Ross pedals

Ross effect pedals

This red Ross Flanger is one of the US made mains-powered pedals of the brand (equivalent Taïwanese pedals are black with a colored square around the pedal name). Like many Ross pedals, this pedal is a copy (not a perfect clone) of the famous MXR equivalent. This particular model uses the now very rare and/or expensive SAD1024 BBD chip. Unfortunately, mine is dead and it looks like it'll probably take a few month (years?) to find another one at an acceptable price... To be perfectly correct, only half of the 1024 is dead since these chips have a tap at the 521th stage. This flanger can therefore flange but not with its majestuous modulation amplitude.

The R70 Phase Distortion is another mains powered Ross pedal. It features the same great phaser as the one described below and a distortion effect similar to the early Ross Distortion pedal. It is an MXR Distortion + knock-off employing germanium diodes for clipping. Its tone is fatter and "hairier" than similar pedals with silicon clipping diodes but it has less output. Therefore, it doesn't work as well as an overdrive on old amps but it actually gives better results than contemporary Distortion + on high gain modern amplifiers like my Soldano SL60. The R70 came in different guises: it was also called "Phaser Distortion" or "D/P Combination" in its US-made pruple version. A great pedal for those who seek a simple plug and play tone experience.

The Taiwanese Ross phaser is not a copy of an MXR and employs an original design using OTAs. It gives classic phasing tones with a good depth and a pleasing modulation that sounds great with clean or overdriven tones. It doesn't have the ringing quality of the MXR phase 90, but that is an advantage in my book. It was given to me by Luke from the Live Music Shop (Peterborough, UK) and has been a mainstay of my pedalboard for 12 years now.

On the bottom right, the Ross Noise Gate/Direct Box is just a straightforward noise gate, but for some reason, I like Ross pedals and I got this one for less than a round of beers. Hey, It does its job and that's enough for me!