EarthQuaker Devices Erupter Fuzz Effects Pedal and Octoskull T-Shirt Large Black

Don sweet style and tone so fuzzy that you can brush it with this awesome combo.

The Erupter is the result of over two years’ worth of tone-chasing, tweaking, and experimentation in search of what EarthQuaker president and product designer Jamie Stillman calls “the ultimate classic fuzz tone ... with a big low end, but not too mushy, a biting top end without being too harsh, and just enough output to politely send a tube amp over the top.”

In developing the Erupter, Stillman “[used] every trick [he] ever learned” to craft a fuzz Device that sounds good with any pickup type anywhere in the effects chain, even before a wah pedal, and without any impedance mismatching. To this end, the Erupter uses a buffered input section, transformer-based pickup simulation, new production 5% 1/2W carbon composition resistors, metallized polyester film capacitors, Sprague and BC electrolytic capacitors, and low-gain, hand-matched NOS silicon transistors to deliver a “well-rounded and defined fuzz tone with just enough pummeling intensity.”

The Erupter’s simple control set stands in stark relief of its rigorous design process. A single control labeled “Bias” adjusts the amount of voltage fed to the NOS silicon transistors. Low “Bias” settings yield a rude, spongy fuzz tone with plenty of sag and a blossoming attack envelope that’s gated without entering “dying battery” territory. As the “Bias” control is increased, additional harmonics stack atop the input signal, producing a stiffer, more complex fuzz tone with a tighter response, increased output, and longer sustain. The Erupter uses a fixed output level and gain setting for the “thickest fuzz possible,” and to “push the full frequency range of the guitar out front when you kick it on.”