Peter Bernstein's effect pedal

**Tristano** · 07-15-2025, 05:46 AM

Hi everyone,

First post ! But long time reader (thanks to all of you for your contribution that help a lot in my long apprentice journey).

Based in Paris, re-learning guitar from scratch in my 40s after being a self-trained strummers since high-school, focused only on jazz now and trying to really learn properly with adequate teachers and practice.

Saw Peter Bernstein quartet in Paris last week. Great venue and great tone.
First time I saw him with an effect pedal.

I was not able to be close enough to see what it was. My guess : some boutique reverb pedal?

Any clue of what pedal could it be?

Thanks

Peter Bernstein's effect pedal-img_5075-jpg

Peter Bernstein's effect pedal-img_5075-jpg

**David B** · 07-15-2025, 02:39 PM

The only time I have known Peter to use a pedal is to borrow a reverb pedal if a venue's backline amp has poor reverb.

**Cunamara** · 07-15-2025, 02:41 PM

That's probably a TC Electronic Hall of Fame, based on the color. Not at all boutique.

**nevershouldhavesoldit** · 07-15-2025, 03:25 PM

Originally Posted by Cunamara

That's probably a TC Electronic Hall of Fame, based on the color. Not at all boutique.

I think the standard HoF has 4 knobs and the mini version has 3. The box on the Twin in the pic looks like it only has 2. I can't help but wonder why he'd use a reverb pedal with a Twin unless the Twin's reverb was broken and he really wanted it for an unknown reason.

He actually has a long standing disdain for more than minimal reverb - it's been on 1 or 2 in every amp pic I've ever seen. He's always talked effects down and does not use any except the amp's reverb and never higher than 2, AFAIK. Here's what he said about reverb and effects in general in a 2024 Jazz Weekly interview:

"I was a student in the mid 1980s, just learning how to play. I went to some colleges; went to Rutgers for a year and studied with Ted Dunbar and William Patterson. Those were the years of the Roland Jazz Chorus; everybody was playing with a lot of reverb with the Chorus. I heard all of my fellow students dabbling with that. I like all of those guys that play with it, like Mike Stern, Pat Metheny and John Scofield. Those guys had a more “contemporary” sound. But what I was appreciating from the people that I was listening to from earlier generations, before any of that technology existed, guys like Wes Montgomery and Charlie Christian, was that they played this big guitar, like a box, through an amp. They would use the amp to amplify some of the acoustic properties of the instrument."

"As I got better quality guitars ( I had a couple Gibson guitars, and then found an incredible Archtop), I did experiment a little with pedals and delays, but I didn’t like what they did to how the notes came out. They changed the articulation , attack and projection of the notes; I found that pedals never really enhanced my sound."

**andrew** · 07-15-2025, 03:48 PM

I googled "two knob red pedal" and found this. Somehow I don't think it's quite right...

**pauln** · 07-15-2025, 04:21 PM

Look at the pedal closely, it's got mystery mods...

- the side has what looks like an orphan jack hole
- the input and output jacks positioned at the "top end" (not original?)
- originally had four knobs; there are two knob holes above the two there
- the switch(?) near the "bottom end" is large like an amp switch, not small like a pedal switch that changes something (not the on/off switch), and has the foot switch been replaced by a big amp switch?

Peter Bernstein's effect pedal-red-jpg

**Christian Miller** · 07-15-2025, 04:46 PM

That’s the special pedal in which is stored all of Pete’s immense talent. If you can get that pedal for your own, imagine!

Not worth selling on Reberb though. You’d be better off with the Behringer Klon Clone because guitarists are idiots and jazz guitarists are foolishly sold on this ‘get better by practicing’ lie.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

**nevershouldhavesoldit** · 07-15-2025, 07:42 PM

Originally Posted by Christian Miller

That’s the special pedal in which is stored all of Pete’s immense talent. If you can get that pedal for your own, imagine!

Not worth selling on Reberb though. You’d be better off with the Behringer Klon Clone because guitarists are idiots and jazz guitarists are foolishly sold on this ‘get better by practicing’ lie.

So we can buy chops??? Why'd you wait so long to tell us, Christian?

**Doug B** · 07-15-2025, 08:06 PM

Originally Posted by nevershouldhavesoldit

So we can buy chops??? Why'd you wait so long to tell us, Christian?

