HornFX Blow! by Zorg Effects

Since HornFX came into existence, the primary hurdle that we helped people overcome was connecting a wind instrument to pedals. There are almost no pedals created for wind instruments, and guitars, which most pedals are meant for, are amplified in a completely different way. The necessity of a microphone creates a major challenge when connecting to pedals. This challenge has been overcome in a multitude of ways. Adapters and multi-connector cables seemed to be a good solution earlier on, but then we learned of pedals like the JHS Colour Box, the Radial Voco-Loco, and the Eventide Mixing Link. These pedals allow an XLR cable to be plugged in so that a microphones signal can be appropriately converted to then be routed to an effects pedal. These are all good pedals, but they still were not made explicitly for horn players. Not only have the HornFX team been searching for the perfect pedal to convert your signal, but for years, we have dreamed of creating a pedal of our own. It was a perfect storm of opportunity, insight, and experience that allows us, with extreme pride, to introduce the HornFX Blow! by Zorg: The first pedal designed FOR horn players BY horn players!!!!

External Control: None
Cost: $

HornFX Review

Interface:  5/5
This pedal was created with horn players in mind. The order of operations is simple. Plug your microphone’s XLR into the Blow!, then from the “SEND” 1/4” output, run a 1/4” cable to your first pedal. Then take the cable from your last pedal in the chain and plug it back into the Blow! in the “RETURN” jack. This will then allow you to run an XLR from the Blow! to whatever mixer or speaker you are plugging into. This is a simplistic and elegant solution to achieving pedal connectivity with a microphone, but it is not the only piece of this puzzle. One of the greatest challenges in the microphone-to-pedal connection is gain structure. To have a powerful enough signal going to the first pedal so that you are getting fully saturated sound, and driving the pedal with enough signal or gain? Is the signal that is leaving your pedals strong enough so that the front-of-house does not have any trouble giving you enough volume for the mix? Both of these challenges are solved by the Blow!’s two knobs. The largest of the two knobs controls the input gain, or the strength of the signal going from the microphone to your pedals. This can be easily dialed in so that you are providing the pedals with enough signal. Too little signal and you will sound quiet and weak. Too much signal, and you will overload and distort your pedals. The main gain knob will allow for a perfect amount of signal. The smaller of the two knobs controls the strength of the signal leaving your pedalboard and going to the speakers. This gives you the ability to dial in the perfect amount of signal for the front-of-house or for your own personal speaker without compromising the amount of signal going to your pedals. If your pedals’ output is quieter overall than the dry input of your instrument, then you can make up of that with this knob. This type of multi-layered volume control can be described as gain staging, and is a simplistic yet effective way of perfecting the QUALITY of the sound of your pedals.
Of course, there are other features of the HornFX Blow! that make life easy. There is a 48v switch on the side that allows to to provide phantom power to any mic that needs it. There is is also a fail-safe switch that will turn your effects loop on or off. If you turn on a particularly volatile effect and you start feeding back or having sound issues, you can simply hit this button to disengage all your effects and save the audience’s ears. There is even a light that will glow, indicating that the pedal is receiving signal, so that you do not have to guess if you are getting sound from your microphone to your HornFX Blow!. The interface is extremely simplistic, yet covers all the essential bases of signal chain control!

Versatility: 3.5/5
The versatility of this pedal is quite impressive given its simplicity and singular nature of function. First, you have multiple connectivity options. You can use the signal chain loop method described above, but if you prefer to use a DI or connect with a 1/4” cable to your speakers, you can simply not use the “return” 1/4” jack on the Blow! and go from the last pedal in your chain to a speaker or DI. There is further versatility in the types of microphones that you can connect. Any microphone that has an XLR or 1/4” connector, whether it needs phantom power or not, can be connected. The only thing that this pedal could seen to be missing is a set of EQ controls. We feel that this is quite unnecessary due to the wide range of tonal controls available on most pedals, but more importantly because of the nature of wind instruments. Tone is something that we as horn players work on for years, and perfect with our embouchures and mouthpiece/horn/reed selections. To put EQ controls on a pedal like the Bow! would serve to undermine all of the hard work you have spent building your tonal identity on your horn. It is that tone that will inform the sound of your effects and the overall affect of your sonic output. We do not our pedal interface to interfere with that tonal integrity.

Tonal Reproduction: 5/5
The Blow! is an extremely simple pre-amp, yet it does have some positive effect on tone. The Blow! has a very warm and lush tonal profile which seems to warm up and get a little beefier the more you push the gain. We suggest putting the gain as high as is manageable on the pre-amp to give your signal a little more meat and warmth. We sincerely enjoy the effect it has on our sounds.

Live application: 5/5
We had two primary goals when crafting this pedal: ease of use and practicality. With just two knobs and two switches, this pedal could not be easier to use. There is almost no learning curve. But more impactful than its ease, is its practicality. This is the most road-ready, gig-ready signal conversion pedal in existence. It is the smallest pedal of its kind. Boasting a tiny footprint compared to its competitors, the HornFX Blow! by Zorg is sized just like a normal Boss or MXR pedal. It is also LIGHT. this pedal will not have a meaningful impact on the weight of your rig, and will not pose extra problems when thinking about flying with your pedalboard. The phantom power switch on this pedal is robust and durable. Since the switch is on the side of the pedal, we made extra sure to select a switch that would resist damage and breakage while on a gig. The knobs are extremely easy to find and manipulate, even on a dark stage, and will give the use extreme ease of use when having to dial in on the fly. Even the power was considered. Many signal conversion pedals require non-traditional voltages to power them, which can provide complications when plugging into the power block or a wall outlet. The Blow! needs a 9v power supply with very low amperage so that it can be powered by literally any power supply available, and so that finding a wall-wart to power it will be extremely easy. Simply put, this pedal does its job, allows to to have unprecedented control over your gain structure, and will provide zero complication and stress as an addition to your pedal board.

We cannot be more proud of this little machine, and are beyond excited to be able to offer it to you. We are so appreciative of the HornFX family, and are brimming with joy that we can now offer the BEST solution for our fundamental challenge as pedal-using horn players!!

Audio

Below, you will hear a few different audio clips of the Blow! in action. The first is a trumpet running through the pedal. Note the warmth of the sound and the stellar overall quality. The second clip is the Blow! with the JAM Pedals Ripply Fall in its effects loop. Listen to how well this effect is represented!

Product Information

The Blow! is a preamp for static or condenser mics with a jack effect loop for guitar effects pedals. If you're a singer, saxophone player, trombone or trumpet player, etc. the Blow! will allow you to experiment with guitar pedals without loss in your sound quality.

Guitar pickups being more powerful than dynamic or condenser mics, the preamp part allows to attack the guitar pedals with the same level as a guitar’s pickup. The XLR in and out and the optional phantom power makes this pedal very similar to a direct box but added a preamp and an effect loop.

To use guitar pedals with condenser or dynamic mics, the temptation would be great to simply use a XLR-> Jack plug adapter. But even if it can work, one can then get a lot of problems to solve: loss of signal quality due to impedance mismatch, noise issues, bad behaviour of the pedals due to the mic's very low signal output.

Because of its XLR in and out connexions the Blow! allow to keep all the advantages of a balanced line while sending to the pedals a signal as powerful as an electric guitar thanks to its high quality preamp and effect loop.

The pedal goes with two options:
- A phantom power for condensers mics. Which can be added later if you didn't think you'd use it in the first place. If you wish me to mount it later, please contact me. If you feel like your can mount it yourself, there's a DIY kit!
- A soft switch to bypass all the effect loop in one click with a relay true bypass system.

Product info taken from the Zorg! website.