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  • Chase Bliss Warped Vinyl Analog Vibrato/Chorus

    By Chris Loeffler |

    Chase Bliss Warped Vinyl

    By Chris Loeffler

     

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    What You Need to Know

    The Chase Bliss Audio Warped Vinyl is an analog vibrato/chorus effect pedal that uses digital controls to allow a greater level of customization of waveform and effects parameters than is found with most analog (or even digital) modulation effects. Controls include Volume, Mix, RPM, Depth, Warp, Wave Shape, and Tempo-Divide as well as outputs for Tap-Tempo or Expression pedals. The pedal features true bypass, tap-tempo, and runs on a 9v battery or standard Boss-style adaptor.

     

    The Warped Vinyl is a feature-heavy effect with extremely deep parameter controls. While it is important to understand these controls (they are the star of the show) it is worthwhile to cut right to the chase as to how the chorus/vibrato modulation sounds… the tone is pure BBD analog warmth. The circuit features a voltage-doubler that gives the modulation more headroom and clarity than, say, a Boss CE-2 without losing the fat, round tone associated with the best vintage units. Subtler chorus mixes are clean and sparkling, while deeper mixing of the wet signal darkens the tone. The controls may be digital, but there is no denying the effected signal is all analog.

     

    The Volume control allows for a volume cut or boost when the effect is activated and is useful to adjust to any perceived changes in volume that may occur with modulation effects. The Mix control effectively controls the blend of direct and effected signal. Fully counter-clockwise is 100% dry and fully clockwise is 100% wet. Traditional chorus effects can be found in the middle settings, where the modulated signal thickens or adds movement to the direct signal; running the effect 100% wet yields classic vibrato pitch bends. Due to the nature of noise-reduction filters in bucket brigade technology, the Warped Vinyl creates warm (even dark) rolled-off tones like those of vintage analog effects in more extreme settings, doubling the function of the Mix control as a potential tone control for the modulation.

     

    The RPM control, named in homage of old vinyl players, controls the speed of the waveform. When the momentary footswitch is hit twice in less than three seconds the RPM control is overridden and speed is dictated by tap-tempo. The moment the RPM control is adjusted it takes over again as the speed manipulator. Two DIP switches on the bottom of the pedal allow for selection of even or odd modes (1-2-4 or 3-6-8) to set the beat division and choosing whether the tap tempo controls the speed of vibrato (RPM) or the Ramping control. A Tap-Tempo ¼” jack can be used as either a tap input OR output for players looking to incorporate the Warped Vinyl into a MIDI ecosystem. In addition to tap tempo, MIDI devices can recall presets, activate/deactivate the effect, and control the Ramp effect (more on that shortly).

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    The Warped Vinyl is a DEEP pedal. While the standard controls mentioned above are intuitive and familiar to even the most casual user of effects (how fast, how deep, how much), the ModuShape control section and back DIPs take the effect far beyond where every other chorus pedal stops. The ModuShape section is entirely dedicated to the shaping of the waveform through Depth, Warp, and Left and Right Wave Shape controls. Depth intuitively sets the width of the pitch modulation, with the lowest setting resulting in subtle tone thickening and the highest setting yielding multi step pitch bends.

     

    The Warp control sets the location of the peak, or center, of the modulation LFO: the lowest settings result in a rapid ramp up with a slow ramp down, the highest settings reverse the shape with a slow ramp up and rapid ramp down. Right in the middle yields a perfectly symmetrical wave. Thoughtful dialing in of the Warp allows players to avoid the monotony of a perfectly symmetrical waveform and better imitates the slightly off-center warble of worn record players or even a Leslie rotating speaker.

     

    The Left and Right Shape toggle switches allow for even deeper waveform shaping as they allow different wave shapes to be set on either side of the peak of the wave. Whereas most modulation units offer a single type of wave form for the entire cycle, the Warped Vinyl allows different wave shapes on either side of the peak. Each side of the waveform can be set for either sine, triangle, or square wave shapes, making it possible to dial in extremely different and unusual wave behavior before and after the center. A wave form that uses a sine wave for a smooth ramp up to the peak and a square wave on the tail of the peak fora hard chop to the end of the wave can exhibit a Doppler Effect-like swell and wrenching drop, while a square wave with an early peak that ends in a triangle wave causes odd-order harmonics to dominate with a linear drop.

     

    I’ve held off on discussing the Ramp control until last because it is probably the most unique and therefore difficult to describe aspect of the Warped Vinyl. The single Ramp knob on the pedal belies the depth and magic the control gives players. The bottom of the pedal features two rows of eight DIP switches that control what the Ramp switch does (as well as a few other settings). Volume, Mix, RPM, Depth, and Warp (all controls on the front) can be set to be modulated with the wave via the Ramp controller and can be individually set to occur in either the rise or the fall of the wave. For instance, activating Volume to be controlled by the Ramp creates a tremolo (volume amplitude) effect, whereas turning on the Mix setting in rise and Depth setting in fall creates an effect where the modulated effect gets exponentially more pronounced as the wave peaks and then drops in tandem with less depth (perceived chorus effect) as the wave ramps down. The Sweep control dictates whether parameters controlled by Ramp move from the current position of the front control to the maximum position or to the lowest position. 

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    An expression pedal input allows players to use an EP-1 style expression pedal to manually control the Ramp effect. When used, all the Ramp settings assigned on the bottom of the pedal are controlled by the expression pedal and the Ramp control is disengaged.

     

    Other controls on the bottom of the pedal include Bounce, which determines whether the parameters operate in a normal LFO fashion or ramp and hold, Lo-Fi, which cuts some high-end and adds a bit of dusty record vibe, and MoByp, which selects between full bypass or momentary bypass.

     

    An additional virtue of all the controls being digital is the ability to store two presets in the pedal in addition to whatever the controls are currently set at. I dialed in a preset for one of the best Leslie-simulators I’ve had the pleasure to play through, a present that nailed the slightly warped record-player feel (dusty pops and all), and had the pedal set to an EHX Small Clone style chorus effect. The ability to have three unique analog modulations available at the flick of a switch certainly takes the sting out of the price.

     

    Limitations

    The analog nature of the pedal gives it a bit more natural noise floor than a top-of-the-line digital chorus effect. While the white noise is MUCH lower than most vintage units it was played against, dirty power and extended daisy-chain power supplies can make some of that “analogness” more noticeable.

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    Conclusion

     

    The Chase Bliss Warped Vinyl is, without hyperbole, the most tweakable and flexible analog chorus/vibrato effect available on the market today. While the (entirely justifiable) higher pricing may make it an impractical choice for players just looking to add a little generic swirl to their sound, players seeking a truly customizable modulation palette will find dozens of hours’ worth of fine-tuning available and several distinctly different tones are lurking under the hood. A chorus/vibrato for people for love chorus, a chorus/vibrato for people who have hated it in the past.

     

     

    Chase Bliss Audio Warped Vinyl Product Page ($349.00 Street)

    Chase Bliss Audio Warped Vinyl Instruction Manual

     

     

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    Chris Loeffler is a multi-instrumentalist and the Content Strategist of Harmony Central. In addition to his ten years experience as an online guitar merchandiser, marketing strategist, and community director he has worked as an international exporter, website consultant and brand manager. When he’s not working he can be found playing music, geeking out on guitar pedals and amps, and brewing tasty beer. 

     




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