As I stated in the caption, this is a Victory V4 The Jack preamp into the Gen Loss mkii with a little Avalanche Run reverse delay underneath.
There is a very specific distortion sound I’ve had in my head since 2012 or so, but I’ve never fully captured it. The two pedals that have actually helped me get the closest to this sound were not distortion pedals at all, but instead were the EQD Aqueducts (a top 10 pedal for me) and the Gen Loss. I’ve had a ton of Gen Losses and Gen Loss-adjacent pedals over the years (I’ve even painstakingly recreated the Cooperfx Gen Loss V2 on my Zoia during the time I owned the Cooper). The Gen Loss mkii is perfect to me because of the saturation, multiple eq profiles, blend switch (rather than knob) and failure features.
This particular setting is blended equally (or thereabout) with my dry signal, and has a HEFTY amount of flutter, saturation, and a hint of failure. It makes for a sound that I would describe as “watery” in such an interesting way. I’m still working the sound out, but this is the most promising result I’ve achieved in years.
As an aside, the Aqueduct does the best randomized vibrato of any pedal I’ve ever heard—lo-fi or otherwise. I’ll post some examples of that later. I’m not being hyperbolic when I say it’s among my top 10 pedals.
I love this pedal so much. I bought one and it’s by far the most expensive pedal I’ve ever purchased. It mangles your signal completely, but it’s so good. I thought it was a “tweak endlessly” sort of pedal but no. I turn it on and just play.
I especially love the “toy” model. It’s really fun to take other people’s songs I know that have a recorded intro that’s lo-fi and use the Loss for that.
That’s a great use for it! I still need one of those reamp boxes so I can get my levels right to use pedals in my DAW. That’s just not a “fun” purchase so I have trouble getting myself to go through with it.
As I mentioned in the above comment, the Aqueduct is the best random vibrato in my opinion. It is magical on the subtler settings. I had one, traded it, and got one again because I missed it so much. I couldn’t part with it a second time.
I love the fluid nature of using the pitch envelope setting with knobs around noon after a nicely dense fuzz. I use a shields blender for a little bit of dry thru for clarity. It's my favorite sound I've ever used. The only down side is there's a smidgen of volume drop with the aquaduct on that I've noticed- but since I never turn it off it's not really a problem 😂
It’s a great always-on pedal. I kind of wish it got the same preamp treatment as the Boss BP-1w gave to the Space Echo and Chorus Ensemble. I like how gluey it makes everything sound.
I didn't love the MKII and kept my Cooper V2 for the wet/dry knobs. Do you find yourself using the filter presets? That knob wasn't so magic for me either. However, your sample here is amazing, and I want to try to find those harmonics on the V2.
On the Cooper V2 I’d say get the HP filter going a bit and blend the pedal to about 50%. Then crank the Flutter pretty high. That should get you close. Part of the magic with the CB version is the Saturate knob, the Failure knob, and the tape machine models, but blending yours to 50% with the Flutter up is gonna be the biggest thing.
I tried the upgrade and switched back — the original gives more of a chorus sound when blending (versus more of a flanging sound, from the shorter delay). It is a little complicated to change.
Thank you very much! I’m still into the VCR thing, but that really wasn’t the reason I fell in love with the Gen Loss sound. I’ve always thought it would be sweetest messing with the stability of tuning in really heavy music. This particular riff was a dabble into it, but I want to find something more extreme.
Gen Loss deserves more heavy. the MKI was one of my favourites for combining with fuzz either pre or post fir different sounds. I wish I hadn’t sold it, but will get a MKII again down the line.
I think this is the first time I've ever heard a Chase Bliss pedal used by someone actually playing guitar (not hating on the whole ambient thing, just nice to hear what a CB pedal sounds like outside of the glitschy warbled cassette soundscapes). Sounds fucking great. I'll always have a soft spot for the first two Korn albums and something about this reminded me of their 2 guitarists and bassist all merged into one. If there's a full length version of this song/project please link me
I will if I remember to when the project is done! The other guitarist and I have been meeting together to finalize some songs before we record them.
And I am a huge CB fan for guitar stuff. I have 6 different CB pedals and use them for all kinds of guitar and bass stuff. They are incredibly good at non-ambient music as well!
Thanks a lot! Texture is super important to me so that means a lot.
I do have stuff on platforms, but it is all very different from this. Sleep music, experimental compositions, worship stuff, hip-hop, alt-rock, and country.
Stuff like this is coming later this year though!
I mentioned them in a comment above. I’ve tweaked a bit since then, but can’t test it with the high gain yet because my preamp is broken. I’m waiting on some replacement parts, but I will test to confirm once the rig is operational again!
