First Impressions with the CXM 1978 by Chase Bliss Audio
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 24 ก.ค. 2024
- I don't know that I have been this excited about a new piece of gear this year. I don't know that I have been this excited about a new reverb in several years. The CXM1978 represents a big step forward in reverb pedals; an opportunity to take the studio reverb ethos and apply it to your board. I'm not calling this a review as I don't think I have had time to dig into this pedal appropriately. For now this is just first impressions and a chance to hear just what this brings to the table. And I am impressed.
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Chain:
Fender Mustang and Bass VI
1981 DRV
Empress Compressor mkii
CBA/Benson Preamp Mkii
CBA Gen Loss
CBA Thermae
CBA Gravitas
Hologram Microcosm
Strymon Volante
Meris Mercury 7
Strymon Iridium
CBA/Meris CXM1978
Recording into a UA Apollo Twin X and LUNA
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By far and away the best audio quality demo out of any on the CXM1978 and one of the best overall quality tone on TH-cam. High praise, but warranted. Thank you for doing such an exceptional job with the audio.
Thanks so much. The fidelity of this reverb is one of the biggest factors; it was incredibly important that I represented that well.
For all of us content absorbers, thanks for taking the time to put this out. Waiting to get the money gathered up to get this thing in a month or two.
Cheers homie!
Like you I have been soaking up any content on the CXM. And this (by far) is the best video on the pedal. Thanks for the time and work you put into showcasing the sounds. I am now a new subscriber.
Been waiting for this one! Thanks, Mark!
Your demo of this sold me on it. I completely gutted my board and sold off 9 pedals to build a new rig around it. After just 2 days with the pedal I have zero regrets. I love your work, thank you!
I think you classified this pedal perfectly. If you want complete control over the tails, eq and diffusion, then this is really your only option. When used my h9 for verbs I found that I barely adjusted high and low decay separately, and I confirmed I don't need many options when I got my hands on the tempus.
So essentially, if you only turn the mix and decay knobs on your 70s plate algo, (Like me!) then stick with that. But if you can't sleep because you need the lows under 375hz to decay faster than your mids, then the price tag of the CXM totally makes sense.
Oh, and this is by far the best showcase I have seen of the pristine quality this pedal delivers.
The crossover goes all the way up to 1700. And I think it’s a feature more people would use if it was more intuitive to access (which they may have accomplished)
God damn Mark my bank account didn't need to see this so close to Christmas - best CXM demo on TH-cam.
Im developing an addiction to your channel lol Great playing and ur sound resonates so heavily with me! Thanks for being awesome and having awesome taste!!
Man, this is fantastic content. Thanks for going thru some sounds on this monster.
Thank you for sharing. This was what I needed to hear. This is a reverb that I won’t listen to; this is a reverb I listen INTO.
Absolutely amazing video! Subscribed
Beautiful demo, this is the finest reverb I’ve ever heard;)
Just stuck mine on the pedalboard next to the preamp mkII the other day, I’ve been slack jawed in awe as to how well this sounds. Being a bit of a studio guy, this thing is gonna be used all over tracks, no more chump reverb plugins for me. I’ll have to install a patch bay somewhere on my board now. Hrm...
man, this sounds gorgeous.
Great review! Good job, tks...
Just got mine today at my neighborhood guitar shop, plus it's from a local MN company (Chase Bliss.) Your video is beautiful--cheers!
That is one of the best sounding chains I have ever heard on youtube
Yeah!! Great demo! The CXM gives me the shivers. With everything at zero, just pulling up the mix up to 25% and you hear this wraparound ambience that seems to materialize from just behind the ears (say +- 95 degrees?). You need to go to a serious rack unit to get that kind of feeling, but then you'd better have an external programming interface like the Lexicon LARC or RTFM and be prepared to spend the time of your life navigating the menu structure of your rack unit. This does NOT compete against a serious Lexicon, TC, Bricasti, Eventide...it's not built for that kind of studio experience imho. But it's a good second, easy to use, alternative...
That looping reverby tihng going on around @34:00 sounds like coming straight out of interstellar type movie.
I think you nailed exactly what the CXM is - a very specific reverb for a very specific player with very specific desires.
Yeah I absolutely think this is a "not everyone needs this much" type of pedal. A very "if you're happy with your current reverb then you're good" kind of thing, but incredible for someone who wants granular control over the type of reverb trail they hear in their head.
The reverb quality ♥
It’s pretty astounding. Love the sound design Meris and CBA went after here.
