ChaseBliss WOMBTONE mk II User manual

WOMBTONE mk!!
INSTRUCTIONS
FEED
(RAMP) VOLUME MIX
OVERVIEW
The sonic experience of the womb, now in pedal form. They just
don’t make phasers like they used to, until now. This analog phaser
pedal features an all-analog signal path with smooth, vintage
tones that harken back to the 70’s while retaining the ability to get
plenty weird and psychedelic. Wombtone mkII has a few upgrades,
including a rare mix control that moves from full dry signal to pure
phase vibrato as well as the ability to switch between 2, 4, and 6
stages of phase for all avors of phase from barely audible to that
full, syrupy swirl. Further, every knob and switch is connected to a
little digital brain while your guitar signal stays 100% analog the
entire time and never gets digitally processed. Since the control of
the effect is digital, it opens up unprecedented effects and features
that have never been heard or offered in analog stompboxes.
1/2/4 (3/6/8) STG:(2/4/6) TOGGLE
If the “Stages” dip switch is engaged, this toggle
transforms into the “STG: (2 – 4 – 6)” switch. This allows
selection of 2, 4, or 6 phase stages for more subtle or
extreme options. Otherwise, this toggle controls tap
divisions. A dip switch in the back of the pedal lets you
access the “3 – 6 – 8” divisions, rather than “1 – 2 – 4”
if you so desire. You can also select tap divisions for the
RPM or for ramping parameters dependent on where the
“tap control” dip switch is set. Note that divisions are 2x
slower for ramping.
DEPTH
This controls the range of the phaser. Crank it clockwise
for a very wide frequency spectrum.
FORM
This controls the center point of the modulation. Crank it
to counterclockwise, the wave is going to ramp up quickly
and ramp down gradually. If you crank it clockwise, the
wave will ramp up gradually and ramp down quickly. If
this knob is straight up and down at 12:00 it will give a
perfectly symmetric wave.
LEFT WAVE SHAPE TOGGLE
This controls the shape of the rst half of the wave
modulation. Left for sine, middle for triangle, and right
for square.
RIGHT WAVE SHAPE TOGGLE
This controls the shape of the second half of the wave
modulation. Left for square, middle for triangle, and right
for sine.
FEED (RAMP)
Simply put, this is a magical knob. When you don’t
have any dip switches assigned for ramping, this knob
functions as a “Drive” control. “Drive” is a bit of a
misnomer here, as it is the gain control of a very clean,
beautiful and transparent boost. If you want more
headroom and output out of the pedal, 18V operation
is advised. Due to the digital control of this pedal, you
can set this knob to control any of the ve parameters
individually or simultaneously (volume, tone, rate, depth,
sway) and have it either modulate or ramp-and-hold
(rise or fall) via dip switches in the back of the pedal.
Essentially, this knob controls the ramp time in which
this takes place.
VOLUME
Sets the level of the effect. This pedal has an internal
voltage doubler and a nice boost circuit, so there is
massive boost and head room. Of course, the ramp
knob or an expression pedal can control this knob. This
control acts almost as a gain control, and is a little more
“sluggish” to respond if controlled by expression.
TONE
Dial this in for 100% wet phase vibrato, 100% dry,
or anything in-between. Parking this somewhere
in the middle introduces the classic phase chorusing. It’s
really rare for a phaser to have a control that goes from
all the way dry to all the way wet phase vibrato.
RATE
This controls the rate of the phase effect –
mkII allows very slow rates. Tap tempo overrides
this control.
This device complies with part 15 of the FCC rules.
Operation is subject to the following two conditions:
(1) This device may not cause harmful interference, and
(2) this device must accept any interference received,
including interference that may cause undesired operation.

