Gamechanger Audio Bigsby Pedal: The ’50s guitar vibrato as a pedal?
A Bigsby in a pedal
Gamechanger Audio first announced its Bigsby Pedal back during Winter NAMM 2020. The vibrato-shaped pedal is now finally available to order, starting June 21, for $379. But what exactly does it do?
Gamechanger Audio Bigsby Pedal
By now, many guitar players will be aware of Gamechanger Audio, thanks to the company’s slightly leftfield pedals that really do stand out from the crowd. Well, their latest creation, which looks accordingly bizarre, uses a proprietary pitch-shifting algorithm focused on lower-interval pitch bends to replicate the classic Bigsby vibrato system. Called simply the Bigsby Pedal, this new effect even looks like a Bigsby aesthetically!
It is an official collaboration with Fender/Bigsby, so it had better sound good. The pedal features a spring-loaded foot controller, with custom-moulded metal parts to give it that old ’50s vibe of the original vibrato system.
It even looks like a Bigsby! · Source: Gamechanger Audio
All the old vibrato and more
According to the company, these pedals sound indistinguishable from the real thing. It also has Whammy pedal-style octave shifts and divebombs on offer, plus an interval range from a quarter-tone to a full octave. Way more than what a regular Bigsby could ever achieve. You also get a pitch-shift direction which can also be inverted with a dedicated INVERT switch.
Gamechanger Audio Bigsby Pedal · Source: Gamechanger Audio
Controls
The pedal has controls for Blend, Depth and Rate, all of which light up when the pedal is turned on. Though we don’t know all the details yet, you can see there are more controls on offer, subtly hidden in the promo shots on the main website.
This Bigsby Pedal does look pretty stunning, and the company is teasing that audio demos will be imminent. For now, you can check out the prototype which was shown back during Winter NAMM 2020 in the videos below.
RRP – USD 379
UPDATE 29 June
Finally, we get to hear the Bigsby Pedal in action!
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Gamechanger Audio Bigsby Pedal Information
NAMM 2020 Video of prototype
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2 responses to “Gamechanger Audio Bigsby Pedal: The ’50s guitar vibrato as a pedal?”
Phenomenal design. How about the sound?
Yeah… They are keeping this one close to their chest. Hopefully, we will get audio demos soon and I’ll add them to the article. I like my Plasma Pedal a lot, so this should be good (in theory)?