A futuristic take on an old reverb type.

A few weeks ago, our Latvian friends at GameChanger Audio kindly sent us the LIGHT pedal for review. To be honest, I only knew that it was a glorified spring reverb pedal with some crazy technology behind it but as I did more research, I was blown away by this project and as I was playing sounds through it I loved it even more.

So what is the LIGHT pedal?

The LIGHT pedal is an analog spring reverb, meaning it actually has a real spring inside, that uses infrared optical sensors to capture the spring’s vibrations created by an input transducer that works as a spring exciter. This works in conjunction with an output transducer that picks up the signal on its way out of the spring but since a lot of information is lost in the way the optical sensors capture a lot of harmonic content and frequencies that otherwise would be lost.

In simple terms, the pedal is an enhanced spring reverb. It does what a standard spring reverb would do - sound going in the spring which is excited and then the sound going out of the spring into a pickup to hear the effect. But the optical sensors work as a photoelectric pickup and capture way more of the effect adding it to the spring’s sound. Well, maybe that wasn’t that simpler after all…

The LIGHT pedal is such an innovative analog pedal that looks extremely cool and at the same time sounds like nothing else. Its uniqueness makes it a category of each own since it would be unfair to compare it to a regular spring unit or pedal.

So let’s have a quick walkthrough of its controls:

Dry - Spring - Optical: There are three independent controls for your mix. The dry knob determines how much of your dry signal will pass through, the spring knob is the volume of the spring reverb, and the optical is the volume of the optical signal. This is quite flexible since you can have any type of combination of your dry signal and the two effects.

Tone: The tone knob will only affect the spring and optical signal but not your dry tone. As expected, it goes from dark to bright.

Drive: The drive knob is responsible for feeding your dry signal into the spring tank. To hear any reverb at all, you’ll need to add some drive so that the springs receive sound. It can also get into distortion territories as you crank the drive to its max but it’s not too harsh and it’s usable in every setting.

Gate: The gate knob has two functionalities. To the left it reacts as a gated reverb, meaning you’ll only hear the reverb when your sound is played. Very useful for drum sounds. To the right, it creates a ducking reverb so the reverb is audible only when your dry signal is low. That creates a separation of your dry tones and the reverb and it help’s your original sounds, sound clear, and stand out in a mix.

Mode Selector & Ctrl: The LIGHT pedal has 6 modes and the control knob (ctrl) reacts differently to each one.

Optics: The Optics mode is a somewhat manual mode where you use the ctrl knob to select which optical sensors are been used. Each sensor produces a slightly different timbre and texture so by scrolling through with the ctrl knob you can find which combination sounds best for your instrument’s sound.
Sweep: Sweep is a mode where the optic sensors are constantly moving and you can set the rate of this movement by adjusting the ctrl knob. Consider this as an LFO that goes back and forth swapping the sensors and creating different timbres each time. The sound difference between each sensor pair is quite obvious so in this mode, you’ll get a lot of movement and rhythmic effects.
Trem: As its name implies, Trem is a tremolo mode where the sensors are turned on and off and with the ctrl knob you can set the rate of the effect. Once again, this is a very interesting effect that adds rhythm to your sounds.
Reflect: Reflect is, in a sense, a delay. The signal is fed back to the springs multiple times creating a lofi, dark delay. Ctrl controls the delay rate and while you can’t have a very long delay, it actually sounds like a broken, dark analog delay.
Feedback: Feedback is quite wild. It makes the spring tank self-oscillate and can get pretty harsh and uncontrollable. It adds a lot of distortion and feedback sounds that can get loud so it should be used with caution.
Harmonic: Lastly, the Harmonic mode uses a special circuit that creates overtones and harmonics. The ctrl knob sets the central frequency and you can use the mode to create analog shimmer effects. Like everything on the LIGHT pedal, don’t expect a classic shimmer reverb you’ll find on plugins or other reverb pedals. The tone knob is also very useful in this mode as you can control the brightness of the harmonics. This one is one of my favorite modes. I’m not a big fan of shimmer reverbs, but in this case, the effect is something I’ve never experienced before. It takes some tweaking to get the sound you want but once you dial it in, you'll have a one-of-a-kind rich shimmer effect.

A new kind of effect?

The thing I love the most about the LIGHT pedal is that it does everything in its own way. All the effects we mentioned above, have been done a million times but the LIGHT pedal does them all in a unique and fresh way. To my ears, it sounds like a completely new effect type. I often talk about the character of a piece of gear and in this case, the LIGHT pedal’s character is over the top. Taking some basic effect concepts, and combining them with cutting-edge analog technology results in an innovative, completely new thing that magically transforms sounds.

When I first got my hands on it, I thought that it would be just another reverb with some fancy lights, but I ended up being amazed by its incomparable and special sound. It is a big, solid-built, industrial-looking pedal that introduces you to something new and uncharted. I ended up playing all sorts of sounds through it for experimentation, drums, vocals, synths, acoustic instruments and everything sounded weirdly beautiful/ Sometimes the hollowness that comes from its reverb resulted in some ambient and cinematic results, and sometimes it sounded like harmonic texture beneath my dry sounds.

A love child

As I was researching for this review, I watched the short documentary GameChanger Audio posted on YouTube, documenting the making of this pedal which I highly suggest you go and watch too even if you’re not considering buying one. Realizing that this project was made by Teodors Kerimovs, a 23 years old engineer blew my mind.

Watching the documentary, you can clearly see Teodors’s passion and urge to create something new and unique but also not thinking about sales and marketing gimmicks. He wanted to invent something new. Something that no one has done before that would also enable musicians and producers to experiment, create, and get inspired. That is what “loving what you do looks like“ and that is translated to this pedal. A love child that was made with hard work by Teodors and the team at GameChanger Audio, a visionary approach, and thoughtfulness.

I will borrow his words from the documentary that stuck with me and moved me even more:

For me personally, the project is not done yet. It will be finished when all the guys around the world will get it and they will give some kind of feedback. And if they will be happy with the pedal and the pedal will inspire them to create new music, then I will think it’s finished.

Conclusion

The LIGHT pedal is a remarkable pedal. Something completely fresh and forward-thinking. A pedal that pushes the boundaries of what it can and can’t be done and introduces a new type of reverb. It may not be your go-to reverb for any type of sound, but it can be very useful when you’re looking for something interesting and inspiring.

We need more people like Teodors and more companies like GameChanger Audio in the music industry. People that are visionaries, don’t compromise and love making instruments and gear for musicians. People that put their creative side above their business side and deliver products made with care and love.

The LIGHT has its own sound and voice, which may not be your thing, but it certainly is a step forward and a successful effort to innovate and inspire. So give it a try when you can and I’m sure you’ll feel the same way.