Spiral Electric FX Secret Chord Boost

The Secret Chord made the list of Best of 2020 by Demos In The Dark

In the beginning, the Secret Chord started with some mods to the White Spiral that I made for the bassist in one of my bands.  He liked the Girth Control in Alpha mode on the White, but it was a little too muddy  him.  His request was to get some of the beef and compression of Alpha mode, but with the control of the post-gain Omega mode - A subtle bridge between the two modes. 

Since the Girth Control in Alpha mode overrides the stock input cap completely, and hits the gain stage hard, there isn’t much that can be done to tame it.  Also when you are in Alpha Mode you are sending increasing amounts of bass to the clipping diodes.  Counter-intuitively, this doesn’t result in more bass, it results in a difference in feel, compression, and distortion.  So you won’t hear a huge change in tone, but you will feel a difference in sustain and gain character. 

However in Omega mode, there is some room for modification.  This led to the development of a second 3-way Focus Toggle that is only active when in Omega mode.  The Focus toggle gives you three ways to control the input frequencies, center is stock, 1 is a 10NF cap and 3 is a 22NF cap.  Think of it as adding two additional “fat” settings to Omega mode.  This makes the Secret Chord play nicer with single-coil pickups, or just allows you to have additional EQ choices.  By utilizing user-selectable cap networks, I am able to get useful tonal shifts without altering the sound of your guitar and amp in a detrimental way.

Originally when I made this expanded version of the White Spiral, these additional controls on the added Focus Toggle were internal dip switches that I called “Secret Settings.”  But even as I was modding my bassists pedal I knew that they would work great as additional external controls. 

Later I found some NOS low-noise tin-can MOSFETs that I socked away in my personal stash with plans to use them for a one-off version of the White.  When I finally tried them out I LOVED how they sounded and I knew that I had to do more than a one-off pedal.  Luckily I was able to secure more of these MOSFETs, and eventually found that they sounded nice and smooth in combination with 1N914 Silicon diodes.

In addition to these special parts and new features, the Secret Chord also features laser-cut soft-white powder-coat, hand-polished metal “spiritus” graphics, translucent knobs and a carefully selected non-blinding blue LED.  All meant to evoke an ethereal, breathy, and airy quality mirroring how the pedal sounds.

• 3-Way Focus Toggle (Fat 1, FLAT, Fat 2)

• NOS Low-Noise Tin-Can MOSFETs

• 1N914 Silicon Diodes

• Girth Control Cap Network Controls Low Frequency Content

• A/Ω Toggle Moves Girth Pre/Post Gain

• 18v internal voltage for increased headroom

• Laser-Cut, Hand-Polished Graphics

• Hand Made In USA

Warranty & Returns

All New products are covered by the manufacturers new warranty. Please check their website for the length of warranty and warranty conditions. If an item you receive is faulty get in touch with us ASAP. Second Hand products come with a 4 week warranty from us. If there is an issue let us know ASAP! This covers normal use and does not cover accidental damage, misuse, wrong power plugged into it, modding, water damage or any other damage caused by mistreatment. Just treat it nice and all will be good!

Shipping

We send A LOT of packages every week so don't worry about the shipping side of things!

We've never lost a thing and your awesome new gear will be packed up really well to avoid any damage in transit.

If your order comes in before 2pm we will ship it same day. Most of the time we pack things up all the way to 4pm so just call if you need it to leave same day after 2pm.

We ship mainly with Australia Post but may use a courier depending on location and size of the package.

Free Post ships with Australia Post standard and expected shipping times are between 4-6 business days depending on location. It will be longer to outside of metro and rural areas.

Express Post will usually be with you next business day in metro areas of QLD, NSW, SA, VIC and TAS. WA will take 2 days to metro and extra days after that to out side metro and rural areas.

Everything we ship has a tracking number with the exception of some power cables and smaller envelope packages. You will be emailed tracking once your order has been shipped!

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