This is an exciting moment for me so I'll try not to get too hyperbolic. After well over a year of R&D, Sending is here. The official preorder date is Thursday, June 21, 2018 at 2PM EST, at which time you can order through our reverb store. This first run is handwired and will be limited to 50 units at $400 plus shipping. The first demo by abunchofpedals can be found here, and we have another demo coming from collector//emitter on Thursday. I'm incredibly thankful for their ability to show what this thing is capable of - be sure to subscribe to their channels!
For those who are out of the loop: Sending is an analog delay with tap tempo and a sophisticated input preamp. It’s surely the most ambitious EAE pedal to date. Starting with a pair of MN3005 reissue Bucket Brigade Devices (BBDs), we added tap tempo and a unique, all-discrete preamp that is capable of "always on" harmonic enhancement or console-style overdrive. Its delay times go up to 1000ms if you care about fidelity, and nearly 2000ms if you don't. And finally, there is an FX Loop which patches in after the delay line to add additional effects to the delayed signal. For additional details and a sneak peek at the technical manual check here.
A few notes on the preorder process: these are very complex builds and will be assembled by hand. At this time I estimate the lead time will be around 8 weeks (translating to a ship date in mid August for those who preorder on launch day) but I'll be sure to maintain the utmost transparency throughout the manufacturing process. We have all of the long lead-time parts including PCBs and enclosures on hand, but said PCBs are huge and I want to take the time to do them properly.
On that note, "I want to take the time to do it properly" is the mantra for everything we do at EAE. But never did it ring more true than during the design process for Sending. Analog delay is my favorite kind of effect, so even the thought of approaching one with the standards of my favorite delay units was an incredibly daunting task. The very first sketches and block diagrams came about in late Fall 2016, before I really even understood what a BBD truly did. In March 2017 I built the first prototype, which had my first take on the preamp as well as a simpler delay implementation inspired by classic Boss and DOD pedals. I loved this prototype but realized that it had some quirks that wouldn't fly in a professional delay, and it also needed more features to justify a price point that would in turn justify its part count. It took a couple months to rig up tap tempo, and another couple months to cram that tap tempo and all the other stuff onto a single PCB, and then another couple months to make that PCB not be a noisy mess. In the process I overhauled all of the filtering, dynamics processing, and clock control until we had a truly unique design. I spent most of this past year dialing in subtle things like control tapers and tap tempo firmware, and finally got to the end result that I'm so excited for you all to check out. So here we are! As Ian from Collector//Emitter put so well: Sending is my love letter to analog delay.
If you made it this far thanks for reading and supporting what we do.
Until next time,
John