Chase Bliss Audio Capsule Collection reaches 12 as Joel Announces Retirement of Tonal Recall Delays - CBA Full Range Overview in Genre Sections

Controls - Gain A, Tone A, Master, Gain B, Tone B, A/B Mix, A Voicing : Boost / Drive / Fuzz, Stack : Parallel / A>B / B>A, B Voicing : Boost / Drive / Fuzz. Presets : 1 / Manual / 2, A Footswitch, B Footswitch.[+16 Dip-switches]

Readers will know that this is a perennial favourite of mine - used mostly as a fuzz actually - where I deploy at least one fuzz voicing at a time - often both - huge degree of versatility here - especially with Parallel option and other stacking combinations. This one rarely leaves the board / chain. In fact acquired at a very similar time to another classic and not altogether dissimilar perennial favourite - the Strymon Sunset - which also allows creative stacking combinations including in parallel. A nice coincidence that both materialised at around the same time - and strange really that there haven't been more like them since!

Controls - Volume, Treble, Mids, Freq, Bass, Gain, Jump : Off / 0 / 5, Mids : Off / Pre / Post, Q : Wide / Moderate / Narrow, Diode : Off / Silicon / Germanium, Fuzz : Off / Open / Gated, Bypass (Save) Footswitch, Preset (Bank) Footswitch.[+16 Dip-switches]

This is usually referenced as my favourite pedal of all-time. Of course I would like it a little more compact - but the features, functions and usability contained herein are just ingenious - and the moving sliders are far more than a gimmick. This is so effortlessly easy to deploy - and my favourite example of footswitch-selectable presets. It's just a genuine joy to deploy in every way - with a metric tonne of sweet-spots onboard. This may be pricey, but it is totally worth every penny in my estimation. At the time of final release I expected this to be priced nearer the $1000 mark - considering how much you get here - this is actually a rather decent value proposition. While oddly I feel the CXM 1978 is priced a little high comparatively at $899.

Controls - Output (Ramp), Input (Fuzz), Color, Rate, Depth, Balance (Mix), Mode / Tap : Standard | Both | Harmonic + 1 / 2 / 4 or 3 / 6 / 8 Tap Divisions, Left Wave : Sine / Triangle / Square, Right Wave : Square / Triangle / Sine, Presets : 1 / Manual / 2, Bypass Footswitch, Tap Tempo Footswitch.[+16 Dip-switches]

A really great Trem-Fuzz in my opinion with a choppier version of the Gravitas married to a version of Chris Bradford's Wee Beaver Fuzz - itself a take on the fabulous Os Mutantes Regulus VIII High Gain Silicon Fuzz Face variant. I feel Joel already knew he was going to be doing the Bliss Factory fairly soon, and I gather that this was quite a fiddly circuit design to build. Only 200 in total were made in the end in 11 variants - just 10 each of the first 10 variants, and then a final quantity of 100 for the last batch. Obviously there is some overlap with the Bliss Factory as that is also based on a Fuzz Face circuit and the fuzz voicing there is slightly more versatile (while Silicon vs Germanium). While both feel sufficiently distinct. I've seen several Gravitas owners go for the choppy Mod for that - while the choppy Mod is default on the Ayahuasca's Gravitas based trem. I still think it's a neat variant, but can totally understand why Joel discontinued it!

Controls - Volume, Gate (Ramp), Comp, Drive, Stab (Starve), LPF, Aux Func : Stab / LPF / Gate, Bass : Fatter / Fat / Norm, Filter : One-Pole, Two-Pole Moderate, Two-Pole Resonant, Bypass Footswitch, Aux Func Footswitch.[+16 Dip-switches]

This is one of if not the greatest Germanium Fuzz Face extended range varieties - which takes on and improves pretty much every aspect of Zvex's Fuzz Factory circuit. All the extra controls here add a massive amount of shaping and playback versatility, and if all those extras are a little much for you - then you can just dial back those additional elements and have just a very simple and elegant Germanium Fuzz Face circuit!

