Review : Cali76 STACKED Edition from Origin Effects

What could be better than one compressor? Two compressors! Specifically two compressors that are joined together in the same box. Especially when they are the modern equivalents of UREI 1176 class studio processors.

Now I understand that a compressor may not be on the top of your must have list, but you might be amazed by what a difference a really great compressor can make in your tone.

For a lot of folks, the word compressor brings to mind the classic Ross style guitar pedals, or the many alternatives using a similar circuit design. You also hear the term "chicken picken'" in relation to compressors. This naming has been known to drive away players who don't play "country". That's too bad because a good compressor can help any tone.

The Cali76 Stacked Edition is based on a very different circuit, the same model as the famous UREI 1776 studio rack compressor. It's very different from a classic "squishy" compressor. The tone is different, richer, wider and while all compressors reduce dynamic range to some extent, the Cali76 family have none of that squishiness. Some compressors also introduce some unpleasant boost effects. Not this one. While you can dial in a small amount of boost, this is not a boost pedal

What it is, is two compressors that work independently and where you have the ability to control how much of the first compressed signal hits the second compressor. I have heard compressors described as "overdrive for your clean tone". I presume that by this the person saying so is describing the increased sustain that can come from a decent overdrive. A good compressor can certainly do that for your clean tone, but the non-squish kind can also benefit an overdriven tone. I am not a user of distortion or fuzz and they introduce so much compression themselves, I cannot comment on the need for a compressor for those playing through such devices.

What I like about the Cali76 Stacked Edition is that I can set each compressor to do what I want. I will typically set the first compressor to increase sustain and increase fullness. This is my always on option. I can then use the second compressor to further increase sustain with some more compression of the dynamic range or just let it control peaks in the signal, typically associated with variations in pick attack and where on the string I hit in relation to the pickup poles.

There is no one size fits all setting. Different guitars and different pickups deliver different responses. When you see the Cali76 Stacked Edition as two devices, it gets a lot simpler to understand and use.

The Cali 76 Stacked Edition requires a power supply that is not included. There is no battery option and for my use cases, that does not matter to me. My unit is on the split board for my AC30 with the Cali76 Stacked Edition, a Frost Giant Treble Booster and ThorpFX Dane into the front of the amp, with the delays and chorus effects in the effects loop. As I often use single coil pickups through this amp, I use a TC Electronics Sentry to control noise. I like the Sentry because the one pedal works both in front of the amp and in the effects loop.

Playing a Strat, a Tele or a Rickenbacker through the Cali76 Stacked Edition into the AC30 is a wonder of chime and sustain, and I will use the compressor even when pushing the signal with the treble booster or the Dane and am very happy with the tonal results.

This is a boutique pedal and if you want to get one, I heartily recommend going to ElectricMojoGuitars to get yours.

Review : Revival Drive Compact by Origin Effects

As guitarists the correct answer for how many overdrives we have seems to be at least one more than what we already have. I count myself in this space. I've not thus far been much enamoured of distortion and fuzz pedals but overdrives are an issue for me, and while I sometimes find other reviews to be JAFO content, I have to say that the Origin Effects Revival Drive Compact does not fit in that bucket.

The Compact is a smaller version of the double sized and nearly double priced full unit.

The full size Revival drive

You'll notice that the Compact has half the functions of the full size leaving out the Silicon Rectifier side. This was ok with me and why I chose the Compact model.

The controls are incredibly simple, and Origin provides some suggested settings in their documentation to get you started for different configurations.

My test environment is a very lean board (tuner, Revival Drive, Keeley Delay) into the front of a Fender '65 Twin Reverb Reissue. I love the Twins enormous power and tendency to stay clean at all volume levels. Twin users know that at full pop, a Twin will blow you through a wall, so I tend to play it with the volume relatively low. Using the Revival Drive gives me a lot of tone control without having to have the amp too loud not that it would overdrive much anyway.

I have tested the unit with single coils from an SRV Strat which has the Texas Specials pickups, an Eric Johnson Strat, a rosewood Telecaster from the 80s, a Gretsch White Penguin 59VS and a Les Paul 57 Black Beauty. Obviously I need to alter the settings on the Revival Drive for these different guitars, but in every case I have been successful quickly in getting an overdrive tone that I like without having to resort to black magic in the guitar settings. If I could say that about all the other overdrives that I have owned and tried, I would have a smaller number of them.

My Revival Drive Compact came from my good friends at Electric Mojo Guitars. They are my primary dealer for boutique stuff and my provider for my other Origin Systems gear. I find Charles to be both knowledgeable and helpful with excellent pricing and very fast delivery. Origin Effects kit is not found in many stores, partly because they are a small company and also frankly because the price points are well over better known overdrives and the buyer market is fairly vertical.

