Creation Audio Labs Redeemer

The Redeemer has a single function, you could say. See the Creation Audio Labs site for details on all the tech specs of the Redeemer. The important features to me are the indescribable tone boost and dead-battery fail-safe. I bought the standard Redeemer setup from eBay. I saved a little money and didn't end up needing a different setup even though I have a "thick panel guitar" (see pdf on CAL site). Actually, it's a Warwick Corvette Standard 4 string, which has all passive components. After looking at the online pdfs, especially the one named "Redeemer Installation: Thick Panel Guitar," I was able to get it working even with my crude soldering ability and cheap tools.

I have it installed on my bass. I didn't really hear much online about people using the Redeemer for their basses, so I was taking a gamble on whether the results would be the same across frequency ranges and pickup types. My gamble paid off, and the claims on the CAL site are true! My Warwick Corvette sounds frickin amazing! I've had the Redeemer installed for about two weeks now, and I still can't believe it. It makes me want to pick up my bass more than ever. It's like my instrument is alive now, and I just didn't know any better until I installed this thing. Playing is more enjoyable because so much more nuance is coming through the amp now.

My volume output increased significantly, which is a huge plus for me. I have a 60 watt Fender Bassman combo I use for practice and jamming with others. I get overpowered unless I'm playing with just a guitarist, or if we're playing something softer. But now, with the same amp settings, not only is my overall sound louder, but I cut through better because the "magic" of the Redeemer is letting so much more of the instrument's sound through. So, it's like a two-fold increase in volume, both in amplitude and frequency spectrum, or whatever. I was thinking about selling my beloved Corvette to get a bass with better harmonics because I've been really getting into that kind of stuff lately (Victor Wooten etc) and I have felt really held back by my bass. So I took a chance on this circuit after hearing about it, and I can't tell you how happy I am that my bass now sings like I've always wanted it to! I won't be getting a new bass any time soon. Everything I play sounds like it's been tweaked in ProTools now, like I've got a BBE Sonic Maximizer unit in my bass! If you know what that is, and you've used that plugin... that's not even a good enough comparison for the richness that is now coming out of my bass. My bridge pickup has more bass and character, instead of being simply nasal and good for harmonics. And the neck pickup doesn't sound so annoyingly honky and sloppy. I've never ever ever playing guitar or bass on the neck pickup because I hate that bonky sound, but now, there's so much more going on with that pickup, it's hard to describe. I won't use it much, but it's a huge thing for me to be able to say that I'm actually inspired by the sound, and can now imagine times when that sound would be needed. I mostly spend my time combining the neck and bridge pickups, and man, the Warwick sound was great to begin with. That's why I bought it. But now, I find myself doing a lot more expressive fingerings because I can hear it now! I can pull stuff off that I couldn't before. Harmonics are rich and clear, not piercing, and they sustain longer! I totally didn't see that one coming. It's like my whole bass is vibrating differently in sympathy with the increased sonic output. Hey, I know that may not make sense technically, but that's my subjective impression. I don't know how else to explain such a marked increase in harmonic sustain. In summary, I seriously encourage any bassist or guitarist who wants more from their current instrument to get the Redeemer. If you like your instrument, the action, the neck feel, the basic sound of yer axe, then you're going to freakin flip when you hear it with the Redeemer. I wanted to go out and tell everybody I knew how awesome it was... but then, they wouldn't really care. They'd be like, cool. And they might say, yeah, that's nice sounding, but they'd have to A/B it to tell like I can.

If you don't want to go out and buy a new guitar/bass in order to get the sound you want, then try the Redeemer. There is one caveat that I would add. IF you really like the particular sound of your guitar the way it is... then don't fix what's not broken. I mean, if you don't want your tone to change at all... then the Redeemer isn't a glorified "gain + sonic maximizer"... it will change the way your pickups sound in general. Especially your neck pickup. For me, I hate most the sound of most neck pickups. It's so... ok, this doesn't make sense, but if sounds took on personalities, then for me, the neck pickups almost all sound like rednecks... honkies. Because it's so "honk"-y. But there are tons of players I know who use that sound for all sorts of things. And yeah, there are tons of variables that affect sound. I'm just sayin, that's me. And if you would like to try the Redeemer even if you play honky-neck-pickup a lot, then go ahead and try it... you may really like it, cuz it's so rich and full and smooth with it. But if you like it just the way it sounds now without the Redeemer, then you're going to lose some of the honkiness (man, this product has so many jokes waiting to be cracked) with the Redeemer. That's just a warning. And as another thought, if you have a style of playing that capitalizes on your particular guitar's "deadness" then the Redeemer might not be for you. To let you know what I mean, I like my strings really dead and old, not new and bright. Only when my finger grease and dead skin cells have embedded themselves in every crevice do I feel like I've achieved my sound. I was worried that the Redeemer might make my bass sound too bright. I was wrong. I got all the clarity and "air" in the highs that I could ever want, but keeping the creamy smoothness of my Warwick Corvette and the jazzy deadness I like from my strings. But, if you don't want ANY more clarity of air in your high end, then this may not be for you. I had just recently purchased a Yamaha NE-1 in my quest to see if I could salvage my bass's sound and not have to sell it. The NE-1 helped, and is very cool, but with the Redeemer I don't really see myself using the NE-1 very much, if at all. The tone controls on my bass and amp give me so much more now that the palette of sound is richer and fuller. I hate being so glowing in a review, but it's seriously been an emotional experience for me to have my bass pretty much resurrected for me by this little circuit. I have a new bass now. And it's making me play better. "Portrait of Tracy" is ridiculous with the Redeemer. Seriously. Ridiculous.

