Gamechanger Audio releases Bigsby Pedal as standard production model

April 21, 2022 · 2 sources

Gamechanger Audio announced on April 21, 2022 that the Bigsby Pedal, designed in collaboration with Fender, is getting a standard production release, after the pedal had been offered only as part of a limited run of 1,000 units in mid 2021¹. The Latvian company first teased the pedal at NAMM 2020¹.

The pedal is a treadle-style, scroll-wheel-controlled polyphonic pitch-shifter built to reproduce mechanical Bigsby bends and vibrato². It uses a SHARC audio processor and a hybrid algorithm aimed at smooth polyphonic pitch-shifting at low intervals, and the maker says it was tuned to preserve the natural timbre of electric and acoustic guitars, bass guitars, mandolins and banjos¹. Up to 12 semitone pitch shifts are available in both directions¹. Gamechanger says design work began three years before the release, after it pitched the idea to Fender, which acquired Bigsby in 2019¹.

The pedal is always on but changes the tone only when the spring-loaded foot pedal is pressed¹. A rear-mounted Invert switch changes the direction of the pitch shift, and a Detune parameter is intended to mimic the tonal imperfections of the hardware¹. The EXP output lets the foot controller modulate expression parameters on other units, and the MIDI input handles presets and CC control¹².

The pedal is available now for approximately $350 through Gamechanger's online dealer channels¹. Guitar Pedal X, writing at the pedal's June 2021 unveiling, said it was not clear how practical and usable the pedal is, noting that no dimensions had been provided².