Level Set Buffer

109
July 2018 Guitarist
VERDICT A practical utility for ’boards.
Iron out level and tone disparities while
improving your signal path
Tech Spec
ORIGIN: China
TYPE: Buffer pedal
FEATURES: Level and
treble attenuation, Mute,
tuner connection
CONTROLS: Level,
Hi-Freq, Load switch, LEDs
On/Off switch, Mute
footswitch
CONNECTIONS:
Standard input, standard
output, standard Tuner
Output
POWER: 9V battery or 9V
DC adaptor (not supplied)
64mA
DIMENSIONS: 75 (w) x
125 (d) x 62 mm (h)
8
Tech Spec
ORIGIN: China
TYPE: Compressor pedal
FEATURES: True bypass
CONTROLS: Drive,
Recovery, Blend, Level,
LEDs On/Off switch,
Bypass footswitch
CONNECTIONS:
Standard input, standard
output
POWER: 9V battery or 9V
DC adaptor (not supplied)
60mA
DIMENSIONS: 75 (w) x
125 (d) x 62 m
9
Level Set Buffer
£87
The Bends Compressor
£96
B
esides the useful buffering
for signal consistency, this
pedal’s main aim is to provide
something for the guitarist who uses
multiple guitars on a gig and needs
to match the levels. The idea is that
the default 12 o’clock position on
a Level knob with up to +/-12dB of
adjustment is for your main guitar
and you can, say, roll it back a touch
moving from the single coils of a
Strat to a Les Paul with humbuckers
and a higher output. There’s also a
high-frequency knob that works on
the sparkly top-end sheen, so you
can subtly compensate for dark or
overly spiky pickups. The pedal is
always on but the footswitch can
be used to mute the signal, perhaps
when tuning – a dedicated output
keeps your tuner out of the audio
signal path. There’s also a switch that
applies input capacitance to load
guitar pickups – it’s a subtle effect but
it’s a worthwhile tonal variant that
may suit your set-up.
T
he Bends is an OTA
(operational transconductance
amplifier) based compressor,
and follows in a long line of classic
guitar compressors that have used
similar technology (Ross, Dyna Comp
etc), but has a Blend control so you
don’t have to compress the whole
signal. The Drive knob turns up the
compression with the LED glowing
pink rather than white when you are
compressing the signal. There are
also knobs for release time for the
compression (Recovery) and output
volume, which has plenty in reserve to
boost your amp’s front end even when
using minimal compression amounts
– compression and boost together
offer a natural jump to a second stage
for solos.
The pedal has little hiss, adds a nice
snap to your note envelope without
being too obtrusive and, via the Blend
knob, can add compression effects,
such as increased sustain, without
totally squashing your core sound.
VERDICT Very well-designed this is one
of the best affordable guitar
compressors we’ve seen recently
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GIT434.peds_fender.indd 109 5/11/18 11:28 AM