Earthquaker Devices Blacklight Rainbow Machine

For a couple months there, the Rainbow Machine became the shorthand answer to the question "what's a weird x-factor-type pedal I can throw in my signal chain?" And this distinction was deserved.

But I quickly realized that it isn't that musical of an effect. There are lots of delays that modulate pitch of their echoes; it's just that few of them commit so completely to the modulation as the Rainbow Machine. I think that this is a very cool pedal with a great design, good marketing, and a clever idea, but--despite its inclusion of a "Magic" footswitch--it's a lot of space and money to spend on something that is so instantly identifiable as the crazy effect.

If this is the sound you're after, you can get there with a number of other delays. Any delay that allows you to patch effects into its feedback path will get you there; the H9 will, too. This is still a great bit of gear with a lot to offer, but it didn't last long on my board. Despite its awesome glow-in-the-dark paint! All of this added up to a really great novelty pedal--not one that would ever see regular enough use for it to stick around.