Massive restock of Lichtlaerm Audio Pedals at Joe's Pedals in the UK - Compact Range Overview

I already have the Altar, Gehenna and The Medusa - what I call the 'Heavy Brigade' or Lichtlaerm's High Gain Trifecta. Each of those has a proper killer punishingly powerful output. I've long spoken about how I love super granular pedals with a tonne of shaping abilities - and this Lichtlaerm form factor is pretty much perfect for my own preferences - and those pedals look so gorgeous when the light catches their beautifully executed gold graphics.

Of course I will be doing individual reviews on each of my 3 pedals pictured above, there are several more Lichtlaerm varieties due to be launched this year - including a further update of the Aquaria Legendary Overdrive (Klone) - which I will most likely look to add to the reference collection. In fact I've already decided that the next trio of Lichtlaerm Pedals that I will acquire - will be The Aquaria Klone, Kassandra VCA Phaser / Vibe, and .Ritual. Extended Rat Style Distortion - you all know how much I love a good Rat Pedal! In any case we're off to a very strong start here.

There are some really cool and distinct controls on many of those pedals - like for instance the 'Cut' (Low-Cut < 1.5kHz) and Depth knobs. Those allow you to really smartly further finesse and shape your output - in fact I don't believe any pedals do that as well - besides of course the Sinvertek N5 varieties! And even though there are a lot of controls on some of the pedals - these are mostly consistent from pedal-to-pedal - so you quickly get to grips with the range and feel of each of those! Also makes learning curve much shallower on new pedals - as you're often dealing with the exact same EQ circuit and Boost stage.

The full range of Lichtlaerm Audio Pedals is available from the Lichtlaerm Audio Webstore and Joe's Pedals in the UK. 

Please find the individual pedal details below as per usual :

Controls - Level, Cut (Low-Cut < 1.5kHz), Bass, Lo-Mid, Hi-Mid, Treble, EQ Footswitch, Boost Footswitch.

A really smart Dual-Footswitch +36dB Boost and EQ - where both halves can be applied independently, Featuring Lichtlaerm's clever 'Cut' (Low Cut) control - which you find on so many of these Licthlaerm pedals. It can bring instant tightness - then with fine-tune-able independent EQ, I've long talked about EEA's Mud Killer - and this Aesahaettr (Subtle Knife) is equally impressive.

Controls - Bass, Mids, High, Boost, Gain, Level, Grind, Depth, Comp, Boost Footswitch, Bypass Footswitch.

The first of the Lichtlaerm Audio pedals I properly got to grips with in its latest MKIV incarnation with 3 mini knobs. When I covered the original V1 edition of this - it had just the 6 large knobs - it's in its perfect optimal format now - which means it was exactly the right time for me to get involved! This is reminiscent of my Blackhawk Balrog - with a little more granularity - 9 Controls vs 6. Both sound amazing though - full review coming! The Boost is the standard independent +36dB of Boost - which is found on a number of these Lichtlaerm Audio Pedals.

Controls - Bass (40-100Hz), Level, High (4-10kHz), Lo-Mid (400Hz), Mid ±, Hi-Mid (1kHz), Mid Freq (400Hz > 1kHz), Mid Footswitch, Bypass Footswitch.

In some ways a little similar to the Aesahaettr above without that expansive boost - and with slightly different emphasis and semi-parametric Mids - which are also foot-switchable via the left-hand footswitch. Each EQ Band has +16dB available of shaping.

Controls - Tone, Clip Germanium / Schottky / Silicon, Gain, Level, Boost, Clean, Bass, Lo-Mid, Hi-Mid, High, EQ Footswitch, Bypass Footswitch.

Before this I thought I had about reach peak levels of Klone - with 15-20 of that genre already in the reference collection. Wile this is another really interesting variant, and supposedly being refined further some day soon. This is a long long way from you typical 3-knob Klon / Klone. Most of these Lichtlaerm pedals are next level in terms of their extended featured set - sure this is a Klone but nowhere close to what you already know!

Controls - Rate, Feedback, Depth, Waveform : Ramp Up / Ramp Down / Square / Triangle / Sine / Lumps / Stepped / Random, Phaser / Vibe Switch, Level, Tap Tempo Footswitch, Bypass Footswitch.

