Chase Bliss is a Minnesota-based company that makes high-end electronic audio processors, known as
effects pedals, used for the electric guitar, synthesizer, or for manipulating audio in a
recording studio
A recording studio is a specialized facility for sound recording, mixing, and audio production of instrumental or vocal musical performances, spoken words, and other sounds. They range in size from a small in-home project studio large enoug ...
.
History
Chase Bliss was founded in 2013 by Joel Korte
Anoka, Minnesota.
The company is named after the founder's brother, Chase Korte, who died in 2007 after his car was struck by a drunk driver; and a favourite quote of Chase's, "Follow Your Bliss" by
Joseph Campbell
Joseph John Campbell (March 26, 1904 – October 30, 1987) was an American writer. He was a professor of literature at Sarah Lawrence College who worked in comparative mythology and comparative religion. His work covers many aspects of the ...
.
Pedals
Chase Bliss released the Warped Vinyl, its first pedal at the end of 2013.
The company's pedals contain multiple circuit boards and are manufactured in Minnesota and California. ''Premiere Guitar'' wrote of the pedals that they, “are notable for their kitchen-sink approach—analog guts, digital brains, multiple knobs and toggles, and a bevy of DIP switches—with no parameter left untweakable.”
Each has an analog signal path, controlled by digital microprocessors.
Bands that have used his pedals include
Nine Inch Nails
Nine Inch Nails, commonly abbreviated as NIN and stylized as NIИ, is an American industrial rock band formed in Cleveland in 1988. Singer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, and producer Trent Reznor was the only permanent member of the band ...
,
A-ha
A-ha (usually stylised as ''a-''h''a''; ) is a Norwegian synth-pop band formed in Oslo in 1982. Founded by Paul Waaktaar-Savoy (guitars and vocals), Magne Furuholmen (keyboards, guitars and vocals), and Morten Harket (lead vocals), the band ...
,
Soul Asylum
Soul Asylum is an American alternative rock band formed in 1981 in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Their 1993 hit "Runaway Train (Soul Asylum song), Runaway Train" won the Grammy Award for Best Rock Song.
The band was originally called Loud Fast Rule ...
, and
Radiohead
Radiohead are an English rock band formed in Abingdon, Oxfordshire, in 1985. The band consists of Thom Yorke (vocals, guitar, piano, keyboards); brothers Jonny Greenwood (lead guitar, keyboards, other instruments) and Colin Greenwood (bass) ...
.
In addition to the Warped Vinyl pedal and its predecessors, several other pedals have been produced by the company. In 2014 they released the Wombtone phaser pedal, in 2015 they released the Gravitas and the Spectre flanger pedal. In 2016 the company then released the Tonal Recall delay pedal.
In 2017 the company released the Brothers pedal.
Additionally, in 2018 they released the Thermae delay and harmonization pedal, and the Condor analog EQ pedal.
Stompboxes
Most Chase Bliss units are in the familiar stompbox format, playing off of the tradition of effect pedals being in a rectangular chassis designed to be toggled by the musician's feet. Similar to guitar pedal giant
BOSS
Boss may refer to:
Occupations
* Supervisor, often referred to as boss
* Air boss, more formally, air officer, the person in charge of aircraft operations on an aircraft carrier
* Crime boss, the head of a criminal organization
* Fire boss, a ...
, Chase Bliss tends to fit their different units into the same chassis, providing a format that is unique to their brand.
This format consists of 6 knobs, 4 toggle switches, two foot-switchable buttons, an input, an output, CV/
expression pedal input, and
MIDI
MIDI (; Musical Instrument Digital Interface) is a technical standard that describes a communications protocol, digital interface, and electrical connectors that connect a wide variety of electronic musical instruments, computers, and re ...
input. Another feature unique to Chase Bliss are the
DIP switches at the top of the stompbox. These are used to change, automate, or reverse the values of knobs.
In January 2019, at the 2019
NAMM Show, Chase Bliss revealed their plans on releasing the first of a new line of pedal format that they called the Automatone, called the Preamp mkii, a collaboration with
Benson Amps.
Notable Users
*
Tycho: Dark World, Thermae, Condor, Warped Vinyl, Tonal Recall, Brothers, Gravitas, Wombtone
*
Ed O'Brien
Edward John O'Brien (born 15 April 1968) is an English guitarist, songwriter and member of the rock band Radiohead. He releases solo music under the name EOB.
O'Brien attended Abingdon School in Oxfordshire, England, where he met the other mem ...
(
Radiohead
Radiohead are an English rock band formed in Abingdon, Oxfordshire, in 1985. The band consists of Thom Yorke (vocals, guitar, piano, keyboards); brothers Jonny Greenwood (lead guitar, keyboards, other instruments) and Colin Greenwood (bass) ...
): Tonal Recall RKM
*
John Mayer
John Clayton Mayer ( ; born October 16, 1977) is an American singer, songwriter, and guitarist. Born and raised in Fairfield County, Connecticut, Mayer attended Berklee College of Music in Boston, but left and moved to Atlanta in 1997 with ...
: Tonal Recall, Warped Vinyl
*
Kid Koala
Eric San (born December 5, 1974), aka Kid Koala, is a Canadian scratch DJ, music producer, theatre producer, film composer, multimedia-performer and visual artist. His career began as a scratch DJ in 1994. Kid Koala works with genres as eclectic ...
: Condor
*
Tony Berg: Brothers, Tonal Recall, Warped Vinyl, Dark World, Thermae, Mood, Condor, Gravitas
References
{{reflist
2013 establishments in Minnesota
Guitar effects manufacturing companies
Anoka, Minnesota