Old Blood Noise Endeavors stretches the boundaries of what a chorus pedal can do with the BL-82 Chorus Variable Clock Effector
Is it a chorus? A flanger? A modulated delay? OBNE explores uncharted modulation territory with its latest stompbox
Old Blood Noise Endeavors has unveiled the BL-82 Variable Clock Effector – a new modulation device that seeks to “teas[e] apart the definition of a chorus pedal”.
With tones spanning chorus, flanger and modulated delays, the BL-82 certainly delivers a substantial suite of sounds, and key to its flexibility is that namesake variable clock control.
This adjusts two delay lines, which are modulated by opposite synchronized LFOs combined in parallel – the speed and depth of the LFOs, as well as the delay line time, is all adjusted by that oh-so-cool central slider.
If that description hurt your brain a bit, what you need to know is that the BL-82 offers a trippy palette of warbly chorus-meets-flanger textures that stretch out into some seriously chaotic modulated delays. And the whole lot can be degraded to create some seriously gnarly tones via that clock slider – OBNE’s demo below gives you a pretty good idea of the pedal’s awe-inspiring capabilities below.
Other controls include more familiar Mix, Volume and Feedback options, while the pedal is powered by a standard 9V DC power supply.
For more information, head to Old Blood Noise Endeavors.
The BL-82 Chorus follows OBNE’s similarly mind-bending BL-44 Reverse, which reverses your playing and allows you to manipulate the quality and speed of the effect.
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Mike is Editor-in-Chief of GuitarWorld.com, in addition to being an offset fiend and recovering pedal addict. He has a master's degree in journalism from Cardiff University, and over a decade's experience writing and editing for guitar publications including MusicRadar, Total Guitar and Guitarist, as well as 20 years of recording and live experience in original and function bands. During his career, he has interviewed the likes of John Frusciante, Chris Cornell, Tom Morello, Matt Bellamy, Kirk Hammett, Jerry Cantrell, Joe Satriani, Tom DeLonge, Ed O'Brien, Polyphia, Tosin Abasi, Yvette Young and many more. In his free time, you'll find him making progressive instrumental rock under the nom de plume Maebe.
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