Chase Bliss opens Reverse Mode C preorder in Small Batch Bliss series

August 5, 2025 · 4 sources

Chase Bliss has opened orders for the Reverse Mode C, a delay pedal made in collaboration with Empress Effects, through the month of August¹. The pedal is the first release in the company's Small Batch Bliss collection, a made-to-order line¹.

Chase Bliss describes the pedal as a "Multidirectional Delay" with three echo voices that can be isolated or blended, plus a sequencer that cycles between the voices¹. The company says the circuit is a celebration of a mode on the Empress Superdelay, released in 2008¹. MusicRadar reports six main knobs: Time, with a maximum delay of 4.19 seconds; Offset, which separates the delay times of the three voices; Mix; Balance, which sets the volume of the three voices; Feedback; and Filter, a low and high-pass filter². It also reports 16 dip switches, a three-way modulation toggle, a modulation type toggle and a sequencer toggle, and says holding the Bypass footswitch doubles the sample rate for a maximum delay of 8.38 seconds².

Chase Bliss lists six modulation types: frequency shifting (x2), vibrato, chorus and tremolo (x2), syncable to the delay time or free-running¹. The pedal is true stereo in and out with mono splitting, and offers MIDI (PC, CC, clock sync), CV control, expression control, external tap, tap tempo, trails, analog dry thru, two presets and true bypass (mode dependent)¹. It runs on 9V DC center negative at about 270 mA¹.

MusicRadar gives the price as $399². Gearnews, writing in July 2023, also gave a preorder price of USD 399 and said orders had to be placed direct with Chase Bliss before August 31³. MusicRadar said the pedal would be discontinued after that date and might return in a future batch with a revised enclosure depending on demand². Chase Bliss said the series has no limit or selling out, and that everyone who orders within the month-long preorder period gets a pedal¹.

Chase Bliss said the concept for the circuit emerged during a trip to Tokyo, where founder Joel Korte told Empress owner Steve Bragg that the Superdelay had been influential when he was starting Chase Bliss⁴. Delicious Audio reports that Chase Bliss targets shipping in early October, with all orders out the door by sometime in November, in the order received⁴.