TC Electronic announces BodyRez, an acoustic pickup enhancer pedal designed for under-saddle piezo pickups.
Related Feature:
Acoustic Guitar Pedals
Instead of having to go through trial-and-error tone shaping via equalizer and compression settings, this compact pedal improves your amplified acoustic guitar tone conveniently with just one knob…
The TC Electronic BodyRez pedal is a straightforward “instant” makeover kit for acoustic-electric guitars that utilize under-saddle pickups. It is meant to be a one-size-fits-all solution for the common problem of sounding flat, quacky, and tiny when your guitar is plugged straight into a PA.
At first glance, I thought that this is simply a DI box under a different name, but it turns out to be more like an effect pedal that actually shapes the tone, and more specifically something more natural sounding. TC Electronic was able to achieve this by utilizing a number of carefully pre-configured filters and subtle compression, resulting in having more of the natural acoustic guitar tone and feel coming through the PA.
Note that this pedal does not apply any sort of modeling, rather, it shapes your acoustic guitar sound according to parameters that were specified by TC Electronic. This means that the company worked out the nitty gritty details for you, so that all you have to do is step on the footswitch and adjust the knob to get improved acoustic guitar tone.
TC Electronic says, “Now acoustic players around the world can finally feel that they’re playing their own guitar on stage and not some poor amplified imitation.“
Check out their demo video and see if you are convinced:
This impressive simplicity makes the BodyRez ideal for acoustic guitarists and singer songwriters that don’t want to be bogged down by long setups and tweaking time. I personally find this pedal interesting and would love to get a hand on one to see if it works, both in solo and band settings. I hope that it also addresses string balancing issues, one of my main concerns when playing acoustic-electric guitars via PA, where some strings tend to “pop” out more forcing me to adjust my playing style and attack in realtime to adjust.
On top of helping in the sound and feel aspect of your tone, BodyRez added other nifty features into the pedal to make it more acoustic guitar friendly. Extra features include true bypass switching, phase-reversal for subduing low-end feedback, and mute function for noiseless switching of guitars when on stage, or when you want to tune quietly.
Finally, BodyRez comes in a very compact form factor that will easily fit into any rig, gig-bag or guitar case. Like all TC Electronic pedals, the metal chassis is meant to keep the pedal working for a long time.
The TC Electronic BodyRez is expected to retail for $100, with some online retailers already listing it as available for preorder. For more information and other details, visit TC Electronic. You can also visit their Summer NAMM 2015 exhibit at Booth# 1436, Hall B.
Related Article:
TC Electronic Sub ‘N’ Up Octaver Pedal
Check out these great Acoustic Guitar Amps!