Source Audio announces Zio bass preamp and DI pedal with Shoe Pedals' Christopher Venter
January 9, 2024 · 2 sources
Source Audio announced the release of the Zio, an all-analog, ultra-low noise bass preamp and DI pedal, on January 9, 202412. The pedal results from a collaboration between Source Audio's lead engineer, Jesse Remignanti, and Christopher Venter, the head of Brooklyn-based pedal makers Shoe Pedals1. Delicious Audio describes Venter as the owner and sole engineer at SHOE Pedals2.
The Zio is designed for bass guitar tone-shaping and can be placed on pedalboards, in front of amps, or run XLR direct out to a front-of-house mix or recording interface through a choice of three independent outputs, with a dedicated headphone jack as a third output option1. It uses Burr-Brown op-amps, which Source Audio says provide "maximum headroom"1. The EQ section has controls for output, bass, treble and focus: the bass control is said to provide "a substantial low-end boost" at around 100Hz while gently reducing muddy low-mids, the focus knob sweeps the cut-off point of a high-pass filter to subdue excessive sub-bass, and the treble control helps enhance articulation or smooth out tones1. Output offers up to +16dB of boost or up to -6dB of cut1.
Two toggles for grit and scoop can be activated independently or simultaneously1. The grit is intended to capture the sound of a vintage amp pushed into breakup, adjusted with what Source Audio calls a "set-it-and-forget-it" gain control located out of sight on the side of the pedal1. The scoop toggle triggers a low-mid cut and an upper-midrange presence boost, a feature intended to replicate the "Pultec Trick" studio engineers have used since the '50s with vintage Pultec EQP-1A rack units1.
Delicious Audio reports a different control set: a Circuit knob with four preamp circuits (JFET, LOW-CUT, STUDIO and E-PLEX), each with up to +20dB of boost, plus a 3-way Tone toggle for bright, medium or dark cable capacitance voicing, a 2-way Footswitch Action toggle with an always-on "Mute" option, an extra tuner/line output and true bypass2. It lists input impedance at 1 Mega Ohm, output impedance at 150 Ohm and power consumption at 9V DC center negative at 20mA2. Delicious Audio calls the Zio Source Audio's first all-analog effects pedal2.
The pedal measures 4x3"1; Delicious Audio gives dimensions of 4.1 in. by 2.36 in. by 2.22 in. including knobs, in a brushed anodized aluminum housing2. It is priced at $2491.
"ZIO is an all-analog preamp/boost pedal that includes a choice of four distinct preamp circuits, each with up to +20dB of additional output boost."