Modal Effects: A New Pedal Format
This week, we’re doing a deep(ish) dive on a fairly new company called ModalEffects. These guys have somehow managed to marry two of my loves– namely, guitar pedals and the experience of playing an old Super Nintendo –into one piece of gear.
The History of Modal Effects
Jeremy Leff and Dallas Condra co-founded PedalCreator, which was later rebranded as Modal Effects, when they were roommates at Georgia Tech. While studying mechanical engineering, they noticed a quote in one of their textbooks that said: ‘this circuit you just built could be used as a guitar effect called a phaser.’ In that moment, they realized they could combine their passion for engineering with their love of guitar, and the rest is history.
Pedal-building started as a hobby, and quickly developed into a business. Jeremy and Dallas spent years building prototypes. They perfected the design and submitted it for the Georgia Tech InVenture Prize in 2018, winning second place. If this sounds epic, that’s because it is. These dudes managed to snag second place in one of the most prestigious invention competitions in the U.S., and they did it with a guitar pedal. No big deal.
When they finally landed on a proof of concept they were happy with, they unveiled the Modal Effects modular distortion at NAMM in 2018.
How It Works
The Modal Effects modular distortion gets its name from the pedal’s layout. You have a base unit (a skeleton, so to speak), with six different ‘mods’ you can place in any order that you like. Jeremy and Dallas were inspired by pedals like the Angry Driver, because they loved experimenting with putting the two effects in different orders in the chain.
The pedal itself essentially functions as a miniature pedal chain. Depending on what order you stack the mods onto the base, it changes the sound/tone. Just like on a normal pedal board, the signal follows the signal chain from right to left. The mods attach to the base magnetically, which makes it easy to plug in the mods but difficult to accidentally knock them out of place with your foot during an especially exciting solo/dance number. (I don’t know what you do during your live sets, and honestly, that’s your business.)
The Modal Effects modular distortion is essentially one base with six interchangeable mods (which adds up to more than 100 combinations). The mods are as follows:
Fuzz: a classic fuzz that offers a great balance of crunch and a rich, full sustain
Distortion: an iconic ’70s metal distortion with a harmonically rich, compressed sound Overdrive: a clean sounding overdrive with boosted mids, very reminiscent of the Tube Screamer
Boost: a clean boost with a warm sustain that’s great for pushing your guitar signal
Low-pass Tone: a versatile, low-pass filter that works well with all of our Mod combinations
Mid-scoop Tone: a combination of low-pass and high-pass filters that create a mid boost effect
The pedal is fully analog, despite its complexity. When we asked Dallas why they were so intent on building an analog product as opposed to digital, he explained it like this:
“We are both mechanical engineering students, and so obviously a lot of our coursework is electrical in nature, but we also have a lot of other aspects of our coursework as well. I think that's what led us to be able to think a little bit outside the box with the modular nature [of this pedal] and create something that I think is really tangible and really fun to physically play around with.”
Thus far they’ve almost exclusively advertised the pedal through Instagram, Facebook and Youtube, but they still managed to get the attention of slide guitar superstar Robert Randolph, of Robert Randolph and the Family Band, who says that the Modal Effects distortion pedal is a staple on his board.
We’ve said it for years: companies don’t make pedals. People do. That pretty neatly sums up Modal Effects: it’s two guys kicking down the doors of the industry, building pedals for the people, wanting to give as many different options as possible with just the one stompbox. It’s a really unique idea, and their Kickstarter is still active until February 4, 2022. If you like this idea, go check it out, and if you have the wherewithal, consider making a pledge.