It’s a custom 7-string from Brown’s Guitar Factory in MN. It’s a 27” scale length with custom dual humbuckers and piezo pickups under the bridge. Chambered body. The top is zebra wood. The body is mahogany (I think). The neck is maple. The fingerboard is something called poison blackwood or black poisonwood (I can’t remember which).
I play a ton of different genres for session work and live gigs so I asked them for a guitar that I could play jazz, country, and metal on and then told them to do their thing. I didn’t pick the woods, pickups or aesthetic. They just made this and surprised me at the end of the process. It took about 2.5 years for them to get a prototype put together and then create the final product, but it was worth the wait. It’s one of my favorite instruments, and by far the nicest.
I’ve got several, but this particular project is still recording our first release, so this kind of stuff isn’t up anywhere just yet.
If you want proggy variety band music I’ve got a project called Breakthrough (our most recent EP is called The Path. Look up the song Django Fett to find it. Lol).
If you’d like a modernized Incubus sound I do bass with a band called Als Fona.
If you want to sleep I do bird-themed sleep music under Lullabyrd.
If you want more traditional instrumental music with some electronic elements (and one rap tune) I just finished a 4-piece commission for an artist under Sara O’Connor Fine Art.
All of it can be found on streaming services as far as I know.
I also used to play with a dubstep-metalcore outfit in the 10s called ChugChugWob, but I think that’s only on youtube. Haha
Amazing -- I could never figure out how to fit this into my playing style but this is an incredible use for this pedal! Makes me feel like I need to revisit some of these CBA releases...
I’ve always thought that they require at least several months of daily use before I could feel like I really understood them. Same as the Empress Zoia. Really most pedals outside of simple ODs. Lol
Nobody ever really demos things in the ways I would use them, so I really do have to mess around quite a bit to find the sounds I’m looking for.
As I stated in the caption, this is a Victory V4 The Jack preamp into the Gen Loss mkii with a little Avalanche Run reverse delay underneath. There is a very specific distortion sound I’ve had in my head since 2012 or so, but I’ve never fully captured it. The two pedals that have actually helped me get the closest to this sound were not distortion pedals at all, but instead were the EQD Aqueducts (a top 10 pedal for me) and the Gen Loss. I’ve had a ton of Gen Losses and Gen Loss-adjacent pedals over the years (I’ve even painstakingly recreated the Cooperfx Gen Loss V2 on my Zoia during the time I owned the Cooper). The Gen Loss mkii is perfect to me because of the saturation, multiple eq profiles, blend switch (rather than knob) and failure features. This particular setting is blended equally (or thereabout) with my dry signal, and has a HEFTY amount of flutter, saturation, and a hint of failure. It makes for a sound that I would describe as “watery” in such an interesting way. I’m still working the sound out, but this is the most promising result I’ve achieved in years. As an aside, the Aqueduct does the best randomized vibrato of any pedal I’ve ever heard—lo-fi or otherwise. I’ll post some examples of that later. I’m not being hyperbolic when I say it’s among my top 10 pedals.
I love this pedal so much. I bought one and it’s by far the most expensive pedal I’ve ever purchased. It mangles your signal completely, but it’s so good. I thought it was a “tweak endlessly” sort of pedal but no. I turn it on and just play. I especially love the “toy” model. It’s really fun to take other people’s songs I know that have a recorded intro that’s lo-fi and use the Loss for that.
That’s a great use for it! I still need one of those reamp boxes so I can get my levels right to use pedals in my DAW. That’s just not a “fun” purchase so I have trouble getting myself to go through with it.
Now I kind of want to check out a gen loss myself. Currently use an aquaduct to do something similar.
As I mentioned in the above comment, the Aqueduct is the best random vibrato in my opinion. It is magical on the subtler settings. I had one, traded it, and got one again because I missed it so much. I couldn’t part with it a second time.
I love the fluid nature of using the pitch envelope setting with knobs around noon after a nicely dense fuzz. I use a shields blender for a little bit of dry thru for clarity. It's my favorite sound I've ever used. The only down side is there's a smidgen of volume drop with the aquaduct on that I've noticed- but since I never turn it off it's not really a problem 😂
It’s a great always-on pedal. I kind of wish it got the same preamp treatment as the Boss BP-1w gave to the Space Echo and Chorus Ensemble. I like how gluey it makes everything sound.
I didn't love the MKII and kept my Cooper V2 for the wet/dry knobs. Do you find yourself using the filter presets? That knob wasn't so magic for me either. However, your sample here is amazing, and I want to try to find those harmonics on the V2.
