The Old Blood Noise Screen Violence is a stereo modulated reverb released in collaboration with Glasgow’s international synth-pop sensation CHVRCHES, and inspired by the sound of the album of the same name.
The circuit consists of an overdrive and a one-knob effect that, ad different settings, will produce delay, reverb, modulation or a mix of the three. The routing order of the two sections of the circuit can be changed through the First toggle.
Saturation Section (Violence)
The overdrive, activated by the Violence knob, is tube-inspired but can also get fuzzy, and has controls for Violence (input level), Gain, Voice (tone), and Volume (output) and delivers a variety of tones from gritty boosts through heavy overdrive.
One-Knob Effect Section (Screen)
The “non-gain” effect is mostly affected by the Screen knob and the 2-way Mode switch, some kind of magic control that changes many parameters at once, affecting the results in ways that are more experimental than logical (because sometimes you stumble upon an inspiring sound when you don’t know what you are doing).
Mode 1 (up position) doesn’t support stereo in and feeds multiple delay stages into a chorus, while Mode 2 is true stereo and blends three different reverbs. Sweeping through the Screen knob changes the interaction between the various effects with unexpected but always musical and atmospheric results.
A cool thing this pedal does when operating in mono to mono or mono to stereo, is it automatically activates Stacked Violence Mode, where the left and right distortion circuits are stacked on top of each other for extra distortion possibilities.
There’s also a Mix knob that allows reintegrating the clean signal and an Expression jack to externally control the Screen knob.
Have a listen to the magical sound of the OBNE Screen Violence, we added it to our list of creative stompboxes.
Old Blood Noise Screen Violence, Builder’s Notes
The first 200 pedals purchased will also include a signed card of authenticity
In collaboration with CHVRCHES, Old Blood Noise Endeavors unveils Screen Violence, an effects pedal inspired by the sounds of the acclaimed album of the same name. Featuring tube-inspired overdrive and a one-knob effect that expresses itself as modulation, delay, reverb, or a combination of all, Screen Violence blends inspiration from decades past and present to create a new stereo effect.
Screen Violence features:
Mono, stereo, and mono-to-stereo operation
Saturation section with control over Violence, Gain, Voice, and Volume to access gritty boosts through heavy overdrive
Modulated reverb section with control over wet-dry Mix and Screen, a magic knob controlling many parameters at once
Order switching to run Screen into Violence or Violence into Screen
Soft touch switching and relay bypass for each section
Expression jack to externally control Screen
Requires at least 100mA 9VDC center negative power
Screen Violence is available directly from OBNE and wherever you find CHVRCHES playing live.
CHVRCHES are Lauren Mayberry, Iain Cook and Martin Doherty. Since their 2013 debut The Bones of What You Believe, the Glaswegian band have seen global success, critical acclaim and are considered pioneers of modern synth-pop. Their latest record, last year’s Screen Violence, included the singles ‘He Said She Said’, ‘Good Girls’ and ‘How Not To Drown’, a collaboration with one of the band’s musical heroes and rock icon The Cure’s Robert Smith.
“We are really proud to be collaborating with Old Blood Noise because both Iain and I used so many of their pedals during the making of Screen Violence, the album. It feels like a full circle moment.”
Martin Doherty, CHVRCHES
“Our aim with the collaboration was to distill the sound of the record into a pedal that would be versatile enough to use with guitars, synths, bass or whatever we wanted to throw at it. A lofty goal but I am proud to say that we achieved it together. The range of sounds that this box can make is breathtaking, making it such a useful tool live and in the studio.”
Iain Cook, CHVRCHES
