Polarbear Effects introduces Drowner fuzz, bitcrusher and reverb pedal

May 5, 2022 · 1 sources

Delicious Audio reported the Polarbear Effects Drowner on May 5, 2022, describing it as "a fuzz/bitcrusher/shimmery reverb"¹. The site added the pedal to its article about bitcrusher pedals¹.

The circuit starts with a silicon fuzz placed first in the chain, engaged with the right footswitch¹. The bitcrusher and reverb are engaged with the left footswitch, and the bitcrusher can be bypassed with a CRUSH toggle switch¹. An ORDER switch changes the order of the bitcrusher and reverb in the chain¹. According to the maker, placing the bitcrusher before the reverb gives a tone that is reactive to pick attack and then softened by the reverb, while the reverse order gives a grainier sound in which the reverb trails activate the bitcrusher¹.

The pedal has an effects loop for placing other pedals between the fuzz and the bitcrusher/reverb section; it requires a TRS Y-cable, stereo male to dual mono TS cables, with R as send and T as return¹. The volume control sets the output level of the bitcrusher and reverb at the end of the chain and does not affect the fuzz directly¹. It runs on 9V DC negative center, 2.1mm barrel, with a current draw of about 160mA, and the maker states it should be used with a high-quality isolated power supply¹. The enclosure is a 1590BB measuring 11.7 x 9.2 x 5.7 cm¹.

Delicious Audio described Polarbear Effects as a Croatian builder whose two pedals at the time blended several circuits¹. No US price or availability date was given¹.