.
Really clever Auto-Wah with smart display of its live filter processing. I love Auto-Wah's and this one is very unique - sounds great, and seems to have a lot of potential to do really interesting things with the filter.
Features
- Unique Linger function to add repetitive wah effects, tremolo-like sustain
- True bypass
- Three user-defined memory settings (Attack, Decay, Linger [amplitude and speed], Tone [filter width and position], Mix, and Filter Direction)
- Low-cut control
- Offers Q adjustability with a higher wet setting for more exciting wah effect
- Scheduled to release in 2025
"This is a prototype, and all information is subject to change without notice upon release."