However, if you are tone hound and are looking for an overdrive that really kills it, but that is also versatile enough that it's not a one trick pony and that plays nicely with other amps (I have used it with an AC30, Marshall 2555, PRS Dallas, Kock Multitone and Blackstar Club 40). I even tried into the front of the tiny Yamaha THR30 II. All good sounds, although I admit a preference for valve (tube) amps.

If you can handle the cost of acquisition, this pedal is the finest that I have found for this kind of task.

Review : Origin Effects Cali76 Compressor

Readers may start wondering if the only pedal that I really care about is the compressor considering how much web time I give them. Fair comment, but it is my opinion that the compressor is an under utilized tool that any guitarist or bassist can benefit from when used effectively.

The Cali76 from Origin Effects draws its name from the well respected UREI 1176 from Universal Audio that came out in the late nineteen sixties. The 1176 was a solid state design based on a Field Effect Transistor infrastructure (FET). The 1176 has been used on thousands of recordings because of its low noise, wonderful sound, fast attack and massive gain. My article on compressors in general explains terminology and common functions.

The Cali76 is a stomp box styled compressor. Instead of a VU meter, there is an LED in jewel fixture that changes colour depending on what is happening with the signal. Red is no compression, orange is compression being done, and yellow indicates compression of high input levels and the use of limiting. The original 1176 was marketed as a Limiter before it was talked about as a compressor.

The version that I bought, from Electricmojoguitars.com in Quebec is the Compact Deluxe or CD model. In addition to the meter lamp, there is a silent no click footswitch, mono in and outs, a power in port that will work from 9v to 18v and six control knobs.

It also comes with effective documentation, which you should read since the rotation direction of the knobs may be opposite to your assumption. There are both input and output level controls, so you can maximize the use with your guitar and if you wish also use the Cali76 as a clean boost. Clean boost does not mean that your amp may not be overdriven, it simply means that the boost has no coloration. This is something definitely not clear on the web or in some guitar stores. There is also a Dry control so you can mix your dry signal with the compressed signal. There is no “right answer” but Origin Effects’ documentation does provide some suggestions based on what you wish to achieve. 

The ratio knob, controls, surprise, the compression ratio and I noticed that using higher levels of ratio does not immediately mean achieving audio mud. The circuit design in this regard is marvellous and it also doesn’t give that squished into a small can sound. Attack controls how quickly the compressor reacts to the incoming signal. Decay controls how quickly or slowly the compressor releases the signal. 

With some judicious tweaking, you can get sustain that lasts for days, without things sounding all squishy or the compressor sounding like it is pumping audio. You can get bad sound if you try, as with any effect, but as with salt, a little goes a long way.

My first serious test involved a SRV Strat into a blackface Twin Reverb. Strats and Twins were made for each other, and I love the sound of a Strat in switch position four into a clean Twin with some reverb happening. Adding in the Cali76 did not usurp that tonal joy as does happen with many compressors, and I felt that harmonics were more open and the sustain was significantly enhanced.

Stevie Ray Vaughan was known for playing through a Tube Screamer into a Twin. I can barely spell SRV let alone achieve his sound, but I just don’t like the Tube Screamer sound with this combo, even when set to the secret and widely published SRV settings. Instead, I put a TC Electronic Spark Booster after the Cali76 and before a Diamond Memory Lane delay. I have been experimenting with Boosts, and in this configuration with gain up and the volume down on the Spark, when I kicked in the Cali76 the soaring sustaining lead tone is stupendous. It’s not distorted or fuzzy. It’s this beautiful warm subtly overdriven sound which is happening at the amp input stage. The only downside that I have found so far is that rolling off the volume control on the guitar does not clean up as it might with a Tube Screamer, but the quality of tone with the Cali76, with or without the Spark is worth it. This is also one of those scenarios so beloved of guitar pundits. In this setup, you can definitely hear a tonal difference between string weights. I keep the SRV strung with .12s, and even comparing to another Strat with Texas Specials pickups and .10s the tone from the heavier strings is much richer and warmer. 

NOTE : The board configuration is changing as I just received my Origin Effects Revival Drive Compact. More to come on that.

I found this interesting as in general, I have to be honest, I cannot hear a tonal difference of different weight strings with the same pickups into the same amp. Adding the Cali76 and the Spark, there is a real difference, and I can still hear the difference with no boost at all when the compressor is invoked.

The Cali76 is not what I would call inexpensive. Regular readers will know that I like the Diamond Compressor and am very impressed with the Empress Effects Compressor. For those wishing to spend less, go for the Keeley Compressor Plus which is, in my opinion, the best value out there in its price range. However, if you are willing and able to spend over $400 CAD for a compressor, you want an Origin Effects Cali76. I bought it and kept it. 

Will I buy any other compressors? Yes, I am waiting for the Cali76 Stacked Edition to come back into stock as I have a feeling that running an awesome compressor into another one of itself will be amazing. I’ve done this in the digital recording realm for a while using software based compressors with some really positive success, and now want to see what I can do with one live, perhaps on a really powerful acoustic tone.

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