God bless you for this video
Received my CXM today, sitting nicely next to my Preamp MKII, such an incredible and inspiring piece of gear.
Cannot wait to see where they’ll take the Automatone line next!
Wish they’d made that preamp stereo , I can’t afford 2!
Actually quick question if you could only keep the CXM or the mkii which would it be?
I’m listening to as much as I can about this pedal,because I feel I must be missing something with everyone raving about it. It does sound good, but not significantly better than an H9 or rack effects from the 80s,both of which have similar levels of control or trail eq. My favourite reverbs remain the Empress Algos though. The main benefit I see is the interface,but I wouldn’t pay a premium just for that to be honest.
Love this! Most excellent playing and sounds. I’m considering this reverb. Any thoughts a year later?
Hello Mark,
Enjoyed your first impression video. Curious, are you still going to create a review video? It would be great to hear your thoughts now that it's been six months and you've likely had more time with it. Thanks!
Struggling to get mine to work 😞. My acoustic preamp and it aren’t liking each other causing severe white noise. Hoping to figure out a solution soon or it goes. Zuma power and premium ebs cables 😰. Great job
Ever figure it out?
Im currently using the Specular Tempus, but i really want to try a new reverb. The 70's Plate algorithm is the only algorithm i like to use on it. I would love to try the Chase Bliss CXM 1978 or the Empress Reverb. The CXM 1978 would be my dream reverb, but the Empress is more realistic due to price.
U mentioned how u were going down the rabbit hole of analog delays in the past, (i know this video is 2 years old at this point. Lol) are u going to try the Boss DM-101? Seems amazing! Im definitely going to get one in the near future, but i would love to see u make a deep dive on it.
In the future, there will be enormous boards made up of the 14 of the Automatone series. Making it the best sounding, and most expensive bedroom toy of all time.
There will be more in this format, notice how some modulation pedals have been discontinued, the next to come out will be a strymon mobius killer, all small chase bliss boxes will go I reckon 😉
not that I'm a fan but someone spotted John Mayer using one of these on latest zoom concert so I wouldn't count out these from making it to stages (eventually) AND on the music you'll hear in the next 2 years. especially when everyone is obsessed with psychedelic/ambient/dreamy retro?escapist shit. good gear makes its way to good musicians if the shoe fits.
Bedroom toy sounds spot on !
Automotine is the new Strymon: it will be mandatory to have this reverb on your board to maintain TH-cam pedalboard cred.
This thing costs more than my actual guitar, which I how I'm telling myself I don't need it. I don't even want it. Not even a little bit. No sir, not me. Honestly.......
Really nice; Tx for doing this! (Ps, why isn’t that fantastic diamond comp on there vs the empress:-).
Diamond comp is an amazing optical compressor and it’s still a solid option but I tend to prefer the flexibility and precision of the empress comp, the origin cali76, and the Bondi squish as
Hi mark, love your channel. I was wondering if you also got a chance to try/review the preamp MKII, and if so, why I don't see it on your recend pedalboard setups (or am I blind)? curious to hear your thoughts on it!
Honestly a huge reason that it doesn't always make it onto board builds is simple that the size can be limiting. When I am writing more ambient focused music I tend to need to prioritize specific delays, reverbs, synth engines, et al and if I can get "solid dry tone" with something simpler I'll go that route. But I deeply dig the mkii and I think it's one of the best sounding drives I've ever played.
How does it behave through a “real” amp?....apologies, I ask as my experience is with old school gear. It may be that I’m getting old and moldy as pedal demos are usually going through a sim and so different in the room with an older old tube amp. I’m just setting up for a wet/dry rig...maybe stereo?......thanks for your frankness on the TC. I wondered if I’m crazy but I rarely hear bad reviews or comments. Funny as the rest of the internet is a cesspool but, to be fair, sound is so subjective. I love reverb. I love delay....I hide behind both, I admit it. It almost sound like they’ve slowed down delay chips. Great demo! Thank you. It’s a hard buy in, but so we’re old amps(sound I was ultimately wanting to hear-just had to learn that) when just starting out as you have to get past perceptions. Generally, it’s just yourself, alone in a room with an amp. I’ve loved all these automated pedals. It is so clean and ethereal. Cheers!
I can definitely imagine Ed O’Brien using one of these. Or any synth player.
