Xploration • Curation • Recommendation
Chase Bliss announces August Order Window for Small Batch Release of new Bad Mood variant, and new Lost + Found Colourway variety
Key Points
Chase Bliss announced an August Small Batch order window for a Bad Mood variant and a new Lost + Found colourway. Orders run until the end of August, with mailing-list links required. As of August, the price was £403 (€469); US customers pay $399.
Bad Mood shares Mood II’s Micro-Looper / Modifier core but uses rougher, rawer banks: SOUP synthetic reverb, RELAY abstract repeater, FLIP chordcaster, BURST loop sequencer, RADIO shortwave looper and MASK loop disguiser. It adds Lost + Found’s ’Glue’ and new ’Cross’.
The writer prefers Xtreme Red to Black Ink and may wait for the next batch.
This month has had a plethora of interesting releases - where there are just too many worthy pedals to get them all - you need to prioritise and make your choices therefore. I’m still waiting for my Big Time to land - I’m hoping sometime during August, there’s a few Kickstarter projects I’m involved in that should be landing then too - but you never really know until those actually cross your threshold.
I already have the original Green Colourway Lost + Found, where Chase Bliss is making something of a habit of having prettier follow-up batch designs - it’s happened a few times now - when you’ve thought to yourself you wished you’d held off a little longer! Of course the die-hards just buy everything Chase Bliss - but I have to share the love across several hundred different brands, and while I often get discounts - pedal acquisitions each month have a high cost to them for me - and there’s only so much to go around. I’ve not had any discount help from Chase Bliss - bar for the Mystery Box project - and a typical €469 / £403 outlay is a very significant amount (obviously more than twice that for the Big Time!) - especially as I’m already committed to the just released MXR Textures which sits in a similar category!
So there’s a lot of priority juggling all the time - and trying to fit in the most salient acquisitions within the monthly outlay. As I’m still waiting for the Big Time and Mentha Works Monk Echo to land - the new Timeline MX needs to take something of a back seat. Same goes for the recent AC Noises Continua - where I’ve only relatively recently landed my Purr-ting in the same sort of category, and have already committed to the Bleak District Orbits as the next one on after the Purr-ting.
Even at this incredibly early stage - I’m largely already fully committed for August, so the timing on this Small Batch is not great for me or my wallet. I would probably have preferred to wait out for this black colourway edition of the Lost + Found. And for the Bad Mood I much prefer the Xtreme Red edition to the Black Ink variety.
Both look kind of cool - but the Xtreme Red for me sits more nicely within that category.
The Bad Mood has the same core as the Mood II, but with entirely different rougher and rawer Modifiers - it is quite distinct from the smooth ambience of the Mood II - where how you operate the two with the same set of key controls will be very similar. It’s still a Micro-Looper / Modifier at heart and functions in much the same way. So it’s not really worth going into the full details again - there are some differences, and new options to go with the new modifiers - but the main story here is about those totally different Left and Right Banks of 3 Modifiers, which are described as below.
The Bad Mood has several innovations as mentioned - these include a new version of ’Glue’ (as first appeared on the Lost + Found), and the brand new ’Cross’ - both of those help you degrade and texturise your signal further.
The New Modifiers
Left-hand Modifiers
SOUP SYNTHETIC REVERB
SOUP is a spectral reverb that resynthesizes your playing. It analyzes and recreates whatever passes through it, creating unnatural ambience that is a distant memory of your instrument. Use it to explore impossible spaces and synthetic dreamscapes, or to remake your instrument completely.
TIME = Decay Time | MODIFY = Character > More Synthetic
RELAY ABSTRACT REPEATER
RELAY is a delay that doesn’t fade out. Unlike a traditional delay where you control the amount of feedback, Relay lets you select a precise number of repeats that each share the same volume. You can think of it like a sampler that's always recording, and each sample can be repeated a chosen number of times.
TIME = Delay Time | MODIFY = Set Number of Repeats
FLIP CHORDCASTER
FLIP is a pitch shifter that creates layered harmonies to support your playing, but allows you to spread the different notes across time. It can be used for everything from pitch shifting to chordstacks to harmonic sequences.
TIME = Inter-note Lag Time | MODIFY = Harmonics - 4ths / 5ths / Octaves ±
Right-hand Modifiers
BURST LOOP SEQUENCER
BURST mode takes your loops and turns them into rhythmic patterns of up to 8 steps. These patterns dynamically react to your instrument when in playback, to create randomizing 'fills' when you play along.
LENGTH = Step Pattern / Speed | MODIFY = Envelope Sensitivity
RADIO SHORTWAVE LOOPER
RADIO mode is its own little world. It contains five distinct loopers that take the same recording and interpret it into different genres spread across various stations. You can scan freely between the stations, introducing interference and combining the different loops.
LENGTH = Station Parameters | MODIFY = Station Scanner (Tape > Ambient > Orchestral > Shoegaze > Dance)
MASK LOOP DISGUISER
MASK is a noise-sensitive mode that takes the loud parts of your loop and turns them into something new. Any sound over the volume threshold is changed in a way of your choosing, giving you a musical push and pull as the mask turns on and off.
LENGTH = Mask Character | Modify = Mask Threshold
Final Remarks
You basically have until the end of August to place an order for any of those 3 pictured pedals - for us Europeans they are €469 (£403), and for USA customers the usual $399. You need to be on the mailing list to get the links for those Small Batch Editions - I'm not sure I'm allowed to post those links yet - so I will just post up the main site URL - www.chasebliss.eu/pedals - where those pedals will surely appear by the end of the priority session - whenever that is! You should definitely be signed up to the Chase Bliss Mailing List in any case!
There's so much going on at the moment - that I've kind of decided as of writing this - that I will probably hold out until the next batch of the Bad Mood - although you never know how the month will turn out (August). As I said - I already have numerous commitments for that month and fiscally would be a little more than exposed if I tried to go for all those great pedals that have launched in July!
I'm sure the diehards will be straight in there - under different circumstances I would be too, and If I hadn't already committed to the MXR Textures it would probably make more sense - but the budget is already well beyond stretched - it would simply be imprudent for me every which way. So one for another day therefore alas!
Launch Demos
