Electro Harmonix Pico Swello

The Pico Swello replaces my old EX Attack Delay, and it’s a major improvement. The polyphonic mode on the Attack Delay always left artefacts and slightly altered the tone — sometimes adding a metallic edge that became distracting. The Pico Swello has none of these issues. It tracks cleanly and responds quickly, so even fast guitar passages are smoothed without glitching. The effect is genuinely impressive: it can turn your guitar into something that feels almost like a bowed instrument, giving you violin-like swells or a fluid, steel-string texture with ease

Because the Pico Attack Decay was not what I expected, I ordered this one instead. Immediately a click ! Very usefull for me. The volume pedal effect is just spot on, no artefacts, no searching for combinations of different knobs and ecountering useless knob combinations. Simple and straightforward. Good Sound. And the filter is really good and also simple. with two possible strenghts. You can also choose between only static resonance filtering or with a little sweep. I don't need a boss ft-2 anymore for non resonance filtering. So, this makes that this pedal is capable to give more shoegaze soundscapes then many reverb pedals can do. If you take away the attack of the guitar, add a resonant filter on high notes and then put it in front of some dirt.... you get this sonic curtains that remind of Ride and Chapterhouse and maybe Husker Du, with sixties 12 string jangle. With a very loud, ear destroying sound because of these high harmonics. And of course the all wet effect from reverse reverb is also in the sound because of the attack that's removed. I am convinced ! A pearl.

This is a truly inspiring pedal. Personally, I was looking for something that could get me into the territory of synth-like pedals, but most of the ones I found had way too many sounds and options. I knew I would either get stuck or waste too much time trying every possible setting.

I know this is not a synth pedal, but the swell effect makes the guitar sound almost like a bowed string instrument. In a very loose sense, it reminds me of the kind of textures used by artists like Mk.gee, where the guitar can start to feel like it is imitating other instruments.

What I really like about this pedal is how immediate it is. It does not have endless options, and from that simple starting point, depending on what you put before it, you can get really interesting and inspiring sounds. I totally recommend it if you want to explore different textures without getting lost in presets and menus.