Warbles, flutter, and divebombs: the Bigsby can do it all. With a new stompbox from Gamechanger Audio, you can do it from the pedalboard.
The Bigsby Pedal idea was first dreamed up in 2019 but it is soon becoming a reality. This is exciting news for a lot of people for a big reason: only certain styles of guitars can fit a Bigsby vibrato. Whether it is because there’s not enough space, or that you just don’t want any more holes drilled into your precious guitars.
Cutting a history lesson short, Paul Bigsby invented the Bigsby vibrato in 1948. Merle Travis approached him with a guitar to repair, instead of repairing it, just invented a new one. Just like that, he had created a worldwide standard in guitar vibrato arms. Read on to meet your new favourite mechanical pedal.
At the centre of the Bigsby Pedal is its spring-loaded foot controller, which gives you split-second access to nuanced pitch-bends both up and down. They have redesigned the bits that make up a Bigsby to implement into Gamechanger Audio’s latest contraption. Paying attention to these details to preserve the feel and responsiveness of the OG system.
Unlike the mechanical system, the pedal boasts a state-of-the-art DSP. This chip powers its bending and provides the faithful recreation of the Bigsby tone. If you weren’t already heaps excited, this DSP also reckons it can handle larger intervals like whammy-style octave squeals and mad dive bombs. The Bigsby Pedal range is adjustable and can be different for either up or down. The shift direction can also be changed with an invert switch.
It features a rate, blend and depth parameters, whose controls also light up, for those of you who are aesthetically driven. However, for those of you thinking, “But what about those really fast and cool flutters you can do? My feet can’t move that fast!” Don’t worry, there’s an ‘auto’ mode that means all you have to do is press and it’ll do that fluttering for you.
Get amongst the hype at Gamechanger Audio.
