Old Blood Noise Endeavors can usually be relied upon to add some innovative weirdness to the pedal world, and its latest, the BL-44 Reverse, is no exception.
OBNE has taken the reverse delay section from its Minim delay pedal as the core of the build to create what it calls a “true reverse effect” ie, it genuinely records and reverses passages of play.
Where it gets interesting is the inclusion of the slider control, which messes with the quality and speed combination in the effect.
Sliding from left to right takes you from short high-fidelity playback to distinctly lo-fi reverse repeats that are drawn-out, in eery ways. It’s designed to be manipulated mid-performance and make the most of the weird slides between pitches/speeds.
“So what does the speed knob do, in that case?” we hear you ask. Good question. That control actually refers to the read speed of the pedal. Tweaking it can create octave and harmonizer-style effects, which add extra layers to the sound.
Elsewhere, there’s a wet/dry mix control and volume knob, alongside ‘soft-touch’ bypass switching and it all runs off 9V power, so there are no weird surprises on that side.
As we’ve come to expect from the, frankly, prohibitively high standards of boutique pedal demos, OBNE has put together a killer demo track to show off its potential. You can check that out above.
Expect to find the BL-44 Reverse retailing for around $179. For more information, head to Old Blood Noise Endeavors.
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