Solidgoldfx NU-33 Vinyl Engine

Black Bobbin partnered with Solidgoldfx to bring you this exclusive NU-33 finish. Inspired by the label of the records released in Chicago during the height of the golden era, the Chess Blue finish looks great on this instant classic. Black Bobbin also added the project number ‘0016’ and out logo to the design. Grab one of these exclusives while you can. Now available the Solidgoldfx NU-33 Vinyl Engine Pre-Order

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There are very few things that Black Bobbin enjoy more around here than guitars and records. What could be more satisfying than putting your mitts on your favorite instrument or spinning a record and watching the needle drop on a limited color pressing?

Black Bobbin love vintage guitars for very much the same reasons Black Bobbin love listening to vinyl. While they might not play as great as a shiny new high-end, precision built custom axe, their magic lies in their flaws. Every ding and scrape tells a story, every little bit of player wear and lacquer checking lends a feeling and leads to inspiration. The same goes for records…. a little bit of noise and static pops add ambiance, allowing the listener to get lost in the music while mesmerized by the rotating platter… it’s not so much about fidelity but rather warmth and texture to create a mood. Black Bobbin set out to combine our love for guitars with our love for records and the result is the NU-33.

Named after the Greek letter symbolizing spatial frequency and the RPMs of a turntable, the NU-33 is a lo-fi Vinyl modulator like no other. Designed to capture the vibe of some our favorite records such as a particularly worn out copy of Black Sabbath’s Master of Reality and an original pressing of Led Zeppelin I with just the perfect amount of static, the NU-33 serves up chorus and vibrato mixed with tastefully engineered hiss, crackle and pops to give your riffs just the right touch of vintage flair. The controls allow you to choose how much or how little flutter to add to your tone, color it with 2 additional filter modes, shape it with 3 different waveforms and dial in the mix with an analog blend; you can easily make this pedal sound as pretty and lush or as dark and sombre as you please.

Once Black Bobbin were finally happy with the way it sounded, it was time to pepper it with all the fun bits! Crammed in this little box is a manual mode to create a doubler ranging from 15ms to 50ms, an internally assignable expression pedal/CV input, multi-function footswitches for tap tempo and speed ramping, top jacks, relay-based true bypass switching, and a hold-to-skip function with 3 selectable speed presets to create a unique sonic stutter.

Well, with all that said, and whole lotta painstaking work leading up to this point, the NU-33 is finally here and all that’s left to do is to get lost in its immersive waves and textures.

Speed:This knob adjusts the speed of the LFO, from low and slow, to warble fast. The speed can also be manipulated by using an expression pedal. (See Dipswitches)

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Flutter: This knob adjusts the width of the chorus/vibrato effect. When set fully counter-clockwise, the NU-33 enters into manual mode, where the delay can be swept with the Speed knob from 15ms to 50ms for a doubling effect. The flutter can also be manipulated using an expression pedal. (See Dipswitches)

Ramp – See: Tap/Hold Ramp Footswitch: The ramp is a momentary feature. This allows you to speed up or slow down the LFO by holding the Tap Tempo/Ramp switch. With the knob in the center position, the Ramp feature is off. Turning it down from the noon position ramps it down, while turning it up from noon position ramps it upward. The distance the knob is from the noon position determines how quickly the speed will ramp up or down and return to its original position.

Hiss:This knob controls the amount white noise that is mixed in with the effect. The hiss can also be manipulated using an expression pedal. (See Dipswitches)

Blend:This center-detent knob blends the wet and dry signals. The center is a 50/50 mix for chorus effects while turning the Blend fully clockwise turns the NU-33 into a Vibrato.

Level:This is a master volume of the pedal and can boost or cut the output. 

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Wave:This three-position switch changes the LFO waveform. When switched to the left, the waveform is a combined sine wave wiggling up and down a triangle shape, center selects a traditional sine wave, and the right selects asawtooth wave.