Mark Johnston give me a reason to buy one of these- I've been battling with it for a year+. It's a beautiful layout, great simplistic design and sounds great. I have a blue sky, nightsky, Immerse, wet, and context v2. Am I really looking at leaps and bounds in the quality/space department, or could you get a similar depth from say, the Context? I know it's comparing apples to oranges, but I'm just trying to determine if the cxm sounds that much more spacious, lush, and rack effect like to justify the huge expense. Thoughts are greatly appreciated.
It really seems like the focus is on the spacial control. As in, taking a beautiful hall and giving you just the right features to tweak it to perfection.
Trying to justify replacing the eventide space not hearing anything that could do that but the playable tweakability of the sliders must be awesome. Can achieve the sounds I want from the space but it requires a lot of concentration and easy to get lost out there.
Reckon this could get me there quicker without getting lost in the far out stuff in the space.
Plus been able to set the middle of the range is really appealing.
Nice showcase 👍
Finally bought one today. Love my UA Golden but I gotta know which does the best 224 Hall lol.
Well?
Cxm wins by a lot to me. In the tone department they’re not miles apart, but as far as the controls go you will notice a massive difference. Presets on tap ect ect. Skip the golden unless you need the space. Again my opinion but I don’t regret my purchase.
@@dgortych I have the gold $290, also a real 68 Princeton reverb
Mark the CXM can make the Meris Mercury sounds ? or are total diferent reverb sounds ...
Fairly different. There is some similar ground covered but the CXM provides more tonal control and a more robust set of algos, while the m7 has more nuanced control over diffusion, modulation, and has pitch shifting.
I have like 6 reverbs already.. this is so good though, but I don't know if I can spend 900, and its hard to pick what I would sell
The ones you use the least amount of time.
Have you recorded music with all of them?
If you have 6 reverbs... you will end up buying this one... just wait
@@Subtle-System I ended up getting it. It's really good! I'm done buying reverbs for a while. I have the Big Sky, Empress, M7, Night Sky, Immerse 2, and OBN Dark Star.. I think I need the Space next
@@JLP-333 Whats your favorite? I've got a Ventris and HOF2 but love the Ventrus.
@@JLP-333 system solar univers revers?
Wonderful Review, Mark, as always. Great pedal. But the 5 Reverb Pedals on my board (Neunaber Immerse Mk 1, EQD Avalanche run, Walrus D1, Walrus Fathom and EQD Afterneath V3) did cost around 1200€. And this costs almost 1000€. I think, as good as it sounds, in comparison it isn´t worth it.
I bought one and was not blown away by it. It sounded good, but no where good enough to justify the price and for something with the price tag it carries I was disappointed to find that the fader tops are plastic made to look metal and they felt really flimsy/cheap tbh. I have about twelve other reverb pedals in my collection and I think I’d pick most of them over this every time…
@@softlightsymphonyband Interesting! Thanks for that. I changed a few things on my board. But the Chase Bliss was'nt really interesting and it got more simple. I'm not really a fan of secondary functions and presets.
@@softlightsymphonyband interesting, what are your top 3 among your 12 ?
I’m hoping they can update with a good spring emulation option and then I think I’m all in . It is still a big chunk missing at least for me
I wouldn’t count on it. I don’t think these are intended to be updated over time nor did the 224 have spring IIRC, so I wouldn’t expect to see it materialize here
@@markjohnstonofficial fair point, using the UAFx golden reverb which is fantastic, and probably the best spring emulation I have used but I think I would sell up and upgrade the reverbs sound sublime on the CXM, to have both, in an all in one solution.... man alive! Cheers for the reply
Tube screamer > DD5 > holy grail is a great board!
@markjohnstonofficial how are you feeling about the CXM1978 2 years later? Do you find yourself reaching for it these days?
Automat is Working with every sequencer? Like arturia keystep?
Mark would the polymoon be better with this or would you still think The Volante thanks 🙏 michaelcreaghan 💚☘️🎼👍
It depends on the vibe you are going for. I love the volante for the tape warmth and being able to strike a balance between flexibility and simplicity in my stereo field / delay taps. I love the Polymoon for its pristine repeats and absolutely massive stereo image.
@@markjohnstonofficial Thankyou🎼☘️💚👍 my pedal chain is Origin Cali 76 Origin brown face Tremelo Origin Hotrod revival gain pedal into its digital the Collider into they Cxm,1978 would you go to complete the chain the Volante or they Polymoon Thanks 🙏 michaelcreaghan
fucking amazing
New Vid from Mark? About CXM1978?? SOMEONE BRING ME A BEER!
I really SHOULD start incorporating beer pairings into these videos.
@@markjohnstonofficial I’d be down.
