Chase Bliss unveils CLEAN Dynamic Studio Grade Dual Stage Stereo VCA Compressor with Movement and smart extras

A company that never does things by halves - Chase Bliss has supposedly been working on this circuit for a few years now - bringing extra dynamics and movement to the normally rather utilitarian compressor format.

This is a full Stereo Dual Stage VCA Compressor / Limiter - with an amazing feature set - that’s going to take people / players a wee while to adapt too. This is far from you regular compressor - while it can perform that basic function with aplomb! You can also place it at either end of your chain - for different emphasis.

Traditionally compressors have always come towards the front of the chain - but the Stereo nature of the pedal, and the optional extras allow you to do lots of clever thing too further down the chain!

Enclosure-wise it’s the same TRS stereo model has we’ve seen over the last few releases, but we do have an additional Sidechain port on the right hand side of the pedal - for smart-triggering the compression - which is mostly particularly impressive for drums / beats and synths typically.

Designer Eric Nyffeler has kept the graphics extremely CLEAN here understandably - and there are no labels for the secondary functions - which is often the case - so a little more difficult for me to map everything out - but it does look elegant with its RGB Red, Green and Blue colour scheme!

You can quickly pick out all the usual Compression controls - Dynamics, Sensitivity, Wet, Dry, Attack, Release and EQ. And then you see the more interesting especially secondary and dip-switch options - Dusty, Swell, Motion, Sidechain, Physics, Envelope Balance and EQ Mode - which take this compressor in a much more dynamic and interactive directions :

Controls - Dynamics [Gate Release], Sensitivity (Ramp) [Gate Threshold], Wet [Swell In], Attack [User Releaser], EQ [Envelope Balance], Dry [Swell Out], Release - Fast 50ms / User Release / Slow 1.5s [Envelope Type : Analog / Combo / Adaptive], EQ MODE : Shifty / Manual / Modulated [EQ Direction : Standard < > Inverted], Physics : Subtle Wobble / Stable Normal / Unstably Twitchy [Spread Routing : EQ / Both / Volume], AUX : Dynamic Swell / Manual Swell (via Aux Swell Dip), Bypass : On [Hold to Max out Sag Effect], Dual-Press both switches for Alt / Secondary functions.

Customize Dip Switches : Dusty, Swell Aux, Motion, Noise Gate, Sidechain, Latch, Spread, MISO.

Control Dip Switches : Polarity, Sweep, Bounce, Wet, Dry, EQ, Attack, Dynamics.

I’ve scanned through the manual a few times now - and there are still some concepts here I’ve fully to get my head around - but I’ve seen enough to know that I will be getting this one in. Obviously it’s $399 for Americans, and €469 for Europeans as usual - including taxes and shipping I think. So a fairly pricey compressor, but one that delivers a lot more than usual.

I really like the concept of this, and will probably look to get one in for the new year. It’s not a particularly pressing priority for me - but it’s most definitely on the acquisitions list.

I’ve just received my Flower Pedals Dahlia Analog Dual Stereo Delay, which will be taking up a lot of time over the next few weeks, and I’m already committed to getting in the Walrus Audio Mako II M1 Modulator - which arrives on these shores in early November. Both of those should keep my hands full for a while.

The CLEAN will likely be added to my reference collection during the early annual doldrums of January / February!

It’s fairly evident that the CLEAN will most definitely not threaten the likes of the MOOD, or Onward or Lossy in terms of popularity - I would imagine it would be fairly niche within the Chase Bliss range. A little like the Bliss Factory though - I think a lot will buy this and then not figure out how to properly use it!

In any case this is on general release, with the first pedals due to ship during November - and there’s really no urgency here - as least not for the first year or two of production. As ever for a Chase Bliss product it will be interesting to see how people utilise this in new and interesting creative ways - a lot of thought has certainly gone into this device!

It has been especially developed for ’Clean’ playback, and is surely perfect for a Clean Pedal Platform Rig like mine therefore. I like cool and unusual compressors - and this one definitely fits the bill for me. I will probably mostly just use it in its standard mode of deployment - but having all those smart extras onboard is going to deliver some extra inspiration for sure!

What say all of you? Who else will be getting one of these in? I’ve left out the link here - as I’m not 100% sure when this is supposed to be live for all!