Every once in a while, a company comes along that makes unique, interesting, and inspiring effects that may fly a little bit under the radar, but that should be celebrated. That's the case, in my opinion, with Collision Devices.
I first heard about Collision Devices by way of their expansive ambient pedal, the Black Hole Symmetry. I was taken in by its layout and sleek look, but then upon hearing it, knew that it was a total game changer. The BHS combines delay, reverb, and fuzz. The delay section comes equipped with modulation which you can blend into your repeats for lush, moving, tones. On the reverb side, you can pitch shift your reverb tales with extra control over the mix of that pitch, and dwell out your decay to a whopping fifteen seconds. The one knob fuzz is a signal destructor that is beautiful for huge walls of sound when mixed in, or it can be used on its own for girthy fuzz tones.
BHS is often referred to as a "Swiss Army Knife of ambience" as it gives the user so much control over each parameter, but it don't be fooled into thinking you can only use it for ambient music. Because you can use each parameter separately, the BHS is really excellent for a desktop setup, for music production, or for adding extra effects to your analog synth. It sounds great in all cases. Here's a demo by our friend Stefan Fast of The Pedal Zone so you can hear it for yourself.
Collision Devices also offers The Ranch, which is a super versatile and dynamic boost, drive, and tremolo pedal. Again, they nail the aesthetic. The Ranch has a walnut enclosure that is covered in red Pinatex, a faux leather produced from Pineapple leaves, which makes it look warm and inviting.
Again, you can use the effects separately here, or combine them all for a biting touch-sensitive overdrive with a lush dynamic tremolo. Personally, I like to use this in line with the BHS to add tremolo to the already dynamic reverb. It's also great because you can use the bright control in the boost to tone shape the the fuzz from the BHS to give you a little more control over the otherwise one-knob effect. Check out this demo from Collision Devices, and make sure to watch 'til the end when they combine both pedals together.
So what's next for Collision Devices? Well, recently they launched a limited edition run of an exciting new effect called Nocturnal, which again combines three effects; modulated delay, dynamic tremolo, and shimmer. As of now, these pedals are super limited and can really only be found on the used market if you're lucky, but if Collision ever decides to add it to their full lineup, you can bet we'll have some!
Thanks for reading! We have both the Black Hole Symmetry and The Ranch in stock for you to stop by and check out now, but you can also find them on our website, of course. There are a ton of good demos out there, too, if you want some more info, or you can take a deeper dive into the tech specs of each pedal on the Collision Devices website.
As always, thanks for hanging!
-Buddy