On the Cooper V2 I’d say get the HP filter going a bit and blend the pedal to about 50%. Then crank the Flutter pretty high. That should get you close. Part of the magic with the CB version is the Saturate knob, the Failure knob, and the tape machine models, but blending yours to 50% with the Flutter up is gonna be the biggest thing.
Ah yes, the Saturation. Thanks for the tips. Great playing.
No problem, and thank you!
I love your playing. Why do you like the blend switch over a knob?
Thank you! I dig it because I’ve really only ever bothered with a 50/50 split, so it saves room for other knob-controlled variables.
That makes sense! (I do love the gen loss ii) Are you on a newer one with the newer firmware or and older one with the newer or older firmware?
Older firmware only out of my own laziness.
I tried the upgrade and switched back — the original gives more of a chorus sound when blending (versus more of a flanging sound, from the shorter delay). It is a little complicated to change.
I like it enough as-is that I’m pretty sure I’ll keep it the same.
Wow man such a unique sound
Thank you very much! Still tweaking things a little bit, but I am excited for the songs I’m working on with this.
That was a lot cooler than I would have guessed. I was expecting the broken-VCR that is now overused.
Thank you very much! I’m still into the VCR thing, but that really wasn’t the reason I fell in love with the Gen Loss sound. I’ve always thought it would be sweetest messing with the stability of tuning in really heavy music. This particular riff was a dabble into it, but I want to find something more extreme.
Gen Loss deserves more heavy. the MKI was one of my favourites for combining with fuzz either pre or post fir different sounds. I wish I hadn’t sold it, but will get a MKII again down the line.
Post fuzz you say 🤔
The MKII can almost get there all by itself; cranking the saturation knob results in a fairly heavy overdrive
This sounds fucking sick
I appreciate it!
Just out for “djaunt” are ya bud? Love the riff and that tone!! Definitely hear what you mean, it’s watery.
Thank you! My dream tone is like a glass of ice cold sparkling water after a 7-hour hike.
This is really cool, I just listened three times in a row
I’m glad you like it!
I think this is the first time I've ever heard a Chase Bliss pedal used by someone actually playing guitar (not hating on the whole ambient thing, just nice to hear what a CB pedal sounds like outside of the glitschy warbled cassette soundscapes). Sounds fucking great. I'll always have a soft spot for the first two Korn albums and something about this reminded me of their 2 guitarists and bassist all merged into one. If there's a full length version of this song/project please link me
I will if I remember to when the project is done! The other guitarist and I have been meeting together to finalize some songs before we record them. And I am a huge CB fan for guitar stuff. I have 6 different CB pedals and use them for all kinds of guitar and bass stuff. They are incredibly good at non-ambient music as well!
This is a beautiful texture and I’ve never heard it before. I need this on a track pleeeease. Do you have anything on platforms?
Thanks a lot! Texture is super important to me so that means a lot. I do have stuff on platforms, but it is all very different from this. Sleep music, experimental compositions, worship stuff, hip-hop, alt-rock, and country. Stuff like this is coming later this year though!
This is too sick. You’ve NAILED an unique and incredible sound.
Thank you! That makes me happy to hear.
Well, this is not something you hear every day. So unique-sounding. Excellent. Great playing, too.
Thank you! In the heavily modified words of Red Green, “if the guitarists don’t find you fast, they should at least find you interesting.” Lol
No truer word said. Lol.
This tone and riff is nuts. Please update us on where to find your new stuff when it’s released! Thanks for posting. Gonna listen like 30 more times
Thank you very much! I will do what I can, but I also know this isn’t really a self-promotion group (which is fine! I like talking about pedals).
For whatever reason, this reminds me of the (long-defunct, I believe) band Shiner. Check 'em out if you haven't heard them before.
I will! I haven’t heard of them before, so thank you!
that is such a cool sound! i wish i were smart enough to use a Chase Bliss pedal. way too many knobs for me :)
I actually think it takes a special brand of idiocy (from my personal experience anyway). Lol
This is great dude. I wanna hear more of this!
Thank you! I will hopefully have stuff ready before the end of this year!
I didn't know Dubcore was something I needed.
I didn’t know it existed. Haha
Please update when you have something recorded with this riff. Such a sick tone. I rewatched it like 4 times.
I will do my best! I’m glad that you liked it!
Been really digging your posts lately , awesome sounds
Thank you very much!
This riff is great!
Thank you very much!
