LR Baggs Align Session

ManualsBrandsL.R.Baggs ManualsAcoustic Guitar EffectsEffect Pedal for Acoustic Guitar

112

Guitarist July 2018

Tech Spec

ORIGIN: China

TYPE: Acoustic pedal

with saturation and

compression

FEATURES:

Buffered bypass

CONTROLS: Volume,

Gain, Saturate, Comp EQ,

Bypass footswitch

CONNECTIONS:

Standard input,

standard output

POWER: 9V battery or

9V-16V DC adaptor

(not supplied)

DIMENSIONS: 82 (w) x

125 (d) x 60 mm (h)

LR Baggs Align Session

£219

his is designed to bring

studio tone to your live rig by

providing enhancement to

your sound in the shape of saturation

and compression that’s especially

tailored for acoustic guitars. The

compression is multiband so you

have different amounts applied to the

low, mid and high frequencies rather

than a blanket compression over the

whole signal. While that may sound

complicated, it’s actually a no-brainer

to use with just a single knob, which

ushers in natural compression that’s

very responsive to how you play.

Pretty transparent with no obvious

squashing or unwanted altering of

note transients, this is smooth and

silky compression that keeps the

sound consistently solid and prevents

any spiky frequencies from getting

too prominent. Saturation, similarly

added by a single knob, adds warmth,

giving your sound more body.

Combine them and you’ll find a sweet

spot that improves and enriches.

VERDICT

Enhancement for your electro-

acoustic guitar – once you’ve turned this

on you won’t want to turn it off

ur pedal reviews are usually

dedicated to those designed

for electric guitar. However,

anyone with a pickup-equipped guitar

can use pedals, and it’s not too rare to

see the stage in front of electro-acoustic

guitars players festooned with chorus,

delay, looper and reverb pedals.

Here, though, is a range of pedals

designed from the ground up for acoustic

guitar players. Californian company, LR

Baggs, well-known for their pickups,

has released the Align Series of pedals,

each cutely adorned in a different

simulated wood finish, which, when

put together on a single pedalboard,

could make a really compelling set . The

Align Active DI (£199) is intended to go

last and features a useful signal-muting

footswitch for tuning or instrument

changes and XLR and standard 6.4mm

jack outputs as well as standard ground

lift, phase-reverse and pad facilities. But

here we are focusing on the other three

Align-series pedals, as they are the ones

that directly influence your sound.

PEDALBOARD

MANUFACTURER

LR BAGGS

MODEL

ALIGN SERIES

PRICE

£219

CO N TAC T

01273 440 442/WWW.LRBAGGS.COM

Align Series

pedals

LR Baggs

A unique trio to get the most

out of electric-acoustics

Words Trevor Curwen Photography Olly Curtis

GIT434.peds_braggs.indd 112 16/05/2018 18:08

Summary of content (2 pages)

PAGE 1
PEDALBOARD m a n u fac t u r e r LR Baggs pr ic e £219 mode l Align Series c on tac t 01273 440 442/www.lrbaggs.com LR Baggs Align Series pedals A unique trio to get the most out of electric-acoustics Words Trevor Curwen Photography Olly Curtis O ur pedal reviews are usually dedicated to those designed for electric guitar.
PAGE 2
Video & audio http://bit.ly/guitaristextra LR Baggs Align Equalizer LR Baggs Align Reverb £219 B ased on the circuit found in the Para Acoustic DI, the Align Equalizer offers a range of practical tone-shaping facilities. A three-position high-pass filter switch rolls off the bottom end below certain frequencies and can be set to tame boominess, but the main thrust of the pedal has to be the six small centredetented knobs each with up to 9dB of cut or boost at the frequencies of 85Hz, 350Hz, 700Hz, 1.