EarthQuaker Devices is a manufacturer of effects pedals for electric instruments based in Akron, Ohio. The company was founded in 2004 by guitarist Jamie Stillman. It is best known for its Hoof Hybrid Fuzz, Dispatch Master Reverb & Delay, Afterneath Otherworldly Reverberations, and Rainbow Machine Polyphonic Pitch Mesmerizer effects pedals. The company is privately held by Stillman and his wife, EarthQuaker Devices CEO Julie Robbins. Their 52 employees build approximately 1000 effects pedals per week.
Video EarthQuaker Devices
Beginnings to Present Day
EarthQuaker Devices was founded in 2004 by Jamie Stillman, guitarist in the bands Relaxer, the Party of Helicopters, and Drummer; bassist in Fringe Candidate, and drummer in Harriet the Spy, "New" Terror Class, and Teeth of the Hydra.
From 1993 until 2002, Stillman operated the Donut Friends record label from his home in Kent, Ohio, releasing more than fifty records by punk, metal, and shoegaze acts such as The Man I Fell In Love With, Three Studies for a Crucifixion, and Kill the Hippies.
Stillman began designing effects pedals in 2004, after a successful attempt at repairing a broken DOD Overdrive Preamp 250 - his favorite overdrive. In January 2007, he designed a fuzz circuit loosely based on a Russian Big Muff belonging to the Black Keys' guitarist Dan Auerbach, for whom Stillman tour managed between 2006 and 2010.
After multiple revisions, he finalized the schematic for the Hoof Hybrid Fuzz, using germanium and silicon transistors to counteract the temperature instability of the original's germanium-only design. The Hoof's trademark feature is its Shift control, which allows users to select at which frequency the Tone control operates, making it easier to operate with a wide variety of input sources.
The earliest EarthQuaker Devices were built in the basement of Stillman's West Akron home, where a crew of nine employees performed all essential functions by hand - populating circuit boards, soldering, screen-printing enclosures, assembly, packaging, and shipping. In 2012, the company moved out of Stillman's basement into a 1700-square-foot building in downtown Akron which formerly housed an industrial glass factory.
In 2015, after quickly outgrowing the glass factory, EarthQuaker Devices renovated a two-story, 15,000-square-foot building, which it currently occupies and is less than one mile from the previous location.
The company, which currently employs 52, has been praised for its diverse and eclectic product line as well as its commitment to inclusion, diversity, and cooperation with other effects pedal manufacturers.
Maps EarthQuaker Devices
Devices
EarthQuaker Devices currently produces 42 effects pedals ranging from simple overdrives to advanced DSP-powered units.
Boost, Preamp, & EQ
- Arrows - Preamp Booster
- Bows - Germanium preamp & boost using NOS OC139 "black glass" transistors
- Tone Job - EQ & Boost
Compression
- The Warden - Optical compressor
Delay & Reverb
- Afterneath - Otherworldly Reverberator
- Avalanche Run - Stereo Reverb & Delay with Tap Tempo
- Disaster Transport SR - Advanced Modulated Delay & Reverb Machine
- Dispatch Master - Digital Delay & Reverb
- Ghost Echo - Vintage Voiced Reverb
- Levitation - Reverberation Machine
- Space Spiral - Modulated Delay Device
- Transmisser - Resonant Reverberator
Distortion & Overdrive
- Acapulco Gold - Power Amp Distortion
- Bellows - Fuzz Driver
- Dunes - Mini Mega Ultimate Overdrive
- Gray Channel - Dynamic Dirt Doubler
- Palisades - Mega Ultimate Overdrive
- Speaker Cranker - Overdrive
- Westwood - Translucent Drive Manipulator
Fuzz
- Cloven Hoof - Fuzz Grinder
- Dirt Transmitter - Fuzz Driver
- Erupter - Ultimate Fuzz Tone
- Fuzz Master General - Octave Fuzz Blaster
- Hoof - Hybrid Fuzz
- Hoof Reaper - Double Fuzz with Octave Up
- Park Fuzz Sound - Vintage Germanium Fuzz Tone
- Spires - Fuzz Doubler
- Terminal - Destructive Fuzz Device
Modulation & Filter
- The Depths - Analog Optical Vibe Machine
- Grand Orbiter - Phase Machine
- Hummingbird - Repeat Percussions
- Interstellar Orbiter - Dual Resonant Filter
- Night Wire - Harmonic Tremolo
- Pyramids - Stereo Flanging Device
- Sea Machine - Super Chorus
- Spatial Delivery - Envelope Filter with Sample & Hold
Octave & Pitch
- Bit Commander - Analog Octave Synth
- Data Corrupter - Modulated Monophonic Harmonizing PLL
- Organizer - Polyphonic Organ Emulator
- Rainbow Machine - Polyphonic Pitch Mesmerizer
- Tentacle - Analog Octave Up
Legacy Devices
The following Devices are no longer in production:
- Black Eye
- Crimson Drive
- Disaster Transport
- Disaster Transport Jr.
- Dream Crusher
- Monarch
- Pitch Bay
- Sound Shank
- Tone Reaper
- White Light
- Zap Machine
Original Content
In addition to effects pedals, EarthQuaker Devices publishes three online video series on its website and social media accounts - EarthQuaker Sessions, Board to Death, and Show Us Your Junk!
EarthQuaker Sessions
EarthQuaker Sessions are live in-studio performances recorded on-site in Akron, Ohio or remotely. Episodes include:
- Chelsea Wolfe
- Isaiah Mitchell (Earthless)
- Vanessa Wheeler (VAVÁ)
- Uno Lady
- Nick Semrad & TaRon Lockett (Cory Henry & the Funk Apostles)
- The Kandinsky Effect
- Eternal Summers
- Obnox
- Noveller
- Earthless
- RYAT
- Kaitlin Wolfberg
- The Beyonderers
- Relaxer
Board to Death
Board To Death is a web series in which artists discuss and demonstrate the effects pedals they use to achieve their signature sounds. Episodes include:
- Brendan Ekstrom (Circa Survive)
- Nathan Willet (Cold War Kids)
- Nick Reinhart (Tera Melos, Big Walnuts Yonder)
- Mario Camarena (CHON)
- Erick Hansel (CHON)
- Theresa Wayman (Warpaint)
- Goblin Cock
- Troy Van Leeuwen (Queens of the Stone Age)
- Michael Schuman (Queens of the Stone Age)
- Dean Fertita (Queens of the Stone Age)
- Brett Campbell & Devin Holt (Pallbearer)
- Taylor York (Paramore)
- Jim Jarmusch & Carter Logan (SQÜRL)
Show Us Your Junk!
EarthQuaker Devices describes Show Us Your Junk! as, "a scavenger hunt through the recording studios, tour vans, and storage units of our favorite musicians - a celebration of the nick-knacks, impulse purchases, artifacts, odds-and-ends, doodads, thingamajigs, whatchamacallits, and other ephemera piled up in corners, cluttering the shelves of rock and roll. It's Sound City meets American Pickers." Episodes include:
- The Ghost Wolves
- Dave Catching's (Eagles of Death Metal) Rancho de la Luna
- Taka Tozawa (Deltron 3030 guitarist)
- Mark Mothersbaugh (DEVO)
- Eric Palmquist (Thrice, CHON)
- Dan the Automator (Gorillaz, Deltron 3030, Dr. Octagon)
- "Evil" Joe Barresi
- Custom Vintage Keys feat. Lisa Bella Donna
- Mario Caldato (Beastie Boys, Jack Johnson)
- John Vanderslice's Tiny Telephone Recording
References
Source of article : Wikipedia
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