@@markjohnstonofficial You're near Sac right? I bet Moksa would be up for a collab.
Brilliant fella 🇬🇧🌎💚🎼👍what delay would you match up with this it’s Bionic
Volante for stereo, Thermae for mono
@@markjohnstonofficial Thankyou Mark 💚☘️🎼🌎👍🇬🇧
@@markjohnstonofficial The Volante is better for more Spacey Ambiance than they Polymoon 🎶💚☘️👍
I am getting mine tomorrow! 😁 your demo is really good. I can’t wait to get mine now!
Congrats brother your in for a really exciting and fun coming year I'll have to wait till it comes down a little in price isn't it like 500+ $
@@jonathanfrieze8497 I got it today. Omg 😱. This is just fantastic. I can get lost in that sound for hours.
It is expensive, but honestly, It is one of the greatest pedal I have heard (with the volante I would say).
It’s 899$ US at the moment.
What are you playing at 32:15?
So why would I purchase this vs getting a Strymon Bigsky and even a Chase Bliss Dark World for the cost?
Because you find value in the feature set, the algos, the sound quality to be worthwhile. Otherwise get the big sky. I’m not here to convince you to buy anything. I just showcase what I like and how I use this stuff
I feel like the big sky gets you in very similar territory, and 100% adding a DW in would put it way over the capabilities of the CXM.
I came for the cxm but left wanting a mustang
You see the larger picture.
🤯🤯🤯🤯
did you buy it or did they give it to you? Great review, but I can't do these YT reviews anymore. ENDLESS ADS.
thats like a ten thousand dollar chain
It sounds amazing... but is it really actually worth 900 dollars. Because I want it and really don’t want to want it...
Only one life to live! 🤷🏻♂️😂
Fuck no this is not worth $900 lmao. You could seriously buy an entire boss board for that money
@@alexmurphy5289 you’d have to pay me $900 to play an all boss board
Phillip Adkins exactly 😆
Could you add more advertising in this video? I'm really enjoying having an ad every three minutes
I was going to make a joke about how I would but I don't control when and where the ads play, but then I realized that I actually can control that. So I took like 80% of them out. You are both welcome for my benevolence and welcome to get TH-cam premium or w/e they call it.
I play guitar; I'm not so crazy about abandoning that and learning to play the reverb with my guitar. I doesn't seem to have any more possibilities than if I got a devise for my guitar to simulate a clarinet or an oboe. I would actually rather get a set of real reverb and learn to play them without having a guitar in the way. Yodelers I think do use guitars to play reverb
Look I’m gonna level with you I’ve got no idea what any of this means.
$900. You could buy a big sky AND an Empress and be strait. Great pedal tho. But damn.
I will add. I totally get it tho. Worth every penny. It does what others do not.
You don't think Big Sky offers a similar amount of control?
I think the big sky offers things that the CXM doesn’t including more nuanced diffusion control, a more specific way of controlling the time of decay, and far more modes. I think the CXM offers a level of control over the character of your reverb that isn’t on the big sky or any other reverb pedal I’ve played. Being able to control decay time for your mids and lows and setting the crossover point is a level of nuanced control I’ve not seen before in a pedal format.
@@markjohnstonofficial Thank you very much!
What I don’t understand is why not just use knobs or manual faders and cut the price in half? Why wrap this in some non essential gimmick to drive up the price. (Well I think I answered my own question lol)
Mainly so you can see where the setting are at all times. I just got the UA Golden and pretty happy still keeping my Flint though
Well expensive as Ffffffffffffuuuuu is my first impression
Sounds muddy ?
I’m just a simple caveman....
OMG!!!! Why is there a sudden increase of Adds on TH-cam. I think I already pressed skip 4 times.
Adblock baby
Darius Talaat wow I did not know that! I only see skip. Thanks !
I will not pine after a 900 dollar reverb. I will not pine after a 900 dollar reverb. I will not pine after a 900 dollar reverb. I will not pine after a 900 dollar......
Pricey...sounds good. But, pricey...
This is an expensive video .... for me that is .
I've used it and like it...but ridiculously overpriced at $899... Should be no more than $399...
Totally agree. And the fact that I have to pay more than $27.50 for a chase bliss Thermae is offensive as well, as long as we’re just making aggressive claims about pricing.
mmmmm.....is not that expensive guys !!!!!!!! you are exagerating !!!!!
Sound like a mono reverb, not like a lexicon rack unit.
Are you listening in mono? Because it feels like a pretty wide stereo image to me and Meris has a great track record of stereo wet effects