EVENTIDE BLACKHOLE

101
DECEMBER 2020 GUITARIST
Tech Spec
ORIGIN: China
TYPE: Reverb pedal
FEATURES: Multiple Bypass
options (Buffered, Relay,
DSP+FX or Kill dry), MIDI,
5 onboard presets,
software editor
CONTROLS: Mix, Gravity/Delay,
Feedback/Q, Size/Depth, Lo/
Rate, Hi/Output Level, mono/
stereo switch, guitar/line level
switch, secondary function
button, Active button, Freeze
button, Active (Bypass)
footswitch, Freeze footswitch
CONNECTIONS: Standard TRS
input (mono or stereo), standard
outputs 1 & 2, EXP, USB
POWER: Included 9V DC
adaptor, 200mA
DIMENSIONS: 178 (w) x 121 (d) x
71mm (h)
9
knobs. producing a mild chorus or a more
extreme detuning effect.
With all of those parameter choices,
there’s a staggering range of unusual
ambiences available here. There are some
conventional reverbs to be coaxed out of
the pedal – and yet the Blackhole is not
about halls, rooms and so on. This pedal is
more about creating otherworldly spaces.
In fact, its forte is long lingering clouds
of uniquely textured ambience. There’s a
world of esoteric soundscapes waiting to
be dialled in with ethereal evolving pads
built from reverb, delay and modulation
nestling behind your playing.
While the hands-on knob tweaking is
great here, the EDM software makes it
even easier with every parameter laid out
in front of you, as well as instant access
to Eventide’s 28 carefully programmed
factory presets, which really explore the
unit’s capabilities.
Use in performance has been amply
catered for with the two footswitches,
each having multiple functions. Primarily
the bypass, the Active switch can be
latching or momentary for short blasts
of effect. The latching Freeze footswitch
will get the last bit of reverbed playing
sustaining on while you play over it, albeit
with the pedal’s dry sound, which might
be too much of a contrast in ambience for
some tastes. The footswitches can also call
up presets. A press-and-hold on Freeze
puts the pedal in Preset mode where it can
scroll through the five presets; hitting the
Active switch will load the selected one.
Further foot control is available by
plugging in an expression pedal, which
can have any combination of parameters
mapped to it for a complete morphing of
the soundscape. The EXP socket allows
for external tap tempo for the pre-delay
or preset recall via a triple footswitch.
VERDICT
Perhaps no big deal to anyone who already
has Blackhole sounds in a Space or H9
pedal, but what we have here is proper
hands-on control in a compelling reverb
pedal specialising in massive ‘out there’
ambiences to lose yourself in. Plug in your
guitar and you’ll soon be sucked in.
PROS Great range of unusual ambient
sounds; easy hands-on operation; software
editing; expression pedal control; latching
or momentary switching
CONS Price could be lower compared with
more versatile H9 but it’s horses for courses
01. LED
This LED also functions
as a button to change the
Active footswitch function,
toggling it between latching
or momentary operation
02. FOOTSWITCHES
Besides making the effect
active and engaging the
Freeze function, these two
footswitches allow access to
the fi ve onboard presets
03. PRESET LADDER
Each LED in this array
represents one of the fi ve
onboard presets
04. GRAVITY KNOB
Central position is basically
neutral. To the right you
adjust the conventional
decay envelope, with
inverse decay to the left
05. SECONDARY
FUNCTION
BUTTON/LED
Press this so it lights up red
and you can access the set
of secondary parameters for
each knob (legended in grey)
6. EDM
USB connection to your
computer enables sound-
editing and access to 127
presets through the Eventide
Device Manager software
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GIT466.peds_eventide.indd 101 28/10/2020 18:07