All-analog and made with a real spring tank, Gamechanger Audio’s Gentle Pedal provides a wrinkle to the reverb equation within the type of optical sensors that transfer it past the on a regular basis.

With out getting overly technical, the Gentle takes the incoming guitar sign (voltage) and converts it to mechanical vibrations that journey down the springs earlier than being transformed again to good ol’ voltage. The infrared optical sensors seize extra overtones and harmonics from every spring’s vibration and add it to the general image, providing a broader palette of sounds. The Latch swap determines if the footswitch is on/off or only a “momentary” faucet. It additionally has a cool window that permits you to peek on the springs – and adjustments colours as you hit totally different notes.

In use, the Gentle Pedal sounds far more esoteric than a generic reverb, principally because of its massive trails and overtones. The Gentle has six sound choices (Optics, Sweep, Trem, Mirror, Suggestions, and Harmonic), every providing a distinct nuance of ’verb. The Optical knob will increase depth of the after-tones, whereas Gate will chop it to style.

Suffice to say, the Gamechanger is radical and funky – customized made for spacey, psychedelic, trendy, and shoegazer sounds which might be out of this world. You possibly can even give it a tiny kick to make its springs clank, bang, and shake like an outdated tube amp!

This text initially appeared in VG’s August 2023 challenge. All copyrights are by the writer and Classic Guitar journal. Unauthorized replication or use is strictly prohibited.