Ranges
Explore the topography of cascading gain Stages
Ranges
Why hello there fellow tone seeker! Join me as we begin a new quest today. A quest for gain, because whether we want a little or a lot, we all love gain. Even the cleanest of clean guitar tones requires a touch of gain to bring out its character, distinction, and dynamics.
It’s what we need. It’s what we crave.
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Our journey for gain brings us to the Ranges. Its wide breadth of sonic topography cascades through multiple stages that can be shared, tuned, and catered to whatever your gain needs may be. Trek to the highest peaks or rest in the valleys. The choice is yours, fellow tone traveler.
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Be it a glassy preamp tone enhancer or a smooth and responsive overdrive. How about some crunchy classic rock to bring the thunder? Or even downright face-melting, head-thrashing, chugga chugga metal. It’s all here. It’s all in the Ranges.
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The Details
Ranges is a drive pedal. Where 3 finely tuned gain stages flow into each other to create a breakup that is (dare I say it) "Amp-like". Yeah, I went there. As one would expect in an amp-like pedal, you get a 3-band eq, presence, gain, and of course volume. Plus, each of the switches shapes the tone, changing its character and voicing. Sometimes it's subtle and sometimes quite noticeable. Ah… but there is even more. There is a “More” switch. What does it do? It adds one more. Gain stage that is, for a total of 4 gain stages. 'Cause sometimes, you just need more. Yes, what we'd like to do is put you in a position to have as many as four gain stages working right underneath you.
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Unlike most amp-in-a-box pedals, this one is not a redesigned preamp and power section of any amp scaled to pedal form. Though I do love those pedals and I studied them thoroughly when designing this, I wanted to do something different. Ranges works well with a variety of guitars and amps and gives you that amp character without trying to be a specific amp. You already play through an amp, so unless that amp is just a power amp with no character, it will impart its own character on your sound. Let’s enhance that character with lots of range (get it?) to cover whatever drive you might be looking for.
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The first stage is a tuned operational amplifier with some fun tweaks to bring out some more textures. This is followed by two (optionally 3) additional JFET based gain stages sandwiching a 3-band eq. The other switches shape the tone throughout the pedal so you can tune it to a variety of amps and guitars.
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Each of the 6 JFETs are tested and selected for optimal performance in the circuit and each pedal is hand build with high quality components here in my Garage in Redlands, California.
Controls
Volume: Controls the output volume of the pedal.
WARNING!!! This pedal is LOUD. Start low and slowly bring it up. Unity might be at 10 o’clock depending on your settings and guitar. WAT?! is not responsible for any amp, speaker, or ear damage that this pedal might cause.
Presence: A lowpass filter at the end of the circuit that allows for controlling the top-end sheen to the overall tone.
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Gain: It’s what we are here for... it’s what we crave. Take it from clean boost to full bore distortion and anywhere in between.
3-Band EQ: Bass, Middle, and Treble controls are there to shape your tone. Boost the mids, scoop the mids, cut the bass, thump the bass, make it bite, make it warm. It’s all there. Be aware that these controls interact with each other. We also highly recommend tuning these controls as you adjust other settings.
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Bright: This switch controls the amount of high end that enters the rest of the circuit after the first gain stage (very helpful if you play a dark sounding guitar).
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Down = Standard
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Up = Bright
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Voice: This controls how frequencies are amplified in the first stage, either fuller or more focused. Use this in conjunction with the Tight switch to really fine-tune your tone. Think of this control as a way to optionally cut some low end at the beginning of the circuit.
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Down = Full frequency amplification
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Up = A more focused sound as lower frequencies are amplified less resulting in a brighter, more biting sound
Tight: This control changes how the frequency is shaped after the first gain stage… kinda. It also controls how the high end reacts as you increase the gain.
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Down = Thicker and the highs are more saggy
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Up = Tight with crisp highs
More: Because sometimes you just need more. More adds another gain stage. This combined with the gain control really makes Ranges live up to its name. Try More with the Gain set low. It sounds good.
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Down = 3 gain stages
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Up = 4 gain stages
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LED brightness adjustment trimmer inside by the foot switch
***Power with 9 Volts only! Higher voltages will damage the pedal!***