Submitted on November 28, 2017

First impression

I bought the BIAS distortion a couple of months ago because this unit seemed to cover most of my overdrive and most of all: distortion needs.

Intrigued by the hardware+software combo that allows users to store more than enough presets in many different flavors of distortion, I decided to invest. The unit isn't cheap but this baby could replace my complete drive section. It isn't small either but way more handy than having a bunch of cables and pedals all wired together. The ability to edit the presets in an interface that didn't make me throw up was a refreshing experience for a change.

I found out that trying to copy/paste a whole bunch of pedals to a programmable distortion pedal is a cool concept but the platform is just as useful for people like me, who don't care about sounding like guitarist X or band Y. I want to build my own sounds and I'm glad I can.

This is not your typical multi-effect pedal where you build a chain with a distortion, delay, reverb, chorus etc. from a list and you turn the knobs.

You only get to do the drive/distortion part but you can you in so much detail! Start from a preset and get to work in the different stages. You can add up to two EQ's between the stages you like to shape even more in-between. It's interesting to hear how rolling off or boosting frequencies makes the next stage respond completely different. The interface of the software is fun to work with and might seem a bit "fluffy" to hardcore techies but don't be fooled by looks; editing the chain will keep you tweaking that certain preset to what you like.

Nice touch, you can provide the face plate of your virtual pedal with custom artwork you can import.

The unit offers 2 banks with 10 presets each. Most of them have names on the physical unit but that doesn't matter, you can put anything you like in there.

You assign virtual pedals to the hardware pedal simply by a drag-and-drop in the software. On the hardware pedal you can easily decide which pedals you want under the 3 preset slots that can be accessed with the footswitches.