Most of these were my original Chase Bliss Audio Modulation Section - and readers will know that the Warped Vinyl, Spectre, Wombtone and Gravitas Quadfecta were long-stay favourites within my pedal-chain's analog modulation section. These are all still some of my favourite modulation effects - and this format of pedals set the pace for many generations to come - as seen via the recent works of Walrus Audio in particular! The Gravitas also set off my obsession with Harmonic Tremolo - which has followed on ever since!

I acquired my CBA Modulations in the following order :

• 2017 - Gravitas Tremolo [discontinued]
• 2017 - Spectre Flanger BKM [discontinued]
• 2017 - Wombtone MKII Flanger [discontinued]
• 2017 - Warped Vinyl MKII Chorus/Flanger [discontinued]
• 2019 - Generation Loss [discontinued]

The original 4 were all in place in the chain by the end of November 2017, and featured for the first time in my early December Spice-Rack Pedal Chain Feature slots #27-#30 - interesting to see how much has changed since - while there are of course some still evergreen classics in that particular selection :

Controls - Tone (Ramp), Volume, Mix, RPM (Rate), Depth, Warp, Tap Divisions : 1 / 2 / 4 or 3 / 6 / 8, Left Wave : Sine / Triangle / Square, Right Wave : Square / Triangle / Sine, Presets : 1 / Manual / 2, Bypass Footswitch, Tap Tempo Footswitch.[+16 Dip-switches]

There's still quite a few of us who prefer the older MKII type of Warped Vinyl versus the newer HiFi MKIII version. The Warped Vinyl editions have gotten progressively brighter, while for MKIII the former Volume control was changed to a Lag control. This gives greater shaping to the chorusing output / texture, while I've always found that I need a Level control for most of my modulations to maintain output levels - particularly when the Mix dial is set particularly 'Wet'. It's my one tiny quibble really with the recent Demedash T-60 - where Output Level can be very significant for the more quirky effects when some knobs are set to their extremes. Conventionally that typically results in a volume drop - which needs to be offset by a boost in level! This is not really a typical Chorus/Vibrato - as it's more honed towards the more artefacts side of that modulation - as indicated by its moniker! It does though produce beautiful chorusing tones in my estimation and the MKII is quite bright enough for me - I can always apply further EQ if I need to in any case - such is the versatility of my pedal-chain...

Controls - Feed (Ramp), Volume, Mix, Rate, Depth, Form, Stage / Tap Divisions : 2 / 4 / 6 Stages, 1 / 2 / 4 or 3 / 6 / 8 Divisions, Left Shape : Sine / Triangle / Square, Right Shape : Square / Triangle / Sine, Presets : 1 / Manual / 2, Bypass Footswitch, Tap Footswitch.[+16 Dip-switches]

Still a favourite Phaser of mine and the longest serving one on my roster. Mostly deployed as a 4-Stage Phase 90 style EVH type - for which it does the job superbly. Lots of range here across 2, 4 or 6 stages. In most every way the perfect phaser for my - while the currently active Strymon Zelzah delivers even more - admittedly in an entirely digital format...

Controls - Mix (Ramp), Zero, Regen, Rate, Width, Shift, Divisions : 1 / 2 / 4 or 3 / 6 / 8, Left Wave : Sine / Triangle / Square, Right Wave : Square / Triangle / Sine, Bypass Footswitch, Tap Footswitch.[+16 Dip-switches]

A pretty unique Flanger - which has somewhat been ousted by the Thorpy Camoflange and Spaceman Aurora of late in my chain - while it still puts in a regular appearance. The Spectre was originally released as a Purple knobs version - while Joel deiced that the circuit was a little overly noisy - to which ends he applied a modification which was signified by the knobs changing to Blue / BKM - for most this should be the preferred version, while there are still lots of fans of the unadulterated original. Certainly plenty of different options here to make use of - while the Spectre still has a special place for me and I will return to it time and time again!

