Chase Bliss completes its Experimental Looper / Delay Trilogy with Habit The Echo Collector

Note that it’s just Chase Bliss now (no Audio!) - which has been re-branded and modernised with a change in pedal graphics too. This is the culmination of the development cycle which started with the Mood Micro Looper, continued through the Blooper Bottomless Looper and ends now with Habit The Echo Collector. For me this is very much related to the Mood - and is sort of the opposite side of the coin to that - where the Mood and Blooper were primarily Experimental Modifier Loopers with secondary Delay effects. While the Habit is Primarily a Delay / Echo, with secondary Looper effects.

The Habit shares the same ’Always Recording’ mechanic of the Mood - where you can then ’Scan’ within a total recording / playback memory bank of 3 minutes. Where you can principally select the Wet Volume, Number of Repeats, and the Size or Interval between them - which I believe extends to 60 seconds. The second row of knobs sets the Degree by which you Modify, Spread brings in a Second Delay, and Scan allows you to move your position within the Memory Bank.

Controls : Level (Wet Volume), Repeats Number, Size / Interval, Modify Degree, Spread (2nd Delay), Scan (Memory Position), Modifiers : 1 | 2 | 3, Modifier Bank : A | Off | B, Output Mode : In | Out | Feedback, Presets : 1 | Manual | 2, Left Footswitch : Tap Tempo / Interval / Hold for Max Scan Value, Right Footswitch : Engage Output / Hold to Loop. 16 Dipswtiches as referenced at top of visual!

Much like the Mood and Blooper you have a series of Modifers and Playback options - where the central 3-way Toggle Switches select the type of Modifier and the Nature of the pedal’s output.

There are 6 different modifiers here as follows - in two Banks - A | B of 1 | 2 | 3 :

• A1 : Stepped Speed : Reverse < Stopped > Forward
• A2 : Stability : No Noise < Neutral > Tape Noise
• A3 : Stepped Trimmer : Cut End < Neutral > Cut Start
• B1 : Smooth Speed : Reverse < Stopped > Forward
• B2 : Filter : Low-Pass < Neutral > High-Pass
• B3 : Dropper Playback Errors : Random < Neutral > Pattern

The In / Out / Feed options also need some explanation :

• IN : Accumulation  / Degredation of Modify Effect - each Echo modified time and again
• OUT : Consistent Echo Output, each Echo sounds the same
• FEED : Output is routed back into the Input as part of a Feedback Loop

Note also that there are two different Hold functions - one per each of the footswitches - whereby the right-hand one triggers Looping, and the left gives you a blast of the Maximum Scan value before returning to wherever the dial is set.

All 3 of these pedals (Mood, Blooper, Habit) are no longer Stompboxes really - where they are rather tabletop manual manipulators - better suited to synth and keyboard players in many way. This is for sure another knob-twiddler - where to get the most out of the device you need to be tweaking knobs all the time - which means it’s not particularly suitable for my own purposes.

And while I feel the Mood can still be deployed as a Stompbox to some degree - the same is not really true of the Blooper or this Habit.

This is a wonderful tabletop tool for experimental players - while I don’t think I will get too much milage out of it within my own rather more conventional floor-based setup.

I still want to complete my Trilogy / Trifecta as I already have the Mood and Blooper - but the Habit is rather a nice-to-have than essential for me, so not a particularly immediate priority.

Pricing is at $399 / £399 - which seems to be the new common price for Chase Bliss compacts. For sure it’s another really cool innovation - but it really needs a fully hands-on environment to really make sense. I like having two hands on my guitar, and my pedals on the floor. This pedal is more for those modern experimental knob-twiddling loop-smiths. 

I file it as a another ’Knobs’ special device. Where it’s lack of Stereo Output also makes for limited placement potential for my rig - which renders it somewhat inoptimal!

I would imagine these will fly out of the stores - such is Chase Bliss’s current cachet. You can obviously buy direct from Chase Bliss or wait for these to come into dealers - which should be fairly imminent.

I would love to hear what you all think and not just who’s getting one - but who is actually going to be using is as intended. I expect to see a spate of pedalboards with that Mood + Blooper + Habit Trifecta - while only a handful of those will be properly deployed!

Let’s have your first impressions and insights!