Universal Audio has released the new UAFX Brigade, Flow, and LA2A pedals today. We already wrote about the new Lion ’68 Super Lead Amp amp-in-a-pedal and now three more effects have been added.
Brigade
The Brigade is a Chorus and Vibrato and is based on the BOSS CE-1 Chorus Ensemble which launched back in 1976.
The BOSS was a bucket brigade-based modulation effect and was designed originally for line-level instruments. The originals are bulky, and noisy and are becoming more expensive every year. I’ve owned a few of the originals over the years and they are a lot of fun to use, but guitarists have to be careful how they set the input level.
Recycled Algorithms
Universal Audio has made a model of the CE-1 before and it was included with the Astra, but now you can purchase it on its own. It has controls for Rate, Volume and Depth, plus a toggle switch for Chorus/Vibrato.
This is a theme with most of the recent UAFX, where they reuse previous algorithms in cheaper pedal lines.
MSRP – $199
Flow
The Flow is based on a Vintage Tremolo with three types of vintage tube-driven tremolo effects available in one pedal. It has controls for Speed, Depth, and Volume, plus a toggle switch to choose which of the three tremolo effects it is running.
Vintage Amp Tremolo
It has an early Fender Harmonic Tremolo, a ’65 style Round Tremolo, and Square Wave trem-tones.
This is another effect that Universal Audio has modeled before, so it should have been a simple port for them to design this one.
MSRP – $199
LA2A
Finally, the LA2A offers a Teletronix LA-2A Studio Compressor in pedal format. It has controls for Peak, Gain, and Mix, plus a Comp/Limit toggle switch.
T4 Optical Cell
This one gives users the three-dimensional sound of the original hardware, including its transformers, tubes, and T4 optical cell distortions.
Again, Univeral Audio has plenty of products that use this algorithm and they recently gave away a free plugin version of this classic tube limiter. This can still be claimed until 31 October 2023.
MSRP – $199
Verdict
All three pedals will require the UAFX Control App to access a lot of the extra features, which could make them more versatile. I get the feeling that they are essentially, cheaper to reproduce for Universal Audio because they are quite basic and also mono effects.
More Information
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