Designed by Fishman for use with active and passive basses alike, the Fission Bass Powerchord FX Pedal is not just another octave pedal. Yes, it gives you one octave above the note you play, but it also provides bass players the ability to stack that classic rock interval—the power chord—around the original fundamental. It offers multiple options for doing this, allowing you to trigger an interval a fourth below the note you play, a fifth above, or to stack a separate power chord one octave above your fundamental, giving you multiple voices as you fret the bass with one finger.
This pedal also provides a noise gate to keep unwanted sound at bay, as well as overdrive and a tone knob to darken the overall sound. Dual 1/4" outputs, in conjunction with the effects level knob, facilitate a couple of different use cases: If you’re just using the mix output, the effects level control will act as a blend knob, mixing the octavized, overdriven sound into your signal path; with both the mix output and effect output plugged in, the knob becomes a level control for the effect output, while the mix output only provides dry signal. You are then free to blend the sound externally through different amps, PA inputs, interface inputs, etc.
Due to its dedicated trim potentiometer located on the side of the pedal, this device can accept the levels of both active and passive basses. The pedal itself provides 24-bit A/D/A and 32-bit internal processing to achieve pristine signal. With a 9V battery, it will give you between 20 and 40 hours of approximate battery life, depending on whether you’re using an alkaline or lithium 9V. Alternately, you could use a 9V power supply, available separately.
- Noise Gate Knob: The noise gate can reduce the amount of unwanted noise between the decay of one note and the attack of the next; turning the control counter-clockwise reduces the decaying noise more quickly
- Overdrive Knob: Use this knob to control the amount of overdrive applied to the pitch shift effect; when set fully counter-clockwise, the signal will stay clean, but turning it clockwise will increase the amount of overdrive
- Tone Knob: The tone control reduces treble to darken the sound of the effect
- Effect Level Knob: When using only the mix output, this control blends the amount of processed output within the resulting signal; if you’re using both outputs, this control sets the overall effect level at the effect output jack, allowing you to blend the two timbres outside of the pedal’s confines
- Effect On / Octave Up Footswitch: Press to engage the effect, adding an octave above the played note; when disengaged, all enabled footswitch lights are dimmed
- 4th Below Footswitch: Press to add an interval of one 4th below the octave effect
- 5th Above Footswitch: Press to add an interval of one 5th above the octave effect
- Upper Octave Footswitch: Pressing both the 4th Below and 5th Above footswitches creates a stacked power chord one octave above the played note
- Creates stacked harmonies above the root note
- Different harmonies available: Octave up, octave and 5th up, 4th and octave up
- Footswitch LEDs let you "see" the harmony before you kick it on
- Noise Gate control
- Overdrive control
- Tone control
- Effects Level control
- Single 1/4" input with Trim control accepts active or passive instruments