Hard to imagine, it has already been a year since this Source Audio Tourbox was first announced; these pedals have traveled countless miles, traversed the United States more than a few times. With their journey coming to an end, many thanks to the folks at Source Audio for allowing me to participate on what might be their final stop before returning home. With spring just around the corner, like a picture reminiscent of an Easter Egg basket, these vibrant and colorful pedals were delivered to my doorstep

Taking a quick step back to fully appreciate the concept and practice of Tourboxes (as shared in a previous Tourbox thread of mine), at the end of any particular tour, both the builder and the public are treated to a comprehensive review where, with each stop along the way, the pedals are tested in very unique environments, spanning a vast selection of gear, personalized playing styles, and across the entire spectrum of musical genres. It has been fun to watch this Source Audio Tourbox progress, and we have been treated to some great insights and analysis along the way.

[The Final Thoughts | First]

For those who like to skip ahead, I thought I’d save you some time ….

The Source Audio One Series Pedals are solid options across the board; ones which I could easily and highly recommend for TGP members. With great sounding effects, solid build quality, an astute control scheme, along with the ability for future upgrade/enhancement, they are well worth the suggested retail price, if not more. The Neuro App, while a bit rough around the edges, shows some true potential and, honestly, I would consider it an added bonus but not a necessity for day-to-day use and enjoyment of the pedals.
​Having the opportunity to engage in a direct compare/contrast of each Source Audio pedals to some well-respected counterpart/alternatives, I’m happy to share that they easily hold their own ground in sonic benchmarks while often providing additional editing options through their on-board controls. Further, and thanks to their digital nature, users are given the ability to create presets and share them with other users (very much like TC Electronics’ TonePrint feature). For my particular review, I wanted to focus on the pedals ‘As presented’ and/or ‘out of the box’, leaving the App-based editing as an additional bonus – not a feature to be reliant on.

[ The Testing Platform & Counterparts ]

To share a bit about the testing platform with which I demoed these pedals, what follows is some quick information about my gear/setup along with some notes about my musical interest.

Guitars: Les Paul Studio | Fender HM Strat Amplifiers: Quilter MicroPro 200-8 & Quilter Mini 101
Effect Chain: Guitar → Phase 90 -> Barber Tone Press (light compression w/ 50% blend) → Barber Gain Changer (light gain setting when used), → Iron Bell → Musket → MXR Analog Chorus → < Insert Source Audio One Series Pedal here > → Eventide H9 → El Capistan → Flint → Ditto X2 → AMP(s)

As for my musical interest, I generally stay comfortably within a mix of Blues, Classic Rock, and Reggae (think: Floyd, U2, Marley, Cash). Specific to the use of overdrive, I tend to keep things mild using the effect as a boost while adding a bit of bite to the tone.

[The Gemini Chorus]

Out of the three pedals included in this tourbox, the Gemini Chorus was the pedal I was most excited to work with. Having conducted an exhaustive search last year for a classic yet affordable chorus pedal, taking into consideration the limited amount of time I engage the effect, I ended up with the MXR Analog Chorus (see my thoughts and review here: NPD: MXR M234 Analog Chorus | The unheralded workhorse of chorus pedals.) The Gemini Chorus had definitely caught my eye but was not yet available at the time of my search and, while my thoughts about the MXR Analog Chorus have not changed, I now believe that I most likely would have chosen the Gemini Chorus.

Within seconds of unpacking the pedal and engaging the effect, with most of the knobs at their default ‘Noon’ setting, I was treated to the classic, warm and subtle, chorus sounds we all know and love (well, at least that some of us love.). In comparison to the MXR M234, its core voice does not have the same emphasis of mids most often associated with analog modulation but, I’ve chosen to specifically not describe this characteristic as ‘lacking’ as I do not see this as a negative; just a personality trait of the Gemini. The tone knob spans a full spectrum of EQ range, from dark and moody to very bright and HD-esque. In turning the tone knob clockwise, some ‘white noise’ is gradually introduced but not unexpected (think: amplifying/boosting of higher frequencies.) Perhaps better described, the added sound feels like the presence of a very ‘live’ signal. My preference is to leave the [Tone] set at just around 11pm on the dial and, in dry/wet signal comparison, the effect is pretty transparent with respects to the EQ characteristics.

