Designed for both guitar and bass, the XO splits your signal into high and low frequency bands, which are sent to two independent effects loops. This means that you can apply separate effects to the high and low frequency portions of your signal, or even send them to two different amps. Whether you want to restrict a particular effect to just one part of the frequency spectrum – fuzz on just the lows, for example, or reverb on just the highs – or combine different effects on the two bands at the same time, the XO opens up a whole host of creative possibilities. And for bass guitar, the ability to apply effects to the mid and high frequencies while leaving the lows untouched effectively means that no guitar pedal is off-limits. The XO is built around a pair of active, 12dB/octave filters – one high-pass, one low-pass – arranged into what is known as a crossover. The XO’s real power comes from the Crossover Frequency control, which lets you move the dividing point between the high and low bands up and down the frequency spectrum. The Range switch toggles between frequency ranges designed to suit guitar (300Hz to 3.4kHz) and bass (50Hz to 600Hz). You can use the XO’s high and low send-return loops one at a time, adding modulation to just the lower portion of the signal, for example, or distorting just the highs while leaving the rest of the signal clean. Or you can combine two effects at once – a warm delay on the lows and a shimmering reverb on the highs, for example, or even twin delay or modulation effects set at different speeds. The pedal also features a Return Balance control, which adjusts the relative level of the two return signals. With nothing plugged into the two effects loops, this control effectively turns the XO into a tilt EQ, increasing the level of the low band while decreasing the level of the high band or vice versa. Unlike most tilt EQs, however, here you can move the centre frequency up or down. The XO also features a global dry blend control to adjust the overall wet/dry mix, a phase switch that puts the high and low bands out of phase, and a handy button to swap the high and low sends over so you can hear what the effects you’ve connected sounds like on the other half of the signal without having to unplug and re-patch anything. Ships fast and free, cuz that's how we be!
