Caroline Guitar Co's Arigato is a wonderful sounding Analog OTA Phaser with additional Vibe Mod onboard

People often ask me why I don’t feature more Caroline Guitar Co pedals on this site (besides when I do my medium enclosure features) - where I’m actually often conflicted when it comes to Caroline Guitar Co’s pedals - on one hand they look great and usually sound pretty fantastic, while part of me always feels that they are a little over-sized - where every pedal is made in 1590-BB enclosure. Phillip McKnight would for sure call these 90’s style pedals - much like he did with the recent PRS trio.

For me Boss and MXR properly set the scene back in the late 70’s with the compact format of pedal, and brands like Chase Bliss have really taken that form factor and properly pushed things forward - with typically far more features and functionalities onboard than those various Caroline Guitar Co types. I don’t begrudge them in making things their own way - while to date I own just their Hawaiian Pizza Fuzz. 

However you soon do yourself a disservice if you fill up your pedalboard with those designs - as they take up so much more space - particularly accumulatively. They’re not the only ones that stick to their guns on 1590-BB enclosures - there are several more brands that follow the same path. Which is for sure an old-fashioned and impractical one longer term and in many ways. Considering how many highest quality THT components Decibelics can cram into one of its mini enclosures - there just is no need any more for these over-sized boxes. I’ve often wondered how well or how much better Caroline Guitar Co would do if it shifted its output to compact pedals. The typical 4 knobs, two switches and dual footswitches can easily be accommodated in a 125B or 1590-B box even.

With all that said - the Arigato is a really great sounding phaser - with cool aesthetics - and I actually do have a few of the Caroline Guitar Co’s pedals on my wishlist. While their larger size is usually going to render those as secondary and more incidental backup choices.

Controls - Mix, Aim / Intensity, Vibe Mod : On / Off, Wave Shape : Triangle / Square, Feedback / Regen, Speed / Rate, Latching and Momentary Bypass Footswitch, 2nd Havoc / Max Out Footswitch.

The pedal could not be easier to deploy - with its 4 simple and intuitive knobs, 2 x 2-way toggle switches and smart Footswitches. There’s plenty of range on each of those dials - and with the Vibe Mod applied you get an entirely different set of flavours.

My Phaser Capsule Collection is already at 18 pedals - while this Arigato for sure goes down on the wishlist, while it sits quite far back from the recent October Audio MNTNS Phase / Vibe / Gain pedal - whose compact dimensions make it a rather more practical and pedalboard-friendly affair - and there are indeed some parallels between those two pedals.

Brands like Emma Electronics, Horrothia, Meris and Strymon exclusively make medium-size boxes too (i.e no compacts) - I’m fascinated by those who populate their boards almost entirely with those sizes of pedals as to what the overall motivation is to go large for every pedal? Is it because of large feet or some sort of other similar playback impediment which compels individuals to ’go large’?

From my perspective it’s 90% about practicalities - you pretty much take great sound for granted these days among the best of the boutique pedals - where the emphasis is often on how to populate your pedalboard with the maximum range of different flavours - if you go all out on Caroline Guitar Co - you’re either going to have to have a much bigger board or else run out of space far sooner.

Is anyone here a particular fan of Caroline Guitar Co pedals - and how many of you have or are planning to get this Arigato Phaser / Vibe?