I'm a sucker for dual Phaser / Uni-Vibe pedals - where this is a somewhat more granular extended range variant to my recently added SolidGoldFX Aurras. I'm looking to acquire this one in my next trio of Lichtlaerm acquisitions - there are some really cool features here that I'm looking to put to good use.

Controls - Threshold, Key In / Key Out Loop.

Really smart and well-loved Noise Gate, I'm unlikely to shift away from my favourite Custom Modded Boss NS-2 - but if I ever do - the competition is most likely between this and KMA Machines Pylon. All three of those have the much needed secondary Loop that I make such good use of in my chain.

Controls - Gain I, Cut (Low-Cut < 1.5kHz), Gain II, Bass, Level, Treble, Depth, Lo-Mid, Hi-Mid, Presence, Gain Footswitch, Bypass Footswitch.

Another of the ones I covered back in 2020 - but now at least 3 generations on from that. One of the most potent Metal Distoritons out there - with just the right degree of chunky low end that I so love. All those controls really allow you to shape the quality of the output. I tend to have the Red Channel Gain II at Max, and Gain I at Noon. Really beautifully calibrated pedal for maximum sonic impact - full review coming soon of course!

Controls - Level, Gain, Low, Lo-Mid, Hi-Mid, High, Clip : Symmetrical / Asymmelectrical / LED, FX Loop Blend, FX Loop Polarity, Parallel Send & Return FX Loop.

Another really smart take on an overdrive - this time mixing up a Classic Screamer voicing with a Parallel Blend FX Loop - so you can beautifully combine two really complementary pedals together - like say a Blues Breaker! Again - this is far removed from your typical 3-knob Tube Screamer variant.

Controls - Gain, Level, Cut (Low-Cut < 1.5 kHz), Low, Mid, Grind, Presence, Gate, Mid-Frequency. Blend, Mode : Modern / Classic, FX Loop Polarity, Parallel FX Loop Send.

I've covered the Boss HM-2 and variants a lot on this blog - it's one of the metal voicings that I'm very much in love with - and here is another great example of that - with Parallel Blendable FX Loop - so you can create your own Klirrton Grindstein-alike - blending the Gehenna in for that added depth of profile!

Controls - Bass, Cut (Low-Cut < 1.5kHz), High, Boost, Gain, Level, Boost Range : Flat / Mid / Treble -Focus, 3-way Clipping, 3-Way Comp via 2 More Diodes, Boost Footswitch, Bypass Footswitch.

As with everything else on this roster - yet another smart expanded edition pedal - this time taking the ProCo Rat Distortion into uncharted territories. I believe I have somewhere around 50 Rat Distortion variants - it's not like I need any more - but will of course make space for this exceptional variety. This has already been earmarked for my next trio of Lichtlaerm acquisitions - which will likely happen in a month or two - always juggling a 100 priorities at any given time! Again featuring a number of the essential Lichtlaerm proprietary functions - the Low-Cut, +36dB of independent Boost, 3-Band EQ, 3-way Clipping and Compression! Note that the traditional Rat Filter control is also in the circuit as an internal Trim-pot.

Controls - Rate, Effect, Decay, Level, Mix, Dampen (Wet LPF), Ramp Type : Rate / Feedback, Mode : Nova Shimmer / Sample & Hold / Collapse Aliasing + Ring Mod, Trails : On/Off, RMP (Ramp) Footswitch, Bypass Footswitch.

The first of two intriguing Lichtlaerm Reverbs - this one is a little bit on the more experimental side of things - particularly the Collapse Aliasing + Ring Mod Mode - also with clever dynamic Ramping abilities. Alas only a mono variant - so not suitable for my own rig - sounds pretty great in any case.

Controls - Rate, Depth, Decay, Level, Mix, Dampen (Wet LPF), Ramp Type : Rate / Feedback, Mode : Siren Soft Shoegaze / Phase / Shiver Trem, Tails : On/Off, RMP (Ramp) Footswitch, Bypass Footswitch.

Lichtlaerm's Modulated Reverb is more on the Shoegaze tip - but equally as potent as its Transcendence sibling. In fact its mono nature here works fine - as I would use it in front of Fuzz pedal - for peak Shoegaze sounds. Another smart 3-Mode Reverb with the same Ramp functionality as on the Transcendence - will probably look to add his to the reference collection - where I will probably add Catalinbread's Soft Focus Reverb around the same time - for the same sort of duties!