This easy-to-install (even for a complete soldering novice like myself) device works with active, passive, humbuckers, single coils, bass pickups - any musical instrument with an instrument jack, a volume knob, and a pickup.

Specifications are noted here at the CAL website:

http://www.creationaudiolabs.com/redeemer

I installed this in my 1991 Carvin DC127 (two humbuckers, master volume, master tone), and I plan to install another one in my Stratocaster.

It is powered by any 9 volt battery, and is active all the time, for all pickup positions. If the battery dies, you lose the effect of the Redeemer only, you can still use your instrument as normal.

This device increased my output level slightly, and I've noticed it keeps the output level more consistent while playing around with the volume knob.

The main reason I installed this product is for its "unloading" capability. The video embedded in the CAL site is a great example of the clarity, sustain, and attack that's recouped after installing the Redeemer. My experience was even more dramatic and better than what you hear from the video.

In short, the sonic difference after installing the Redeemer is simply stunning. The video on the CAL site, as good as it is, did not prepare me for my own experience with the product. I am absolutely blown away with how effective this little circuit pack is.

Since the pickups are now free of any loading caused by effects and/or long or poor-quality cables, it's like a blanket has been removed from the tone of the guitar - clean or distorted. You will find that you'll need to turn down the treble and/or upper midrange on your amp - it's THAT noticeable.

Notes on the plain strings "zing" with a clarity that I have never heard from my guitar before in the 17 years I've had it; the closest approximation of this tone is the tone present for the first day after winding up new strings. And, to tell the truth, what you hear with the Redeemer is even better than that. Notes on the wound strings are more balanced, but not subdued at all - there is no mud when fretting chords on the wound strings, even on the neck pickup and/or playing chords with close or dissonant intervals.

The biggest benefit of this product, for me, is the clarity that is restored and maintained when reducing the volume on the guitar while playing with some degree of overdrive or distortion. Gone - and I mean GONE - are the days of rolling back on the volume knob only to hear the highs and presence go along with it. It is unbelieveable and incredibly cool, after installing the Redeemer, to not lose any highs while rolling back on the volume. You only reduce the amount of saturation, which was the intent of doing that in the first place, no?

I considered other products - pedalboard buffers, more true-bypass pedals and strips/switches - but ultimately I decided on the Redeemer because the one constant in my playing is my instrument. Pedals, amps, might all change, and installing it directly in my No. 1 axe preps me for anything new that I might plug into.

I can't believe there's only one other review here on HC - perhaps it's because, like me, people might be afraid to take a soldering iron to their No. 1 axe. I'm glad I man'd up took the plunge, because it is something that I honestly should have installed a long time ago. I am, and always will be, a player who just loves to play - I am not a touring pro or a session musician - and this product makes it even more fun and rewarding to plug in whenever I get the chance.

Amazing. Thank you CAL.

The Redeemer circuit is not a pickup or a true "mod" to your guitar. It is basically a bunch of wires (and a small magic black box) that you solder right before your guitars final output. You clip the wires after your volume and tone pots, take out your old input jack, and install the redeemer in its place (they provide a new input jack already soldered to the Redeemer wiring).

The Redeemer doesn't add anything to your tone, but it let's your tone loose! It removes the "blanket" you've been carrying over your guitar for all those years that you didn't know about.

Well first off I will say that I had never soldered anything before in my life. I looked at some instructional videos of how to solder wires online, went and bought a soldering iron and the proper solder, and installed this baby myself. It was simple! There were only two wires to solder and a couple heat shrinks (which they include) to put over the connections. I used a hair dryer for the heat shrinks.

