Gamechanger Audio: Plasma Pedal

You want crazy? We got crazy. Straight out of Latvia, it’s the Gamechanger Audio Plasma Pedal! This might be one of the most unique distortion pedals we’ve ever encountered. It’s hard not to notice the vibrant electrical charges shooting through the Plasma Pedal’s tiny window, turns out there’s a whole lot more going on under the hood. Unlike typical distortion pedals it does not use transistors, or clipping diodes, but rather a unique process that converts your signal into electricity, then back out as sound. It’s a science experiment of a pedal and we love it. You have to hear it, to believe it!

Photo credit: Rogue Guitar Shop

In Nick’s words the Plasma Pedal a total science experiment. The converted audio input hits a transformer in the pedal which passes through a tube filled with Xenon gas (which is how you get the sweet electricity visuals) which then gets output. There are a lot of pedals out there that have pedals and lights as gimmicks, but the Plasma is all legit. It’s super cool to trip out on how the Xenon reacts to different frequencies, you can get lost just watching how your playing effects the electricity.

Sonically, it’s a really great distortion with a clean noise gate. It’s more of an electrical “buzz” than it is a distortion, it’s very unique. The EQ parameters can give you plenty of treble and for the bass players, plenty of low end. Pair it with some modulation and you’re pushing some synth tones, pair it with a synth and you might end up on a different planet.

We might be living in the golden age of effects pedals and Gamechanger Audio definitely lives up to their name. Never in our wildest dreams did we think we would run into an effect like this. Don’t sleep on them!

-Juan