Rainger FX Minibar

The Rainger FX Minibar is a liquid analyser pedal, a truly revolutionary stompbox that uses the properties of a liquid to decide the sound of your guitar! This mini-pedal makes no sound at all until you pour liquid into it – any kind at all – and the various qualities of that liquid decide the amount – and to some degree the quality – of the distortion, and also the amount of treble and bass. What you use to do this is entirely up to you – any sort of mixture you can dream up!

The pedal is simplicity itself; it has a volume knob, and a small watertight container mounted in the top panel; unscrew the lid, get pouring – and analyse! Then, when you’ve got your own unique sound, screw the lid on tightly and you’re ready to go. (Finger tight is fine – but don’t get too forceful as some liquids can give a sticky-ness over time that makes the lid harder to undo) .

To start again with experimenting, just open the lid and wipe out the container with a paper towel. You’ll hear the guitar sound crumble away to nothing, but as the new liquid hits the container the resulting new sound appears.

The conductivity of the guitar’s electrical signal passing through the fluid generally decides the amount of gain, and the opacity (how easily light passes through it) decides the amount of treble and bass. The Minibar often creates satisfying ‘band-pass’ tones – nicely uncompressed, and with plenty of satisfying harmonics and plectrum ‘cluck’.

Note, the pedal is sold with no liquid in it, and so will make no noise at all – until you do your bit! It’s up to you to go and experiment.