Beetronics Larva

The Beetronics Larva is a dual morphing analog 6-stage phaser designed by Filipe Pampuri¹²³. Instead of one phaser sound, it holds two independent phaser settings, each with its own rate and depth controls, and lets you use them separately or morph between them⁴. Beetronics describes it as "a 6-stage analog phaser, vibee and preamp with morphing capabilities"⁴. It was announced in November 2024 and reached the Beetronics FX webstore that same month at $249, with Custom Shop Editions at $349¹.

Two phasers and a morph between them

The core idea is simple: two phasers in one box. You set the rate and depth for Phaser 1 on the left and Phaser 2 on the right⁴. Used on its own, each behaves like a straightforward phaser; Guitar.com's reviewer Richard Purvis described the left setting as "a simple phaser, controlled by the rate and depth knobs at top-left"⁷.

The interesting part is what happens between them. Hold the left footswitch and the pedal starts morphing into the second setting, which Purvis called "Leslie-style ramping from one sound to another"⁷. Premier Guitar's reviewer noted that the independent rate and depth controls for each circuit "enable morphs between very different phase textures"⁸. A double-tap on the bypass footswitch gives instant hopping between the two settings⁷.

The Larva builds on Beetronics' earlier Seabee and Zzombee pedals¹.

The controls

Guitar.com's reviewer also noted two slightly smaller dials for adjusting the transition time and the intensity of the phaser's resonance⁷. He found the whole thing "much less complicated than it looks"⁷.

Morphing, ramping and tap tempo

The Larva has tap tempo, entered through the Tap/Ramp footswitch: tap for tap tempo, hold for ramping¹. Delicious Audio's launch coverage summed up the feature set as "tap tempo beats, presets that glide"¹². The Dark limited edition is likewise described by Beetronics as "packed with modern features like tap tempo and dual morphing presets"¹¹.

Guitar World's reviewer Trevor Curwen found "lots of scope available via the ramping options for onstage performance," including emulating a rotary speaker by assigning slow and fast rates to the two settings and ramping between them⁶.

Vibee and the preamp

The effect toggle selects between three modes: standard phaser, Vibee, or preamp only⁴. Vibee is essentially the wet signal from the phaser modulation on its own, where the phaser mode combines both wet and dry signals⁴. Purvis called it an "extra-wobbly vibe"⁷.

The preamp is Moogerfooger-inspired and, in Purvis's words, "has some proper overdrive on tap"⁷. He described it as "warm and fluffy, keeping everything smooth and preventing any harshness at the top of the phaser's arc," ranging from clean-ish to quite heavily overdriven, and noted it cannot be switched off or dialed out completely⁷. The pedal accepts line-level or instrument-level signals⁴.

Versions and price

The Larva is listed as sold out¹, and at the time of the UK review there was no stock in UK circulation, with arrival indicated in one to two weeks⁴¹. The pedal's two footswitches carry its morphing scheme: holding the left footswitch starts morphing into the second setting, and a double-tap on the bypass footswitch gives instant hopping between the two settings⁷.

What reviewers said

Reception was strong. Guitar.com rated it 8, crediting it with "luscious phaser tones with lots of tone-tweaking power," a morphing effect that works really well, and a preamp that "adds some nice warming crunch"⁷. Guitar Pedal X's Stefan Karlsson wrote:

In Guitar Pedal X's year-end modulation awards, the Larva took Bronze, and the author wrote that it "instantly became my all-time favourite for that genre - it has the smartest and most dynamic featured set"¹³. The UK reviewer found it "a fantastic take within that genre, entirely unique as far as I'm aware," adding that the Standard Edition honey-colored model "is about as good as it gets already"¹.

Not everything was universally welcomed: Guitar World's review flagged that the side-mounted jacks "may be a no-no for some" players⁶.

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