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Automatone CXM 1978 Reverb Pedal
by Chase Bliss Audio


£899.00

Currently out of Stock


Description

The Chase Bliss Audio Automatone CXM 1978 Reverb Pedal was developed with Meris to recreate the revered Lexicon 224 reverb in a pedal format with studio quality sound, versatility and ease of use. It has unique reverb time control, stereo in & out, 30 on board preset slots and all parameters controllable by MIDI.

Like the Lexicon 224 the pedal has visually intuitive slidable faders for Bass and Mids reverb time, Crossover, Treble, Mix and Pre-Delay, and Chase Bliss have added their 'arcade' style switches on the front of the pedal to set the reverb type and for in depth sound shaping (the switch LED colour will match the text on the pedal to show you which option is currently selected). The faders can be adjusted either manually or through presets, when selecting the next preset the tone changes instantly and the motorised faders jump to that preset's saved position, the vertical position of the fader on the front of the pedal gives a clear visual reference for the current settings allowing you to quickly and easily check and change things on the fly. The faders for Bass and Mids set the decay time of their specific frequencies (0-362 Hz and 362-1700 Hz respectively) and the Cross fader controls how much of the bass and mid frequencies are sent to the reverb with everything above the fader going to the mids and everything below going to bass (so with the fader at the bottom of the travel and a large space above it, all the mid frequencies will go through to be affected by the reverb, with the fader at the top and a large space below it, all the bass frequencies will go through and no mids making a dark reverb). The Treble fader controls the amount of treble in the reverb tone, it is important to note that Bass, Mids, Cross and Treble all affect the total reverb time, with treble at minimum the reverb time will still be quite short even with Mids and Bass at maximum. The Mix fader adjusts how much reverb is mixed in with the dry signal and the Pre-Dly fader adds an adjustable amount of delay before the reverb starts.

The Type arcade switch selects the reverb types as follows:

  • Room, a lively and direct character, great for transforming static sounds into something with a natural sense of place
  • Plate, fast and dense with a flexible character, plate tends to be agreeable and easy to blend in
  • Hall, a large space with a medium build up of reflections, well suited to ambient walls of sound, deep rumbling bass caverns and ethereal upper mid halos are easy to create

The Diffusion switch changes the initial attack of the sound as well as some special features for certain reverb types:

  • Low has no change to the attack, in the hall mode there are additional delay taps around the attack of the reverb
  • Med has a softened attack (best heard on percussive sounds with a short decay)
  • High introduces regeneration to the pre-delay along with an extremely softened attack, the effect is dependent on the pre-delay time, lower settings produce comb filtering (flange) or very dense reflections, higher settings yield distinct echoes like a delay.

The Tank Mod switch sets the amount of modulation in the reverb:

  • Low has a subtle, organic liveliness to the reflections
  • Med has slow speed and moderate depth for chorus like movement
  • High has fast speed and low depth for rotating speaker Leslie inspired overtones.

The Clock switch sets the fidelity and length of the Pre-Dly fader control:

  • HiFi is a clean, modern take on the reverbs of yesteryear, with a low noise floor, 48 kHz sample rate, 32 bit input resolution and 42 ms max pre-delay
  • Standard is closest to the Lexicon 224, pleasantly flawed and limited by the technology of the time, 24 kHz sample rate, 16 bit input resolution and 168 ms max pre-delay
  • Lofi is a fluid setting that can introduce a variety of textures from subtle digital sparkle to overt filtering and degradation, the higher the pre-delay fader the more the sound quality falls apart, 48 kHz - 2.4 kHz sample rate (variable), 16 bit input resolution, 1.7 second max pre-delay.

Presets can be recalled via the Preset footswitch, this toggles through 10 presets per bank (numbered 0-9, the current preset is displayed by the LED in the centre of the footswitches) and holding the footswitch will select between the three banks (30 preset slots in total). The Jump arcade button lets you quickly skip to either preset 0 or 5 from any preset and you can also create a subset within a bank so when jump is active the Preset footswitch will scroll through your desired number of presets before returning to 0 or 5 (e.g. if you have a preset for a verse tone in slot 0 and then a preset for a chorus tone in slot 1 you can set the pedal to cycle between just slots 0 and 1 when pressing the Preset footswitch).

The Chase Bliss Audio Automatone CXM 1978 Reverb Pedal has a 1/4" EXP input jack for a TRS expression pedal or control voltage (for CV use a TRS cable with the ring floating), any of the faders can be controlled by the expression pedal and this can saved per preset or as a global setting (e.g. you could have mix be adjusted by the expression pedal across all presets), there is also a 1/4" AUX input jack for use with the Meris Preset Switch (not included), this can be used to either recall presets 1-4 on each bank or can be set to hold a reverb infinitely. There are stereo input and output jacks and MIDI in and thru jacks and all parameters are controllable by MIDI e.g. engage/disengage the pedal, recall up to 30 presets, move faders and change the arcade switch selection. The pedal also has the ability to have either unbalanced or ultra-low noise balanced inputs and outputs. Phew, thanks for sticking with us to the bottom of this description, here at Glued to Music we think this reverb is pretty incredible and we wanted to try and do it justice without you having to read the manual, the features list below sums up the pedal in a slightly shorter way.

Features

Innovative and versatile pedal based on the revered Lexicon 224 reverb with studio quality sound
3 Main reverb types: room, plate and hall with multiple ways to further sculpt the sound
3 Banks of 10 preset slots for 30 available preset slots on board
Visually intuitive faders control bass and mids reverb time, crossover, treble, mix and pre-delay
Adjust faders manually or through presets (motorised faders jump to that preset's saved position)
Bass and Mids faders set the decay time of their specific frequencies
Cross fader controls how much of the bass and mid frequencies are sent to the reverb
Treble fader controls the amount of treble in the reverb tone (also affects total reverb time)
Mix fader controls the ratio of dry to affected wet signal (amount of reverb)
Pre-Dly fader adds an adjustable amount of delay before the reverb starts
Diffusion switch changes the initial attack of the sound as well as some special features
Tank mod switch sets the amount of modulation in the reverb
Clock switch sets the sample rate and input resolution and the range of the pre-delay fader
Jump switch quickly skips to either preset 0 or 5 from any preset and create a subset within a bank
Stereo input and output jacks
1/4" Input jack for TRS or CV expression pedal control of any faders either per preset or globally
1/4" AUX input jack for use with the Meris Preset Switch (not included)
MIDI in and thru jacks can control all parameters e.g. recall presets, move faders, change switches
Switchable between unbalanced or ultra-low noise balanced inputs and outputs
9 V Power jack (no battery connector)
Made in the USA

Tech specs

Width 146 mm (5.8")
Length 165 mm (6.5")
Height 64 mm (2.5")
Power Draw 500 mA
Manufacturer Part Number Automatone CXM 1978
UPC-A 703355294963

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