A strength of this pedal, as shared by the others in this series, is the depth of the on-board controls. Beside the standard [Depth] and [Rate], the Gemini also provides [MIX] and [TONE] dials. A common theme in many of my gear purchases and subsequent reviews, the versatility and adaptability of the pedals is of great importance; how it plays with my other gear (guitars, pedals, and amps) along with the range of effect. The [Tone Control], in this particular, case, really helps to make the chorus effect highly adaptable, especially when switching between the tonal properties of the Les Paul and Strat.

The Gemini provides the user to switch between three different chorus types: [Classic], [Dual], and [Quad]. While I believe my preference is to leave on the [Classic] setting, I always feel ‘tempted’ by the other choices for their unique personality traits. The [Dual] mode feels a bit deeper in richness, the bass frequencies a bit more present. The [Quad] settings portray a bit more subtle of effect on the surface (not as pronounced) and yet, there is a very nuanced phaser-ish swirling of motion happening just beneath the waves.

A quick note of comparison: Since I had the capabilities, I did compare the Gemini Chorus to the Chorus Algorithms of the H9, and found the Gemini to be 1) a have a bit richer EQ range and representation, 2) easier controls, and 3) more meaningful options. To that last point, while the H9 has some a great many, and very deep, controls/attributes that can be tweaked in their Chorus, a lot of them (and or the combination between them) just do not seem as valuable to dialing in the right core chorus sound. Not to sound like a broken record, but just with the controls on the face of the Gemini, the range of effect was so vast and yet it only took seconds to dial in the desired sound.

[Digging Deeper via the App … and other related thoughts]

As shared above, I view the Neuro App and finite editing controls as and added bonus; giving the user endless ability to tweak what is already, out-of-the-box, a great pedal. While I come away from this tourbox with a very positive opinion of the Source Audio Series One Pedals, if there is some room for improvement, it would be found with the App & Editing capabilities. When compared to other app/hardware-combo pedals (think: the Eventide H9 Control App or the TC Electronic Tone Print Capabilities), I found the Neuro App to be a tad bit rudimentary; lacking a bit of polish. Some of my more detailed concerns, as shared directly with the Source Audio Rep. (certainly some of which is personal preference):

• In exploring/looking for configuration options, I think there could be some better placement and organization. Specifically, I was looking to adjust the pedal I/O configuration to Mono-In –> Stereo Out. As is, this setting is found under the presets, not the global pedal settings. As I shared, its not like I will re-patch my pedal every-time I switch between the chorus types on the pedal face.
• There was a lack of visual cue/response that the pedal was communicating correctly with the App/mobile device. When I went to save a setting or preset, I wasn’t quite sure it had worked until I tested the pedal and could hear the difference.
• To this last point relating to the App, and I don’t hold this against Source Audio, but I could not get the Android version on my phone to work, which added to some confusion in trying to solve the stereo I/O changes, but when I switched to the iPad, it worked right away.

A final thought on implementation (and possible improvement thereof) as it relates to I/O settings and routing. Without getting into details and/or brainstorming, I just would share for consideration that this particular aspect of the Source Audio One Series might be ‘flushed out’ and refined a bit more. The only reason I really had to use the app was that, by default, the pedal would not route (when disengaged) Mono-In –> to –> Stereo Out. I had my drive pedals feeding into the Gemini and then, from that point, feeding in stereo to my delays and reverbs. It caught me off guard that when the Gemini was disengaged, one whole side of my signal was cut. Further testing shows that the Gemini was only feeding Output 1 to the H9. With the quick help of Source Audio, I was able to get everything sorted but I was left feeling that this should have been more automatic/seamless.

[The Vertigo & The Flint | A quick compare & contrast]

I would not portray myself as a Tremolo Aficionado; my experimentation with the effect first began in the spring of 2015 with the arrival of my Quilter MicroPro. At the start of this year, my use of tremolo was expanded when I purchased the Strymon Flint; a pedal I obtained primarily for the reverb offerings while considering the Tremolo as an added bonus. I was certainly excited to explore the full capabilities of the pedal and it has since become firmly secured to my board (click here for review).

