Meet The ALABS Audio Pedals: Versatile Delay And Reverb Effects

Not quite expensive, but not quite cheap, these pedals bring a lot of the versatility of premium pedals to a more accessible level.

Want to grab your own ALABS pedals? Go grab them here.

While researching which pedals to cover in 2024, I stumbled across ALABS Audio on Instagram. They seemed familiar, even though I had no idea where from, so I decided to reach out and introduce myself. While most pedal companies usually message back about how their klon clone is SO different from the others, I was pleasantly surprised to see that ALABS Audio had four distinct pedals of their own. No drives, no Klones, no boosts, just four multi-voiced pedals that were relatively affordable to boot!

These four pedals include the Timeslip Delay, Orbital Pitch Shifter, Cetus Reverb, and Novadrift Modulation, which makes up their Adam Adventure Series of pedals. All four are true stereo in and out, with 9 different voicings within each effect type. For more concrete details, you can visit each pedal’s page on their website by clicking here. But I’ll give a quick rundown here too.

That is a lot of combinations of sound. And if I was going to independently review each and every setting and sound it would be my largest article ever. So instead, I’m going to give more broad overviews, opinions, and tips on how to best use this/who they are for. And for reference, these pedals range from about $99-109.99 on Amazon via the link at the top of the article. In this article, we will discuss the Timeslip Delay and Cetus Reverb only, with a follow up on the Novadrift and Orbital pedals coming soon as a part II.

What’s The Rub

These are all multi-function pedals, meant to be alternatives to some heavy hitters like the Strymon multi reverb units (BigSky) or Walrus Audio’s M1, D1, and R1 Mako Series pedals. If you’re on a budget, these are definitely much more wallet friendly, while still offering a ton of capability. Furthermore, if you’re a generalist, who is constantly swapping out different pedals from your board, this could replace the 4 modulation pedals you constantly cycle through. Likewise, if you’re bored of digital delay and suddenly want tape echo, you have that here.

The stereo in/outs are a nice touch, as I run a stereo rig and really do love that feature. These are not MIDI capable like some of the heavy hitters I mentioned above, however to me, that’s a GOOD thing as I don’t care to mess much with programming. I’m a plug and play guy, and these seem plug and play.

Plugging In

For the demo below you’re hearing my Maybach Little Wing guitar (dual P90s) running direct into a Pelican Noise Works 50/50 overdrive and then these pedals. Next, the Cetus and Timeslip run stereo into a UAFX Dream amp/cab sim, with a looper at the end of the chain before it hits my audio interface and laptop.

WOW. These ALABS pedals are really good and definitely worth the hype. I was very skeptical after seeing some YouTubers that I respect dub these as market disruptors. But you know what, these are really freaking cool pedals. They really are like more affordable Walrus R1 or D1-style pedal. There’s a huge range of sounds, but more importantly that all sound really good.

This was especially true of the Timeslip delay, which I had a ton of fun messing around with. Some of these delay algorithms are quirky, but all are musical and incredibly easy to dial in. The granular sound felt like everything I’ve been trying (and failing) to pull from the Chase Bliss MOOD. Admittedly I’m a bit of a neanderthal when it comes to complex pedals, but these suit my plug-and-play mentality so much more, while providing off kilter sounds.

The swirl delay was great as well, but oh my god the OCTAVE delay is a huge winner. I love octave reverb (which was great on the Cetus), but having that chime on delay was just otherworldly. Almost synthy, it was really quite fun. On the Cetus Reverb, a similar revelation was the wave reverb mode, which creates this sort of washy, crashing ambience that can be as loud or as quiet as you want. Kind of like musical white noise, but in a good way.

I’m not pretending that ALABS Audio invented any of these things, as I’m sure all sorts of crazy high end DSP delays already do this stuff. But they did do it well, and they did it at an affordable price tag, AND they made it easy to find/access/adjust those sounds without a screen or menu or phone app. These are all the types of things that make a pedal a slam dunk for a punk simpleton like myself.

To say I’m excited to get into the nitty gritty of the other two ALABS pedals now is an understatement. The Timeslip delay is going to stay on my board for a long time, not just because it’s stereo or cheap, but because it does so many delay sounds so well. I have songs and riffs from my years of writing that need reverse delay, or are now taking on new life with the octave and granular delay sounds layered on top.

ALABS’ Cetus, and to a greater degree the Timeslip, should be at the top of your 2024 pedal wish list.