Chase Bliss Dark World Dual Channel Reverb Honest Review
Great reverb! Chase Bliss Dark World does spacey well as well as more normal reverbs. Nice plate verb. For such a versatile pedal, it’s surprisingly easy to use. It’s a bit pricey, TC has some great reverbs for much less than this, but I enjoy the versatility and tweak ability of the dark world. It doesn’t like some power supplies. It didn’t like my Cioks, but it does well with my Walrus power supply or even a Powerall.
Chase Bliss Dark World Audio is always on top. Their pedals are unique, and this one is no exception to the rule, nothing to say. Conforms to the videos that we see on the net. I also own the MOOD pedal, and the Dark World is in the same vein. The combinations are very numerous, so there is a little time to get started, but even with simple settings, it sounds great. Thank you for distributing their products in France.
Chase Bliss Dark World™ is the first fully digital offering from Chase Bliss Audio, a unique dual-channel reverb made with a bit of help. Cooper FX is responsible for the “Dark” channel, a collaborative effort influenced partly by their Generation Loss and Outward designs. Keeley Electronics crafted the “World” channel, which houses three gorgeous Hall, Plate, and Spring algorithms.
Put together; the tracks can be routed in 33 distinct ways, creating a stunning palette of reverb ranging from subtle, tasteful, and lush to a broken video cassette, glitch shimmer, and infinite freeze.
Add all this to the dense digital control and full MIDI, dip-switch, and preset implementation Chase Bliss is known for, and you have yourself a very fun, powerful, and player-friendly reverb pedal in a small package.
Chase Bliss Dark World Dual Channel Reverb Honest Review
Chase Bliss Dark World pedal has some neat features, but it’s pretty overpriced considering what you can get in this price range ($350). And, unfortunately, it’s pretty vanilla. The World side isn’t anything special, though I do like the plate setting.
The Dark side is more interesting, but the mod setting stands head and shoulders above everything else (in my opinion). The shimmer setting is unique, but I didn’t find it to be helpful. The Black background is ok, but it’s just a freeze, which–again–is very vanilla.
Many reverb pedals allow you to do something similar. I also don’t think the routing options make that significant of an impact on the overall sound. If you’re interested in a dual-reverb, I think most people would better serve the Ventris, which can do much more and create far more interesting sounds.
I liked the DARK side (and only it) of the pedal, and if I could have a separate pedal for them, then it would be a winner, but it’s a dual reverb with only one side for me to use. Unfortunately, the WORLD side of this pedal didn’t impress me at all, and I bought it to have their classic reverbs and those “crazy” ones in one unit.
Like Empress Reverb, Plate and Hall were too metallic on almost every setting; decay was always too much or not enough, same with the tone knob. And that MIX knob for both, not very user-friendly, as some of the DARK settings had to have mix almost up to hear where the classic side needed to have it below 50%.
Chase Bliss Dark World Dual Channel Reverb Honest Review
I guess it’s one of the pedals that are much better with synths, etc., but not fantastic with the guitar I play, so it was a bummer for me to send this pedal back.
Tremendous Reverb, which has been marked in Chase Bliss Dark World, has three classic reverb types such as spring, plate and hall, all of them sound very natural. On the other side we have shimmer effects, an option to freeze notes as a pad (black) and a beautiful VHS-like gradient effect (mode).
I recommend it for people looking to create natural textures and environments and who already have a dedicated reverb to always have it on, not so much for dense reverbs as this pedal focuses on its naturalness and ability to create interesting textures with a certain nostalgia.
Postscript: with the “secret” settings at the top we find a unique tremolo effect and the option to activate the reverb tails once the pedal is turned off, wow!
The near-infinite amount of sounds this pedal can produce is nothing less than excellent. With the slightest adjustment of each knob, the sounds change so much within each mode, and that’s before you even start flipping dip switches or changing routing.
