Rainger FX’s Minibar actually wants you to spill beer on it

Throughout history we’ve been conditioned to think that chucking a load of liquid all over our gadgets is the easiest way to murder them. But Rainger’s bizarre new guitar pedal is no more talented than a doorstop until you give it a drink. You see, the Minibar (£119, available now) is a ‘liquid analyser pedal’ whose output is determined by the liquid poured into the watertight container on its top. According to the pedal’s imaginative maker, the conductivity of the guitar’s AC signal decides the amount of gain, and the opacity decides the amount of treble and bass. When you’re done, just wipe out the remaining liquid with a paper towel and start again. Again, you won’t find any knobs to tweak for distortion here; the whole device relies on what you fill it with, so you’re going to need to get a bit less precious about your prized whiskey collection.

Matt Tate Contributor

About

I'm fascinated by all things tech, but if you were going to leave me on a desert island, I'd probably ask for my Nintendo Switch, a drone, and a pair of noise-cancelling cans to block out the relentless seagull racket. When I'm not on Stuff duty you'll probably find me subscribing to too many podcasts, playing too many video games, or telling anyone who will listen that Spurs are going to win a trophy this season.

Areas of expertise

Video games, VR, smartwatches, headphones, smart speakers, bizarre Kickstarter campaigns