EarthQuaker Devices Special Cranker Overdrive Demo | First Look
Akron's finest make a staple OD nastier, more flexible, and more refined.
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Akron's finest make a staple OD nastier, more flexible, and more refined.
RatingsPros:Invites improvisational interaction and unexpected musical turns. Superb sensitivity and range in controls. Cons: It can be hard to escape octave-forward “shimmer” textures at many settings. Street: $199 EarthQuaker Afterneath V3 earthquakerdevices.com |
Tones: Ease of Use: Build/Design: Value: |
EarthQuaker’s Afterneath product identity is built around cavern imagery—obviously to hail the effect’s capacity for hyper-expansive reverb sounds. But the cave allegory works in more ways than one with the new, evolved Afterneath V3. It also represents the very deep, labyrinthine musical journeys the device seems to instigate. By the time I familiarized myself with the latest Afterneath, I was playing the pedal as much as I was playing my guitar. That may not sound appealing to picking purists. But if you’re free from such dogma, the Afterneath V3 will prod you to explore unusual musical turns that expand the functionality and potential of the guitar as an instrument and render you unencumbered by the rote or expected. This is a pedal you can cut loose with when you’re in a rut and need to shake things up.
Initially, I wasn’t sure things would go that way. Many of the Afterneath V3’s most familiar and obviously guitaristic reverb sounds—the kind you set up just to get your bearings—have strong hints of octave-forward, “shimmer”-type reverb. And let’s just say a little of that goes a long way with me. But Afterneath extends the possibilities of octave-enhanced reverb by using a set of very sensitive and rangey controls to create stretched, deeply resonant, EQ-shifted reverbs that invite active manipulation and make the Afterneath V3 feel as much like a synth module as a stompbox.
Keys to the Underworld
If your experience with reverb is limited to amp reverb or pedals that loosely mirror that functionality, you might not even recognize the Afterneath V3 as a reverb. While controls like reflect, diffuse, and length hint at reverberative qualities, there are no obvious dwell or room size controls that relate to amp reverb or simple digital reverb simulations. But the Afterneath’s controls are very intuitive and inviting, and you can understand their general intent with a few twists and turns.
Broadly speaking, length equals reverb decay, dampen controls EQ, diffuse adjusts ambience, and reflect regulates reverb regeneration. The drag control is less conventional. It controls time between delay lines. At counterclockwise settings, the spacing is more fragmented and irregular—like a soft, fractured delay effect. In the opposite direction, the delays are closely spaced and generate a smoother ambience.
The drag control also works in concert with the mode knob—new to V3—which offers unquantized, quantized, slew, octave, and major, minor, and pentatonic scale modes for treating the reverberations. These can also be used in concert with an expression pedal (not included) to turn the drag function on its head—enabling Looney Tunes pitch shifts and stair-step pitch delay sounds.
Rise to Descend
We’ve talked a lot about how ethereal and weird the Afterneath can be. But there are many excellent, more conventional textures on tap—particularly if you’re geared in ambient or contemporary psych and shoegaze directions. And you can paint many subtle but expansive reverb pictures at low mix levels and the damper control in darker realms.
Typically, though, those were not the directions in which the Afterneath beckoned me. Instead, I tended to use the controls actively—adjusting things on the fly as a part of improvisation. The controls are very responsive, sensitive, and have long, gentle tapers. That makes it easy to manipulate the pedal at the edge of its self-oscillation capabilities, ride waves of feedback, or pull radical pitch-shifting tricks.
Working the dampen and drag controls together with longer delay times can conjure sub-seismic bass drones. Manipulating the drag, reflect, and length controls together incites the creation of Doppler-effect motor sounds. (I managed convincing approximations of a flying saucer and a ’58 Plymouth, much to my satisfaction.) Darker dampen settings, by the way, have a killer horror-flick sewer-dweller vibe.
The Verdict
If you’re on the search for convincing digital approximations of spring or plate reverb, the Afterneath would be an odd choice. But if you fancy cinematic, ambient sounds, the Afterneath is like a powerhouse. Improvising with the pedal is an immersive, joyful, musically satisfying, and downright escapist experience. But regardless of the framework in which you use it, the Afterneath V3 gives you a gazillion reverb hues with which you can color it all.
