To never be found unprepared is a determining quality of professionals. For this reason, an increasing number of guitarists have been carrying around a multi-fx bar like the Sonicake Rockstage next to their regular pedalboard, just in case anything went wrong with their main rig.
Ultra-small (it’s only 8″ wide) and ultra-light, the Rockstage can easily be carried in your backpack. However, in a live context, it delivers a lot more than its size may hint at, here’s a list of the included effects in routing order, each featuring separate controls and footswitch:
- Chorus: a digital but analog-voiced chorus with controls for speed and depth
- Rock Amp: this is an analog Plexi-style distortion with controls for Volume, Tone and Gain.
- Delay: 500ms analog-voiced delay with controls for Blend, Repeats and Time.
- Reverb: Spring-style reverb with control for Mix.
- Cab Sim: A switchable built-in cab simulation is included for directly connecting to PA, Mixer or Audio Interface.
Our friend Philip Czarnecki shot a video of it for us, check it out!
Sonicake Rockstage, Builder’s Notes
- One-Stop Gig Solution for Classic Rock Players with Main Effects needed.
- Analog Plexi Style Distiortion Brings the Tone back to 80s/90s Hard Rock Stage.
- BBD-style Analog-sounding Chorus adds a Beautiful Warm-Dream feeling to the Sound.
- 500ms Analog-Voicing Delay & High Quality Reverb Expand the Tone into Grand Spacy Timbre.
- Built-in Cabinets Simulation for directly connecting to PA, Mixer or Audio Interface.
Specifications:
- Power: 9V DC center negative(included)
- Current Consumption?130mA
- Dimension: 262mm(D)×64mm(W)×44mm(H)
- Weight: 480g
- Max delay time: 500ms
Description:
Basically, RockStage cracks his way into the multi effects category. But if you take it apart, you can see it as something else, like:A Distortion Pedal
Sonicake RockStage gives you exactly what you want and need – that Marshall half stack type of distortion crunch tone. Adjusting the gain knob, you can get your tone from AC/DC’s saturated Plexi break-up to Guns N’ Roses’ classic JCM-800 crunch, to early Van Halen’s fully over-the-top brown sound. Yeah, it has it all. Just get up on stage, and you are ready to rock!A Reverb & Delay Pedal
To make it quick and simple, and avoid using those confusing words like “luscious”, “natural”, let’s put it this way: the reverb can expand your tone from a small room to a big concert hall; The delay is analog-voicing. They both run on digital algorithms, but they sound analog. Find any YouTube demos of RockStage, you’ll know what I’m talking about.A Chorus Pedal
Personally I think, 80s wouldn’t sound like 80s if without the chorus. To me, that’s basically the cornerstone of the tone from that particular era. RockStage has a BBD-style, analog-sounding chorus in it, which I’m sure you’ll dig. And here is a little hack on it: if you setting RATE to minimum, and DEPTH to maximum, you’ll get yourself a “Leslie Rotary” sound. Pretty cool, huh?Make your job easier around gigs and studios
The pedal is built like a tank. Heavy-duty metal casing. Well constructed. LED knobs indicating the working state of the pedal, which would make it easy for you to gig in a dark venue. What’s more? RockStage has a cab sim in. Yeah, you can directly plug it into the PA system or your sound card, for gigging and home studio recordings.
