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+1 202 407 9741
Gamechanger Audio
Tomsona str 33A
Riga, LV-1013
Latvia
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PLASMA artwork created by Pedro Romo / IG @crea_destruye
A little over six months to go till the 2018 Winter NAMM Show in Anaheim - can the guys really develop a new product in time?
Hell yeah!
September, 2017
Martins and Kristaps begin developing the world’s first high voltage analog distortion circuit - inspired by the Bug Zapper and based on the Tesla Coil - Nikola Tesla's electrical resonant transformer circuit. Meanwhile Ilja and Fricis are working on product design, prototyping and testing.
The PLASMA produces audio clipping and saturation by converting the input signal into high-voltage electrical discharges. The blue light visible on the pedal's front panel is an electrical arc discharge formed by an audio signal that’s converted into roughly 3500 Volts. The electrical arc is safely contained within a specially designed xenon-filled gas discharge tube.
These continuous electrical discharges are then instantly converted back to audio level using a specialized analog rectifier. The result is a rich and extremely distorted texture with screeching overtones, harmonics and sputtery bursts.
6 months later - the first few PLASMA Pedal prototypes are ready.
January 2018
The guys arrive in LA with a new, controversial answer to the age-old question - What's in the briefcase?
On March 12th, the PLASMA Pedal goes on pre-order as part of an IndieGoGo crowdfunding campaign (yes-who does that..) and achieves stellar results. With almost 1500 pre-orders in place the guys begin preparing for a large-scale manufacturing run.
Leading up to the campaign, the guys also built an innovative try-before-you-buy online testing platform - the PLASMA Robot.
The platform consisted of a PLASMA Pedal prototype mounted into a plywood chassis, and connected to a dedicated PC that ran an Audio & Video Live Streaming setup.
Thousands of users from all over the world were able to upload sound samples onto our cloud, accessible through our website, and hear and see their track being turned into high voltage distortion via Youtube Livestream.
Users were also able to dial in their desired settings in the browser, which would then be physically adjusted by five stepper motors connected to the PLASMA Pedal’s knobs via rubber belts.
The PLASMA Robot ran a constant recording of all of the processed audio and users received links to download their Plasma-fied audio stems. Thanks to this feature many artists were able to create PLASMA stems and use them in productions and in songs even before the PLASMA Pedal was out!
The PLASMA Robot ran non-stop for over a year - it was also our way of testing the PLASMA Tube's durability.
Fall, 2018
PLASMA Pedals are finally shipping.
It wasn’t long before we noticed that the PLASMA Pedal’s high-voltage distortion circuit had become very popular outside of the realm of guitars and basses - namely in the deep and beautiful world of synths, drum machines and electronic madness.
This quickly led to a new, rewarding collaboration between GCA and our fellow Latvian manufacturers - the legendary Erica Synths.
The PLASMA DRIVE Eurorack module was released in 2019 and it features CV control over multiple parameters of the PLASMA engine, as well as 2 unique octave & sub-octave modes.
Ever since the introduction of the PLASMA Pedal people have been messaging us with one slightly annoying, yet totally understandable request:
We had already gotten into the habit of copy-pasting a standard “Yes, but No, sorry” reply, when finally such a request came from Richard Z. Kruspe - the main composer and guitarist for the legendary Rammstein.
This time we simply couldn’t say no.
Gamechanger Audio hires an experienced electronics engineer Vilnis to start working on a Rackmount version of the PLASMA - the PLASMA RACK.
The PLASMA Rack has been in production since 2020 and has become a permanent resident in studios around the world and championed by some of the most respectable rock producers, such as Joe Baressi (Joes’Garage), Vance Powell (Sputnik Sounds), and Dave Catching (Rancho De La Luna).
Gamechanger Audio's first official artist signature pedal, created together with Jack White and Third Man Records.
As soon as the first sound demos of the PLASMA Pedal appeared online, there were constant comparisons and references to Jack White’s sound.
It didn’t take long for word to travel, and in January 2019 Jack White and his team reached out to us with a proposal to build his own modified version of the PLASMA Pedal.
The PLASMA Coil's functionality and visual aesthetic is the result of a 6-month collaborative design effort between GCA and TMR.
