The Blue Classic
We have completed production of the Blue Classic. We will soon have a new OD pedal in production.
The Blue Classic grew from a concept in the early ’90s, to try to build a solid state pedal that could give true tube sound. For a whole lot of reasons, the project was shelved until 2003.
During the years between concept and development, it became obvious that “tube sound” is almost impossible to define, because it means different things to different people. Even having tubes in a pedal does not seem to guarantee tube sound.
So, during development, the Blue Classic took on a life of its own and a unique sound.
The Blue Classic is a dual stage pedal. The first stage has a small amount of power supply sag and “warms” the sound. It also gives an adjustable mid-top boost. The second stage enables the Drive control and increases sag, allowing the amplifier in the pedal to be driven into distortion. The design of the Class AB push-pull amplifier prevents hard clipping from happening, sloping the waveform after a fast initial transient response. This approach makes for excellent dynamics.
Read Harmony Central Reviews.
Controls:
Right Footswitch
Wired for true bypass, this switch enables or disables the pedal. The Blue LED above the switch is lit when the pedal is activated.
Left Footswitch
Enables the drive control and increases power supply sag. The Orange LED above the switch is lit when this switch is enabled. This LED will stay lit even if the pedal is bypassed, to show which mode is active.
Output Knob
Adjusts the output level of the pedal. At full clockwise there is adequate output level in either mode to overdrive most amps.
Voice Knob
As this control is rotated clockwise, it increases the mid-top boost and harmonics. A side effect of this is an apparent increase in output level. You can compensate for this with the Output control.
Drive Knob
When the second stage of the pedal is active, this control increases the gain of the preamp causing the push-pull amplifier distortion stage to be overdriven.
Features:
Case
We custom make the case from laser cut mild steel, using a press that we designed and built, and have it powder coated. Steel is used because it offers the best shielding against electro-magnetic fields produced by lighting, floor monitors etc.
Sockets
Cliff Nylon sockets are used. These high quality sockets have nickel-bronze contacts and have proved to be reliable. They also allow for effective single point grounding of the case to the PCB ground plane, reducing noise.
DC Socket
Our DC socket is mounted with nylon washers to reduce the possibility of breakage.
Switches
The switches are Three Pole Double Throw Gold Contact with a heavy duty plunger. The mechanism as originally supplied by the manufacturer was not quite up to our standards, so we re-designed part of the plunger mechanism. They are now being manufactured to our specification. We believe that we have the best switches in the industry.
Battery Compartment
Our custom designed battery compartment has no screws or lid to lose in the dark on stage. It allows for quick, easy changing of batteries.
Base Pad
The non-slip base pad is attached with hook and loop tape. To attach the pedal to a pedal board with a carpet or loop tape base, simply peel off the base pad and push the pedal down on the pedal board.
Specifications:
Input Resistance: 1M Ohm
Input Impedance: Greater than 150K Ohm
Current Consumption at 9V DC:
Pedal in bypass: 0.45mA
Bypassed with Drive active: 3.65mA
Pedal active without drive: 13mA
Pedal active with drive: 17mA
How does it sound:
In normal mode, the Blue Classic fattens or thickens the overall tone, with some break-up on loud notes and chords, like an amp being driven just past its limits. In Drive mode, the Drive control, combined with increased power supply sag allows the Class AB internal amplifier to be driven into a rock/blues overdrive distortion. As the Voice control is increased, sharpened transients and increased harmonics help to boost attack and sustain.
The Blue Classic is very responsive to playing dynamics. Even in drive mode, a clean sound can be achieved by playing softly or winding back the Guitar’s volume control.
Go to our Sound Clips Page to hear it.
Pricing:
USD $199 plus postage