Blackface Idol is a guitar pedal inspired by Fender Blackface amps.

One sound, one story
So-called Fender Blackface series include about ten different models, Fender released AB763 circuit starting in 1963, the heart of the Blackface project (Twin Reverb, Deluxe Reverb, Super Reverb, Vibrolux, Tremolux and others). Only those who have tried one of these amps can know their incredible construction quality and the astonishing tone, a pure state-of-the-art machine.

“The first time I tried a Fender Blackface I was very young, it happened on early 2000s, at that time I often visited a musical instrument shop in Milan, my city. I was very intrigued by a Fender Deluxe Reverb on sale as B-stock at a very low price because the silkscreens on the panel were very light, almost faded. I asked the clerk to try it, even though a lot of time has passed by I still remember very well how surprised I was by the brilliance of my Stratocaster played inside that Deluxe Reverb, I remember it as a strange sensation like the guitar strings were made of glass. I bought it.” – Luca Colombo

Blackface Idol conception
A pedal of this type needs to be developed with multiple features, making the unit versatile and useful on multiple purpouses: it can be used as a classic overdrive pedal by exploiting the features of the reference amps or it can be set to modify the sound of your amplifier in favor of the Blackface peculiarities. The Blackface Idol was designed by mixing two technologies (MOSFET and JFET) to recall the sonic nuances of real amplifiers by following step-by-step the interaction of the individual components not only simulating their behaviors but recreating it electronically. The Blackface Idol pedal incorporates 3 of the most iconic models: Super (inspired by Super Reverb), Twin (inspired by Twin Reverb) and Deluxe (inspired by Deluxe Reverb). In each of these modes you can find the same differences that we find on real amps. The Super mode is rich on low frequencies with a prominent natural compression; the Twin mode preserves the same low frequencies as the Super but the compression is reduced in favor of a very high headroom (it’s not a coincidence the Fender Twin Reverb has 100W of pure tube power); the Deluxe mode offers a slightly narrower frequency range with clear and well-pronounced mids and a spongy compression, typical of a 22W amplifier driven by 2 6V6 tubes.

The controls
The pedal features 4 simple controls:

Gain: controls the amount of distortion, this control should be used as the volume knob on real amps;,

Bass: controls the low frequencies, working in the same way as the real amp;

Treble: controls the high frequencies, working in the same way as the real amp;

Volume: sets the main output volume.