A little over six months to go till the 2018 Winter NAMM Show in Anaheim - can the guys really develop a new product in time?
Hell yeah!
PLASMA artwork created by Pedro Romo / IG @crea_destruye
September, 2017
Martins and Kristaps begin developing the world’s first high voltage analog distortion circuit - inspired by the Bug Zapper and based on the Tesla Coil - Nikola Tesla's electrical resonant transformer circuit.
Meanwhile Ilja and Fricis are working on product design, prototyping and testing.
The PLASMA produces audio clipping and saturation by converting the input signal into high-voltage electrical discharges. The blue light visible on the pedal's front panel is an electrical arc discharge formed by an audio signal that’s converted into roughly 3500 Volts. The electrical arc is safely contained within a specially designed xenon-filled gas discharge tube.
6 months later - the first few PLASMA Pedal prototypes are ready.
January 2018
The guys arrive in LA with a new, controversial answer to the age-old question - What's in the briefcase?
PLASMA Pedal gains instant media attention and receives praise and admiration from passionate musicians all over the world:
On March 12th, the PLASMA Pedal goes on pre-order as part of an IndieGoGo crowdfunding campaign (yes-who does that..) and achieves stellar results. With almost 1500 pre-orders in place the guys begin preparing for a large-scale manufacturing run.
The platform consisted of a PLASMA Pedal prototype mounted into a plywood chassis, and connected to a dedicated PC that ran an Audio & Video Live Streaming setup.
Thousands of users from all over the world were able to upload sound samples onto our cloud, accessible through our website, and hear and see their track being turned into high voltage distortion via Youtube Livestream.
Users were also able to dial in their desired settings in the browser, which would then be physically adjusted by five stepper motors connected to the PLASMA Pedal’s knobs via rubber belts.
The PLASMA Robot ran a constant recording of all of the processed audio and users received links to download their Plasma-fied audio stems. Thanks to this feature - many artists were able to create PLASMA stems and use them in productions and in songs even before the PLASMA Pedal was out!
The PLASMA Robot ran non-stop for over a year - it was also our way of testing the PLASMA Tube's durability.
Fall, 2018
PLASMA Pedals are finally shipping.
It wasn’t long before we noticed that the PLASMA Pedal’s high-voltage distortion circuit had become very popular outside of the realm of guitars and basses - namely in the deep and beautiful world of synths, drum machines and electronic madness.
This quickly led to a new, rewarding collaboration between GCA and our fellow Latvian manufacturers - the legendary Erica Synths.
The PLASMA DRIVE Eurorack module was released in 2019 and it features CV control over multiple parameters of the PLASMA engine, as well as 2 unique octave & sub-octave modes.
Ever since the introduction of the PLASMA Pedal people have been messaging us with one slightly annoying, yet totally understandable request:
We had already gotten into the habit of copy-pasting a standard “Yes, but No, sorry” reply, when finally such a request came from Richard Z. Kruspe - the main composer and guitarist for the legendary Rammstein.
This time we simply couldn’t say no.
Gamechanger Audio hires an experienced electronics engineer Vilnis to start working on a Rackmount version of the PLASMA - the PLASMA RACK.
The PLASMA Rack has been in production since 2020 and has become a permanent resident in studios around the world and championed by some of the most respectable rock producers, such as Joe Baressi (Joes’Garage), Vance Powell (Sputnik Sounds), and Dave Catching (Rancho De La Luna).
The PLASMA Coil is Gamechanger Audio's first official artist signature pedal, created together with Jack White and Third Man Records.
As soon as the first sound demos of the PLASMA Pedal appeared online, there were constant comparisons and references to Jack White’s sound.
It didn’t take long for word to travel, and in January 2019 Jack White and his team reached out to us with a proposal to build his own modified version of the PLASMA Pedal.
The PLASMA Coil's functionality and visual aesthetic is the result of a 6-month collaborative design effort between GCA and TMR.
The PLASMA Coil was launched at the 2019 Summer NAMM show in Nashville, and has since become part an unmistakable part of the Jack White sound.
This was also the trip that brought us together with BIGSBY and FENDER but we'll get to that later.
+1 202 407 9741
Gamechanger Audio
Tomsona str 33A
Riga, LV-1013
Latvia