The Source Audio Vertigo, in my opinion, is on equal footing with concerns to the sonic quality and basic characteristics of the effect. While each pedal has some uniqueness in their personality/voice, these differences are very nuanced. Much like the Gemini Chorus, the Source Audio expands on the most common on-board tremolo controls by allowing the user to control the shape/nature of the wave form. Like the Flint, the Vertigo provides three different tremolo types – the harmonic tremolo remains my favorite setting in providing a warm, smooth & subtle movement.

As shared in another thread (link here), if asked to compare and contrast the two pedals, I believe the difference comes down to approach, implementation, and depth of the controls. The Source Audio Vertigo is focused on giving the user full control over all aspects of the tremolo effect through the on-board controls in combination with the Neuro application. The Flint in comparison is focused around a theme based on the classic pairing or reverb and tremolo, providing access to both effects or combination thereof, in one pedal, with a key feature being able to change the routing order between the two. Beyond what’ available on-board there is no further editing capabilities.

Reflecting on the Source Audio Vertigo, by being just a Tremolo pedal, one’s reverb needs can then be addressed based on their taste and any countless number of pedals available on the market. Taking these observations into consideration, I think the choice between these two particular pedals comes down to how one wants to implement the tremolo effect and what their needs are with respects to reverb; all while factoring in available pedal space. Based on how highly I think of the Flint, that should convey a very positive reflection of my opinion of the Vertigo and enjoyment thereof in testing it out

[The Lunar & The Phase 90 | A quick compare & contrast]

By this point, you should see a very common thread throughout this review; sonically speaking, the Source Audio Series One Pedals strides side-by-side with their well-respected counterparts. The Lunar Phaser is no different.

As seen in the picture above, I have a Phase 90 on my board; one with the script mod to help make the pedal a bit warmer, reduce mid-boost distortion, and generally more subtle. The Lunar Phaser, very easily, is able to dial in the same ‘voice’ as the Phase 90 but with a bit more clarity (lacking any mid-boost distortion). Not to sound like a broken record, but like the Gemini and Vertigo reviewed above, the Lunar Phaser gives one so much control and variations of the effect on-board (this before we even think of the Neuro App.) The [Shape] control give us control over the LFO wave form which generally translates to the wave being smooth and/or choppy. Via the switch, we can choose between a Vibe settings, 4 Phase, or 8 Phase setting – each having some unique characteristics; all sounding good.

[Conclusion]

My review focused on the pedals from an “as is, out-of-the-box” experience, but it would be foolish not to highlight the fantastic potential and future expansion built-in to these pedals thanks to the Neuro App/Control Software along with the firmware updates. Throw-in an additional external switch option and the possibilities are really endless. In many ways, these pedals are like blank slate; just load your favorite preset and rock on. The build quality seemed solid, although it takes time to make a judgment call of durability. For what its worth, this might be the last stop of a one-year tour across this country and the pedals are still working great. While some people may not place a priority on physical appearance, I think the pedals have a very nice color and finish, with a very clean presentation of the controls.

Taking all of the observations shared above, if I was in the market to purchase a new Chorus, Tremolo, or Phaser, the Source Audio Series One Pedals would certainly be among my top considerations. For those currently in a search of their own, I highly recommend that you check these out.

Perhaps it was destined, with the ‘Box-O-Brit’ Tourbox arriving to my house just a few days before Christmas that, out of the four Pedals included, my favorites would be Red and Green in color. Given the available choices, the odds seem stacked in my favor. Just a few weeks prior, I enjoyed the opportunity to participate in the Bearfoot FX USA Edition Tourbox providing me the unique experience to demo/compare all eight pedals. As I would share similar thoughts of the overall experience, including specific information about the Testing Platform, please visit my review of the BearFoot FX USA Tourbox.

TESTING PLATFORM

There have been some light changes to my gear setup over the Holidays, specifically with the Pedalboard and such. Pictured below, the effects chain is as follows: Guitar -> MXR Phase 90 –> (Moves left to) –> MXR Chorus –> (Up to) –> Strymon DIG –> (moves left to) –> Ditto X2. For purposes of testing, I swapped out the Iron Bell for the various Bearfoot FX Pedals.

While I enjoyed all of the pedals, there were two standouts: The Emerald Green Overdrive & the Dyna Red Distortion.

