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On-Stage GPB3000 Pedalboard with Gig Bag
EQD dishes deep, dimensional reverbs in an elegant package that won’t mire you in menus.
RatingsPros:Intuitive, streamlined control layout. Cool pitch-bending capabilities. Unique modulation tones. Cons: Some digital artifacts at long reverb settings. Could use one more-conventional reverb voice. Street: $199 EarthQuaker Astral Destiny Reverb earthquakerdevices.com | Tones:  Ease of Use:  Build/Design: Value: |
EarthQuaker Devices has built many brilliant stompboxes in its short history. And they’ve been resolutely unafraid about getting weird. But EQD has also mastered the art of building specialized and esoteric effects into pedals that are elegantly designed, intuitive to use, and don’t bog down the creative process.
The new EQD Astral Destiny fits that category. It specializes in super-spacious, modulated octave reverbs, including the octave-up reverb effect known as “shimmer.” But shimmer is just one dish from the Astral Destiny’s reverb menu. There are deep, resonant octave-down verbs, pitch-bending reverb effects, and expansive reverbs with no octave or pitch shift at all. Each can be mutated with flutter and wobble using the pedal’s dedicated modulation section. You can also save eight presets. But what makes the Astral Destiny’s big sounds extra appealing is the ease with which you can shape them, store them, and recall them.
Destined to Be Distant
Expansive digital reverbs are common in modern music. They add dimension and size to movie soundtracks and pop vocals—often to a comical degree. But they also lend atmosphere and mystery to the work of minimalist ambient artists and transform simple guitar and synth lines into cosmic-scale melodic statements. Because these music styles—and big reverb itself—can magnify tiny harmonic nuances, many pedals are cluttered with menus and multi-function knobs for surgically shaping the hugeness. These control layouts are great for sculpting specific sounds, but they can disrupt creative flow.
The Astral Destiny bucks that trend by utilizing a what-you-see-is-what-you-get control set. Hidden functions are confined to the two footswitches. The rest of the pedal’s power is accessed via the seven knobs and the single expression pedal jack.
Analog-oriented users will love the straight-ahead functionality of these controls. Presets are accessed via an 8-position rotary switch (though they are saved with a simple footswitch sequence). The eight modes, too, are selected via rotary switch. The critical reverb length control is situated at the top center, while the equally vital mix and tone controls are relegated to mini-knob status in the lower row. Bigger knobs for these oft-used functions would make a more satisfactory tactile experience, but I can’t say that the small size adversely affected performance.
The Astral Destiny’s modulation section is controlled via small depth and rate knobs. Unlike the chorus-like modulation found in most big-sounding reverbs, the Astral Destiny’s modulations sound more like a cross between tremolo and pitch modulation. They can be unique and sweetly undulating at modest settings, but also positively demented at higher rate and depth levels.
The stretch footswitch, which shifts the pitch an octave and doubles the size of the reverb, is another source of bizarre and theatrical sound tweaks. Tapping the switch gives you an instantaneous pitch shift. But holding the switch produces a sweeping rise or fall to the octave—the duration of which can be adjusted by holding the stretch switch and adjusting the length. It’s a killer tool for moving between chorus, verse, or bridge sections, or for punctuating a song with a flourish.
Near-Earth Orbits, Outer Reaches
Most of the Astral Destiny’s voices are bold and expansive, even at low settings. And if you’re looking for a pedal to add a touch of vintage-style spring reverb, there are simpler means to that end.
That said, there are many effective, subtle reverb textures to be discovered. The key to using the Astral Destiny in a more conventional, subdued fashion is keeping the length control at its shortest settings. At these levels, and with a just-right dose of treble from the tone control, you can conjure interesting, if idiosyncratic, tank-style reverb sounds. In the sub setting, which adds a low octave to the reverb, shorter reverberations, trebly tones, and aggressive mix settings can even add cool electric sitar overtones.
