Electronic Audio Experiments releases Bard overdrive pedal

January 1, 2024 · 1 sources

Electronic Audio Experiments released the Bard in January 2024, listed on the maker's site as V1, the initial release¹.

The maker describes the Bard as an homage to the Music Man HD130, an amplifier it says was manufactured from 1974 to 1984 and combined a solid state preamp with a tube power amp¹. The pedal's circuitry, per the maker, resembles a classic 1960s American amplifier reimagined with op amps in the place of tubes¹. The maker states that clean tones are clear and sparkly with a gentle midrange dip from the passive tone stack, that increasing Drive delivers medium gain sounds with a glassy edge, and that at the highest Drive settings the op amps distort in a way it calls unapologetically not tube-like¹.

Controls are Level, Drive, Low, High and a Bright/Normal switch¹. The maker gives the Low control about 15dB of range below 300Hz and the High control approximately 15dB of range between 1kHz and 4kHz, and states the Bright/Normal switch changes the treble contouring of the Drive control, making no discernible difference at maximum drive¹.

The Bard is listed at $199.00 and marked temporarily unavailable on the maker's site¹. The maker states its pedals do not accept batteries and recommends a regulated, isolated power supply rated for 100 mA minimum¹. The maker also states the Bard began as an open source DIY project, that the design was substantially modified for production, and that the original PCB will be available through its DIY portal in February 2024¹.