01—Chase Bliss Audio
Generation Loss MkII
Sounding like a VHS dub of itself — the canonical lo-fi tape simulation.
There is no second-best in this category. If you want tape-degraded textures, this is the pedal.
02—On the bench
A simulation of magnetic tape degradation — the sound of a VHS tape that's been copied too many times, played in a car with a worn-out tape head. Generation Loss MkII models wow, flutter, hiss, EQ rolloff, tape compression, and dropouts as a single integrated pedal. The MkII upgraded the original Cooper FX design with stereo I/O, expanded wow/flutter modeling, a noise floor that responds to playing dynamics, and Chase Bliss presets. It is the canonical 'lo-fi' pedal — the one that turns a clean Strat-into-Twin signal into a 1989 dictaphone recording of itself. Loved by bedroom producers and ambient composers who want their guitars to sound like they were unearthed, not recorded.
- 01wow and flutter that breathe with the playing
- 02noise floor reacts to dynamics, like real tape
- 03EQ rolloff is realistic, not a low-pass filter
- 04stereo dropouts feel inhabitable, not glitchy
- 05stack it before reverb and you've made a record
03—In the room
Where else this pedal lives.
- Adam Granduciel
- Justin Vernon
- Sufjan Stevens
JHS Lucky Cat or Strymon Volante for warmer tape echo; Generation Loss does something different — destruction, not delay.