June 7, 2022: Smoothies are out of stock! And, I regret to say, that was the last batch ever, unless some other pedal brand wants to buy the design from me. I am working seven days a week in my new career as a dog trainer, which I love, and I just don't have time to develop and maintain this business. Please do not email asking when I will make more, or if I have more to sell, or where to buy one. This chapter is closed. You can find them on the used market now and then. I will continue to provide warranty support to the best of my ability. Thank you so much for your patience between the last two batches, and thank you for all your support over the years!
The current model uses an optical circuit, aiming for the same extra smoothness of our original version, and we are really happy with the results. This pedal was designed to work equally well on guitar, bass (including extended range), and any other electric instrument. The 2022 batch has a traditional true bypass foot switch with pop-reduction circuitry. The new symbol on top, a square with nine dots, represents the solder pins of a 3PDT switch. We were unable to source a component for the relay switching system that was used in the previous batches.
Here is a demo video on guitar, from Brett Kingman, of the 2020 Smoothie Opto (same as the current ones except for the bypass switch):
Here's a bass demo from Zach Rizer:
The new optical ones have essentially the same tone and action as the OTA originals, apart from these details: It uses a charge pump to boost the 9V supply to a higher internal voltage, to reduce the chance of clipping, for you players with high-output basses. With the new Opto models you can get a serious dip-and-swell effect at the maximum setting of the Sustain knob. Lower settings get a more natural and unobtrusive action. And the current version feature interior DIP switches to toggle between a fast aggressive action, a slower softer action, and two "in between" positions, for a tremendous range of versatility and fine-tuning to your taste. The OVNIFX Smoothie compressor is packed with features such as clean blend, tilting EQ, super low noise, very wide frequency range, and an LED to indicate the amount of compression.