At long last, EarthQuaker Devices enters the amp simulator market with Easy Listening, a $99 mini pedal that is designed for use with headphones but can also work in between your pedalboard and your DAW. The Akron, OH, builders designed Easy Listening around an all-analog circuit meant to mimic the sound of a black-panel Fender Deluxe Reverb, the amplifier through which EQD boss Jamie Stillman tests all his circuits. In an era where many of us have grown accustomed to digital amp simulators with menu-diving and multi-platform connectivity, you’re either going to love or hate the straight-ahead simplicity of Easy Listening. But there’s no denying the possibilities it offers.
Easy Peasy
Easy Listening is one of EarthQuaker’s first mini pedals, and the downsized housing is charming and practical. It fits anywhere you need it to, an inconspicuous but slick-looking addition to the end of any signal chain, or simply a space-saving desktop unit while demoing.
The power jack sits on the crown of the pedal, with an input on the right and output on the left. On the upper-middle of the pedal’s face is the lone control: a simple volume knob. With headphones on, I found 9 o’clock on the dial more than loud enough, but when running Easy Listening into an interface, I found it often needed more juice. Either way, the pedal’s name is not a coincidence. Its one-size-fits-all design encourages you to get down to business.
Lush Listening
Run your guitar chain into Easy Listening, plug in some decent over-ear headphones, and you’ll hear more than a little 1965 black-panel Fender Deluxe Reverb right in your ears. The sound is punchy, clear, and whole, with definite vintage-Fender mojo. And the clean base tone has just the right amount of sparkle and presence to make playing through headphones actually enjoyable.
Easy Listening really comes to life (and displays its powers) when you slam it with dirt pedals. The breakup is deliciously balanced, with neither the burnt high-end of many digital amp solutions nor the unpredictable frequency spikes you might encounter when running your pedals through a tube amp and whatever speaker it’s loaded with. It handles everything from boost to dirt to mountain-rending fuzz with ease and dynamic depth.
I had to do some overdubs for a project while reviewing Easy Listening, so I plugged it into my interface and gave it a shot. The rhythm tones I pulled out of it were so harmonically pleasing that it almost made me want to redo the ones I’d recorded on my Dr. Z. At any rate, it made me feel confident that I could tackle a number of home-recording scenarios with Easy Listening. Usually, jamming with headphones is a grudging obligation, but with Easy Listening, it became my first choice for home play. It just sounds so good.The Verdict
EarthQuaker smashed a homerun with Easy Listening. Its ease of use is thrilling compared to most amp pedals’ demanding interfaces, and the tones it produces are impressively full and 3-dimensional. At $99, you can’t ask for a better (or better-sounding) home practice and recording tool.
