Freqscene's take on one of the most sought after Boss pedals of all time - the Slow Gear. The automatic volume swell effect provides a violin like attack and is perfect when paired with a delay or reverb. Their version of the infamous circuit further improves upon the design, adding compression, a volume control, and a range to fine tune your swells. From Freqscene:
Modifications from original Boss Slow Gear:
- The biggest mod is that I put in a complete compressor circuit added in before the swell circuit. I stumbled across this idea by trying a compressor pedal in front of my Boss Slow Gear and noticed that it increased the sustain and smoothness of the swell. I also figured since you might not use the swell effect all the time, this gives you an excellent compressor to use on your pedalboard when not using the swell effect. Just turn up the sensitivity control all the way to disable the swell effect, and adjust the compression and volume knobs to use the Slow Life like a normal compressor pedal. I’m SUPER happy with the compressor circuit I put in here. It’s a diode compressor, inspired by the Rothwell Love Squeeze, a compressor designed simply to sound right with guitars, without any bizarre “pumping” effects and without much added noise. Low level signals can be raised by as much as 20dB without boosting high level signals, so when used in front of distortion - either in a pedal or an amp - leads lines can be fattened up without chords sending the distortion into mush.
- Range control added to slightly increase the speed of release over the original (I could only do so much within the restraints of the original cirucit). The short swell speed is a common complaint from users and this is a fix that gives you a little longer swell times if desired. It works in conjuction with the Attack knob.
- Volume knob added to attenuate the volume added by turning up the compression.
- True Bypass switching. The original had BOSS’ buffered bypass that can affect your tone when the pedal is off.
Compress fully CCW, Range fully CCW and Volume fully CW is a “stock” vintage BOSS Slow Gear.
Tip: using your fingers instead of a pick can really strengthen the intensity and smoothness of the auto swell effect.
- Uses a standard BOSS style 9V centre-negative power supply (no battery clip). Do not run any higher than 9V to prevent damage. Standard 100ma power supply will be more than enough.
- A silent relay switch system has been deployed. Quieter and longer lasting than standard mechanical pedal foot switches.
- Designed and built with love and attention in Vancouver Canada in small batches.