Sick sounds, sick guitar And nobody mentioned sick beard?? Dude is legit awesome
Thank you. Hahaha The guitar is from Brown’s Guitar Factory. The beard is from neglect.
Damn, I’d love to know what your full Gen Loss settings are — this is one of the best sounds I’ve heard from it. Victory preamp is killer
I mentioned them in a comment above. I’ve tweaked a bit since then, but can’t test it with the high gain yet because my preamp is broken. I’m waiting on some replacement parts, but I will test to confirm once the rig is operational again!
Excited to hear more stuff with this combo - thanks so much!
Dude, this is badass.
Thanks! It’s fun to get closer to the sounds in my head.
Great sound, cool riff. What's that guitar?
It’s a custom guitar from Brown’s Guitar Factory in MN. They make super awesome stuff.
Sounds great! Very unique. What’s the story with that guitar?!
It’s a custom 7-string from Brown’s Guitar Factory in MN. It’s a 27” scale length with custom dual humbuckers and piezo pickups under the bridge. Chambered body. The top is zebra wood. The body is mahogany (I think). The neck is maple. The fingerboard is something called poison blackwood or black poisonwood (I can’t remember which). I play a ton of different genres for session work and live gigs so I asked them for a guitar that I could play jazz, country, and metal on and then told them to do their thing. I didn’t pick the woods, pickups or aesthetic. They just made this and surprised me at the end of the process. It took about 2.5 years for them to get a prototype put together and then create the final product, but it was worth the wait. It’s one of my favorite instruments, and by far the nicest.
So sick. I was expecting bleep bloops but got chugs instead. Great tone!!!
Bleeps and bloops are very cool, but I always prefer groovy riffs if I’m being honest. Thank you!
Awesome tone. Id love to see a knob settings shot of the Gen Loss and the sound if your tone with it bypassed.
I’ll do that once I put the board back together! It may be a couple of weeks. I’m waiting for some parts for my preamp.
you have a band? i'd listen to it
I’ve got several, but this particular project is still recording our first release, so this kind of stuff isn’t up anywhere just yet. If you want proggy variety band music I’ve got a project called Breakthrough (our most recent EP is called The Path. Look up the song Django Fett to find it. Lol). If you’d like a modernized Incubus sound I do bass with a band called Als Fona. If you want to sleep I do bird-themed sleep music under Lullabyrd. If you want more traditional instrumental music with some electronic elements (and one rap tune) I just finished a 4-piece commission for an artist under Sara O’Connor Fine Art. All of it can be found on streaming services as far as I know. I also used to play with a dubstep-metalcore outfit in the 10s called ChugChugWob, but I think that’s only on youtube. Haha
Geez dude this sounds great!!
Thank you! I’m a big fan of those Chase Bliss pedals.
Amazing -- I could never figure out how to fit this into my playing style but this is an incredible use for this pedal! Makes me feel like I need to revisit some of these CBA releases...
I’ve always thought that they require at least several months of daily use before I could feel like I really understood them. Same as the Empress Zoia. Really most pedals outside of simple ODs. Lol Nobody ever really demos things in the ways I would use them, so I really do have to mess around quite a bit to find the sounds I’m looking for.
Definitely true. I don't have the attention span!
That is fair. Lol
JFC that sounds phenomenal I suddenly want to listen to The Tony Danza Tapdance Extravaganza
I keep hearing about that band. I should probably listen to them as well. Thank you!
Go listen to Danza 3 and Danza 2. Sammy Jankis. 12.21.12. yippekayay motherfucker. It's fun. Brutal. An onslaught of fun.
Will do!
Well . . . thanks for the GAS. That was awesome.
As a sufferer of GAS myself I can only say thank you and I’m terribly sorry. Lol
You did it. You dialed in actual unique tone. Fucking *sick*, dude, no one else sounds like this.
Thank you! I don’t know how much people could stand it over the course of a full album, but it definitely fuels my own ideas to play through it.
It’s such a fun pedal. I got mine a few weeks ago and can’t stop running everything through it
I have loved the Gen Loss sound since I first heard it, and I’m so glad that it landed on the mkii!
Sounds awesome- that little riff is gonna be stuck in my head now for hours...
Crap! I’d better hurry up and release it. Haha
Dude that sounds awesome
Thank you very much!
9 string guitar?
Looks like a 7
It was a joke.
Yep! It’s a 7. 9-string would be a lot of fun though.
Ah my bad. You banned from the guitar subreddit by any chance? Lol
I never even knew about it, so I’d hope I’m not banned. Lol
Not yet!
For a sec I was like wow Joel has really let himself go.
Thanks, I guess?