Skip –See: Bypass/Hold Skip Footswitch: This toggle switch provides three tempo presets for the Skip function. The left position selects long (937ms), the center position selects medium (625ms) and the right position selects short (312ms).

Color: This toggle selects filter modes.  The left selects a low pass filter for darker sounds and the right position selects a high pass filter. The center position bypasses the color filters.

Crackle:This toggle adds random vinyl-like pops and crackle to your signal when set to the right.

Bypass/Hold Skip Footswitch – See: Skip-Turns the effect on and off. If you hold the foot switch down while the effect is on, you will momentarily engage the Skip function, endlessly looping the signal left in the delay buffer until the switch is released.

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Tap/Hold Ramp Footswitch– See: Ramp– This footswitch allows you to tap in the speed. When the switch is held down it ramps the speed up or down, depending on how the ramp knob is set.

Pricing and Availability

Solidgoldfx NU-33 Vinyl Engine is available for Pre-Order. First batch available for order JAN 15-31, 2021 only

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Benson Preamp Pedal Shell Pink Sparkle

Black Bobbin started the launch of the Benson Preamp Pedal Shell Pink Sparkle. This item is currently on pre-order and will ship within 6 weeks.

This is an all-time favorite pedal of Black Bobbin, and Black Bobbin is pleased to offer it in this exclusive shell pink sparkle finish. Whether you are using it for a light overdrive, or heavier saturation, the Benson Preamp pedal gives you the versatility of Chris’ beloved Chimera in a box.

Black Bobbin calls this their Preamp because it is! The circuit is based on the our Chimera 30 watt guitar amplifier, but substitutes FET transistors for the vacuum tubes. The result is an extremely amp-like and versatile clean boost/overdrive/fuzz pedal that imparts rich harmonics and a very musical EQ to your signal chain…truly a Chimera in a box!

Pricing and Availability

Benson Preamp Pedal Shell Pink Sparkle is available for pre-order now.

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Old Blood Noise Black Fountain in Chicago Blue

The Black Fountain reflects back to the days before digital delay, emulating the sounds of the famed and elusive “oil can delay” units.  These units emphasized a chorus-like modulation on the repeats of the effect signal as well as a beautiful and warm repeat cycle.  

Black Bobbin has partnered with Old Blood Noise Endeavors to launch this exclusive version of the all-time favorite Black Fountain. We have not only dressed it up in Chicago blue but are proud to offer it for the first time ever with a tap tempo function.

• Exclusive Chicago Blue finish
• Tap tempo feature upgrade
• Oil Can delay 
• Modern, Organ, and Vintage settings
• Time, Feedback, and Mix controls
• Fluid control for additional warble 
• Time division selector

The Modern mode emulates the classic long delay “oil can” units such as the Morley EDL, Tel-Ray Model 10 and Fender Echo-Reverb. The Time and Repeat controls mimic the functions of the vintage units, while the Fluid control introduces modulation based on the characteristic “wobble” of the electrostatic delay platter.  The Vintage mode is similar in function to the Modern mode, but has a grittier and gainier feel to the repeats.  Both the Modern and Vintage mode have a delay time of 800 milliseconds.

The Organ Tone mode is based on the Tel-Ray Deluxe Organ Tone, Fender Dimension IV and other short-delay “oil can” units.  The vintage units had a fixed delay time of approximately 20 milliseconds, which is implemented here, but the Black Fountain goes above and beyond the original units by incorporating variable Rate and Depth controls for the modulation effect. In addition, the Mix control is capable of dialing a 100% wet signal so a vibrato effect may be produced. The Organ Tone mode also features a simple reverb that mimics the single-spring tank in the original Deluxe Organ Tone effect.  The Organ Tone mode has a delay time of 211 milliseconds.

The Black Fountain now features an expression out jack and clickless switching.  The output level can be tweaked via an internal trimpot for boost, slight drop, or unity gain.

Pricing and Availability

Black Fountain V3 is available in a limited colorway from blackbobbin.com via presale September 1-September 15 2020

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