The boutique pedal world is buzzing with the latest release from Chase Bliss Audio, and this time, it’s a collaboration of epic proportions. Joel Korte and the innovative team at CB have joined forces with none other than Mike Piera of Analog Man, the legendary company behind the highly coveted King of Tone overdrive pedal. The result? The Chase Bliss Brothers AM – a pedal that begs the question: can it truly stand shoulder-to-shoulder with the reigning monarch of tone?
Chase Bliss and Analog Man Join Forces
For those unfamiliar, the Analog Man King of Tone is more than just an overdrive; it’s a legend. Revered as a holy grail by guitarists worldwide, acquiring one typically involves a lengthy waiting list, often stretching five to seven years, due to its handcrafted nature and the scarcity of its premium components.
Inflated Prices
This exclusivity has driven second-hand prices into the thousands of pounds on platforms like Reverb.
Brothers AM
Now, Chase Bliss, known for their forward-thinking and feature-rich effects, has teamed up with the mastermind behind this iconic pedal.
While Chase Bliss themselves position the Brothers AM as a “counterpart” to the King of Tone, complete with their signature extras, the collaboration alone has ignited intense speculation.
Dual Stage Overdrive
At its core, the Brothers AM retains the dual-stage overdrive architecture of its predecessor.
Each channel boasts independent controls for distortion type (offering boost, overdrive, and distortion modes), gain, and tone. The cascading signal path allows users to stack overdrives for thick, layered tones or use one channel as a clean boost pushing the other into further saturation.
However, the Brothers AM goes beyond a simple two-in-one overdrive. It features a dedicated three-way treble boost switch and a hidden mode that unlocks individual presence control for each channel via the tone knobs.
True to the Chase Bliss ethos, the pedal offers preset saving capabilities, accessible via MIDI or an onboard switch.
DIP Switches
Furthermore, the familiar array of top-mounted dip switches provides deep control over MIDI assignability and unlocks additional modes. New additions include “Pres Link,” which allows simultaneous control of presence via the tone knobs, and “Master” mode, which reassigns the second overdrive’s volume control to act as an overall master volume – a welcome feature for avoiding volume spikes when stacking gain stages.
While the Brothers AM offers many tonal options and modern features not found on the King of Tone, the question remains.
Can it capture the elusive magic that makes the Analog Man pedal so highly sought after?
Analog Man themselves suggest that the Brothers AM is not intended as a direct clone, but rather a different take on a similar tonal philosophy, infused with Chase Bliss’s unique approach.
Price & Availability
The Chase Bliss Brothers AM is available now through the manufacturer’s shop for €469.
While this price point places it in the premium pedal category, it’s a far cry from the second-hand prices commanded by the King of Tone.
Whether it genuinely comes close to the legendary status of its collaborative inspiration remains to be seen. Still, the partnership between these two giants of the pedal world has undoubtedly created one of the year’s most anticipated releases.
Guitarists eager to explore new sonic territories now have a compelling new option, albeit one that will likely be judged against the formidable legacy of the King of Tone.