Sure, you can buy chops. Potroast too-just go to your local supermarket. (I think.)

Doug

**sgosnell** · 07-15-2025, 08:42 PM

My HOF mini has one knob and one push-push switch. I have no clue as to what the pedal in the OP is. But that's a strange-looking cable that's plugged into it. It looks like a twisted pair, not a more usual coaxial instrument cable. The output cable looks pretty normal, though.

**JazzPadd** · 07-15-2025, 08:58 PM

Originally Posted by Tristano

Hi everyone,

First post ! But long time reader (thanks to all of you for your contribution that help a lot in my long apprentice journey).

Based in Paris, re-learning guitar from scratch in my 40s after being a self-trained strummers since high-school, focused only on jazz now and trying to really learn properly with adequate teachers and practice.

Saw Peter Bernstein quartet in Paris last week. Great venue and great tone.
First time I saw him with an effect pedal.

I was not able to be close enough to see what it was. My guess : some boutique reverb pedal?

Any clue of what pedal could it be?

Thanks

Peter Bernstein's effect pedal-img_5075-jpg

Hello and welcome to the forum!

So far, Bernstein’s gizmo appears to be a mystery. It does look like an amp type switch rather than a footswitch that one would expect on a typical pedal.

Maybe an always on device? Did you happen to notice if he flicked it or adjusted it?

**pauln** · 07-15-2025, 10:32 PM

The more I look the weirder it gets, yes, the input looks twisted pair vs coax. That suggests it might be a speaker cable output... low impedance so immune from noise injection... (!) but where does it go? A line of it goes back over the top of the amp, but what looks to be the same cable appears to dead end in front of the bottom of the grille clothe (!)
Maybe the actual input is on the far side we can't see.
I notice that the retaining strip that holds and guides the long screws that support the chassis is missing on the near side top of the amp!

--==<<ooOoo>>==--

Well, my theory is that the pedal is a refined reverb control mixer and negative feedback controller. There are four connections to the pedal:
1) - the guitar input we don't see
2) - one of the large wires (may be coax ) in the "twisted pair" serving as connection of something inside the amp to the heavy switch on the pedal... maybe the negative feedback loop with amount controlled by one of the knobs
3) - the other large wire in the twisted pair a coax routing the spring reverb recovery directly to the pedal for wet/dry mixing with guitar using the other knob
4) - output to the amp's input, both reverb and negative feedback adjusted

**garybaldy** · 07-15-2025, 10:41 PM

We all are desperate to know what pedal it is but we all know it'll just be another pedal.

**grahambop** · 07-16-2025, 04:03 AM

Peter’s active on facebook (he recently posted some stuff about the Paris gigs), you could ask him.

**David B** · 07-16-2025, 05:01 AM

@sgosnell and @pauln - The "twisted" cable going into the pedal is simply a Vovox instrument cable - I know it by the distinctive orange tag as I have the same cable.

I just exchanged messages with Peter about the mystery red box. He writes "It's just a strange contraption that cuts the evil glassy highs that come out of new Fender amps. Matt at 30th St Guitars in NYC made it. Kurt has one and he let me try it at a soundcheck on our tour last month. It's totally passive, doesn't use batteries or electricity. Just cuts the high end so I can use some treble on the amp instead of rolling it all off and still getting the harsh high end I can't stand."

**Tristano** · 07-16-2025, 05:14 AM

Originally Posted by David B

@sgosnell and @pauln - The "twisted" cable going into the pedal is simply a Vovox instrument cable - I know it by the distinctive orange tag as I have the same cable.

I just exchanged messages with Peter about the mystery red box. He writes "It's just a strange contraption that cuts the evil glassy highs that come out of new Fender amps. Matt at 30th St Guitatrs in NYC made it. Kurt has one and he let me try it at a soundcheck on our tour last month. It's totally passive, doesn't use batteries or electricity. Just cuts the high end so I can use some treble on the amp instead of rolling it all off and still getting the harsh high end I can't stand."

Thank you very much ! Mystery solved ;-)

**GuyBoden** · 07-16-2025, 06:32 AM

Probably just a simple passive tone circuit in a pedal with two controls, maybe an isolating coil. Knowing the Cap, Pots and Isolating coil values in his pedal would be difficult to discover, unless you open the pedal.