Emerald Green Overdrive

From Led Zeppelin to the early days of U2, these are just a few of the tonal references that came to mind when playing through this pedal on my Les Paul. Suffice to say, the Emerald Green Overdrive was my favorite pedal of the bunch. In many ways the Emerald Green OD unequivocally captured the classic American Blues sound but repackaged it with a fun british accent. Pictured with my favorite settings (above), I tend to like my overdrives set a just on the cusp of break-up but, in this particular case, I enjoyed having a bit more rawness/grit/bite in the Gain setting helping to provide some classic lead tones. Overall, the pedal had a very articulate voice, a bit mid-focused, with both the bass and treble, while adjustable, ever-present but a bit more subdued (think: loud but with flat response). As I just shared that both ends of the EQ are adjustable, it should be noted that one can really boost the bass higher than the incoming signal when the dial is turned all the way to the left. Best described, the image of a seasoned blues singer with a well-nurtured raspiness in their throat thanks to years of smoking, a hint of nasalness in their register, belting out some powerful blues in a dark bar …. this would be the Emerald Green Overdrive.

DYNA RED DISTORTION

The images of Slash, circa 1989, rocking the chords of Paradise City, standing in front of a stack of Marshalls, comes to mind when the Dyna Red Distortion is engaged. It felt like a very versatile pedal with a great range of drive and a ton of potential uses — a range and response very ‘Amp-Like’. On my prefered settings (pictured above), the Dyna Red provided some “controlled” and organic distortion (read: did not feel overly processed and layered on), a touch of highs, mids present but not overwhelming, and the bass frequencies with enough oomph for one to feel the vibrations …. As I have now come to expect from the Bearfoot FX pedals, they provide a solid ‘inspired voice’ as a foundation and then on-board controls to sculpt the EQ as needed. The pedals that I enjoyed most really handled the lower overdrive settings perfectly but had enough strength to enhance the bite when needed.

SUMMARY

I would first like to express my Thanks to Musica23 for organizing these Tourboxes; it was a great opportunity to compare, contrast, and explore the tonal offerings and nuance therein from a wide-variety of pedals from Bearfoot FX. I had no familiarity or experience with these pedals or manufacturer beforehand so it truly was a learning experience.

In having read and written my fair share of pedal reviews and posts over the past few years, I thought that, as a participant on this tour, I would try to keep things a bit simple by conveying sonic images that others can relate to, primarily through the use of analogies. To this effort, I hope that I succeeded.

Looking back at the experience, I was impressed with all of the pedals but certainly some resonated with me much more than others. As highlighted here, I truly enjoyed the Emerald Green Overdrive and the Dyna Red Distortion. From the USA Inspired overdrive tourbox, the Sparkling Yellow Overdrive 3 and the Model G were the standouts.

To conclude, the fun thing about Tourboxes is that we all enter this exercise with our own interests and style, gear and configurations, and the feedback shared provides a unique and comprehensive review like no other.

INTRO

With the savory reminders of a delicious Thanksgiving dinner fresh on the mind (and taste buds), a little white box arrived at my doorstep filled with fun treats for my listening pleasure and experimentation – “Hello Bearfoot FX Tourbox – Winter 2015 Edition – USA”.

Since joining the GearPage.net, the Tourbox exercise has piqued my interest. The concept is simple yet, one that can provide a wealth of information. At the end of any particular tour, both the builder and the public are treated to a comprehensive review where, with each stop along the way, the pedals are tested in very unique environments, spanning a vast selection of gear, personalized playing styles, and across the entire spectrum of musical genres. In embracing this idea, after a week of playing around with the selection of USA inspired overdrives as provided by Bearfoot FX, I have focused this review to share my insights and thoughts on the Model G and the Sparkling Yellow Overdrive 3. All four pedals were solid in their performance but, if there were two that could end up in my effects library come 2016, the Model G and the SYOD3 spoke directly to my interest and desired tones. I have no doubt that many others will find preference and speak more about the Honey Beest and Uber Bee.

THE TESTING PLATFORM

To share a bit about the testing platform with which I demoed these pedals, the following is information about the gear/setup along with some notes about my musical interest.

