Sonicake Sonic Wood

The Sonicake Sonic Wood is a multi-effects pedal built for acoustic guitar. It packs four effects into one floor unit: a preamp, a chorus, a delay and a reverb, which Sonicake calls "4 essentials for acoustic guitar playing"¹. The idea is that an acoustic player can carry one pedal instead of a separate preamp, chorus, delay and reverb, and go straight from the guitar's pickup to the front of house.

The unit lists for $79.99²³.

The four effects

Each of the Sonic Wood's sections covers one part of an acoustic signal chain.

The preamp is the analog heart of the unit. Sonicake says it is based on a classic acoustic guitar amplifier and "can bring your tone a warm, natural sound"¹. Its 2-band EQ gives the player basic low and high shaping, which is what most piezo-pickup acoustics need to stop the output sounding thin²⁴.

The delay is worth a closer look for players who care about circuit type. It is not an analog delay in the sense of a bucket-brigade chip: Sonicake says plainly that "It runs on digital algorithms, but they sound analog"¹. The practical difference for the player is that the repeats are generated digitally but voiced to sit like analog repeats.

Controls and connections

The delay section has two features that matter for live use:

• Tap tempo, so the repeat time can be set in time with the song by foot²
• Tail on/off, which controls whether delay repeats continue to fade out or cut off when the effect is bypassed²

The headline connection is the XLR output. Sonicake lists it as being "for directly connecting to PA, Mixer or Audio Interface"², which is the standard way to run an acoustic guitar at a gig without an amp in the signal chain.

Power and size

The Sonic Wood runs on a 9V DC supply with a 5.5 x 2.1mm center negative plug, drawing 120mA². That is a standard pedalboard supply, but the 120mA draw is higher than a simple analog stompbox, so it is worth accounting for on a crowded power brick. The case measures 262mm deep by 64mm wide by 45mm high and weighs 480g², a long, low footprint closer to a multi-effects bar than a single stompbox.

Who it is for

Sonicake positions the Sonic Wood squarely as a multi-effects pedal for acoustic guitar², with the preamp voiced after an acoustic amplifier rather than an electric one. The product page quotes a player named Doug Boudinot, who says of the unit: "I use it for every gig to add some variety to my guitar tone"⁵.

Players looking at Sonicake's wider range can compare it with the company's electric-oriented multi-effects units, such as the Sonicake RockStage and the Sonicake Matribox II, or with other acoustic pedals built around a preamp and DI output.

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