Watch Yvette Young demo the depths of the Afterneath.
This year, PG received more pedalboard submissions from readers than any previous year, which makes us very happy. If you're discerning and passionate about your effects, you've come to the right place.
Discovery awaits! Learn how a San Diego guitarist maximizes his sonic reach while doing the heavy lifting in a duo with only six effects at his feet. Have you ever heard of a condition called synesthesia? One reader explains how his unique sensory interpretation causes him to experience his pedalboard differently from most. A deployed military serviceman spent his days dreaming of the stomp station he'd build when he returned home. Thankfully, he got his chance to build it.
Some players take a less-is-more approach, while others delight in having an outrageous bevy of options. Size doesn't matter, friends: The magic is in the details. Step on and bask in the craft of the pedalboard.
Regards from Guadalajara, Mexico! I switched to a mini pedalboard about a year ago. It has only the stompboxes I really need to perform with my band. From left to right: Walrus Audio Fathom Multi-Function Reverb, Walrus Audio ARP-87 Multi-Function Delay, Friedman BE-OD, Demeter DRV-1 Over Driveulator, CKK Electronics Gears Compressor.
I use this setup when performing in a duo in San Diego, California, covering diverse genres from Amy Winehouse to Al Green to Dr. Dre.
The TC Electronic PolyTune 3 is amazingly accurate and fast. The Xotic EP Boost gives my single-coils a magical tonal push. It's always on and powered at 18 volts using an Xotic Voltage Doubler. The Boss OC-3 Super Octave is always on in polyphonic mode. It tracks extremely well with chords. The range is set very low, so it only affects certain bass frequencies and doesn't muddy up. Direct level is maxed out, and octave level is set low, so it subtly sits in the back of the mix without drowning out the rest of the sound. It's hard to notice when it's on, but easily noticeable when it's off. JHS Angry Charlie is set at a low-drive level, in overdrive territory. It really makes solos sing with sustain. It has a very amp-like reaction to my playing. I have the TC Electronic Flashback set in tape mode, short delay time, and low level. It adds nice depth and dimension to overdubbed arpeggiated chords, single-picked notes, and solos. The Electro-Harmonix Holy Grail is one of the most natural-sounding reverbs I've played: it's always on around 11 o'clock. These pedals are sitting on a Pedaltrain Nano+ powered by a Truetone 1 SPOT daisy chain and patched together using Lava Mini ELC cables with pancake plugs made by Tight Squeeze Cables. The pancake plugs allow me to use maximum real estate on such a small board.
The pedalboard feeds a Boss RC-300 Loop Station. This is where the magic happens! Playing in a duo, I'm required to fill in most musical frequencies, often beginning a song with a percussive rhythm loop created by muting, plucking, scratching, and smacking my guitar strings. Using multitrack mode on the RC-300, I then overdub bass lines, rhythmic chords, sustained triads, and any other artistic sounds I can create using six strings. I have the expression pedal set to affect the input volume, giving me absolute control of on-the-spot live mixing while performing at the same time—all at the soles of my shoes.
I designed this pedalboard to combine drone-y sounds with my guitar. I use it mostly with our band San Salida. I built the pedalboard itself out of old Ikea furniture.
The top row of pedals is specifically designed to generate drones or pitch sequences. The Mattoverse Drone Tone MKIII generates a single-note square wave, which can be turned into an 8-note sequence by the Dwarfcraft Pitchgrinder. Then the MXR Badass '78 adds distortion and the Electro-Harmonix Oceans 11 adds reverb.
The lower row is for my guitar (G&L Tribute ASAT Classic with a Curtis Novak Gold Foil pickup in the neck position), starting with a Boss TU-3 tuner into an Infanem Driving Notion, Crazy Tube Circuits Starlight, and Wampler Reflection. The guitar path and drone path are mixed with an Old Blood Noise Signal Blender and sent to my amp. Thanks!
