Guitar World Tech Editor Paul Riario calls the Axentrix A1 “an eye-catching design loaded with tons of distortion tones,” and that’s an understatement.
The pedal adds in an extra selectable drive mode, for four in total: Crunch, Overdrive, Distortion and Fuzz. Also new is an Accent function that allows for a wide variety of expressions, carrying on the unique dynamic range expansion effects of the Expandora.
The pedal adds in an extra selectable drive mode, for four in total: Crunch, Overdrive, Distortion and Fuzz. Also new is an Accent function that allows for a wide variety of expressions, carrying on the unique dynamic range expansion effects of the Expandora.
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MusicTranscript
00:00What's up? It's Paul from Guitar World and today we'll be checking out a brand new pedal from
00:09Bixonic with an eye-catching design and one loaded with tons of distortion tones. The
00:14Eccentrics A1. Let's check it out. Bixonic, previously known as the maker of the Expandora
00:29pedal in the late 90s and 2000 has returned with a new digital distortion pedal called the
00:34Eccentrics A1. This new pedal uses a newly developed dynamic range expressor processing
00:42or DREP technology that allows the user to adjust not just the expansion effect which was a unique
00:47feature of the Expandora EXP2000 pedal but also the compression of the input dynamic range. The
00:54Eccentrics A1 includes four drive modes, crunch, overdrive, distortion and fuzz and once you
00:59pair any of the drive modes with the DREP technology accent function you can begin to sculpt your own
01:05unique tone. Let's take a look at controls and how to access their secondary functions.
01:14You'll see the controls and written underneath is what their secondary function is. Starting with the
01:19level control, if you press and hold it for two seconds you get to select between guitar or bass
01:24and you'll see the foot switch light up red for guitar where the low frequency is removed or blue
01:31for bass and don't be afraid to use blue for guitar if it sounds great to your ears. The accent control,
01:36this carries on the tradition of the Expandora's dynamic range expansion effect. Think of it as a feel
01:42control. Moving clockwise accentuates picking attack and counterclockwise invites percussiveness,
01:48at low gain or more sustain at higher gain settings. The secondary function is illumination so you can
01:55set the brightness of the knobs by holding it down two seconds. The gain control, of course this is
02:00self-explanatory it dials in the amount of gain but if you hold it down for two seconds you get to
02:07change the types of drive available. So when you see it light up for green that's crunch, yellow overdrive,
02:14red distortion and purple for fuzz. Next up the tone control or the three band EQ. You press and hold for
02:22two seconds and it illuminates white and now you have access to the three band EQ. So the level control
02:28becomes the treble, the tone control becomes the mid and the gain control becomes the bass. The
02:33Accentrix A1 is battery powered or AC powered however it's better to use this pedal with a power supply
02:39because if you leave it plugged in with a battery when you're not using it you'll drain the battery.
02:44With the switch on the side you can also select whether you want true bypass or buffered bypass
02:49with the selector switch. The foot switch will light up white in buffered bypass and to set up your
02:56buffered bypass tone you turn off the pedal and select buffered bypass and the knobs will turn white
03:02with the accent knob turning blue. Use the accent knob to set the dynamic range and the others for EQ.
03:10The same idea with the controls for bass, mid and treble with treble at the volume, mid at the tone
03:18and bass at the gain knob in buffered bypass. Once you have your buffered bypass tone hit any knob to store
03:25it. There's also three memory buttons with a save button and you can see it's real easy to use. Hit save
03:32once you get a setting the light up and select where you wish to save and recall that preset.
03:38Bixonic also offers an external foot switch that's sold separately to easily recall the settings.
03:49There's also an onboard tuning meter which works the minute you plug it in. You'll see the light spins
03:56in blue and you have to have the effects off and the Eccentrix A1 setup to buffered bypass. The light
04:03for the string you choose rotates clockwise if you're sharp and counterclockwise if you're flat.
04:09When the light stops spinning you're in tune, much like a strobe tuner. Right now I'm in buffered bypass,
04:16that's where the switch is set. So this is my buffered bypass tone.
04:27And you get to hear the range of the kind of distortion. So what you just heard
04:30very very crunchy type of distortion. Now listen to this type of distortion. Very different.
04:34Here's more of a higher gain distortion. Check it out.
05:04So moving over to purple, here we have a fuzz setting.
05:28Here you can see the gains dialed back on this one.
05:57Here you can see the big sonic Eccentrix A1 is undoubtedly a new gen distortion pedal
06:22that offers an endless supply of drive tones for any playing style.
06:26With the ability to save up to three different sounds, an onboard tuning meter,
06:30and secondary functions that allow for tailoring the EQ to your style of playing,
06:35the Eccentrix A1 is a jam-packed distortion stomp box worth your time. Definitely check it out.
06:47I'm out.
06:58I'm out.
06:59I'm out.
07:01I'm out.