EarthQuaker Devices Unveils the Zoar

From defined sparkle and tightness of an overdrive to low-medium gain fuzz that’s perfect for drop-tuned guitars and basses, Zoar is designed to do it all. Zoar lets you dial in and control every nuance of your tone from jangly on-the-verge of break up to blowing the walls out heavy saturation.

While having its roots in a very familiar past, the passive 3-band EQ has been finely tuned for modern tones. While this style of tone shaping seems simple on the surface, it is deceptively complex and highly interactive - yet surprisingly easy to instantly dial in dozens of mind-blowing sounds.

Zoar Dynamic Audio Grinder Guitar & Bass Demo | EarthQuaker Devices

This box has six knobs that allow you to truly customize your sound with the Level, Weight, Gain, Bass, Middle, and Treble controls. The Gain control on Zoar goes from the edge of break up all the way over the cliff into the crunchy, grinding abyss. The character of the distortion is heavily dependent on the setting of the Weight control as well as the pickup type and further fine-tuned by the EQ section.

The 3-Band EQ and Gain controls give you nearly unlimited options with great focus and sensitive precision, but the real powerhouse of Zoar is the Weight control. This control dictates the amount of low end that is passed into the circuit, thus controlling the entire character of the pedal. Simply dial in the 3-Band EQ to 12 o’clock and adjust the Weight to see how drastically it dictates your sound. From a mere clean boost to a high gain distortion to overdrive to the crispy hi-fi fuzz territory, this function gives you everything.

The Level control hits unity around noon, but this is dependent on where the other controls are set. In addition to controlling the output volume, it also plays a small part in controlling the voice of Zoar. By adjusting the Level control with any combination of EQ (boosting the frequency bands and cutting the output volume), you can achieve drastically different curves that have the feel of the more traditional low pass filter type tone control.

Tech Specs

• Extremely interactive medium-high gain discrete transistor-based distortion
• Passive 3-band EQ tuned for modern dirt tones
• Customize your sound with the Level, Weight, Gain, Bass, Middle, and Treble controls
• The Weight control dictates the amount of low-end that is passed into the circuit
• Capable of being articulate and/or crushing on both guitar and bass
• Wide range of tones available, not just high gain distortion
• All-analog signal path
• True bypass
• Silent relay-based switching with Flexi-Switch® Technology
• Lifetime warranty
• Current Draw: 10 mA
• Input Impedance: 1 MΩ
• Output Impedance: <10 kΩ
• List Price: $129.00 USD