Do guitarists need more pedals? “YES!” is the obvious answer, though a tone-deaf financial adviser may disagree. Lauded for its award-winning audio hardware and highly desired plug-ins, Universal Audio has applied its expertise to guitar stompboxes with the release of three UAFX Series flagship pedals, the Astra Modulation Machine, the Golden Reverberator, and the Starlight Echo Station. Whether you produce at home, record in the studio, or play onstage, these stereo stomps can lead you to new sonic territory and keep your creativity fresh, thanks to their dual-processor architecture and USB-updatable sounds and features. Plus, they’re designed to look as good as they sound and are built to last.
The Astra Modulation Machine comes with three timeless modulation effects—Chorus Brigade, Flanger/DBLR, and Trem 65. Chorus Brigade provides ’70s bucket brigade chorus and a secondary vibrato mode, Flanger/DBLR offers flanger and doubler effects modeled from heralded rack units, and Trem 65 blesses the player with opto tube tremolo inspired by amps of the ’60s. After registering the Astra, you’ll be able to download two other effects, Phaser X90 and Dharma Trem.
As you likely suspected, the Golden Reverberator is all about reverb—vintage reverb, to be more specific. Out of the box, this pedal has spring, plate, and hall reverbs, dubbed Spring 65, Plate 140, and Hall 224 to give a strong hint about their origins. Spring 65 captures three spring reverb tanks from ’60s American amps, Plate 140 has emulations of three vintage German plates from Record Plant studios, and Hall 224 sports models of three digital reverb algorithms from the late ’70s. Each reverb has available modulation and spillover for natural tails. Register the Golden Reverberator to access downloads for two more reverbs, Vintage Digital Plate and Chamber 224.
Last up is the Starlight Echo Station. This stompbox packs in three classic delay effects along with tap tempo, subdivisions, spillover, and optional preamp coloration. Tape EP-III grants the sound of three tape echo machines from the ’60s, Analog DMM is a vintage analog delay with selectable enveloping modulation, and Precision is a crisp, clean digital delay drawn from the UAD plug-in library. Surprise, surprise… registration yields a bonus in the form of another downloadable effect: the Cooper Time Cube delay.
All three pedals feature stereo 1/4" input and output connectivity, simple live/preset modes, silent switching, and powering via a 9 VDC power supply (not included), making them stellar additions to pedalboards for studio action or live performance.
Let us know in the Comments section, below, which UAFX pedals and tones have you most excited!
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