All of my old favorites are mixed in with some really nice new pedals on this board ... lots of special edition and cool colors, too. It sounds amazing. My drive section can get from simple, clean boost to light amp breakup to FuzzFace or RAT or Muff styles. I have all of the modulation I could ever want in my two favorite delays: the JAM Delay Llama and Boss RV-6. I've owned three different versions of the JAM Delay Llama and it's simply the best delay pedal for me.
I play an '84 Rickenbacker 360 and a '62 Tele reissue into a '68 Deluxe Reverb reissue. My signal chain is as follows: TC Electronic PolyTune Mini > Hudson Broadcast > Origin Cali76 Compact Deluxe > Caroline Vegetarian Pizza > JAM Rattler+ > Wren & Cuff Violet World > Mooer Elec. Lady > JAM RipplyFall > Caroline Somersault > JAM Delay Llama > Strymon Volante > Boss RV-6.
Hello Premier Guitar! This is a pedalboard a friend and I designed together, handmade out of walnut wood. It took us three months to achieve the result we wanted. It was inspired by Instagram posts like yours. We tried to achieve minimalist but classy looks, with compact pedals. When I look at pedals, for me they are like paint. I have a condition called synesthesia, which means I tend to mix senses. For example, for me, music and sound have colors, so I always think of my pedalboard in terms of: My pedals are like my paints and my guitar is like a brush.
Here's the detailed breakdown:
My board gets me through both studio and live gigs. It's portable and versatile, as I can plug in my satellite board when I need it or put it away if I don't. There's an “audition loop" in my interface so I can plug in a modulation pedal post volume pedal if I need to. And the interface has both a 9-volt Tao for powering pedals as well as a 24-volt jack to power the Strymon Ojai R30 on my satellite board. The satellite board can also be used on its own by just connecting the Strymon power transformer to the board. My amps of choice: Two-Rock Studio and Suhr Badger.
Here's my list of pedals: Xotic Wah, Boss EV-30 Expression Pedal, Dry Bell Vibe Machine V-2, King Tone MiniFuzz Si, pedalboard interface (under Lehle), Peterson StroboStomp HD tuner, Origin Cali76 Compact Deluxe, Ethos TWE-1, King Tone The Duellist, Vemuram Jan Ray, Boss FV-30 Volume Pedal, Dawner Prince Boonar, Providence Chrono Delay, Free The Tone TRI Avatar Chorus, Free The Tone Ambi Space Reverb, Lehle Little Dual, three Strymon Ojai R30 Power Supplies, Evidence Audio SIS /Monorail cable kit.
I make music under the name Spieglass in Austin, Texas. It's been an evolving solo project for almost three years, but over the last year it's stayed in the realm of ambient meets post-rock meets orchestral something or other. What I've done with a pedalboard is release six albums in 2019 alone on Bandcamp. So, it's not collecting dust any time soon.
The first thing to note is having my “foot" pedals separate. This is in my home music space, so I have the pedalboard on a chest by my side. Two dedicated expression pedals, a volume, and a looper pedal are on the floor while the effects (signal chain below) are at my reach, since I'm a constant tweaker when recording.
The board itself is a sort of Daphne blue stained wood affair from SoCal Pedalboards (it matches one of my guitars). I don't play live, so while my board is only used for recording, it has still seen its fair share of come's and go's. At the moment, the main idea is to have as many different effects available as possible for inspiration. It took me a while to get into modulation, for example, but since it clicked, I've bought and sold and rented more than I can count.
Another glaring note is the lack of distortion. As an ambient player, I don't use it. I do have a Boss BD-2 off to the side, but it's just for jamming. This is my ambient playground. I hope you like it, and I can't wait to see any submissions you may post.
Signal chain: Dunlop Volume X, TC Electronic Ditto Looper, EarthQuaker Tone Job, Boss NS-2, Dwarfcraft Witch Shifter, EarthQuaker Grand Orbiter, EarthQuaker Dispatch Master, Walrus Audio Monument (with expression), Walrus Audio Julia, EarthQuaker Arpanoid, Old Blood Noise Endeavors Flat Light, MXR Carbon Copy, GFI System Specular Tempus, EarthQuaker Avalanche Run (with expression), EarthQuaker Afterneath.
