Here’s what Thorpy say about the Chain Home.
I have a fascination with Vintage Effects however, like a good recipe I often think you can add your own take on things and improve the original. Think of it like adding bacon to a good burger, instantly improved!
So I started to think about some vintage effects and how I could improve them…. the first of the releases in my “Reimagined Series” is the Chain Home. The original Chain Home was the codeword given to the British Radar protection network that was used to locate enemy bombers during WWII. I thought it was an apt name for the pedal because the Chain Home is a Tremolo that repeats your signal using a sawtooth waveform, much like the old Repeat Percussion pedal. However, unlike the old vintage units the Chain Home has much more about it. From the tremolo side, the pedal can go much slower and faster than the original, the depth can be subtle adding an interesting wash to your notes, or it can be as in-your-face as you like, all the time remaining musical.
Tremolo pedals are usually renowned for being quite a quiet effect, the Chain Home however has been setup so that unity is at 0800 on the boost knob, everything thereafter adds more and more volume to boost your signal and there is also an extremely powerful tone control that can make your sound fat or thin depending on your tastes.
The Chain Home sounds incredible as a Tremolo, however wind off the depth, wind up the boost and it is a fantastic clean booster providing a fantastic amount of clean boost to goose your amp with. Add the Tremolo back in and you have a gritty, dirty Trem to get very creative with!
Internally the pedal is immaculately built using premium 1% metalfilm resistors, Wima and Panasonic capacitors, and Neutrik jacks. These are the crème de la crème of the electronics world and when coupled with a robust gold plated PCB and dust sealed potentiometers the recipe is as good as it can possibly be.
This is an ex demo pedal and consequently it does have some very light marks on the chassis.
