British pedal maker Great Eastern FX has temporarily put boutique overdrive and fuzz pedals to one side for a creation designed to “squeeze new sounds out of your existing effects”.
The XO Variable Crossover builds its design around an active crossover that splits the input signal into separate high and low frequency bands. The split signal is then fed into two independent effects loops before being mixed back together.
That means different effects can be applied to each part of your signal simultaneously – for instance employing a fuzz on the low-end, and an overdrive on the high, or running different modulations at different speeds.
The firm adds this trick is especially useful for bass players, who can blend their dry signal back in with their effects, choosing which frequencies to bring back in the process. For example, effects can be applied to just the high end of their signal while leaving the low-end foundation unblemished.
The unique approach to signal splitting offers a huge variety of sonic exploration scope. Different flavor drives applied to each half of the signal, or a tremolo rumbling on the low-end and a shimmery reverb on the high, are just two other ways the XO can be used.
The XO’s returns can also be ignored, allowing players to use the pedal to send high and low bands to different amplifiers for a nifty twist on stereo imaging.
“We’re used to thinking about effects in terms of pedal order and wet/dry mix, perhaps even left and right in a stereo setup, but thinking in terms of low and high frequencies is really a new frontier,” says the firm’s founder, David Greeves.
“When we describe some of the sounds and combinations of effects that are possible with the XO, they can be hard to imagine. These are things that most of us have never tried to do before.
“[But] once you start playing with the XO, it’s such a fun and inspiring device to experiment with. We’re still finding new ways to use the pedal and we fully expect to be surprised by what our users come up with.
“And for bass,” he adds, “the ability to process the high and low frequencies separately means that no guitar pedal is off limits anymore.”
Despite its compact size (4.9" x 2.6" x 2.2"), room has been made for six in and out jacks: a main input and output, plus send and returns for the highs and lows.
There are control knobs for Crossover Frequency, for adjusting the split point of the high and low bands, and Return Balance to adjust the relative level of the two returns, and a global wet/dry mix control.
In addition, there are switches for altering the frequency range to suit a bass or electric guitar, to put the signals out of phase.
One final switch swaps the high and low sends around without getting tangled in patch cable switching. It’s a feature that lets players see if they prefer that gnarly fuzz in the low or high-frequency range quickly and easily.
The XO Variable Crossover is available for $279.
Head to Great Eastern FX for more information.