I was extremely impressed with how easy the installation process was with the Redeemer. The heat shrinks are already on the wires and they even trimmed the wires at the end (but left the insulation on)... so all I had to was pull that little area of insulation off and I was ready to go.

The documentation in the package (and the info included on the website) was perfect and it really helped an electrical novice like me.

I installed the Redeemer in a low end Yamaha guitar (RGX520FZ) with the stock pickups (which are actually better than you would expect). The bridge pickup on that guitar sounded really nice right out of the box, but the neck pickup was extremely muddy. It was so bad that I actually never used it at all. The neck pickup had a nice sensitivity to it, but it just sounded so bad.

I installed the Redeemer and instantly I noticed a HUGE difference in clarity. I felt like I could finally hear the notes coming from that guitar. Then I switched to the neck pickup and I couldn't believe it. I actually liked the sound and tone coming from my neck pickup a lot! I use the neck pickup all the time with that guitar now. No wonder they call it the "redeemer"...this saved my cheap guitar!

My guitar was also much more sensitive to the attack of my pick. This little piece of wiring actually gave me more headroom...it was crazy! I could play very softly (even on high gain settings with my amp) and get a slightly clean tone...then dig in and get a distorted tone. It actually made my guitar a lot more fun to play.

The last thing that I noticed was that my guitar retained its tone when the volume was dropped. I play through a single channel amp Randall MTS Series) and I am constantly turning down my volume and turning it up depending on what kind of sound that I want. When I turned down my volume on the guitar (before installing the Redeemer) it lost all of its tone. I actually noticed it live as well. When I turned down my volume...my guitar wouldn't cut through the mix and would get lost. Installing the Redeemer changed all that. I can adjust my volume (modifying my gain) without losing any tone at all!

It's weird, I know, that a little black box with some wires coming out of it and a new guitar jack would make such a difference in your tone, but it does! Everyone focuses so much on stompboxes and effects...the real truth is that if your source sounds bad, everything else in your rig is just going to exaggerate that bad sound. Start with the source of the sound! Install the Redeemer and get yourself some good cables (like George L's)...THEN spend money on effects and your favorite stomp box.

I am planning on putting the Redeemer in all of my guitars. It helped my low end Yamaha...I can only imagine what it will do with other, high end, guitars that have better pickups. If you are serious about your guitar tone don't pass the Redeemer up. Who wouldn't spend 50 bucks to make their guitar sound and play ten times better?

First I'd like to make clear that this is NOT a pickup but a circuit installed between your instruments pickups and replaces the existing input jack. Since its designed to work with any instrument that has a pickup, not a pedal etc... I chose to place it with "pickups" make sense?

Here are the specs and it's a piece of cake to install! Check out their site for details.

Flat frequency response: 10 hz-50 khz!???Noise floor: -118 db!???Distortion: 0.0009%
Input Impedance: > 2M ohms???Output Impedance: < 300 ohms???Current Draw: < 2.5mA
Power: operates from 9v to 18v
Phase response: between +/- 0.1 degree from 20Hz to 20kHz
Dimensions: 0.4" x 0.8" x 1.6" (metric = 1.0 cm x 2.0 cm x 4.0 cm) and a 9 volt battery

After hearing it at the Creation Audio Labs Booth in 2006 at the Dallas Guitar Show I decided to install it in my main guitar 1st. Its a 2004 Parker Fly Mojo with a Seymour Duncan Jazz in the neck and JB in the bridge. Other artists using it... Ty Tabor of King's X, Brad Whitford of Aerosmith and Producer Michael Wagener.

It was designed to eliminate tone loss caused by your instrument???s electronics and your cable and FX pedals etc... The output is consistent and adds clarity, punch and sustain. As for tone, it gives a tighter low end, cleans up your mids and treble, resulting in better harmonics making the guitar much more responsive. You can feel it... and no noise is added. The amps and pedals I use it with are Randall MTS Series Amps (all tube), Xotic Pedals, Creation Audio Labs MK4.23 Boost Pedal, and a TC Electronic G-System. I can go direct into the amp without any of that. Whatever I plug into the Redeemer just makes the guitar tone jump out. I've now installed the Redeemer in a Les Paul Custom, and a Washburn USA N4.

If it was destroyed or stolen I'd get another one. I've been playing for 32 years and a full time musician. I have a ton of gear, it's in my main guitar an I really like its responsiveness. I know that my tone will be consistent and I can get a great smooth tone while backing down the volume knob without the treble and things don't muddy up. This is something you really need to experience in order to appreciate what it does. Once it's on and you play for a few minutes you get use to not just the tone but the "feel" it creates... if you shut it off, then you notice it's not there.