Deep Oggin
116
GUITARIST SEPTEMBER 2019
The Deep Oggin
Thorpy’s home-grown fully analogue chorus and vibrato pedal
MANUFACTURER
THORPYFX
MODEL
DEEP OGGIN
CONTACT
THORPYFX / WWW.THORPYFX.COM
PRICE
£249
PEDALBOARD
PROS
Excellent build quality; classic
analogue sound; Blend knob delivers
options between dry, chorus and vibrato;
dry and wet outputs
CONS
Some might find the footswitch
position odd, but it’s there for a good reason
– to stay out of the way of the circuitry
Words Trevor Curwen Photography Olly Curtis
T
he second Thorpy pedal designed
in collaboration with former
Lovetone boffin, Dan Coggins,
is named after naval slang for the sea,
no doubt in honour of the waves of
modulation it is designed to deliver. It’s a
fully analogue chorus/vibrato pedal with
plenty of parameters to adjust without
being overcomplicated, and it has two
outputs, so if you want to stray from the
standard pedalboard mono in/mono out
scenario you can send the wet and dry
signals to separate amps.
Besides the Rate and Depth knobs
that you’d find on any chorus or vibrato
pedal, the Deep Oggin also has a Blend
control that runs from fully dry to fully
wet – key to dialling in the effect. Chorus
relies on a blend of dry and modulated
sounds whereas vibrato in its purest form
is modulated signal with no dry sound
present as found with the Blend knob
turned up full. All points backward from
that fully clockwise position yield a wide
range of modulation variations, hitting
classic vintage chorus tones at around
50/50 wet/dry, right through to subtle
shadings just audible behind the dry sound
for added interest. If you have the luxury of
two amps, or are using the pedal for direct
recording, the tried-and-trusted method
of dry signal on one side and modulated
on the other – like the way the signal
goes to the speakers in a Roland JC-120 –
opens up a real sense of spaciousness and
movement in the sound.
SOUNDS
Tonally, there’s plenty of variation on
the warmth/brightness theme set by the
Treble knob. We matched the tone of
our vintage Boss CE-2 pedal fairly well
somewhere in the first half of the knob’s
travel, but fully clockwise it offers more of
a modern sparkle. Usefully, too, the output
volume starts out fairly close to unity gain,
so there’s a lot of travel left to add a boost
when you kick the effect in – nothing
excessive but plenty to ensure you’ll be
heard in the band mix.
VERDICT
Stylish and well put-together with quality
components, this is a versatile modulation
pedal with a parameter range that goes
beyond that of vintage pedals to immerse
you in an ocean of musical variations on the
chorus/rotary speaker/vibrato theme.
THORPYFX
Like the Oggin, this pedal features a Blend knob
that runs from dry through chorus to vibrato.
There’s also a Lag knob that determines the
centre delay time that the LFO modulates from,
plus you also get a choice of sine or triangle LFO
waveforms. Mono only.
An option if you can afford to splash the cash…
While this pedal was originally conceived to
simulate the effect of a warped vinyl record, it’s
an analogue vibrato/chorus with digital control of
loads of parameters. It has two footswitches, one of
which is for tap tempo/hold.
Warped Vinyl HiFi £349
BOSS WALRUS AUDIO CHASE BLISS
The classic 70s and 80s Roland/Boss chorus is
recreated here in a Waza Craft series pedal. It has
three modes: you can choose the chorus sounds
of the CE-1 and CE-2 pedals, or the vibrato of the
CE-1. Take a look at the VB-2W (£202) if you want
a specialist vibrato pedal.
CE-2W £202
© WWW.WALRUSAUDIO.COM
© WWW.CHASEBLISSAUDIO.COM
ALSO TRY...
Julia £192
CE-2W
£202
GIT450.peds_oggin.indd 116 07/08/2019 16:00