30 Favourite Tremolo Pedals - Personal Capsule Collection
Some time late last year I identified that the Tremolo section of my Reference Collection was probably the weakest of the major modulation categories - and I determined to do something about it in 2024 to bring that fully up to scratch. I made 2024 my ’Year of Tremolo’ and set to the task of bolstering my own capsule collection. Seems like I slightly overdid it in the end - as I’ve so far added 17 to the collection thoughout this year, with a likely couple more still to come.
So as with all...
EarthQuaker Devices rolls out Lee Kieran Signature GARY Dual Channel Overdrive / Fuzz - massively evolved from the Grey Channel
Jamie actually teased the concept of this pedal at the fairly recent Camden GuitatGuitar EQD Showcase Event - where I met Jamie and Julie for the very first time.
Jamie explained that IDLES guitarist Lee Kieran was a significant fan of the long discontinued Grey Channel (Dual DOD250 style Overdrive / Fuzz). I guess the conversation evolved into reviving that pedal in some sense but in essence taking it on a wholly different trajectory for its second channel. ...
2024 October Pedal-Chain Update - Episode X - Tremolayed
So this incredibly busy month was supposed to be all about Tremolos, culminating with the Rounder Sounds Zebra-Trem Review and 30 Tremolo Pedal Overview. But we hit some snags along the way - the Zebra-Trem was mysteriously held up in customs for a week, and then got slightly lost in the local postal network. And when it did finally arrive - evidently it had been dropped a few times, as the screen was no longer working. After trying various obvious remedies with Bill over a few days - with no ...
EarthQuaker Devices rolls out its own line of handy utility pedals - buffer, splitter, a/b, a/b/y, and flexi loops
So in a move that is slightly reminiscent of OBNE, EarthQuaker Devices has rolled out its own utility pedals line - mostly small in stature with simple yet useful topologies.
I typically like for my buffer to be foot-switchable, but don’t mind that the Buffer/Preamp here is an always-on type. The 2-way Buffer Splitter is another handy always-on utility - before we come to the 3 switchable ones. A cool mini powered A/B box and larger passive ABY variety. And then the dearest one of the bunch...
EarthQuaker's Night Wire is a really smart and elegant Dynamic Harmonic Tremolo - which you can control with your playing style and pick attack
In the lead-up to my Mega Tremolo Rundown, I have just two more to tackle after this one - the Swindler Red Mountain Tremolo, and the Rounder Sounds Zebra-Trem - with my final selection covering 30 diverse Tremolo pedals!
This Night Wire alas seems to be discontinued now - it’s a Harmonic variety and reminds me a little of my Anasounds Ages as that too has that dynamic pick-attack envelope follower functionality which can trigger a response via your playing style and pick attack.
This ...
Meeting EarthQuaker Devices' Pedal Power Couple - Jamie and Julie at GuitarGuitar 20th Anniversary Camden in-store Event
So I attended a GuitarGuitar Camden 20th Anniversary EarthQuaker Devices Showcase Event last Tuesday the 24th! The guests of honour obviously being Pedal Power Couple - Husband and Wife team Jamie Stillman and Julie Robbins. This was actually only their second visit to the UK - the first being another whistle-stop tour in 2018 or thereabouts. This time around they were being chaperoned around by good friend of ours Tom Bodfish from Northern Europe EQD Distributor - Audio Distribution Group.
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16 years after its debut, EarthQuaker Devices reissues the original format of the Dirt Transmitter Fuzz Driver in 'Legacy' 1000 limited run
Back in 2020 I did a piece on my 9 Favourite EarthQuaker Compact Fuzzes at the time (below image), and the V2 Dirt Transmitter was firmly in that number - I always intended to get all of those 9 into the Reference Collection - but it’s not quite happened yet. While the Compact V2 edition would definitely be my pick - if I could get my hands on one in a decent condition, and at a reasonable price. ...
EarthQuaker Devices extends its 6-Presets Series with the 3-Mode Silos Delay, covering Digital, Analog and Tape Flavours
So we’re getting pretty familiar with this format of effect by now - where this is the 5th of that kind to share the exact same topology - following on from the Aurelius Chorus, Ledges Reverb, Spatial Delivery Filter, and Time Shadows II Multi-Delay.
Controls - Time, Repeats, Mode : Digital / Analog / Tape, Mix, Preset Save/Recall, Preset 1-6. Tap Tempo Footswitch, Activate Footswitch.
All pretty straightforward really - just 3 main controls with a Rotary Selector for Presets.
I ...
4 of a Kind - 3-Band EQ Boosts
So I’m trying out a new 4-way format where I feature / compare seemingly very similar pedals. They need to be almost identical in general scope and control topologies to be eligible for inclusion. So these 4 are the first for this format :
- EarthQuaker Devices Tone Job - $159
- Carl Martin Tone Tweaker - $159
- Fender Engager Boost - $119
- Kuro Custom Audio Hand-Made Bakeneko EQ Boost - $179
That’s not to say Looks-Like is necessarily Like-for-Like. All 4 of these have slightly different ...
EarthQuaker Devices reboots its Death By Audio Time Shadows Subharmonic Multi-Delay Resonator collaboration - now with Presets, Expression and Extra Mode
Intriguing reboot here as the Limited Edition Pedal Movie Collaboration Pedal gets an extended lease of life. You may recognise the format of this pedal by now - which follows the same path as EQD’s Aurelius Chorus, Ledges Reverb, and Spatial Delivery V3 Filter pedals. All these have 4 knobs - including a 6-Position Presets Rotary, a 3-way Mode Switch, a Presets Save/Recall button and an Expression port.
This means that the Time Shadows Subharmonic Multi-Delay Resonator gains 6 Presets, ...