Taking the time to master and save a few of these more modest settings drastically expands the versatility of the Astral Destiny. But the main attraction for most players will be the pedal’s biggest sounds. The abyss reverb is the most versatile of the bunch by virtue of having no added octave. Consequently, it sounds great in short length/low mix settings, where it generates cool plate- and chamber-style tones, and at long settings where it adds ghostly and pleasingly metallic overtones to the reflections. The sub setting is fantastic for dropped tunings and baritone—giving detuned 6th strings immense resonance that you can offset or compliment with generous doses of treble from the pedal’s tone knob. To my ear, the octave-up reverbs, which include the shimmer, astral, and cosmos settings (the latter adds a regenerating fifth to the reverb tail), sound best at low tone settings, which give long reflections a more organ- or synth-like quality. But even at lower mix, tone, and length settings, they can add a pretty layer of magic dust to crunchy chords without sounding overly choral. Meanwhile, players that pepper their compositions with a sense of musical suspense—or who just love horror soundtracks—will relish the pitch bending capabilities of the ascend and descend modes, which set sustained notes and chords on swooping glide paths to the clouds—or spiral dives to a deep-water trench. Both sound extra amazing with a heap of slow modulation.
The Verdict
If big, octave-colored reverb sounds are bedrock to your tone palette, the simple, smart, and well-conceived Astral Destiny is a superb tool for performance and composition. Its relative simplicity will also find fans in players that like to move fast and intuitively without getting mired in menus. Some sound creators might long for a more chorus-like modulation section. And the presence of a slightly more traditional and subdued reverb voice would go far toward making the Astral Destiny the only reverb pedal you need. But if deep space is the place you prefer to dwell, EQD’s Astral Destiny will get you there in playful, pretty, and practical style.
Watch our First Look demo of the EarthQuaker Devices Astral Destiny:
An already great Marshall-in-a-box is made more potent with the addition of a killer treble booster.
RatingsPros:Great-sounding Marshall-inspired overdrive in a pedal form. Flexible boost channel. Superb for rhythm-to-lead transitions. Cons: Can lean toward bright for some tastes. Street: $229 Carl Martin PlexiRanger carlmartin.com | Tones: Ease of Use: Build/Design: Value: |
More than a few legendary artists have matched a Dallas Rangemaster to a Marshall plexi to screaming ends. So Carl Martin’s new PlexiRanger, which mates the Danish builder’s PlexiTone Marshall-in-a-box stomp to a treble booster in the mold of the Rangemaster and John Hornby Skewes Treble Booster, is a pretty natural pedal proposition. For players that have never experienced the joys of a Marshall and a vintage-style treble booster together, the combination of the two in one tidy little box could be an eye-opening—and ear-awakening—experience.
If Six Were Knobs
The PlexiRanger’s circuitry cascades the treble boost into the plexi side of the pedal, but each effect has its own bypass switch and dedicated control set. The boost side features an eponymous knob that unleashes up to 15 dB of extra kick, a “freq” knob, which determines the boosted frequency, and a range control that regulates the amount of boost applied within the selected frequency band. There’s also a 3-way switch that applies a slight or heavy low-frequency cut—or no cut at all.
The plexi side features familiar controls for gain, tone, and level. In addition to the input and output on the pedal’s top panel, there’s also a ¼" jack for remotely switching on the boost side, and an internal voltage multiplier that increases power from the 9V DC input to +/-12V DC (24V total) for improved headroom. It’s all housed in a ruggedly built aluminum enclosure, with a thin foam skid pad on its underside in place of rubber feet. (Pedalboard users might need to peel this off to apply Velcro.) It measures 4.75"x3.75"x2.25" and weighs around a pound.
Double Shift
I used the PlexiRanger with Gibson humbuckers, Fender single-coils, and Fender and Marshall-style amps, and in every case I readily found the familiar palette of crunch and hot lead tones that typify the vintage Marshall experience. The plexi channel is predisposed toward brightness. But even with the tone knob fully counter-clockwise, it yields a creamy, thick overdrive with high end enough to rise above a dense mix. Like its inspiration, the plexi circuit deals medium-level gain at its most aggressive settings. But it’s never boxy or congested sounding, as some Marshall-in-a-box pedals can be.
If the plexi side of the pedal is bright, the boost side can be very bright—particularly when those freq and range controls are dialed up for maximum treble. But when used judiciously, these controls can very effectively highlight frequencies you want to shine most prominently. It works well on its own as a boost, but the real magic happens when you use it to kick up the plexi side a notch, which can make the output so completely juicy and saturated that it’s hard to switch it off again. It’s very tasty stuff.
The Verdict
The PlexiRanger executes its mission beautifully. It might all lean a little bright for some tastes, and it can take a little practice to master the boost circuit’s freq and range knobs. But the sum is a super-wide range of tones brimming with sweet spots. A warning though: it may be difficult to go back to single-function overdrives after spending some time with this one.
Watch our demo of the Carl Martin PlexiRanger: