Fishman’s new AFX Mini Acoustic pedals had been greater than two years within the making, and it appears that evidently loads of that point was spent enthusiastic about methods acoustic guitarists may optimize their rigs—and the way acoustic and electrical gamers’ wants differ.

The 4 choices within the collection embody the Pocket Blender mixer (and extra), AcoustiVerb reverb, Damaged File looper and sampler, and Professional EQ Mini preamp with graphic equalizer. Every runs on 9-volt exterior energy and has a good-looking design with a painted entrance panel, brushed aluminum housing, and clearly labeled controls. 

What units the AFX collection aside from most results is that the quarter-inch jacks are TRS (tip/ring/sleeve) stereo, permitting them to route two unbiased alerts. This function presents extra management over the sign path in the event you use TRS and/or Y cables, however the pedals work completely nicely with mono cables too.

The reverb, EQ, and looper all allow you to select between buffered and true bypass, and whether or not they work on the tip or ring a part of the sign path. You possibly can, for instance, arrange two totally different spatial results and toggle between them, separate the guitar’s dry sign from the impact and ship every to a distinct amp, and way more.

Let’s take a quick take a look at every impact; try the video for a extra in-depth take a look at among the options. 

Pocket Blender

More durable to briefly clarify than it’s to make use of, this Swiss Military knife can work as a twin degree switcher, A/B field, balanced DI, clear increase, and extra. There are 4 faders—two for the tip and two for the ring—every with an A and B combine place accessed by the footswitch. 

In mono, you would set two ranges, one for rhythm and the opposite for lead, or plug two guitars into the TRS enter utilizing a Y cable and set their relative ranges whereas muting the one you’re not taking part in. And that’s simply within the A/B toggle mode; others embody A+B/mute, A+B/A, and A+B/B. 

The output scheme makes the Pocket Blender much more highly effective. Its ABY jack helps you to ship the A and B alerts to separate amps or results, whereas the DI jack makes use of Fishman’s balanced driver circuit, which might feed a mixer. 

Professional EQ Mini 

This mix preamp/EQ is designed to behave because the entrance finish for a spread of various acoustic guitar pickups. Its preamp presents as much as 20dB of unpolluted achieve, whereas the trim management helps you to match the pedal to your instrument’s electronics. The LED signifies degree and helps you optimize achieve in your rig. The graphic EQ has 5 bands: Low Reduce (very helpful for preventing suggestions), Bass, Center, Treble, and Brilliance. General, the Professional EQ’s sound is extraordinarily clear, with frequencies well-tuned for acoustic guitar. Right here’s a cool further: The footswitch toggles between the EQ setting and no EQ, and contains some intelligent options that, relying how lengthy you maintain it, assist you to toggle between mute and bypass, and even reverse the polarity for improved bass response in sure conditions.

AcoustiVerb 

The 32-bit AcoustiVerb has a giant, lush sound and loads of headroom. Its three modes embody Spring, Corridor, and Plate; the final was my favourite for acoustic guitar, whereas Spring actually nailed it for electrical. Different controls embody degree (combine), decay time, and tone. The Audio Path change helps you to determine whether or not the reverb applies to the ring or the tip enter/output. General, the AcoustiVerb boasts a powerful sound, straightforward operation, and shocking versatility.

Damaged File 

This 32-bit digital looper/sampler has the identical sign and bypass switching because the AcoustiVerb. A mini-switch helps you to select between looper and sampler modes. You possibly can play over the loop and add to it by overdubbing, mixing the dwell sound and loops with the extent management. The audio high quality is excellent and there’s loads of recording time. In sampler mode, you possibly can play audio as soon as with out looping, like a background monitor. And the Damaged File helps you to switch to laptop through USB—a really helpful function.

The Backside Line

Fishman’s AFX collection is a really spectacular set of results. Whereas clearly designed to work collectively, the 4 pedals can match into any rig. Even in mono mode, they sound adequate to justify their $119 road worth every (Pocket Blender is $89.95)—particularly contemplating their superior sign routing and different clever options. fishman.com

Store for the Fishman AFX collection on Sweetwater, Reverb, or Amazon.