Intensive Care Audio's Vena Cava Filter is a killer 4-in-1 Multi-FX - Filter + Oscillator + Distortion + Ring Modulation

Nov 3, 202313:00 by

Stefan Karlsson

DistortionEnvelope Filter and Auto WahIntensive Care AudioModulationMulti-FXRing ModulationTremolo+-

Interestingly while this pedal’s moniker leads on ’Filter’ I mostly use this as a Modulated Distortion - where the pedal delivers the most magnificent textured gain voicing which can really get incredibly noisy in the best way possible. Readers should know by now that I typically refer to myself as a ’Noise Maker’ - and the Vena Cava is one of my very favourite kinds to effects - which adds cool textured percolation to an already beautifully and richly textured voicing.

It takes a wee while to explore the various voicings onboard - and I love the experimental nature of this pedal - seems like every week I have a new favourite setting, and preferred LFO Waveform.

The Blend knob means you can use this entirely as a Distortion if you wish - without modulation or embellishment, or entirely as a Multi-Waveform LFO. You further have a Ring Mod voicing which you can accentuate as much as you like, and decouple the Ring Mod from the LFO - for independent granularity.

There are other LFO Modulated / Trem-Distortions and Trem-Fuzzes out there, but none quite so versatile or as distinct as this one. The default labels don’t always make for the most straightforward experience - but hopefully with my additional notes the learning curve should be greatly diminished.

Even after all this time I’m still to settle on a favourite LFO Waveform - for a time it was the Staircase option, but I really like the Random, Square and Ramp options too - like I say - every week I have a new favourite. Same goes for the other settings really - where the pedal sounds great across a variety of different LFO Rates and Intensities. The Ring Mod option is cool - but I don’t tend to lean into that too much.

I’m usually pretty full-on with the Gain / Distortion and going for maximum Modulation-Mangled Total Crushing Distortion - it really does sound incredible - and there is so much range onboard - just like I like it - plenty of Gain and Volume in particular.

Controls - Blend (Dry>Wet), Gain, Volume, Ring (Ring Mod Freq), Frequency (LFO Speed), Peak (LFO Depth), Ring Switch : LFO On/Off, Voice Switch : wider / Narrower Notch Filter, Waveforms : Random Slopes / Random Steps / Staircase / Sine / Triangle / Square / Ramp Down / Ramp Up, Bypass Footswitch, Tap Tempo Footswitch.

I guess some will have this down as more of an experimental pedal - but you can really take it several very different directions - and it can be just an incredibly textured and massive sounding simple 2-knob distortion as such if you wish.

This is for sure my favourite of the current crop of Intensive Care Audio pedals - while I really need to get into the Fideleater too - as that's such a long-term perennial favourite for the brand - their first and still most popular pedal!

The wedge-like form of the enclosure, light-up logos / embellished LEDs and graphics - also those '+' Footswitch Toppers - everything here shouts quality. So in some ways it's kind of surprising that the Vena Cava Filter / Distortion / Ring Mod - can be had for just £199. Of course available right now on the Intensive Care Audio Webstore, and at selected dealers world-wide.

If you're into richly gloriously textured gain pedals - then this is one that should definitely be on your list.

As a sort of starter for 10 - I thought I should reference what my current flavour of the month setting are! :
Blend @ 3 o'c, Gain @ 3 o'c, Volume @ 3 o'c, Ring knob @ noon, Frequency @ 2 o'c, Peak @ 10 o'c, Ring switch Down, Ring Voice switch Down, LFO Waveform on Square!

Next up for Intensive Care Audio is a cool new Overdrive + Boost - which should be out later this month - I'm looking forward to sharing the details on that!