Control - Drive (Ramp), Volume, Tone, Rate, Depth, Sway, Mode / Divisions : Standard / Both / Harmonic, 1 / 2 / 4 or 3 / 6 / 8, Left Wave : Sine / Triangle / Square, Right Wave : Square, Triangle / Sine, Presets 1 / Manual / 2, Bypass Footswitch, Tap Tempo Footswitch.[+16 Dip-switches]

The very first Chase Bliss Audio pedal that I acquired which set off my obsession with this brand - mid-way through 2017 - by the end of November that year I had acquired all 4 CBA Analog Modulations. The Gravitas was also the catalyst for my love of Harmonic Tremolo - my favourite variety of the genre - and where I now have several of that type - including the Anasounds Ages, JAM Harmonious Monk and Spaceman Delta II most recently. The Jam Monk delivers the richest Harmonic texture - while each of Gravitas, Ages and Delta II have their own advantages too. Note that I acquired my very first CBA pedal second-hand near Mint quality - from GuitarGuitar - all others I have have been new, apart from the Condor. And all 12 of my CBA pedals are in pristine condition still. Mostly wooden boxes too! The Gravitas is the only Chase Bliss Audio Modulation still available which underlines its enduring popularity - it is also the lowest cost by $50 of all Chase Bliss Audio pedals!

Controls - Wow (Warble), Wet (Ramp), HP, Flutter, Gen (Sample Rate), LP, Aux Func : Mod / Gen / Filter, Dry (Chorus) : None / Small / Unity, Hiss (Noise) : None / Mild / Heavy, Presets : 1 / Manual / 2, Bypass Footswitch, Aux Func Footswitch.

Tom Majeski's Generation Loss Lo-Fi Modulations are the benchmark for that sort of warbly wow and flutter tape degradation effect - where on this particular edition there is a fantastic Chorus voicing onboard too. This is from a sub-genre of effects that I typically call 'Texturizers' and this does some really cool Lo-Fi 'scrambling' of your signal. Works great with Fuzz too! Obviously something of a rarity now. This needs to get in on the rotation more often really as I love deploying it - but it still tends to be mostly used for fairly specialist applications for me!

Interestingly I was onboard with the Blooper right from the start - while because of that, I was initially unsure about the Mood - which ended up being launched first despite Blooper's much earlier original announcement. Turns out that while they're both really creative Looper Style Pedals with a high degree of Modify functions / abilities they're both quite distinct effects in their own rights and each is typically deployed quite differently.

It's fascinating to see how Chase Bliss Audio has carved out a niche in this genre - with the Mood becoming its most successful pedal of all time having recently just crossed the 10,000 units mark. The Blooper and Mood really take CBA more into tabletop / experimental territory as they function quite different to CBA's more typical floor-based stompboxes. The Blooper in particular really needs lots of hands-on control - while the Mood can be operated in part from the floor. The Blooper also needs clearance to access the two Modify arcade-style buttons on its bottom face.

Both pedals were acquired in 2019 - the Blooper from the original Kickstarter campaign and the Mood some months later once I had gotten fully acclimatised to the Blooper and understood their differences.

Controls - Ramp (Volume), Layers, Repeats, Mod A, Stability, Mod B, A Modifiers : 1 / 2 / 3, Mode : Normal / Additive / Sampler, B Modifiers : 4 / 5 / 6. Presets : Preview (Left), and Save/Load (Right), Record / Momentary Record / Play / One-Shot Record Footswitch, Stop / Undo / Redo / Trigger / Activate Footswitch - press both to Delete, Activate A Modifiers Button, Activate B Modifiers Button.[+16 Dip-switches]

Modifier Types : Smooth Speed / Dropper / Trimmer / Stepped Speed / Scrambler / Filter / Swapper / Stopper / Pitcher / Stretcher / Stutter. 

This is an incredible creative tool developed in collaboration with Scott 'Knobs' Harper. We've already had numerous iterations of the firmware - and this is right up there with the Hologram Microcosm in creating cool and unusual patterns and textures from fairly basic input. I've said many times that to get the most out of this you really need to have it as a tabletop pedal. Meaning the synth guys really like this alongside the Hologram Microcosm, Empress Zoia and Polly Beebo and similar. I personally never got to more than scratching the surface with this one - while I did like what came out of it frequently, and the various functions and features like the layers wind-back are just genius. This has quite a steep learning curve if you wish to get the most out of it - and is not really that suitable for floor-based applications! Totally next-level genius pedal though and out there on its own really as this kind of looper - particularly at such a compact form factor!

