Beetronics FX further levels up Phasing via its ingenious new Larva Dual Morphing Phaser

You got to love Filipe Pampuri’s innovative streak - always finding new and interesting spins on different circuit categories. And this time around it’s the turn of the humble Phaser - where Filipe doubles down on the flavour, and allows you to transition and morph between 2 different settings in a variety of interesting ways.

In terms of the layout and topology it’s of a similar nature to the previous Seabee and Zzombee pedals, but much simpler from a control perspective - with pretty much every function fully surfaced and instantly available. The core mechanic is relatively simple, but with all the added extras this takes phasing into a new territory - and makes it a lot more dynamic and more fun.

Controls - Phaser 1 Rate, Phaser 1 Depth, Phaser 2 Rate, Phaser 2 Depth, Ramp Speed, Ramp Shape : Phase 1 > 2 Stay / Phase 1 > 2 > 1 alternating directions / Phase 1 > 2 Momentary with immediate return, Preamp Gain, Resonance, Master Volume, Effect : Preamp / Phaser / Vibee, Tap/Ramp Footswitch (Tap for Tap Tempo / Hold for Ramping), Bypass Footswitch (Double Tap to Flip Phase 1 <> 2 Playback / Hold for Secondary / Alternative Parameters).

Compare to the Seabee and Zzombee this Larva is a much more straight forward pedal - you should be able to immediately pick up on everything it does from my detailed visual.

I love Phasers, and this is a fantastic take within that genre, entirely unique as far as I’m aware, and of course it goes straight on my acquisition wishlist. It’s available from the Beetronics FX Webstore right now - where it goes for $249, Custom Shop Editions are $100 dearer as usual - at $349, while I really like the look of the standard honey-coloured model. I’ve occasionally felt the need to get a Custom Shop Edition as I wasn’t particularly taken by the standard variant - sometimes that was to do with the legibility of the legends. While for this model, the Standard Edition is about as good as it gets already.

There used to be a lot more UK Dealers for Beetronics FX, and indeed there used to be more stock in circulation. While nowadays UK dealers seem few and far between - and we UK consumers are often left waiting long times for stock to materialise. There are none in UK circulation at the moment - with the indication of arrival in 1-2 weeks! Which is a little disappointing.

I would have snapped one up on the spot pretty much. While I have several times in the past gone direct to Beetronics FX, and indeed as I did for my Tuna Fuzz and several others. But it’s a pricey route and you always end up paying quite a bit more than you would from a local dealer.

Note that I’m also hoping that Filipe will eventually make a version of the Abelha in the same enclosure size as the Beetronics standard series - a la Larva, Seabee and Zzombee! The Abelha is just a little too long to be practically useful for me!

I’m certainly aiming to get one of these in by the end of the month - we will see how feasible that turns out to be over the oncoming fortnight. The Larva will be my 12th Beetronics pedal.