The depth, sway, and wave shape toggles comprise
the ModuShape™ engine, which give unprecedented
control over the shape of your modulation.
BYPASS STOMP
Activates or bypasses the effect. This can be changed to
a momentary bypass via a dip switch in the back of the
pedal if it is desired. This pedal is “True Bypass” via a
relay, and is extremely quiet.
TAP STOMP
Sets tap tempo, always honors the last two stomps.
LOWER TOGGLE
This switch recalls presets. The right position recalls one
preset, the left recalls a different preset. The middle
will always reect wherever the knob positions, toggle
positions, and dip switch positions are currently at. In
order to save to the right preset slot, you hold down
the right stomp (bypass) for 3 seconds and then hold
down both stomp switches simultaneously for another
3 seconds. The LED blinks and your setting is saved.
For the left slot, you do the same thing but hold the left
stomp (tap) rst. If you recall a preset, and move a knob,
you will notice that the LED above the toggle goes dim.
This is to signify that something has changed on the
preset. If you want to save this change in the preset,
you will have to save it again.
IN / OUT
¼” mono input jack.
EXP / CV
¼” TRS jack for expression pedal (parameter selectable
via dip switch in the back of the pedal. Tip goes to
wiper. We recommend Mission expression pedals (EP-1
or EP-25k). Can also be used to for 0-5V Control Voltage
(CV) on tip – the ring should be left oating in this case.
There are many expression pedals that work with Chase
Bliss Audio products, the Mission stuff is just what we
have on hand.
TAP / MIDI
¼” TRS jack. This can be used as a tap input or output
with a regular ¼” instrument cable. In addition, it can
be used to interface the pedal with an Empress
Effects Midibox. Much more information on this in the
MIDI manual.
POWER & OTHER INFO
This pedal consumes ~50mA and should be operated
with an alkaline 9V battery or a standard 2.1mm 9V DC
center negative adapter. We recommend Voodoo Labs
Pedal Power. Input impedance of this device is 500k,
and output impedance is less than 1k.
EXP / CV CONTROL
& DIP SWITCHES
The Volume, Tone, Rate, Depth, and Sway dip switches
in the left bank allow you to control parameters via
ramping or an Expression Pedal / CV. Whenever you plug
a ¼” in to the EXP / CV jack, the pedal automatically
knows that you will be controlling parameters via
expression or CV, not ramping.
DIRECT CONTROL OF
WAVEFORM WITH EXP / CV
If you have something plugged in to the EXP / CV jack,
but do not have any parameters selected via dip switch,
you are allowed to control the waveform directly. For
Wombtone, this allows you to do a manual sweep of the
phaser with an expression pedal, for something similar
to a “wah” type of effect, but with phasing. The range
of this effect can be limited by the position of the Depth
knob. For a maximum sweep, set the depth knob to its full
clockwise position.
SETTING EXP / CV RANGE
The range of the expression / CV is controlled by the
parameter knob position and the “sweep” dip switch. For
example, if you wanted an expression pedal to control
the volume parameter from zero volume to unity gain,
you would make sure the “sweep” dip switch is in the
bottom position and set the volume knob at unity gain.
If you need more volume you simply turn the volume
knob up slightly. This will increase the maximum range of
the expression pedal. This allows you to control multiple
parameters with an expression pedal, but you can ne
tune the range that you want for each parameter.
UNDERSTANDING THE DIP SWITCHES
Continued on next page
A very important thing to remember is that ramping
always gets reset when bypassing. The parameters’
current knob position control where the parameters
ultimately will either start or stop ramping.
When you save a preset, all of this information gets saved.
The parameters in gold below correspond to the ramp
function *or* an expression pedal (if one is plugged in).

The Volume, Mix, Rate, Depth, and Form dip
switches on the left side simply turn that parameter on
or off for ramping or expression / CV capability.
Volume, Mix, Rate, Depth, and Form dip switches on
the right side control whether or not the parameters
will rise (go clockwise in ramp mode) or fall (go
counterclockwise in ramp mode). It also controls how
the parameters will behave with an expression pedal
plugged in.
Bounce: When on (and no expression pedal),
parameters will go back and forth (i.e. modulate), if it’s
off, parameters will ramp and hold.
Stages: When engaged, this enables the toggle on
the front of the pedal for stage selection. You can
select 2, 4, or 6 stages. The 2 stage option is new for
mkII. This allows for much more subtle phasing,
if desired.
MoToByp: Momentary-to-bypass. If on, the pedal is
only activated when the bypass stomp is pressed in.
Tap Control: “R” stands for ramp, “P” for parameter
(RPM in this case). In the P position, tapping in a
tempo will dictate the RPM rate. In the R position,
tapping in the tempo will dictate the Ramp rate. This
is great for modulating parameters. Remember, the
“Bounce” dip switch needs to be on if you want to
ramp parameters back and forth, rather than just
ramping and holding.
Tap Division: In position “3” allows for 3, 6, 8 tap
divisions. This is also important for selecting MIDI note
divisions.
Sweep: this controls where ramp sweeps. In “T” (top)
the ramping (or expression control) will occur between
the current knob position and the max position (fully
clockwise). In “B” (bottom) the ramping (or expression
control) will occur between the current knob
NOTE: It may seem overwhelming and difcult
for users to take all this in at rst. My suggestion is always to
forget about the dip switches for a while when you get the
pedal. Get to know the basic functionality of it, and then if/
when you want to experiment with ramping or expression,
it will likely be easier.
Some of these concepts are much easier to explain and
demonstrate on video, and I have many tutorials available on
my youtube channel at:
www.youtube.com/c/ChaseBlissAudio.
We also love to hear from customers and answer questions
so feel free to write us anytime at:
chaseblissaudio.com/contact.
Thank you so much for purchasing this product and ENJOY!
Example presets continued on next page
All presets created by Mason Stoops.
Hear them at soundcloud.com/chaseblissaudio
PHUNKY AT NOON
FLOYD

Example presets continued on next page
FLUTTER BUTTER DISHWASHER
GET SCHWIFTY SPOOKY PIZZA

SYMPTOMS OF
A STUTTERING WESTERN THING
I’M EDGY THE END