The Rain is a delay/echo pedal from Polish Power Pedals, a small builder whose pedals are put together one at a time. It is built on the EchoBender circuit, and not as a straight copy: Pedal of the Day's reviewer Brad P described it as "a super tweaked clone of an EchoBender by Polish Power Pedals", meaning the builder took the original design and modified it heavily before putting it in an enclosure1.
What sets The Rain apart from most delay pedals is that it is never built the same way twice. The review states plainly that the builder "refuses to make two identical pedals"1. For a player, that means every unit on a board is a one-off, both in circuit trim and in finish: each pedal carries hand-painted Totoro artwork by Nathanael, which the reviewer flagged with "did I mention that Nathanael hand painted Totoro on the pedal???!!"1.
Controls and range
The Rain carries an unusually broad set of controls for a delay/echo pedal. According to the Pedal of the Day review, the settings include1:
That last control does more than shape repeats. The reviewer found the pedal covers a wide sonic range depending on where it is set: "Turn down the delay and the feedback up just a hair, you have a beautiful overdrive, or turn up the delay and feedback" for what he described as a wild bit crusher1. In other words, The Rain can sit on a board as a subtle overdrive-flavored echo or be pushed into destructive, self-oscillating territory, all from the same enclosure.
What reviewers said
The pedal has one documented published review, and it is a strong one. Brad P at Pedal of the Day wrote in February 2015: "The Rain is my favorite pedal on my board. It is weird and does such a wide range of things that I always find a new use"1. That verdict lines up with the pedal's design: a tweaked EchoBender with modulation, dual decay settings and a feedback control that crosses into overdrive and bit-crushing is built for experimentation rather than a single repeat sound.
"The Rain is my favorite pedal on my board. It is weird and does such a wide range of things that I always find a new use"
Questions
What circuit is the Polish Power Pedals The Rain based on?
The Rain is built on the EchoBender circuit. Pedal of the Day's reviewer described it as a super tweaked clone of an EchoBender, meaning Polish Power Pedals took the original design and modified it substantially rather than copying it straight. The result is a delay/echo pedal with an unusually wide range of sounds for its type.
Are any two Polish Power Pedals The Rain pedals identical?
No. According to the Pedal of the Day review, the builder refuses to make two identical pedals, so every unit that leaves the shop is its own construction. That extends to the finish as well: each pedal carries hand-painted Totoro artwork by Nathanael, so no two examples look or read the same on a board.
Who paints the Totoro artwork on The Rain?
The Totoro artwork on The Rain is hand painted by Nathanael, as the Pedal of the Day review notes. Because the artwork is painted by hand and the builder will not repeat a design, the painting on each pedal is unique to that unit.
Can The Rain work as an overdrive?
Yes. The Pedal of the Day reviewer found that turning the delay down and the feedback up just a hair produces what he called a beautiful overdrive. Push the delay and feedback the other way and the same pedal turns into a wild bit crusher, which is why he kept finding new uses for it.
What does the feedback control do on The Rain?
The feedback control sets how much of the delayed signal is fed back into the circuit, shaping how repeats build and decay. On The Rain it is also a character control: low with the delay turned down, it pushes the pedal into overdrive territory, while raised alongside the delay it drives the effect into bit-crushed, self-generating sounds.
Sources (1)
- Polish Power Pedals The Rain Delay/Echo, Pedal of the Day, 2015-02-01