Guitars: Les Paul Studio | Fender HM Strat Amplifiers: Quilter MicroPro 200-8 & Quilter Mini 101 (used for testing w/ headphones)
Effect Chain: Guitar → Barber Tone Press (light compression w/ 50% blend) → Barber Gain Changer (light gain setting when used), → Insert Bearfoot FX Pedal here → MXR Analog Chorus → Strymon DIG → El Capistan → Ghost Echo → Ditto X2 → AMP

As for my musical interest, I occasionally might rip into some Master of the Puppet riffs but I generally stay comfortably within a mix of Blues, Classic Rock, and Reggae (think: Floyd, U2, Marley, Cash). Specific to the use of overdrive, I tend to keep things mild using the effect as a boost while adding a bit of bite to the tone.

The Sparkling Yellow Overdrive 3

The Sparkling Yellow Overdrive 3 is the Cafe Cubano of Overdrives. With just the smallest of portions, one is provided with an instantaneous boost of energy and clarity. While in the midst of morning fog, with the click of the pedal, the guitar’s tone is lifted up and out becoming much more articulate — like the rays of sunshine bringing clarity in the morning hours. My favorite settings (as pictured above), had the VOLUME set to give the signal a slight perk, the GAIN providing a hint of breakup dependent on the attack and dynamics, the LOMID setting adding a touch of warmth while tightening the bass, and the treble ever so slightly lifted. Specific to the two tone controls, it was my experience that when both set to 12pm on the dial, it had a very neutral EQ response/adjustment in tone. As I turned up the Treble, it felt more like a mix of boosting the higher frequencies while increasing presence — almost providing an HD clarity to the tone. As for the LoMid, while providing some saturation of both low and mid frequencies when turned fully to the right, I found that the control flattened out the mids and bass levels in parallel which I would better convey as “tightening” the frequency responses resulting in a bit more percussiveness.

If there was one suggestion or critique I would have, it is found with the voice switch (knob). The differences, while there, were perhaps a bit too nuanced to have justified the switch. That said, any control that adds further refinement can always be welcomed — perhaps if it was in a toggle format, visually it would have vibed more for me.

To conclude, the Sparkling Yellow Overdrive 3 is a fantastic tone-sculpting overdrive that, like a strong espresso, adds a bit of spring to the step, some clarity and definition to notes, and some warmth and tightening of the tone. The control scheme gives the guitarist some targeted controls to shape the EQ response and amount of bite making the impact as subtle or aggressive as one desires.

The Model G

The Model G … it was randomly picked as the first pedal out of the box and, being honest, like a kid overwhelmed with excitement on Christmas morning, I played with it for just a few minutes before quickly moving on to see what other pedals I could demo; there was just too many toys to choose from for me to truly appreciate what I already had in front of me. It was not until I had given all of the other pedals a full tryout before I returned to the Model G — what a welcomed surprise.

As others have shared, the Model G felt, thanks to its response, the most ‘Amp Like’ than the other pedals in my opinion. While I have never had the opportunity to have played one of the amplifiers that the pedal takes its inspiration from, when the the tones of my guitar rang out, it was not hard to imagine playing through some sort of 70’s, Blue-Collar, grit-behind-the ears, a bit of rust and patina starting to show … Blues,Rock, and Soul Gibson Amp. It just captured that Vibe so perfectly. If the SYOD3 was the ‘Cafe Cubano’ of the pedals, the Model G was the ‘El Camino’ of the bunch; a bit of style and comfort on the front-end with some hauling power and flexible utility functions in the backend.

As pictured above, my favorite settings, I was able add to touch of boost, a saturated wash of mids (think: warmth), the bass tightened a bit (70’s funk anyone?), and the mids-to highs punching through with a slight compression for clarity. The Model G was very responsive to dynamics and, set just at the edge of breakup, enough distortion would creep in to remind us that we were riding in that ‘El Camino’ and not some hoity toity luxury car. From Detroit, to Chicago, to New Orleans, this pedal spoke the language of Blues, Southern Rock, Funk, and Soul. It ended up being my favorite with this Tourbox.

When stacked with the Barber Gain Changer (light overdrive setting) feeding into this pedal, the Model G responded perfectly and sounded fantastic. The Model G had this powerful but refined growl.