So Strymon has rolled out 6 of its boxes in the new configuration we first saw on the Zelzah Multidimensional Phaser last August.
All pedals benefit from the same arrangement of back / rear panel - which shares these features :
Per the below visual :
Most of these now have 6 knobs and dual toggle-switches - so have seen the addition of control elements - to make certain features more easily accessible - that either weren't previously available or were hidden secondary functions.
The Lex gets the most new goods (2 new knobs and 2 new switches), while there are no changes to the front of the Flint. The rear panel changes make the pedal more useful - particularly for MIDI functions and open up 300 MIDI enabled presets - while onboard presets are mostly disappointingly absent.
The exercise has also given Strymon the opportunity to raise its prices - where these medium boxes always used to be $299, but with the Zelzah got bumped up to $349, and now most are even higher at $379 which I would see as a fairly significant rise. Interestingly Chase Bliss used to be at $349 which is now $399 - so possibly we will see a bump in the default boutique pedal prices - which used to be $199 - but is likely now too heading for $249! It's certainly going to hit us in the pocket sooner than later!
I've always wanted the Lex - so now's a good reason to get a much improved version - while the others (beyond the rear panel) are not improved really to the same degree. And I find it strange that they did not make even one tiny tweak with the Flint - that being the only one that is still in the older format 5-kmob arrangement.
In any case here are all the front-panel changes :
BlueSky Reverberator - $379
Controls :
Deco Tape Saturation & Doubletracker - $379
Controls :
Dig Dual Digital Delay - $379
Controls :
El Capistan dTape Echo - $379
Controls :
Lex Rotary - $349
Controls :
Flint Tremolo & Reverb - $349
Controls :
[NO CHANGES]
The Dig is still considered one of the most pristine TC2290 style digital delays you can buy - so that's surely up for consideration too. Which ones are you most excited by? And what do you feel about the pricing hike by much as $80 - that's quite a whack as far as I'm concerned.
Obviously the arrivals of the UAFX pedals stirred the pot a little too, Do you feel that these are sufficiently state of the art compared to where they were at launch? I suppose we will see updates to the Stryfecta on the cards soon enough - those will surely go up by $100 - and surely benefit from better screens!
Would be good to see where your thoughts are for all of this.
And here below follow a few demos!