Here's my handmade pedalboard that I use with Raptor, the psychedelic rock band I sing and play guitar for. It's got sides on it to protect it from rowdy beer spills and has seen us through shows opening for Robert Plant (Led Zeppelin), Mick Ralphs (Bad Company), Dr. Feelgood, and the Groundhogs, as well as several U.K. tours. I'm not a fan of subtle effects, so everything is set hard to wildly change the sound of my guitar. Here's the signal chain in order:
Hello Premier Guitar! I'm sending you a pic of my board because I'm very proud of it. (Who isn't proud of their board?) I'm really happy with this setup. This configuration has been the longest time I've spent without making a change. Not that I don't want to, it's just that I don't really need to. I can cover almost any ground with it. It's been about two or three years since I made a change. That's a lot of time in the pedalboard world. My pedalboard is a Pedaltrain 3. Here is the pedal list, broken down by row.
I wanted a versatile rig. I love using my amps effects loop, but I don't always get to use my amp live. So, I made a patchbay that would let me connect either in front of an amp or with a four-cable method. All the pedals underneath are always on. Compressor, a touch of spring reverb, and a buffer. The heart of the pedalboard is the switchers. One is for the pedals that go in front of the amp (bottom) and the other for the pedals that go in the loop (top).
The only pedal that's not in the switchers is the Tech 21 SansAmp. My dirt pedals cover a huge range. Tech 21 does the Bassman sound, Plexi Drive does the ... you guessed it, Plexi sound. The Wampler Dual Fusion does my drive and lead sound. I chose two different “Swiss knife" pedals to cover lots of ground: the Line 6 M5 and Zoom multi-stomp. Line 6 covers my synth sounds, filter sounds, and modulation when I want it before my drives. The Zoom does all my modulations and some other weird stuff. My secret weapon is my EarthQuaker Dispatch Master. That pedal is amazing. There's no other pedal that can mimic what it does. I chose the Wampler dB+ Boost/Buffer because with so much cable and switchers, two buffers are needed in this rig. I love your magazine. (Why would I be writing all this if I didn't?) Happy 2020 and cheers from Mexico.
I like seafoam green, and I've acquired a lot of it over the years. I happened to stumble across Glen Wheatley, from Rockin Tones, on Instagram. He built a few pedals on this board and repainted a few as well.
Here they are: Boss DD-20 (repainted), Rockin Tones Tremoverb, Boss CS-1 (repainted), Electro-Harmonix #1 Echo Digital Delay (repainted), Rockin Tones Klone, Rockin Tones Dirty Boost, Snark tuner (repainted), Rockin Tones Rat MKlll, Danelectro Big Spender Spinning Speaker, Danelectro French Toast Octave Distortion, Dunlop EVH Wah (repainted), Lovepedal Tchula, Rockin Tones Bypass Loop, seafoam Holeyboard pedalboard, Truetone 1 SPOT Pro CS12, Lava and Covenant cables.
I'm based in San Francisco, California, and am the founder of the Missing Head (@themissinghead). I use this stereo pedalboard live and in the studio, both for guitar and bass (especially the Origin Cali76 Compact Deluxe and the Vertex Steel String, which sound great plugged straight into the desk). The board fits nicely in a padded Pelican case. One single power cable to power the whole board, no BS, tons of combination!
These are my pedals: Boss ES-8 switcher, Strymon Zuma, Strymon TimeLine, Strymon Mobius, Strymon BigSky, Strymon Sunset, Chase Bliss Thermae, Boss OC-3 Super Octave, JHS Pollinator Fuzz V2, Vertex Steel String, Origin Cali76 Compact Deluxe, Buddha Wah, TC Electronic PolyTune 2.
The flight-case-style housing and a few of the pedals have been with me since the '80s. External connections for power and audio mean I don't have to take the beer-proof lid off until right before show time.
