Source Audio's New Zio Analog Front End + Boost is designed to be the ultimate Tone Enhancer

Source Audio’s new Zio is a rare fully analog pedal for them - where they’re much better known for their wide-ranging 56-bit processing One Series DSP Stereo Pedals. As soon as I saw the Zio, I was reminded of my JA Prism which kinda sorta does similar things as a Buffer, Boost, EQ and Preamp.

Controls - Output (+20dB), Circuit : JFET / Low-Cut / Studio / E-Plex, Tone : Bright / Med / Dark, Switch : Bypass / Mute.

The core of the Zio is 4 different tone-enhancing Circuits :

• JFET : delivers similar character and behaviour to a clean tube amp
• Low-Cut : removes excessive low frequency rumble and buildup to deliver improved headroom and a tighter sound
• Studio : deploys the famous ’Pultec Trick’ which provides a low mid cut, gentle presence boost in the upper midrange, and a natural sounding high pass filter to deliver a more focused output
• E-Plex : 1970’s Echoplex style preamp - a vintage-style FET buffer / boost which delivers a warm, clear and just a touch dirty tonality

The 3-way Tone control is a sort of Cable Impedance Simulator - where Bright is Short, Medium is Moderate, and Dark simulates Long cable runs /  lengths - each of these has progressively rolled-off highs or a sort of high cut. Players of single coil guitars in particular often use longer cable runs to soften the output of the guitar and make it less bright and icy.

The Switch toggle acts as normal True Bypass to the left, and when on Mute it Mutes the main Output, while the Tuner / Line Out socket remains in play.

This could be a possible alternative / replacement for my JA Prism on slot #6. My chain is already highly evolved with 3 tone-enhancers working in tandem across slots #6, #7 and #8. It’s taken me a long time to perfect that section so I’m in no hurry to start experimenting again in that area - recent experimental changes did not work out at all - andI I was very soon back to my original core trio!

I feel this is certainly a cool addition - which may be of interest to me at some stage in the future - while I think I prefer the added granularity of the JA Prism - in fact what I really want to see is a V2 Prism based on my own mockup below! :