Chase Bliss Condor HiFi Analog Tone Bird

The Chase Bliss Condor HiFi Analog Tone Bird is an analog tone shaping pedal that puts EQ, filter and drive in one box, with modulation options on top¹. MusicRadar called it "part EQ, part filter, and part overdrive, it's all there... a 100 per cent analogue, all-in-one solution to crafting your core tone"². Where most pedals do one job, the Condor HiFi is built around the idea of shaping your whole core sound: clean it up, push it, or grind it, from a single unit.

The original Chase Bliss Condor is now discontinued³. Chase Bliss describes the Condor HiFi as "giving you vivid character where you need it and absolute transparency where you don't"¹.

What it does to your sound

The pedal splits its work between EQ, filter and drive. The drive circuit interacts with the EQ blocks and covers a wide range, which Pedal of the Day describes as running "from a sparkly boost to full-on soaring crunch"¹. Because the drive and EQ talk to each other rather than sitting in separate stages, boosting or cutting frequencies changes how the drive responds, not just the overall tonal balance.

On the cleaner side, gearnews.com reports that the Condor HiFi is "cleaner and more dynamic, with more headroom and dynamic range than ever," thanks to a new circuit board that gives a cleaner signal path⁴. Pedal of the Day sums up the design goal as "vivid character where you need it and absolute transparency where you don't"¹. In other words, it can disappear into your rig as a transparent tone shaper, or step forward as an overdrive when you push it.

The controls

The face of the pedal carries six dials, for gain, frequency, volume, bass, mids, and LPF (lowpass filter)⁵. How those controls behave depends on where they sit relative to the drive circuit:

The parametric mids are the heart of the EQ side. Pedal of the Day calls them "the key," since you freely sweep the frequency spectrum and find the sweet spot to push, scoop or slice¹. The pre-gain bass and post-gain mids/LPF arrangement means the same knob can act as an EQ control at low drive settings or as a gain-shaping tool when the drive is engaged¹.

Analog circuit, digital control

The audio path is fully analog, described by MusicRadar as "100 per cent analogue"². The "HiFi" part of the name comes from the component choice: the pedal is built around OPA1662 op-amps, which Pedal of the Day says deliver lower noise and a more high-fidelity response than the original Condor¹. MusicRadar likewise reports that the HiFi character "is facilitated by OPA1662 op-amps"².

Power comes from the same supply used by the Chase Bliss Preamp MKII, and the pedal internally boosts the voltage up to 30V¹. That high internal rail is what gives the pedal its extra headroom and dynamic range compared with a standard design⁴.

The digital side of the pedal is control only. MIDI, CV and expression pedal connections are all available⁵, and there is internal memory for banking presets⁵. Pedal of the Day lists these together as the pedal's "advanced connectivity and customization options including MIDI, CV and Expression control, presets"¹. For a player, that means you can recall complete EQ, filter and drive settings mid-song, or sweep the mids or lowpass filter by foot with an expression pedal, which suits the filter side of the pedal particularly well.

How it differs from the original Condor

The original Condor was released in 2018 and has since been discontinued¹³. The HiFi is a reissue of that design with meaningful circuit changes rather than a cosmetic update:

• New op-amps: OPA1662 units replace the original's arrangement, for lower noise and a more high-fidelity response¹.
• New circuit board: gives the HiFi a cleaner signal path⁴.
• More headroom and dynamic range: gearnews.com reports the HiFi is cleaner and more dynamic than the original⁴.
• Different clipping character: the HiFi clips in a more traditional way, contrasting with the original Condor's clipping sound⁴.
• Distortion artifact fix: Pedal of the Day notes the original Condor had a distortion artifact, and that fixing it was one of the reasons Chase Bliss made the Condor HiFi⁶.

The original Condor is now discontinued³, and the HiFi is the version Chase Bliss currently offers.

What reviewers said

Reviewers have focused on the pedal's range of roles. Guitar Pedal X called it "a fantastically versatile pedal," a "veritable chameleon that means very different things to different players"⁷. Pedal of the Day's reviewer went further on the sound, calling it "the 'must-have' sound I've been hearing about for years"¹.

That versatility is the common thread: the same box can serve as a clean parametric EQ, a resonant filter, a boost, or a full overdrive, with the drive and EQ sections interacting rather than stacked. For players comparing dedicated boxes, the Condor HiFi's pitch is that one analog pedal covers the ground of several.

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