Chase Bliss Dark World Dual Channel Reverb Honest Review
The routing changes up the sounds, further feeding one into the other or running parallel. The tone knob can also do so much to tweak each sound. As for the algorithms, they are insanely good on both channels.
The Keeley/World side is beautiful! The way the reverbs delay lines in hall and plate mode modulate off each other sounds so much like Strymon’s Flint 70s and 80s algorithms and are just perfect.
Not even Strymon’s own Big Sky can duplicate that 80s algorithm in Flint this good; whether it was intentional or not, the World’s algorithms are very similarly beautiful like Flint’s, which in my opinion, is a great thing!
The Cooper Fx/Dark side is incredible too. The algorithms are brilliant, inventive, unique, and well-executed. So super inspiring and fresh. And since it’s so hard to get our hands on Cooper FX gear, this is an excellent way to have a little piece of those incredible pedals in your music.
Chase Bliss Dark World Dual Channel Reverb Honest Review
I am so impressed with Joel/CBA, his fantastic company, and what he could accomplish with this pedal! I also really like the idea of companionship and not snobbery in the World of pedal builders. The concept of this pedal is genius, and it’s just so cool to have the ideas of three great minds in one fantastic little device!
Hats off, and thanks to all involved in making this pedal a reality! Quick update. After spending a few hours with Flint and Dark World side by side. I came extremely close to reproducing all the reverbs from Flint (60s, 70s, and 80s). If you love the amazing reverbs from Flint, then you will love World!
Chase Bliss Dark World pedals seem to get quite a lot of praise and hype online. I always draw towards more unconventional reverb pedals, so I picked up one recently. This pedal is not that impressive when it comes down to it for the price.
The World side is rather bland as the reverbs are tinny and artificial sounding. The Dark side is what everyone buys this for, but there is only one usable sound I can get out of this even with the combining of Dark and World. The freeze sound is utterly dull, and the shimmer is minimal as well.
The warbly ‘broken tape’ sound is the coolest to be found for $350, and it’s only mono? Too much hype that didn’t deliver for the price point.
Chase Bliss Dark World Dual Channel Reverb Honest Review
- Dark World is the first fully digital offering from Chase Bliss Audio, a unique dual-channel reverb that we created with the help of our friends.
- Keeley Electronics designed the “World” chain, which houses three magnificent Hall, Plate, and Spring algorithms.
- Together, the channels can be routed in 33 distinct ways, creating an astonishing palette of reverberation ranging from subtle, tasteful, and lush to broken videotape, glitchy shimmer, and endless frost.
- Add all of this to the dense digital control and full implementation of MIDI, DIP switches, and presets that Chase Bliss is known for, and you’ve got a very fun, powerful, and user-friendly reverb pedal in a small package.
- Cooper FX is responsible for the “Dark” channel, a collaborative effort influenced in part by their Generation Loss and Outward designs.
Conclusion
Dark World is the first fully digital guitar pedal from Chase Bliss Audio; a unique dual channel reverb that we made with a little help from our friends.
I can’t say that I’ve begun to unleash the full potential of this unit because I haven’t even touched the dip switches or played more than a few hours total. It’s like the first time the kids went to Narnia. I’ve seen the magic. I’ve lived it, and I’m dying to go back and unleash the full potential of this portal to another dimension.
Even though this lacks a stereo function as far as I know – the depth is so immense that the stereo imagery – in headphones is uber immersive and as deep or as light as you want to go with options of game-changing modulation/routing options.
After looking at reverb pedals day in and out online – I was drawn to this for several reasons – brand name, quality build, color scheme, the reference to the dual gameplay of night and day world on the Zelda games.
But I ultimately wanted something unique and versatile for synths, guitar, drums, etc., and it’s been sitting on my mixers fx loop, adding loads of inspiring dimension to my hardware and guitar playing and writing.
Perfect unit for me, and I’m sure it would inspire anyone to find a place for it once they experienced the cavernous power of this reverb.
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Chase Bliss Dark World Dual Channel Reverb Honest Review