Heather Brown Electroncals The Blessed Mother

The Blessed Mother. What a stunningly beautiful pedal. I ordered it from the US, even without finding a bass sample or bass review online – the only information I could get was that it does not cut lows and should work fine on bass.
The tiny LEDs in the Halo around the Blessed Mother’s head pictured on the pedal light up as soon as the pedal is powered, the LEDs in the heart light up when it’s engaged. Oh my.

Ergonomics:
The Blessed Mother is very easy to set, the pots are smooth but not too smooth. The caps are big and easy to access and the little pointers show you exactly where you are. The foot switch leaves enough room to safely operate this pedal with snowboard boots. What does it lack? The box is oriented in landscape, so I’d wager there is more than enough room on the inside to have the jacks mounted on the top, but all three are on the left/right side. The amount of real estate this pedal uses is downright ridiculous.

Touch sensitivity:
The Blessed Mother behaves like an overdrive pedal, as opposed to an “amp in a box”. The amount of drive is even across the board, the lowest notes get as much of it as the highest ones, as does every single note in between.
The touch sensitivity is there – you can set it so it barely sizzles when you play softly but as soon as you dig in, it roars.
However, it feels a bit like you’re playing with a boxing glove on your plucking hand. It does not matter nearly as much where you place your fingers. The evenness of the drive negates a part of the subtle differences of hand positioning. The range of touch is not as big as it is on more amp-like pedals. This is, as I understand it, a design choice. That super even response, no matter what note you play and where you play it, comes at a cost.

Sound:
The Blessed Mother is giving me a dark-ish flavor. The tonal controls only affect the drive effect, but not really do much for the signal itself. This is, yet again, a design choice. The idea is that you’ve met your tonal goals through your choice of instrument, amplifier and/or other pedals, and The Blessed Mother is on your board to give you drive – without taking the character of your clean sound and forming it into something else.
Good thing for bass players: You get the option of blending clean signal, but there is no perceivable loss of bass when running 100% wet, so you get to toy around with that as an optional feature and not a mandatory one.
For me personally, this is not the perfect choice – I’d like a drive pedal that can add a little more up top,
But if you’re looking for a well behaved and super evenly balanced overdrive that brings lots of drive but little color to your setup, it’s a great thing.