Controls - Time, Mix (Ramp), Length, Modify A, Clock, Modify B, A Modifiers : Reverb / Delay / Slip, Mode : Input Only / Input + Looper / Looper Only, B Modifiers : Envelope / Tape / Stretch, Presets : 1 / Manual / 2, Right Engage Loop Playback Footswitch, Left Apply Spatial Effects / Modifiers Footswitch.[+16 Dip-switches]

The Mood's distinction is that it's an 'Always Listening' Micro-Looper - when in Bypass mode it actively records the pedal's input - which then plays back when engaged - up to 16 seconds on slowest 2k Clock time, to 0.5s at Clock Max / 64k rate. You can then Modify that input in various ways via the pedal's controls and modifiers - for instance stretching out or chopping up the signal. The nature of how it operates means it works well as a delay and Lo-Fi Modulator - and covers quite a few tape-like effects. Unlike it's more complicated Blooper sibling - this does lend itself pretty well for conventional stompbox floor-based use. While you can get even more out of it via manipulating it within a tabletop environment. The Right Side Modifiers were developed by OBNE, and the Left Side by David Rolo of Rolo FX. This pedal has obviously struck a chord as it is now Chase Bliss Audio's most successful pedal of all time as I understand - with more than 10,000 units made now!

Obviously this is a highly topical part of the Chase Bliss Audio range, as Joel has just recently announced the retirement of the Tonal Recall Modulated Analog Delays - I believe only 500 more are being made to meet Dealers' existing back-orders. While Joel will be doubling down on production of the Thermae Analog Pitch-Shifter Delay - which will become the only CBA Delay pedal until such a time that we get the most likely Automatone Tape-Style Delay!

I've not made any inroads into this section yet, while I've long intended to get the Dark World Dual Channel Reverb - just not got to it quite yet. Obviously I favour Stereo Reverbs, while there is much about the Dark World I still like - particularly as a texturiser. The Left-Hand side imparts in part a flavour of Tom Majeski's Generation Loss, while the Right-Hand side algorithms were developed by Robert Keeley. So Left is Leftfield really and Right is mainstream as such.

I am keen on the Automatone CXM 1978 Studio Reverb too - while I do feel the pricing is a touch high compared to the Preamp MKII - $899 vs $749. It is CBA's first stereo pedal though, and has the same excellent utility and usability of its Automatone sibling. I had intended to land it this year - while my acquisitions of the Neunaber Illumine and and AmpliTube X-Space have sort of waylaid that for now - for sure will look to add it next year alongside the Dark World - the Thermae will be a little bit further down the road most likely - we'll see!

Controls - Decay (Ramp), Mix, Dwell, Modify, Tone, Pre-Delay, Dark Modes : Mod / Shim / Black, Order : Parallel / D>W / W>D, World Modes : Hall / Plate / Spring, Presets : 1 / Manual / 2, Dark Side Engage Footswtich, World Side Engage Footswitch.[+16 Dip-switches]

A really cool Reverb pedal even though it has only mono output - Tom Majeski designed the Dark side Algorithms - Mod, Shim and Black, and Robert Keeley designed the Word side Algorithms - Hall, Plate and Spring. You can then combine the two sides in cool and interesting ways - mixing elegant mainstream reverbs with more leftfield ones which makes for fantastic and unusual reverb textures. There's much to love here - this Reverb is still very distinct, and is likely my very next CBA / Cooper FX target!

Controls - {Bass, Mids}(Reverb Time), Crossover, Treble, Mix, Pre-Delay, Jump : Off / 0 / 5, Type : Room / Plate / Hall, Diffusion : Low / Med / High, Tank Mod : Low / Med / High, Clock : HiFi / MidFi / LoFi, Preset (Bank) Footswitch, Bypass (Save) Footswitch.

