Today’s guest review comes to us from Ric N. – find him on Instagram (@ricnewsom) and Twitter (@ricnewsom).

“What does that do?” “Drugs. It does drugs. All of them.” That’s how a lot of conversations start about my Count to Five. Granted, explaining what a delay/sampler with pitch, speed, and direction manipulation DOES is usually more than people can digest -including me. But I’ll do my best. The mad scientist behind it, Scott Monk, does quite a lot of explaining on his website, and the Knobs video on YouTube really shows off the uniqueness (check it out below). But I’m going to tell you why you need one even if you aren’t trying to send your audience to an asylum after the show.

Essentially, the Montreal Assembly Count to Five messes up whatever you’re playing in one of a multitude of beautiful ways. It has some gorgeous digital delay and mod delay sounds. It does a shimmery chorus. It can tune your guitar 5 frets down with added tremolo. It can produce the soundtrack of a banjo and a steel drum making sweet eccentric love. It can be an always-on with no effect other than making whatever you play just sound prettier. The tracking and buffer are both top notch.

Or… it can make eternal reverse glitches at the end of your song. You can make twenty violins (my frontman’s words for it) play along with you. It can transform your sustained notes into crashing planes. It can play a simple arpeggio at three different pitches and speeds for a backing track you’d need a couple takes and at least one other instrument to create. It can transform your guitar into a dance machine.

There’s a lot that it can do that I haven’t been able to really explore in 9 months of owning mine. This is your desert island pedal if you suffer from ADHD or indecisiveness.

Drawbacks:
– Mine has a slight volume boost when engaged, but I think it’s a good thing
– no tap sync, but this was the first pedal to help me realize that not all delays need to be perfectly on tempo
– No presets or midi. If it had either it’d be the best multi effect on the market.
– Dense as junk. Could be a pro if you’re into exploring all of pedal’s capabilities
– No delay trails, but you can roll your own with an expression pedal controlling feedback

Demo Video from Knobs:

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