“Building on the pedal that put OBNE on the map”: Old Blood Noise Endeavors turns its flagship oil-can delay into a dark and mysterious “multi-tool”

Old Blood Noise Endeavors has announced a reprised version of its hit oil-can delay, dubbed the Black Fountain Stereo. With it, its makers believe it has created a powerful “multi-tool” beyond traditional delay pedal functionality.

The firm describes the new unit is “building on the inimitable Black Fountain, a pedal that put OBNE on the map” and sweeping changes include a broader control set, a stereo spread, and MIDI and expression pedal compatibility, making it a versatile pedalboard companion.

At its core is the same inspiring delay tone that made the original Black Fountain so successful, offering “spinning, warm and modulating” sounds. It also packs a little grit “perfect for chorusing, doubling, slap back, and long rhythmic delays”.

There’s plenty of knob fiddling on offer thanks to a motley crew of controls. Rate, Depth, Tone, Grit, and Feedback all grant dominion over the sound and shape of the pedal's delays, while there are dedicated Time dials for the left and right side of the stereo mix.

Rate and Depth dictate the modulation and speed specifically, Tone shapes the warmth of the repeats, and Grit injects a little overdrive into those repeats.

A Dry/Wet blend ensures clarity isn’t lost for those who don’t want to get sucked into noisy territories, and a Space control – those last three presented as mini switches – defines the mono delay mode or stereo width and adds diffusion past the noon position.

There are six subdivisions to unlock and experiment with by holding the Tap footswitch, and “infinite feedback” is also an option. That control can also be used as a preset switcher, and the MIDI functionality eliminates the need for on-stage tap dancing.

Old Blood Noise Endeavors Presents - Black Fountain Stereo - YouTube

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The Black Fountain Stereo offers mono and stereo in/outs, an analog dry through, and top-mounted jacks with soft-switching. There are also selectable Buffered Trails or True Bypass modes, and a player’s preferred mono/stereo voicings can also be saved into a bank of presets, although there is no explicit mention of how many preset slots are available.

For anyone familiar with the firm's strange approach to promo videos, this latest and rather surreal film will not come as a surprise. But it does at least get fairly quickly to the crux of the matter; that this pedal offers some dark and dirt-flecked sounds, with a stereo functionality that helps players capitalize on the sounds of two different amps simultaneously.

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Electric guitar and bass players alike can wreak havoc with this thing, and there are plenty of different textures ready to be extracted from within.

Hand-made in OBNE's Oklahoma HQ, it's powered by the usual 9V plug and is available in three colorways – Cream, which is the standard edition, and special Terracotta and Slate editions.

Each model costs $299 and is available to order now.

Visit Old Blood Noise for more.