my ears) in the low mids.
The upper mids and treble
frequencies are rounded off
and softened ever-so-slightly.
stacks like a pile of Sunday
hymnals and delivers at the
front or rear of the signal
chain. I personally loved
running it into a germanium
The Gain control starts with
Fuzz Face, where switching
just a smidge of dirt and
it to true-bypass maintained
works its way up to classic
rock levels of crunch. It never the sweetness of the fuzz
gets to ‘80s, ‘90s or beyond and then stepping on the
Bishop sent things spiraling
levels of saturation, but this
into fuzz insanity.
of course is a positive in my
book. This also means one
As a follower, the Bishop
can make subtle adjustments didn’t encounter any
to the Gain knob without
pedals it didn’t love being
causing big changes in
slammed with. My favorite
the tone—it’s perfect for
combination in this realm
fine tuning the sound. The
was to hit the Bishop with
Bishop can be powered
the full wallop of a Red
with anything between
Llama. The subdued high
nine and 18 volts. As one
end of the Bishop helped
would expect, lower-voltage to mellow the (sometimes)
operation brings the grit on
piercing highs of the Llama,
faster and creates greater
but the low-end tightened
compression. Higher-voltage up for heavy riffs.
tones are cleaner and less
The volume knob
compressed. I preferred
interactivity of the Bishop
the 9–12 volt range, but it’s
is more about texture than
great to have the flexibility
sparkle. It doesn’t clean up
to experiment.
as well as some pedals do. It
For added bonus, the
Bishop features a switchable
internal buffer. This is
especially handy since the
Bishop is happy to lead
the congregation or follow
the flock. In other words, it
Bishop is voiced on the
warmer side. Even with the
Treble knob cranked, the
Bishop is never screechy.
And there are useable—
dare I say fantastic—timbres
throughout the range of the
Treble control. One of my
favorite uses for the Bishop
was actually sweetening up
solid state and digital amps. I
fell in love using it in front of
my audio interface for home
recording. With the Gain
set low, it was perfect for
warming up the sometimes
cold and plain amp
simulators in GarageBand
and elsewhere.
WHAT WE LIKE
never gets sparkly clean, but
it does lighten up and allow
for complex chords to ring
through without any weird
intermodulation distortion.
The Bishop is a fantastic
and multi-faceted dirt
pedal from a relative new
kid on the block. And one
I clearly need to start
paying closer attention to.
Another thing worth noting
is the noise floor on the
Bishop; even with the Gain
cranked, there is no added
noise in your signal. The
pedal looks great and feels
well made. The clear knobs
are a great touch.
Most importantly, like its
sibling the Caveman, the
None.
CONCERNS
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