Gamechanger Audio PLASMA Pedal

The PLUS pedal, Gamechanger Audio’s maiden voyage is probably the most unique pedal on our site. But the PLASMA pedal, Gamechanger’s second installment, is probably the coolest looking pedal in the HornFX database. In their own words, “the pedal transforms your instrument’s live signal into a series of continuous high-voltage discharges within a xenon-filled tube. In essence - you are playing a bolt of electricity, and the electrical discharges produced by your instrument are instantly converted back into an analog audio signal, producing a quick, responsive, and extremely heavy distortion with TONS of unique character.”

External Control: None
Cost: $$

HornFX Review

Interface:  4/5
The PLASMA pedal has just five knobs, controlling blend, voltage, drive, and low/high frequency. This simplistic layout is easy to understand and use. The Drive knob functions as overall volume, while the Voltage controls the amount of dirt and fuzz. It’s xenon-filled tube is illuminated with little lightning bolts as you play, and as the amount of distortion intensifies, so too does the light show. It is one of the most visually satisfying and beautiful pedals on the market.

Versatility: 2/5
This is not a pedal that will give you a multitude of sounds. Even at lower settings the distortion is intense and volatile. This will likely be a pedal that gives you one sound that is manageable and usable.

Tonal Reproduction: 2/5
As it advertises, the PLASMA pedal is HIGH GAIN. This pedal takes your sound and slams it into oblivion creating brutal distorted tone. Its goal is to give you an angry and violent sounding distortion and it does that. Do not look to this pedal to shape your tone or give you a sweet and clear reproduction of your sound. Look to this pedal to give you EVIL distortion!

Live application: 3/5
This pedal is a challenging one. When using a microphone with distortion, large amounts of gain can make feedback a serious issue. This pedal is like a wild animal when using it on stage. Since the feedback monster takes many shapes, this will be an unpredictable pedal from gig to gig. Its EQ controls can help mitigate this problem, but you will never feel safe with this pedal on…and that may be a good thing. The sonic profile of this pedal is harsh by design. IT creates a very scratchy and fuzzy distortion best suited for intense and aggressive music. There is a lot of ancillary noise in this effect. This unhinged sound and volatile on-stage realities may be the perfect secret sauce for someone looking to play noisy, aggressive music. Unfortunately, the PLASMA pedal is quite heavy, and on the larger side. Even with all of these potential limitations, this pedal can be an incredible weapon in the right hands, on the right gig.

Product Information

ACTUAL HIGH VOLTAGE ROCK N ROLL

The PLASMA PEDAL is a revolutionary approach within the realm of overdrive and distortion, as it is a new and previously unexplored method of achieving signal clipping. Instead of using LED circuits, transistors or vacuum tubes to produce overdrive, the PLASMA PEDAL transforms your instrument’s live signal into a series of continuous high-voltage discharges within a xenon-filled tube.

In essence – you are playing a bolt of electricity, and the electrical discharges produced by your instrument are instantly converted back into an analog audio signal, producing a quick, responsive, and extremely heavy distortion with TONS of unique character!

FEATURES

NATURAL NOISE-GATE

By maxing out the BLEND knob you can achieve a fully wet signal, produced only by the gas-discharge tube. This means that as soon as you stop playing,  the electrical discharge within the gas-filled tube is interrupted,  and the pedal will not produce any output signal at all.  This feature allows you to achieve extreme contrasts between individual notes, by eliminating all of the in-between noises created by the instrument’s pick-ups or by humming strings.
Thanks to this, PLASMA PEDAL is extremely well suited for playing heavy riffs or sharp staccato solos. Really – there’s nothing like it!

UNIQUE HARMONIC SATURATION

PLASMA PEDAL converts your instrument’s signal into a rapid series of electric discharges, which results in a large amount of non-linear harmonic saturation that causes extremely rich and responsive attacks, and brings out screechingly sharp overtones and harmonics. These harmonic artifacts, produced as a byproduct of the high-voltage discharge are uncommon in traditional signal amplification, and therefore PLASMA Pedal’s distortion is unlike anything you have heard before.

EXTREMELY WIDE EQ

The PLASMA PEDAL loses the original DRY input signal and creates a new signal from fluctuations in the electromagnetic field surrounding the gas-discharge tube.

This allows to bring out an extremely wide range of frequencies that are often beyond the instrument’s capabilities.

CRUSH ANY SOUND

PLASMA PEDAL is designed primarily for guitarists, but it is also an awesome distortion tool for all sorts of electronic beats, synths and live instrument samples. As you max up the VOLTAGE knob, you can add satisfying amounts of electrical buzz to any sound…

Product info taken from the Gamechanger Audio website.