Based on the Rainger FX El Distorto overdrive pedal from way back in 2009, the Break Box has the back half of a Tonebender added to it, the circuit taken directly from the Freakenbender – Rainger collaboration with Colorsound. The result is a stompbox with lots of low-end, good amounts of mids (not scooped), and some searing highs. Distortion goes from a light crunch to a high-intensity heavy distortion.
This pedal has active sustain, transforming it from in-your-face dry chunky attack into a 3D room-like churning howl! It’s like a wave coming from behind and pushing you on.
You can adjust the chorus speed – from a slow twist to a fast psycho-wobble. Every long note-bend in a solo has extra flavour and meaning, every feeding-back chord now has movement. Because of the delay in the chorus appearing, you can play fast chords or note clusters – keeping all the accuracy and precision of modulation-free sound – with a glorious chorus bloom fading in on the longer-held bits.
Hold down the turntable pad on the pedal, and your guitar is transformed into a trigger for a record scratch sound! Like a DJ cueing up the guitar track that follows, you can keep the scratch short and choppy, or longer with the classic forward/reverse movement. The ‘pitch’ control adjusts not only the pitch of the scratch but also the speed (like when scratching vinyl for real). The sound is not a recording – it’s generated inside the pedal itself. A gentle random pitch variation keeps it sounding less ‘sampled’ and more human.