Creation Audio Labs Redeemer

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.