Bananana Effects

That philosophy runs through the whole range. Where most builders start with a familiar effect and refine it, Bananana Effects starts from an idea that does not have an obvious precedent, such as a delay that reverses itself on every feedback pass or a glitch pedal that loops the phrase you just played. The company says it is happy if its products stimulate your creativity and help you make the future of music¹.

The pedal range

The current lineup covers six pedals, most of them built around pitch, synthesis or sampling rather than traditional gain or time-based effects⁴.

Quimera: a real synth in pedal form

The Quimera is the brand's flagship for players who want synthesizer sounds without putting the guitar down. Bananana Effects describes it as "A real synth, in pedal form," a guitar-to-synth pedal with a main oscillator (OSC A) and a sub oscillator (OSC B), plus a filter, envelopes, effects and MIDI⁴⁵. It re-synthesizes the input in real time rather than layering a traditional effect on top of it.

Control goes beyond knobs. The manual describes an EXP IN jack for an expression pedal, with EXPRESSION ASSIGN pages that register up to four parameters to control with an expression pedal, and a MODWHEEL (CC1) ASSIGN that registers up to four parameters for MIDI Mod Wheel control⁵. Because the Quimera contains digital circuitry, the manual recommends an isolated output power supply, noting that daisy-chaining power with other pedals may introduce noise⁵.

Tararira: a sequence-driven pitch shifter

The Tararira combines an arpeggiator, pitch shifter and sequencer in one pedal⁴. RockBoard's PedalPedia entry notes that because it is basically a pitch-shifter, it fits all kinds of musical instruments and microphone inputs, not just guitar, and that it carries 27 scales with 3 editable scales the user can configure¹¹. An expression pedal opens up a different way of playing it: connected to the pedal, it sweeps step-by-step through the sequence's pitches, functioning as a sequence-driven pitch shifter under foot control⁶⁷.

Mandala and the rest

The Mandala is a multi-functional glitch pedal with eight modes, including multi-speed playback, pitch shift, square wave sound, and a delay that automatically samples and loops the previous phrase when triggered by a break in the input sound⁹. The Aurora is a delay pedal with eight modes allowing flexible control over pitch, speed and playback direction; its Cascade Reverse mode reverses the playback direction of the sampled sound each time it feeds back into the pedal, and the maker says it enables experimental and radical sounds³. The Abracadabra shimmer reverb is described by the maker as completely unable to produce natural reverberation, taking unrealistic reverberation as its concept¹⁰. For bass players, the Matryoshka is a bass synth pedal⁸.

Ordering, shipping and support

Bananana Effects sells direct through its own site and also through local dealers³¹⁰. On the direct side, the Tararira product page lists free shipping, with the price shown for Japan domestic shipping only⁶. Questions are handled through a contact link on the support page².

For tracking, the support page provides a form where you enter your order's tracking number. One practical note from the maker²:

Warranty and returns

Bananana Effects offers a one year warranty on any of its products². The company will repair or replace defective products, but it does not accept returns for any reason². That is a stricter policy than many builders, so it is worth knowing before ordering direct from Japan.

The warranty has listed exceptions²:

• Damage caused by natural disasters such as fire, lightning, flood or earthquake
• Consumable parts, such as jacks, switches, pots, the enclosure or vacuum tubes, unless the failure came from a defect in materials or workmanship
• Any product that has been opened or previously repaired by unauthorized persons

The user pays shipping expenses if any arise during a warranty claim².

The range (9)

Questions