because I felt like I had some ideas that
could contribute something new to the sonic
landscape. That, and I just love guitar pedals.
TR: Why did you name the company Chase
Bliss Audio?
JK: The company is named after my brother
Chase Korte. He died in 2007 from a drunk
driver in California. He was working as an
actor, and he was really into Joseph
Campbell and his mantra, “Follow Your
Bliss.” So I put “Chase” and “Bliss” together
to honor him. It’s also fitting because he has
inspired me to start the company. I miss the
hell out of him.
TR: Tell me more about your time at Z.
Vex Effects, what were your favorite
projects to work on, and how long was
your tenure there?
JK: I worked there part-time for one year, full
time for 3 years, and did contract work on
and off for about a year after that. Zack
always had ideas. We had a list that kept
getting longer and longer, but it always felt
good to see things crossed off of it. In the
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BUILDER PROFILE //
earlier years we would work really late in the
night. It was a period before I met my wife
and I didn’t have too many personal
obligations so I was happy to work whenever
Zack wanted me to. This made for some very
late, memorable evenings at Z. Vex World
Headquarters. When I look back at my time
there, these were the times that I look most
fondly on. Zack had these super interesting
stories about his life, and he is an incredible
teacher too. He has a great knack for using
analogies to describe engineering concepts.
My favorite project we worked on was
probably this thing we were calling the “LoFi Echo Junkie.” It was a delay, and it was
insane. Super original idea by Zack. We were
using a microprocessor to carefully control
three of the Lo-Fi Loop Junky analog
recording chips—one of three was always
recording and one of the three was always
playing back and they would cycle through
that routine. Thus, a delay was made with
the beautiful texture and modulation of the
Lo-Fi Loop Junky (my personal favorite Z.
Vex pedal). There were still some significant
Chasing Excellence: An Interview with Joel Korte of Chase Bliss Audio