The guts have evolved over the years from a DIY power supply to the Voodoo Labs Pedal Power 2+ that's presently hidden under the deck. Early versions of this board had only five Boss pedals. GAS induced by the stompbox explosion of the early 21st century (and internet coverage thereof) prompted me to add the upper deck around 2010 to make room for more. I had to make a few compromises in layout just to squeeze them all in, but it works well and sounds great. In order of signal flow, they are:
It's a mix of new tech and '80s nostalgia. My old college bar band gets together for reunion shows every few years (last year was our 35th), and playing the old tunes just wouldn't be the same without the old board.
I had a few pedals, but after acquiring my first tube amp I started selling some old rack gear to fund pedals to pair with my amp. I continued buying used pedals when a good deal came along that I could sell for a profit and upgrade if I wanted.
After a of couple years, I had a good collection and designed my board using drafting software while on my lunch breaks at work (I'm an engineer). My dad has a small wood shop and found a piece of wood that was the right size for the board, which we built during a couple of visits to his shop. This is the latest pedal layout.
Pedal chain: Dunlop Cry Baby Mini Wah, Wampler Ego Compressor, Lovepedal Vibronaut, Lovepedal Believe, Wampler Terraform pre-out (auto wah, flanger, phaser, u-vibe, envelope filter), Boss SD-1, Wampler Velvet Fuzz, Wampler Ecstasy Drive, Lovepedal Purple Plexi, DigiTech DigiDelay, Wampler Faux Tape Echo, Wampler Terraform post-out (rotary, auto swell, tremolo, harmonic tremolo, dimension, chorus), MXR M300 Reverb.
Note: I use an Ibanez TSA15H tube head, which has a built-in Tube Screamer. I can use the amp's effects loop to place the board after the Tube Screamer circuit and before the preamp to add a Tube Screamer to the front of my signal chain.
Hey folks! I just spent the last summer deployed, as I'm in the military. On those long, hot summer days of 130 degrees, I cleared my mind by dreaming of which additions I'd add to my pedalboard to complete “my" tone. I ordered all the pieces while I was overseas, and they were waiting for me when I got home. My first idea was that I must have the Xotic RC Booster, and it didn't disappoint. Followed by the Corona Chorus and Flashback Delay by TC Electronic. TC's Tone Print tech is insane! The other pedals I chose are a TC Electronic PolyTune 2 tuner, Fulltone OCD, Electro-Harmonix Green Russian Big Muff, and a TC Electronic Ditto Looper. Under the board is a Donner isolated power supply. As you can see, there's room on the board for growth. I'm not sure what will be next, but I'd love to afford a Strymon TimeLine. I had a lot of fun building it all and even more fun using it. #tonefordays. Guitar for life!
I'm a guitarist and guitar salesman living in Brooklyn, New York. When you live in a big city, you almost never bring an amp to a gig. This is for several reasons, but mostly because most of us don't have cars. So, you need pedals you can rely on to give you everything you need. Sometimes you get to a gig and it's a Twin Reverb. Sometimes it's a 1998 Crate solid-state amp with no reverb, or a keyboard amp, or a bass amp. You need to be able to make anything sound great in the time it takes to set up between sets. Never a soundcheck.
For me that's a solid reverb pedal and one dirt pedal that has enough character to make anything sound like a real amp. My dirt of choice is a ZVEX Distortron. It stays on pretty much all the time, gain set to low. Everything else is icing, but I totally need all of it.
Signal flow: No Name Fuzz Factory Clone, MXR Phase 95, Electro-Harmonix Ram's Head Big Muff Pi, Paul Cochrane Timmy (yes, it's green and yellow), ZVEX Distortron, J. Rockett Archer Ikon, Danelectro CEO Tremolo, Boss AW-3 Dynamic Wah, Boss CE-2W, Electro-Harmonix Canyon, TC Electronic Hall of Fame 2 Reverb, TC Electronic PolyTune Mini. I'm using the new MXR Mini Iso-Brick to power it up. Feast your eyes! Enjoy!