Ritual Devices' Fay Phase Filter Saturator Modulation has a rich and intricate textured output equal to the beautiful attention to detail on its enclosure
I first encountered Wub Wainwright’s Ritual Devices at the Birmingham Guitar Show - where he had pretty much hit his stride with his new pedal aesthetics and highly stylised geometric artworks - which looked resplendent in their etched sort of Victorian enamel trinket box designs. For me I was pretty much smitten at first sight - while the new designs had still to be carried across to the whole range. I recall Ritual Devices looking pretty cool in the past in shiny all-polished steel enclosures with minimal outline engraving / labels etc. on the surface. So these newer more elaborate geometric designs - with seemingly infilled paint or enamel - looked even more visually arresting.
I commented to Wub that the Ritual Devices branding was a little lost in the new improved artwork - and I would personally anchor it in some sort of surround or bounding box to make it pop out more - and make said brand element more visible and memorable. When your pedals are as gorgeous looking as these - you certainly need to leave a visible calling card as such!
I go to a fair few number of guitar / pedal shows each year and have dispensed a lot of advice over that period - but never has anyone reacted so fast to my input - as when I attended the Stourbridge FX Expo barely a month after the Birmingham Show - Wub had already incorporated an improved logo motif into the design - which now features on this very same Fay pedal, and the other recent Jackdaw Overdrive - which was an FX Expo special as far as I understand.
At the Birmingham Guitar Show I had agreed with Wub to do a full brand overview as soon as all the pedals in the range had been updated with the new style of logo / artwork. While there have been a series of challenges in the interim - manufacturing, component sourcing and even personal injury - which have inevitably delayed the full roll-out. So as a bonus I’m featuring the new Fay Modulation pedal ahead of the rest of the range rundown.
Wub describes the Fay as :
"FAY is an all analog, all discrete, phase/filter modulation with grit..
Resonating, pulsing, psychedelic swirls aplenty!
A vibratoesque voltage controlled LFO controls modulation depth and a separate notch filter.... Basically, the modulation modulates the modulation’s depth and a filter control in series. This is fed into a responsive, dynamic gain circuit with switchable clipping for cleaner/grittier sounds.
Fay can be subtle and clean. Used with reverbs and delays you can lose yourself in multilayered haunting swells. Alternatively engage Grit, crank the controls, and create industrial armageddon... Somewhere in the middle you’ll find warm intergalactic lounge funk, trippy toytown jazz and countless other untapped genres to aid your creative mission..."
Controls - Space (Wave Peak Separation) : On / Off, Modulation Intensity : Smooth (Shallow Warble) / Deep (Pulsating Wobble / Throb), Input Buffer Tone-shaper : Light (Highs Focus) / Dark (Lows Focus), Clipping : Grit (Clipping Diodes Engaged) / Grain (Diode Lift / No Clipping), Level (Master Output), Rate (LFO Speed), Gain (Overdrive / Distortion for Grit, Saturation for Grain).
The first thing you notice is of course the spectacular artwork and finish on this pedal. The top of the enclosure is very cleverly acid-etched and painted to give it its enamel-like textured appearance - it needs to be seen up close and personal - with your own eyes - to really capture how gorgeous the detailing of the design and craftsmanship is here.
The second thing you notice is that even though there are a number of controls - '7' in total - the topology is still rather simple and elegant.
I tend to have he pedal set / sat in Grain Mode - and then I can easily step up and step down the accentuation / variation and texture of the phase-like modulation via flipping the Space, Intensity (Smooth/Dark), and ≈Tone (Light Dark) 2-way toggle-switches.
The Space control is the one that requires the most explanation here - where when on it enormously expands the wave peak separation - which as such massively slows down the modulation and makes it more textured and languorous. I found myself frequently switching in and out of Space mode - slowing down and then speeding back up the modulation. I think it would be really cool to have the Space control as a second footswitch instead with a further ramping timing dial!
The Input Buffer style Tone-shaper is really well-calibrated too - and I found myself frequently flipping between the Light and Dark options - both sound superb. And then in addition you can toggle the Intensity switch between Smooth and Deep - for a lighter flutter and warble or a heavier pulsating throb.
As it states in the manual - there is a noticeable volume drop when deploying Grit mode - with clipping diodes engaged. And the fact that you need to then adjust the Volume control in tandem made that element somewhat less dynamic in playback for me - while I could flip the other binary modes at will and without needing to make any further adjustments. I somewhat preferred the Grain mode in any case - and the nature and texture of the modulations it yielded - which can be gloriously syrupy rich if you want it or light and fluttery and delicate. This pedal takes gain pedals exceptionally well and sounds amazing with added chorusing, delay and reverb. I have a number of superb germanium-enriched gain pedals in the chain currently which sound amazing through the Fay and vice-versa.
You really get a gorgeous thick and rich velvety tone out of the Fay with the various dials fairly cranked - where I typically have the Level set @ 3 o'c, Rate @ 3 o'c (Nicely alternating with the languorous and slowly swelling Space setting), and Gain @ Noon (Grain Mode).
With the 3 knobs arranged thusly I had a lot of fun flipping between Smooth and Deep, Light and Dark, and Space On and Off - every which way sounds superb - and occasionally dialling back the Rate for even slower and more accentuated modulation. Note that the LFO Speed doesn't quite go high enough to do that pseudo-Leslie Rotary style of phasing - but it has pretty extensive range nonetheless - particularly when used in conjunction with the Space (slow-down) switch.
This is a fantastic and richly textured - gorgeous sounding phasey analog modulation with a number of further aces and tricks up its sleeve - lots of smart and easily applicable versatility here too - highly recommended!
The All Analog Discrete Fay Phase Filter Saturator Modulation is available right now from the Ritual Devices Webstore for a very reasonable £225 - a glorious hand-crafted pedal in every way!
Demos