Possibly the most pristine Studio style Reverb stompbox pedal out there currently - although the Neunaber Illumine and UAFX Golden Reverberator are right up there too. Just 3 Modes here - Room, Plate and Hall - but each beautifully distinct and expertly calibrated by the geniuses at Meris - whose Mercury 7 is another fantastic variety of Reverb. I was a little surprised that this was so much more expensive than the Automatone - but as I mentioned earlier, these devices could both have been priced at $1000. As always it's a matter of priorities here - and I will for sure add this to the collection soon enough - next year now obviously!

Controls - Mix (Ramp), LPF, Regen, Glide, Speed / Interval 1 (Mod on) : ± 4th / 5th / Oct / Oct + 5th / 2 Oct, Depth (Mod on) / Interval 2 : ± 4th / 5th / Oct / Oct + 5th / 2 Oct, Tap Divisions : Quarter / Dotted Eighth / Eighth, Modulation Texture : Smooth / Moderate / Textured & Glitchy | Divisions applied to Interval 1, Modulation Waveform : Triangle, Sine, Square | Tap Divisions applied to Interval 2, Presets : 1 / Manual / 2, Bypass Footswitch, Tap Tempo / Hold Footswitch.[+16 Dip-switches]

I weighed this up for a long time - but eventually went with the Meris Hedra which also does Pitch-Shifted Delay - but with 3 Delay Lines, and in Stereo. The Thermae though is based on analog BBD chips with Digital controls which deliver the pin-point pitch-shifting intervals. There's much I like about the Thermae - similar to the Dark World really - while I have always prioritised Stereo Delays and Reverbs - so these particular CBA pedals have always been a little further down the priority list for me. I actually don't have any Analog delays yet - and feel this would be a fitting entry to that category! Obviously currently CBA's only delay!

Controls - Tone (Ramp), Mix, Rate, Time, Regen, Depth, Tap Divisions : Quarter / Dotted Eighth / Eighth / Triplets / Sextuplets / Sixteenth, Delay Time : Short / Long / Both, Wave Shape : Triangle / Sine / Square, Presets : 1 / Manual / 2, Bypass Footswitch, Tap Division / Hold Footswitch.[+16 Dip-switches]

Obviously Joel has recently announced the retirement of his Tonal Recall Analog Delays - and indeed they are now listed under Discontinued pedals on the CBA site. Both as revolutionary at the time as Joe's Analog Modulation pedals - doing that same smart mix of Analog with Digital Controls. Interestingly Mark Johnston does a 3-way comparison between both Tonal Recalls and the Thermae - in the above video - and illustrates the tonal differences in particular between each one. As I mentioned earlier I am a big fan of Joel Korte's output - but have always favoured Stereo Delays and Reverbs - which is why neither of these have been acquired. Each has its own advantages - while the most capable of the trio is quite evidently the Thermae - while its tone and timbre is distinct too - and many prefer the more delicate nature of the original 550ms Blue Knob Tonal Recall (versus 1100ms RKM). I feel I will probably acquire a Thermae at some stage - currently I'm not really considering either of the Tonal Recalls - but I never say never!

There is only one pedal so far in this genre - a sort of revival and enhancement to the Classic Audio Expression Roller. I always liked that format but never got around to acquiring one. The first batch here sold out pretty instantly - currently awaiting more - and hopefully some for UK dealers too eventually! :

Controls - Roller, Internal Dip-Switches for Direction for each output - Toe-to-Heel / reverse

Just recently covered on this site and not much more to add really. A very elegant format Expression Controller which takes on and improves the Classic Audio original. CBA's design is entirely passive / required now power supply - and has two outputs. Also internal dip-switches to invert direction of expression in terms of Heel-to-Toe and inversion. I previously said that the Gravitas was the cheapest CBA pedal - obviously cheapest of that most typical format - while the Expression Roller undercuts that by $100. I've always loved this format of expression control and will fur sure be adding one as soon as they are more readily available!