The Black Mass Ceremonial Show of Force (CSOF) is an all-analog, discrete overdrive pedal, that forgoes opamps or diode clipping relying entirely on cascading transistor gain stages to deliver a versatile and uniquely textured overdrive.
The most interesting control of this pedal is the bias switch, which delivers vintage pushed clean tones in the left position, or modern, dirty overdrive in the right one.
The circuit boosts input voltage for increased headroom and clarity and features true bypass relay switching, overvoltage protection, a JFET input buffer, and transformer isolation.
Here’s a quick guide to the controls:
- Level: Adjusts output volume (start low, increase as needed).
- Drive: Regulates overdrive and saturation; interacts with body and bias controls.
- Tone: Balances EQ (clockwise for more treble, counter-clockwise for more bass).
- Body: Adjusts low-end presence (tightens or thickens the tone).
- Bias: Sets internal bias voltage for varying gain and texture:
– Low Bias: Lower gain, vintage tone.
– High Bias: Higher gain, modern tone.
