I have become full basement: Chase Bliss Mood MKii

[Jaguar018]

Well guys... I am at a point where I can afford to impulse purchase pricey effects pedals. My playing background is all 90s indierock. When I really got into pedals I found I liked the 'set and forget' kinds more than the complex ones.

Knowing my days on stage (and there were never too many to begin with) are over, it's pretty much 100% basement. With that in mind I got this pedal and I am struggling a bit. My feeling is that you really have to twist the knobs to get some cool sounds out of it. I wish the knobs had a detachable section I could put somewhere else so that I don't have to haunch over the pedal the whole time. There are some really neat sounds but it's all this atmospheric ethereal loop stuff. It also seems limited with loop speeds if that makes sense. I haven't done a deep dive on the manual to confirm it, but I suspect it's more of 'notch' setting for certain knobs as opposed to a smooth gradient.

So I can't say I'm totally surprised that I'm not totally in love and 'inspired' because these pedals aren't exactly my cup of tea to begin with. It's cool and I want to figure out how to use this thing better-- but I'm still a little up in the air with it.

[ryland]

I'm a bit of a Chase Bliss fan and absolutely love the MOOD. Work through the manaual and watch a few youtube videos to see what it is capable of. While it is basically an ambient looper, there's a lot you can do with the dip switches on the back and presets to make it much more than a notch setting. I've worked it into more fast-paced music with some prodding...

[i love sharin foo]

I've watched some videos of that pedal in the past. It seems really cool, as is a lot of other stuff they make. I always feel overwhelmed by things with too many options though. I know myself pretty well by now and probably wouldn't have the determination to really get to use it well.

[Dr Tony Balls]

This has nothing to do with the usefulness or sound of the pedal but JFC why would you put a toggle switch next to two stomps?!? Asking for problems, imo.

[crazyzeke]

Chase Bliss do wickedly good boutique oddball pedals, in an ideal world I'd have dozens of them as well as another dozen Death By Audio to live with them.

I think they're more niche due to being (not always but sometimes) weird takes on existing staples which are fun and unpredictable, a riot when you're on your own. At gigs and some rehearsals though, unpredictable ISN'T fun Basementing is a good use case for cool weirdness boxes.

What I never liked about certain kind of loopers is how hard it is to get an in-time loop, whereas with the Digitech JamMan XT stuff it actually helps you loop by making the start and ends match the beat even if you stop recording before the end of a bar, it's magic, and makes songwriting where you play a progression and then write a sympathetic progression over the top (or just solo I suppose) a lot quicker to work with.

---

Having just Google Image searched for the MOOD, how on earth did you get the cool hyperspace paintjob? Is that a custom order?



Found this along the way too, I want it because and although I've just realised, they missed a trick there - if it were called ZX SpecDrum it'd be cheesy wordplay par excellance and the logo could fit perfectly in the rainbow stripe

[Jaguar018]

Why would you put a toggle switch next to two stomps?!? Asking for problems, imo.

I see that as an issue for two types: aggressive pedal stompers with small feet and the types that do it barefoot or with socks on. My feet fall into the fairly standard size range and the toggle switch is considerably less 'tall' than the stomp switches. I'd guess it isn't really much of an issue for most people, like me, who just do their low impact noodling-- but there are probably a few good horror stories as well (for this pedal it's a toggle to go between saved settings).

What I never liked about certain kind of loopers is how hard it is to get an in-time loop, whereas with the Digitech JamMan XT stuff it actually helps you loop by making the start and ends match the beat even if you stop recording before the end of a bar, it's magic, and makes songwriting where you play a progression and then write a sympathetic progression over the top (or just solo I suppose) a lot quicker to work with.

Yes. I don't like the loop-timing thing too much, but maybe I just need to get more familiar with it. I think a lot of Chase Bliss pedals will reward the users that take the time to understand it. I'm not a player that needs or wants to sync it to a midi clock and wire it up to my (non-existent) stereo rig. BUT even with my more simple needs and set up it's probably unfair for me to just throw up my hands after flailing around for a total of two or three hours. There are all sorts of ways to get cool loopy sounds and with a little more experience I think I could find better settings and techniques.

Having just Google Image searched for the MOOD, how on earth did you get the cool hyperspace paintjob? Is that a custom order?

This is the "Light Bright" version of the pedal. Which is the damn reason I 'had' to buy it. I am very firmly in the camp of aesthetics-- especially when it comes to gear. I saw a few pictures of this version of the pedal and could not resist-- neither the original version or MKii's color schemes had much appeal.

[crazyzeke]

Emily Hopkins and friend Vines making some video game soundtrack style ambience with the MOOD very much a part of it

[crazyzeke]

This is the "Light Bright" version of the pedal. Which is the damn reason I 'had' to buy it. I am very firmly in the camp of aesthetics-- especially when it comes to gear. I saw a few pictures of this version of the pedal and could not resist-- neither the original version or MKii's color schemes had much appeal.

It's so cool! I love it. In an ideal world all pedalboards would be rainbow coloured, including mine. It's why it's pleasing seeing certain combinations of BOSS pedals done well.