Slightly OT: plasma guitar pedal

[Nick Andrews]

So my neighbor plays bass in a couple of bands and showed me this 'plasma pedal' the other night.  They're not cheap and he mentioned maybe we could build one.  I told him I hadn't seen it before but would check it out.  Now, I see a couple of different ones, the common one being an argon discharge tube and the other maybe neon as it has an orange crackle.  Any knowledge of these devices or ideas?  Looks pretty cool to me.

https://gamechangeraudio.com/plasma/

[Nick Andrews]

So a little more research revealed they are using photoflash type lamps 35mm long with xenon in them.  The yellow model is simply a filter over the tube.  They did that for Jack White, who wanted it yellow!  Apparently they boost the guitar signal to 3500 volts, then arc the tube and use an antenna to pick up the signal and demodulate it back to usable audio, much like AM radio.  Interesting!