Xploration • Curation • Recommendation
A cool Black and Lavender Edition of the Somersault Lo-Fi Modulator completes my Caroline Guitar Co. Analog Modulation Trifecta
I kind of fluked this one in scoring one of the limited 100 run Black and Lavender edition Somersaults from June 2019, in specific #72. Someone was selling a pristine version on Ebay - listed as being a ’Dark Blue’ edition! - where it’s quite evidently the Black and Lavender one in pretty much perfect condition.
I was hoping to score either the Black and Lavender or the Gear Hero Cosmic Purple Sparkle Editions - I put the Black one on my watchlist, and was made an offer I could not refuse!
The story is the same with all of the Caroline Guitar Analog Modulations - they’re all beautifully musical, warm and lush sounding, and with fairly extended range - with still a somewhat streamlined control topology.
What makes this Chorus more of a Lo-Fi Modulator is the unique Offset control - which allows you to draw the Wet signal further away from the dry signal - a little like a Warp or Detune knob, but seemingly its own thing.
At its core is a very classic Chorus and Vibrato Modulation, but with that extra range that delivers more of those Lo-Fi sounds - and can also take you into Faux Rotary style outputs. While I rarely get that excited about Rotary when it’s not fully doppler-enabled immersive spatial stereo!
Controls - Dry>Wet Mix, Wet>Dry Offset Time, EQ : Bright / Dark, Waveform : Triangle / Square, Depth, Speed.
As with the Arigato and Pawnshop Parabola - you get instant satisfaction with all the dials at noon. Philippe has done a wonderful job of calibrating his modulations in a sort of Boss startup style - so that you are able to hit peak satisfaction territory straight out of the box.
I'm really glad I finally latched onto these Caroline Guitar Modulations - they are almost ecxactly as I would have calibrated them - and they're totally set up for instant satisfaction.
You get warm lush gorgeous shimmery modulation tones with all of those. I still probably have an extra soft spot for the first of these that crossed my path - the Arigato Phaser.
I'm delighted to have now secured the full set - and in these editions. The Arigato is the only one I have stock - and it's perfect in that apricot colourway. I Would have liked one of the symbols on the Parabola to be full colour - as that one's kind of the odd one out pattern-wise - of that trio.
Each of those pedals deliver hidden extras, and I particularly enjoy using the Havoc Footswitch on the Tremolo - for a little fluttery accent every now and again - I think that works particularly well.
Obviously the Arigato and Parabola were brand new, while the Somersault was second-hand, but well looked after.
The Recommended Presets
I feel that all the 4-Preset Sheets that came with those Modulations are a perfect sampler for each pedal's core capabilities - while I always start off with all dials at Noon, and then typically extended the Depth a touch for more flavour.
I'm not particularly a fan of subtle modulation - I more subscribe to the JAM Pedals full-flavour philosophy - which indeed you also get with these pedals.
For the Somersault you get superb classic and lo-fi Chorus and Vibrato profiles, and the pedal also delivers a very usable faux rotary.
For whatever reason this one wasn't as immediate for me as the Freqscene Koldwave Chorus - but both are excellent really and cover quite similar territory. I always quite like having a further warming preamp with my modulations - while the Somersault puts out its modulation at a decent level of output volume.
All in all a really commendable pedal. The Somersault is great, but possibly the Arigato and Pawnshop Parabola are a little more special for me. It's early days though, and I'm sure I will warm up more towards the Somersault - the more time I spend with it. Right now the Arigato is my favourite of the 3, followed by the Pawnshop Parabola, and with the Somersault the final runner-up - but by fractions really.
I feel you can't really go wrong with any of these.
The Somersault Lo-Fi Modulator currently goes for $219 and comes in Standard Light Blue Edition or Dark Grey Asteroid Edition with different knobs. If I had not landed the Black and Lavender edition, I would have sought out one of the few remaining Gear Hero Cosmic Purple Editions. If you check Reverb.com and Ebay now it's really just a sea of light blue!
You can read more on the Somersault on the Caroline Guitar Co. Website, including a piece on the Black and Lavender Edition.
Demos
